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  • Day 17

    Day 17: Mount Bromo & Malang

    July 2, 2016 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    After yesterday's various disasters, we were really hoping for a better day today!! Alarms went off at 2:45, and we were dressed and out the door just after 3. The winds of fortune had shifted in our favour - the sky above was almost completely clear and glittering with stars! We were on for a good sunrise. So with a renewed spring in our step, we forged along the darkened roads, passing through fields of crops and little homesteads dotted around.

    The first 40 minutes or so was pretty easy going as it was mostly level along the crater rim, just out of sight to our left. Still lots of mud on the road from last night's downpour so we had to be very careful and judicious with our torch usage! Eventually the road began to climb more steeply upwards, and the going was pretty tough. Lots of guys with horses offering a lift, but we were more interested in the hike.

    After about 70 minutes had passed we reached our initial destination - Viewpoint 1 with uninterrupted views of the sunrise and the crater itself. There was probably 20 people already here, along with a couple of little old ladies (locals) who had stalls selling tea, coffee, Milo and pot noodles. We'd read that you could hike for another hour steeply upwards to reach Viewpoint 2, but we decided to stick with where we were.

    At this point it was about 4:30 and sunrise was about an hour away, so we grabbed a hot Milo and some instant noodles and waited. It was definitely well worth it. The eastern sky was lighting up by 5, with long shafts of light projecting way up into the atmosphere. As the light grew we could make out more details of the crater in front of us - the smoking cauldron of Mount Bromo, distant Mount Semeru (the tallest in Java) that would belch smoke and ash every 20 minutes or so, and closer in the cinder cone of Mount Batok.

    By 6:30 we'd done enough cooing and started the long walk back down. The plan was to walk back to our hotel then descend into the caldera and hike across the huge ash field to climb up the rim of Mount Bromo's smoking cauldron. But we'd only gotten maybe 15 minutes down the mountain before some locals on mopeds stopped and offered us a lift on our planned route for 75k each. Shandos was keen on hiking but I insisted as I was tired from Ijen and had a sore knee from the bus ride.

    So it was within 10 minutes that we found ourselves at the base of another uphill climb, this one up the remainders of Bromo's cone which still constantly belches sulphuric gas (though unlike Ijen, the gas doesn't come straight for you). Up we went, again past all the guys with horses offering rides. Saw one tourist fall off his horse when it put a foot into a large mud crevasse and fell over. Thankfully he was OK. The last part of the hike was a large set of about 250 stairs which was tough but (just) manageable.

    At the top you've got a great view back around the caldera, and of course straight down into the cauldron where all the sulphuric gases are coming from. Very impressive, and again well worth the hike up! Yelled some abuse at a Japanese man who washed some mud off his shoes with a bottle of water, and then threw the empty bottle down into the crater!! Me and a German tourist nearby just couldn't believe it and both shouted at him to stop, though of course he didn't understand English and just looked at us dumbfounded. Jerk.

    We enjoyed the view for a bit longer but then headed back down as the rim was only quite narrow and crowded with tourists. Our motorbike dudes were still there at the bottom, so we jumped on their backs and headed for the hotel, arriving back by 8am, just in time for breakfast!

    Next step was checking out and finding a ride back to Probolinggo where we could catch an onward coach to Malang, our next stop for the night. Nearby we found a bus with 6 other passengers waiting, so with us there were 8 and we only needed another 6. But there weren't many people around and it looked like a long wait. I'm sure in cities and large towns this system works fairly well, but out here on a well-travelled but sporadic route it just feels dodgy. We all argued with the driver about just going but he wouldn't budge on the total, and the others were all backpackers unwilling to pay extra.

    Almost unbelievably, a group of 6 Spanish backpackers turned up after about 30 minutes, so by 10:30am we were on the road and only paying 35k each for the ride. Back in Probolinggo we found the coach to Melang easily enough, after dodging all the "tourist information" and "travel agent" touts/scammers. Shoved onto the bus past the fake conductor scam and waited for it to leave. This one was nicely air conditioned, and in 2x2 seat configuration so we had more space than the previous day. While we were waiting to leave, a man got on the bus and spoke only to me (not to the several other locals on the bus), saying that I needed a ticket and had to go over to the office over there, and it was government rules and blah blah. I said I was going to buy from the conductor on the bus, which he said "wasn't possible", and I said I was going to do it anyway, and at that point he got off the bus rather downcast. It amazes me how blatant the scam is!!

    We left soon afterwards and the bus wasn't very full, thankfully. Contrary to that man's dire warnings, the conductor was more than happy to sell me a ticket just like everyone else on the bus, and it was only 33k each (I'm guessing his tickets would've been 100k+). The 2 hour journey to Malang was uneventful; I spent the time chronicling the awful previous day while Shandos just dozed and edited photos. Not much scenery to report other than the usual distant rain-shrouded mountains, rice fields, ugly concrete buildings and lots of traffic.

    Bus station in Malang was typically chaotic, but managed to find an actual proper taxi rank with metered taxis! We had to ignore at least 20 touts to find it, but once there we got a driver, politely insisted on the meter rather than bargaining, and off we went. Hotel is rather like the one in Banguwanyi - business-oriented, semi-new, clean and modern but uninspired. Though we're up on the 8th floor with a nice view across the city.

    Malang is supposed one of the last places on Java where you can see remains of the Dutch influence, though after a 4-5 hour walk around the city we didn't see a whole lot of evidence of it! We took a pedal-cab to a large park in front of the main mosque and soaked in the atmosphere. Encountered our first McDonalds since the night we arrived in Bali, and since we didn't have a proper lunch I decided to indulge in a "Moroccan" meal which had an ultra-spicy lentil sauce. Surprised me that the most popular item on the menu seemed to be fried chicken meals!

    Sat in the park in front of the mosque for a bit and got asked to be in a few photos - I guess they don't get a lot of Westerners coming through here! Though we managed to find one and struck up a conversation, he was an American named Colin who'd just moved here for a year with his Indonesian girlfriend. Seemed like a nice guy, though he was pretty clearly desperate for another English speaker to chat with! We kept wandering around the city, across to a large boulevard that was quite pretty - wide and lined with trees which is very unusual for Indonesia. It was clearly the richer part of the city, as the neighbourhoods down the side-streets all had huge houses with barbed wire fencing, security cameras and so on. Some nice little parks and stuff though!

    We ventured into a huge shopping mall the size of Westfield Bondi Junction, and it was absolute chaos since Ramadan ends in a few days (the final day of Ramadan is Eid-al Fitr and is essentially Islam's version of Christmas, with gift-giving, feasting etc). Lots of people out shopping. While on a visit to the men's room I had my first close encounter - I sat down before realising there was no paper holder; yep a bum-gun-only toilet. I asked the cleaner and he had a spare roll which he loaned me - a process that's kind of gross I guess! A worthwhile 10 cent investment.

    By the time we emerged from the mall it was dark and time for dinner. Decided to hunt for a street market about 20 minutes walk away which we eventually found. We were a bit early as a lot of stall-holders were just setting up, but still plenty of street food to pick and choose from. We had a meatball soup, some satay sticks (along with a hilarious miscommunication, the woman serving thought I wanted two plates of 14 sticks each when I actually only wanted 4 sticks total), and a couple of other things I can't remember or name - but all delicious!

    Eventually tired and exhausted we wandered back to the main square by the mosque, which even at 9pm was heaving! It's hard to explain how different the atmosphere is in places where alcohol isn't at the centre of social life. But it's always felt very safe and very welcoming. People are always interested in where we're from and where we're going next, though limited English and zero Bahasa means conversations are generally very short! Hopped in another pedalcab and got a lift back to our hotel. I really felt sorry for this bloke, he looked about 80 years old and used to pedalling around women and children, so my hundred kilo frame jumping in the front gives them a good workout!! I gave him an extra tip because I was a little worried he was going to have a heart attack on the ride!

    Apologies for the long entry, but it's been a very long day! Just travelling planned for tomorrow, a 7 hour train trip from here to Yogyakarta where I think we'll spend a few days.
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