Come out and play!: Bromo Trip (1-2 May 2009)

The journey began on Friday morning, 1 May 2009.

We have to wake up early at 4 AM to catch our flight at 6.50 AM to Surabaya. The flight was delayed for around 20 minutes. It was a smooth flight; I saw beautiful scenery from up there….clear blue sky and mountains below us!
We arrived at around 9 AM in Surabaya Airport and directly took public bus to Surabaya Bus Station named Pura Baya, it cost Rp. 15.000 for bus from Airport to Bus Station. The people in Bus Station were aggressive, they grabbed our body and talked loudly to ask us to use their bus! We decided to have our late breakfast at Bus Station and continued our journey by economy bus to Probolinggo. This bus was wild and jumpy. I felt like I was in one of "Fear Factor' episode! So many people inside and there was no AC, the TV played unrecognizable numbers of songs nonstop and only paused when street musician jumped inside and sang. It only cost Rp. 15.000 for 2 hours crazy wild ride to catch Probolinggo. Along the way, we entertained by uncountable street musicians and street vendors who tried to sold so many things from snacks to books.

Around 2 PM, we arrived safely at Probolinggo Bus Station (Thank GOD!) and caught mini bus to Cemoro Lawang. The Minibus didn’t depart directly, it waited until full. The meaning of full here was different than what I thought. It was totally packed and amazingly these people didn’t mind at all. Well, the ride was pretty smooth and we arrived in Cemoro Lawang in about 2 hours later. We were dropped to one of Hotels there, but after checked the economy room and found it was terrible, we decided to walk and check around. Finally we choose to stay in Lava Hostel. A small Hostel with selections of nice rooms completed with thick blanket and hot shower. We took Standard Room and paid Rp. 200.000 Nett/night including Breakfast and Hot water. Actually they also have cheaper rooms, an economy room at price Rp. 50.000 but there's no hot water while it was freezing there! This Hostel has a small restaurant and offered us a sharing jeep to see sunrise from Pananjakan view point. We reserved this trip and paid Rp. 85.000/pax.

After arranged all, we walked around Bromo area and took some pictures. I couldn’t believe myself that I was in Bromo, the view was amazing and beyond my imagination. I can say that it was a dramatic view with fog, mountain, cold wind, pines tree, horse and the black sand. I can’t explain how I feel but I highly recommend this place! The temperature was getting colder in the evening, we had nice dinner at Lava cafe and slept a bit early after took a nice hot shower. We prepared ourselves to wake up early tomorrow morning cos would be picked up at 3.30 AM.

In fact, the Jeep came at around 4 AM and we drove straight to Pananjakan view point. I wore 1 thick t-shirt covered with sweater and thick jacket, I also added scarf on my neck and wore double socks plus hand gloves! I was so ready! The Jeep supposed only for 6 passengers but they packed 7 of us, thank God we were not so miserable cos my friend is small. After drove around 30 minutes, we arrived at Pananjakan view point to catch sunrise in Bromo Mountain. Unfortunately we didn’t see the sun came up because the fog was too thick! However, the view was still amazing. I love sunrise moment in Dieng Plateau rather than in Bromo because too many people in Bromo, I can’t make perfect pictures cos heads were everywhere, hahaha…!
We left this place at around 6 AM and continued to Bromo.I met some new people and shared traveling experience in the jeep, they asked me a lot about Indonesia and I was glad I could assist them. I even made an itinerary for an English guy and he really thanked for that :) In Bromo, we decided to walk rather than ride a horse to the top because we want to enjoy every step we take in Bromo. If you want to ride a horse, you have to pay Rp.75000 for return trip. I suggest you to walk because the view is amazing all around, you can make many nice pictures from each spot there.

After climbed up 250 stairs, we arrived on the top. It was… WOW! I would love to comeback again to this amazing place one day, I promised myself. We took some pictures here and returned back to our jeep cos we remembered the driver said "You have 1 hour here!".
At around 8.30 AM we arrived in our Hostel and took a big breakfast, I was so starving and ate more than what I expected. But, it’s a holiday and I just made a long walk up to the top of Bromo Mountain…I need more energy to continue our journey to Malang!!
To be continue…and enjoy these pictures :)

Ladies and gentlemen, proudly present you...Bromo!