2013 - Java, Indonesia (Part 5 - Malang & Mt Bromo)

Sunday 21 July
A long travel day from Solo to Malang. The 11:00 am bus left on time and I had the good fortune of having the front seat by the door. This is great for viewing the scenery but not so good for viewing the cars and trucks coming directly at you when they are on your side of the road (or you are on their side of the road!) We arrived at about 7:15 pm and was promptly stung by the taxi driver who insisted on the minimum tariff for a two minute tax ride. So instead of 8000 rupiah I had to pay 30000 rupiah.

Monday 22 July
Up early for some reason and after a simple breakfast at the hotel, I organised my Mt Bromo trip for the next day. The hotel was reasonably central so was able to walk into the city centre via the bird market. This is a large area with a vast number of caged birds (plus a few cats and dogs). It is a bit distressing to see so many caged birds, especially owls, but what can you do?

City hall in Malang.

Flowers at the gardens by the city hall.

The main church in Malang.

The other church in Malang.

Tuesday 23 July
Collected from the hotel at the particularly stupid time of 1:00 am to get to Mt Bromo in time for the sunrise. We drove for a couple of hours towards the national park and then transferred to jeeps for the final leg to the viewing platform. Hot tea was very welcome at 4 ish.

The sunrise over the mountains was superb but it was quite difficult getting any decent photos due to:
i. too many tourists hogging the railing to get their special photos and not allowing anyone else to get a look in.
ii. issues with the batteries in my camera. They were all charged up but they did not work very well.

After this we went back down to the warung (small restaurant) and had the mediocre breakfast provided by the company. The group on the next table was much better catered for. Bit disappointing really.

The crowds awaiting sunrise.

The sun starts to rise at Mt Bromo

A few minutes later.

The sun is still rising.

Radio transmitters.

Mt Semeru and crowds blocking the good views.

Mt Semeru.

Mt Bromo (at left with steam), Mt Batok (in front), Mt Semeru (at back).

Spectacular cloud formations in the valleys below the viewpoint.

Another volcano in the distance.

From there we drove down the side of the mountain to the Sea of Sand that surrounds Mt Bromo. The others in the group walked to the crater's edge and peered over but I was not feeling that good so hung around the touristy area.

The Sea of Sand (Pasir Lautan) before Mt Bromo.

The Sea of Sand (Pasir Lautan) before Mt Bromo.

From there we drove back to Malang, arriving at about 11:00am. The rest of the day was sleep, lunch, sleep, dinner, sleep.

Wednesday 24 July
Woke feeling absolutely shite. Probably too much sleep. After brekkie I caught the shuttle to Surabaya airport for my flight to Bangkok and a couple of days shopping.
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