On monday the first we woke up dead tired and packed ourselves to this minivan with other westerners. We drove around two hours towards Bromo. When leaving from Probolinggo in the middle of the night it was so weird seeing how much action there was still going on on the streets. People preparing their stuff and food for morning markets etc.
The drive was mostly uphill with SO many jeeps around! Finally we arrived to this Gunung Penanjakan (2770m) which is the best place for sunrise since you can see the whole Bromo area (Bromo, Semeru puffing up regular plumes, Batok and Kursi).
Us and two belgium girls started walking up the hill with one flash light to guide the way. We were so out of breath climbing in the middle of the night. Eventually we arrived to this view point and me and Steve ate our nasi goreng that we had bought previous night on the street. Then it was just waiting for the nature to wake up and the sun to rise. SPECTACULAT SUNRISE! Just amazing seeing the active volcanoes. The hike down to our minivan was easier. :)
The next drive took only 10 minutes. The tour had promised to drop us of in front of the stairs and now they told us that we had to hike there.. After fighting with this guy we had no choise than to start walking there.. First down this steep hill side and then throught the Sea of Sand. The closer we got we could see probably over 100 jeeps there. We were the only ones walking.
There were loads of people, horses running around and past us etc. The climb up to Bromo wasn't too bad since there were stairs. Up at the crater we could see this smoke rising from the inside of the volcano. Way too many people up at the crater, couldn't even move there.
The walk back took around an hour. In the minibus we started to get to know our group and noticed that everyone had been promised different things of this tour. Some didn't even have any receipt! We had asked to write everything down even that we had paid!
On the way back we tried to nod of and close to our hotel when I had just woken up our driver and this scooter boy crashed! The boy got up fast with marks on his elbow and leg. The left side mirror on the minivan broke and the scooter got scratches. Our driver paid him 50 000, shook hands and we continued. We got dropped of at our hotel with four others. We were supposed to eat breakfast there, surprisingly that didnt happen.. No one told us what time we would set off agan. They had told us that we would set off at 12 and arrive at 15.00 so we would have time to go jungle trekking and see coffee plantation and a waterfall. The others had been told that the journey to the next place takes 7 hours... Our guide book said 5.
After an hour and 20 minutes our new driver came to pick us up. We asked him to stop somewhere to eat on our way, little after two hours we finally stopped to eat with our group. A 21-year old Ben from Leeds, two girls from Belgium, one Lebanese woman, 40-year-old american woman and a hippie German guy and a girl.
We arrived at our destination at Sempol, around 18-19, more than five hours after we set off.
The place Arabica homestay was in the middle of nothing and you could only order a buffet for 60.000 (not the one where you can eat as much as you can...). The guy we bought the tour from had said that we set of again at 4 am. Wrong. The set of was at 1 am! So we quickly ate, showered (wasn't a hot shower like promised) and went to bed.
The drive was mostly uphill with SO many jeeps around! Finally we arrived to this Gunung Penanjakan (2770m) which is the best place for sunrise since you can see the whole Bromo area (Bromo, Semeru puffing up regular plumes, Batok and Kursi).
Us and two belgium girls started walking up the hill with one flash light to guide the way. We were so out of breath climbing in the middle of the night. Eventually we arrived to this view point and me and Steve ate our nasi goreng that we had bought previous night on the street. Then it was just waiting for the nature to wake up and the sun to rise. SPECTACULAT SUNRISE! Just amazing seeing the active volcanoes. The hike down to our minivan was easier. :)
The next drive took only 10 minutes. The tour had promised to drop us of in front of the stairs and now they told us that we had to hike there.. After fighting with this guy we had no choise than to start walking there.. First down this steep hill side and then throught the Sea of Sand. The closer we got we could see probably over 100 jeeps there. We were the only ones walking.
There were loads of people, horses running around and past us etc. The climb up to Bromo wasn't too bad since there were stairs. Up at the crater we could see this smoke rising from the inside of the volcano. Way too many people up at the crater, couldn't even move there.
The walk back took around an hour. In the minibus we started to get to know our group and noticed that everyone had been promised different things of this tour. Some didn't even have any receipt! We had asked to write everything down even that we had paid!
On the way back we tried to nod of and close to our hotel when I had just woken up our driver and this scooter boy crashed! The boy got up fast with marks on his elbow and leg. The left side mirror on the minivan broke and the scooter got scratches. Our driver paid him 50 000, shook hands and we continued. We got dropped of at our hotel with four others. We were supposed to eat breakfast there, surprisingly that didnt happen.. No one told us what time we would set off agan. They had told us that we would set off at 12 and arrive at 15.00 so we would have time to go jungle trekking and see coffee plantation and a waterfall. The others had been told that the journey to the next place takes 7 hours... Our guide book said 5.
After an hour and 20 minutes our new driver came to pick us up. We asked him to stop somewhere to eat on our way, little after two hours we finally stopped to eat with our group. A 21-year old Ben from Leeds, two girls from Belgium, one Lebanese woman, 40-year-old american woman and a hippie German guy and a girl.
We arrived at our destination at Sempol, around 18-19, more than five hours after we set off.
The place Arabica homestay was in the middle of nothing and you could only order a buffet for 60.000 (not the one where you can eat as much as you can...). The guy we bought the tour from had said that we set of again at 4 am. Wrong. The set of was at 1 am! So we quickly ate, showered (wasn't a hot shower like promised) and went to bed.
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