Indonesia: Mount Bromo

Sunday 2nd July
We all slept in our clothes because we were due to wake up at 3am to go in a jeep up Mount Bromo for sunrise…oof!

We were taking a gamble because it could be totally cloudy. Buuut we were greeted by a sky full of stars and a full moon.

After this point it all got crazy. We had a jeep to take us to one of the view points. And there were literally hundreds of jeeps – you can see the tail lights 👆. And I’m not exaggerating! So everyone gets up at 3am to sit in a traffic jam worse than London! We got to the view point at 4.30am. So it took 1.5 hours to go only a few kms up really tight windy roads with cars parked either side (because there’s obviously nowhere for them to park).

Finally dumped the car and walked the rest of the way. I was surprised that the viewpoint wasn’t that busy. People said it was really cold but it was like a summer’s day in the UK! Maybe like 10 degrees. Nothing on Nepal which was freezing!

The sunrise was simply stunning. Possibly the best I’ve ever seen. The clouds were at the bottom of the valley with Mount Bromo sticking out. With its plumes of volcanic ash coming out.

Hot footed it back to the jeep but didn’t need to rush because there was a broken down jeep nesr the bottom so it took 3 hours to go aboht 1km down the hill. Actually we got out and hiked down (super dodgy with cars and bikes on either side!). Chilled at the bottom, at the sea of sands, full of locals on trips with their motorbikes.

Kids having a play while waiting for the jeep

Hiked up Mount Bromo and saw the bubbling sulphur gas inside the crater. I find that kind of thing a bit creepy/ scary! Then the wind changed so we got a faceful of sulphur steam so the kids wanted to scootch down!

Drove to Prologgino and passed out cos of the early start. Train to Banyuwangi, which is the jump off point for Ijen, another volcano! Poor H felt sick on the train. When he’s tired, he always gets a bit sicky (understandable). We were in second class this time, not nearly as fancy as before, and next to the loo (pooooo!). Got to our homestay in a village nearly 9pm and we all passed out. Its a v basic homestay, cold water, no air con, but our own space with 2 rooms so we were happy.