Activity Summary
Sunday 29th October - Day 58
Travel to Mt Bromo (via Probolinggo & Cemorolawang)
Monday 30th October - Day 59
Mt Bromo at sunrise (Tengger Caldera)
Mt Bromo sea of sand
Bromo crater
Travel to Ijen
Tuesday 31st October - Day 60
Ijen hike (blue flame crater)
Travel to Bali
Summary
Probolinggo
Minimal to do here on review but made it easier for us to get to Mt Bromo and then also came via here to get to Ijen. Looked aite out of the window.
Mt Bromo
Touristy as hell but well worth the visit. Views are cracking.
Ijen
Very different experiences here for us.
Luke: Great fun all round. Love a hike (and especially a steep mountain/ volcano) and after years of functioning on limited sleep while working, the 12am start was nothing. While quite busy, it wasn’t annoyingly so and the hard work was rewarding.
Nicola: doesn’t regret doing it but the 12am start was not conducive for her full enjoyment.
Accommodation
Cemorolawang
Parama coffee & hotel - 1 night - £not a clue
Part of the package. Front window didn’t lock so Luke had to padlock it to stop someone just simply raiding all our charging electronics. Ice cold water at 3am was really not appreciated before touring. Nicola couldn’t shake the cold so wasn’t her favourite place at all.
Great view however from the rooftop coffee bar.
Ijen
Hotel Mahkota Plengkung - 1 night - £not a clue
Part of the package. Again a bit shit. Aircon barely functional, loud calls to prayer outside, shower open vent to the outside mozzies is never appreciated and the bathroom door doesn’t shut so free reign to get bitten to shit. Luke is writing this however having just arrived and is tired and grouchy which is likely exacerbating his review.
Less than 4 hours to sleep before kicking it to the crater…
Travel
Mt Bromo
Hotel -> [grab]-> Yogyakarta station -> [train] -> Probolinggo station -> [tour car] -> Cemorolawang hotel
Ijen
Cemorolawang Hotel -> [tour minibus] -> Ijen Hotel
Diary
Now to have some volcano fun. But first we had to get there and that is a big old journey from Yogyakarta. Prior to COVID a lot of trains would go to Mallang which is the east side of Mt Bromo. These train times were absolutely horrendous however and therefore did not want to get a night train and then hang around Mallang from 6am, decided to go all the way to Probolinggo and then have the tour sort everything. Expensive by Indonesian standards (see rant about ATMs in the prior blog post) but much much easier and despite Nicola trying very hard to work out how we could do this independently / cheaper we just gave up.
Setting off at 11.15am allowed us to take our time before getting on the 7 hour train. More comfortable as again in the executive class but made more annoying by us not actually having seats next to each other. Both the ladies we were sitting next to appeared to not want to give up their window seats so firmly refused our simple request. Nicola dropped a bottle of water on one of their feet anyway - karmas a bitch. Highlight of the train was Luke’s CFC branded chicken and rice meal. Otherwise Nicola just played switch games all journey and Luke continued to play with his finance spreadsheet, at one point getting the question from Nicola ‘Surely you are done with this?’ [Luke: Certainly not Nicola, there is always room for improvement. To which she called me a nerd and then went back to gaming which is a little hypocritical…]
At the station our car driver picked us up and drove us to Cemorolawang which is a small town at the foot of the east entrance to Mt Bromo national park. The car he was driving was awful and we honestly thought it wasn’t going to make it up the steep gradients - the constant flashing warning light seemed to unfaze him and with the dark winding roads Luke had flashbacks to the aircon less, scrap yard saved Gatwagon that somehow managed to make the journey to and from the alps this summer. Except it was less ropey this time.
We checked in, paid the guy our phat stacks of cash and had a quick hotel dinner before trying to get some sleep before the 1.00am wake up. It was already 9pm by the time we were settled so there wasn’t much hope of a promising sleep return for Nicola.
Alarm goes off and the first thing Nicola says to Luke is ‘well I didn’t sleep’. Bollocks.
The temperature here at over 2,000m is a frosty 5 degrees and Nicola was very cold. Once this happens, if she can’t warm up she can’t sleep. That and the early alarm set Nicola up for a fine morning of pure struggle.
All ready to go (once Nicola had thrown up) we were packed into the back of a small 4x4 with another tourer who had been driven from Probolinggo at 11.30pm. Fuck that. Nicola puts her headphones on and channelling her inner Metapod used ‘harden’.
The road up to the Tengger Caldera viewpoint was again pretty windy but was slow and steady. Once at the drop off point, the sheer volume of these vehicles hit home as they lined the entire road where any space could be found. Would hate to imagine what it was like in any form of peak season rather than a random Monday morning. We decanted and started walking up, head torches firmly on. Luke then realised he’d lost Nicola so in wandering back found her again spewing. Harden - it’s not very effective.
Take 2 and we got to the top very early (about 3.30am) so had some time to have a look at the stars and get overly angry over people's inability to use head torches properly. This prompted Nicola to don her sunglasses which along with the puffer coats and layers made her look like she was running away from a bad hangover. But it worked. It also helped get rid of the locals trying to sell blankets and foam bases who were incessantly shining lights in peoples faces. It was also incredibly cold comparatively to the 30 degrees we have been used to and standing still like lemons for 2 hours was a bit of a shock (yes Nicola you're welcome to take Luke’s towel and waterproof trousers - what a gent) .
Over time the platform turned into pure chaos. In Luke’s opinion, he’s a big fan of a quiet sit down and chill with a sunrise viewpoint but this was so far removed from this idyllic scene. There were masses of people who seemed to be channelling the same little dick energy that testosterone fuelled lad holidays in Magaluf exude - minus the abhorrent behaviour, alcohol and they were all very much fully clothed. But either way they were far too loud and just bundled around like a bull in a China shop (Luke: gem phrase from childhood that one - thanks mum).
Having been there so early we got a good view of the sunrise which was incredibly gradual but the views over the volcanos and scars in the landscape were fascinating. With the increase in temperature the smell of eggy sulphur started creeping in and we could see the plums of smoke rising from one of the craters. Great views all round - what would make it better? Kick all the tourists off the viewpoint or at least ball gag the noisy ones.
Sun now firmly up, we all walked down to the jeep together and stopped off once to get a ‘cleaner’ view of the landscape free from tourists and also once on the Mt Bromo ‘sea of sand’ on our way to the crater. An absolute gem of a pic below of Nicola nerding out over soil. But again - pretty epic.
Pulling into the crater parkings we turn around and see the jeep being chased by small horses and riders. Turns out, they wanted us to rent them in order to get to the crater which was a short hike away. Walking through the sand and flatter bits was easy enough but Nicola was running with less energy than Luke had ever seen her before, probably not helped that she hadn’t eaten anything. We had a slow and steady walk up to the top of the crater but it was quite steep and watching all the struggling tourists did make Luke chuckle (because he’s an asshole).
The eggy sulphur smell at the crater was now very potent and many had donned scarves or face masks. But the sound and sight was incredible - the gentle roaring of fissure with yellow streaks of sulphur lining the rock face and steam billowing out was frikin cool. A few pics, videos and selfies and we had to to run off because of our time limit to get back to the jeep. Nicola however was so exhausted that Luke arranged for her to get a horse down which was absolutely necessary and also good fun for her, having wanted to go horse riding again for a long time and what a view for it as well.
While our time keeping was spot on, our other tourer was far more tardy. Half an hour later she rocked up and looked as if she had been running around the car park looking for the jeep for that time. Sun was firmly out so having been slightly sun kissed we set off back to the hotel.
Nicola tried to crash out for an hour to recover while Luke grabbed coffee and breakfast from the rooftop view. Now he was properly sun kissed. Nicola unfortunately didn’t manage to sleep again as it was too cold but there was plenty of change to do that on the way to Ijen.
All the early morning activities done, we got in the minivan at 10am to journey from Cemorolawang to Ijen. Wholly uncomfortable, no seatbelts and asses completely numb while the driver recklessly overtakes on single carriageways throughout. Not dodgy at all. A short stop for lunch was overpriced and underwhelming but we eventually made it to Ijen where we sought out a restaurant and were luckily able to find something other than fried food served although it was probably the most unenergetic dinner date we’ve ever had. We crashed out as early as we could as the next day was a 12am start.
Nicola used sleep powder. It wasn’t very effective.
Alarms went off at 11.30pm so our body clocks were completely out of whack. There were 6 of us at the same hotel on the tour (4 frenchies who kept to themselves) and we picked up an American girl, Merissa, as we travelled to the Ijen start point sadly in the same van as the afternoon before. The drive was an hour and half so pretty much everyone conked out except Luke who had recently started listening to the LOTR audiobook so was a little too gassed to sleep.
We arrived at the Kaweh Ijen Blue Fire Tour start point and sat around for half an hour drinking an unbelievably bitty coffee and pumping Nicola with sugary tea in the hopes this would keep her functioning for the expected 3km hike before the trail opened at 2am. At this point we were provided with gas masks to protect from the severe exposure to sulphur gas.
Head torches donned, we set off up the incredibly steep route to the top of the Ijen crater. The 3km walk communicated to us was in fact a load of bullshit and in total it was 9km, 670m of elevation gain and to get to the blue fire in the crater a steep 200-300m decline (and incline to get back). Nicola did really well to just keep ploughing up the mountain despite the lack of energy and constant sicky feeling. The slow and steady approach with Luke carrying all her things (loves an additional weight training sesh) seemed to be working until we got near the top and like a street styley exorcism the demon inside of her was finally purged. To the credit of some they did ask whether she was alright as they slowly crawled up the hill. Two guys were very surprised to see us pass over them once it flattened out somewhat.
It reached a point where the sulphur smoke started to hit home and at this point everyone donned their gas masks. The things were incredibly uncomfortable, basically bruising Luke’s nose and having to be pushed down to ensure no creapage. Certainly wouldn’t be saving our lives in any real deadly gas dispersion.
Topping out at the crater walk, we were greeted with the sight of a load of head torches slowly climbing down a slightly slippery and fairly well trodden rock face. On hearing it was 900m to the blue fire, Luke lost his patience with the severe lack of clarity of the tour guide - distance and elevation are a completely different game (as I’m sure most of the people who were duped into a far more significant hike than their fitness levels would usually allow found out) and he was unable to confirm what was left. Nicola was struggling to breathe with the face mask on and getting up and down the crater would have pushed her too far so she made the very sensible decision to turn back and chill at the top of the crater. When she had exorcism number 2.
As it was only Luke now I will continue in my own words. It took a while to get down to the crater lake as a result of the darkness and a lot of people really were not steady on their feet. At the base was the ultimate aim for the trip and the blazing blue fire that lines some of the rock faces. The natural phenomenon is generated from a combination of molten lava rock meeting extremely high concentrations of sulphuric gases that emerge at extremely high pressure causing it to roar blue rather than red / orange.
Alongside the blue fire are a number of sulphur miners, armed with big ol metal poles to dig out recently cooled yellow sulphur blocks and then carry 120kg worth on one shoulder up the steep and not overly simple path of the crater and down the mountain by cart. Absolute beasts.
As with all these things there are a load of us tourists getting in the way of each other to take pictures and videos made slightly more challenging as everyone tries to avoid getting pushed into the 0.1PH lake next to the miners. Pretty chaotic but certainly not off putting - apparently on the previous Sunday there were 2,000 people and honestly cannot fathom how that many people got down there in a space that’s about 10mx40m.
The sun was now rising and we were able to take in the view of the surrounding crater, yellow sulphur clouds and full blown dissolve you lake as we very slowly sauntered up to the top where Nicola and I were reunited. Luke story time over.
Nicola with time and sitting down was able to return to some resemblance of normality but spent a few hours chatting to others who also decided against walking down the crater. Some were less than appropriately dressed for the climate at 2300m and naturally couldn’t stop shivering when not walking.
In the light we could appreciate just how steep the dark midnight climb was. Pretty good going.
Once everyone was back down we all jumped in the shitwagon and again fell in and out of consciousness. The driver even managed to drop Merissa off at a completely random location that wasn’t her hotel before driving off. She was asleep in the back and on the van stopping just got out without any questions. When we pulled up to her actual hotel a frantic bus driver and hotel staff had a very heated conversation before the hotel staff went to rescue her in their car. Save this shit driver thought.
Back at the hotel we were served a box breakfast (was surprisingly good) and were told by the driver we would leave at 10am for the ferry port. In the last act of pure idiocy from this driver, that consisted of driving like a nutcase, having the worst and dangerous van, changing all the timings we had with the tour operator and being unable to communicate time, he again fucked us over with his communication of time. Turns out holding out 10 fingers (which Luke double checked) means 9.10am. So done. Luke had already packed and was just about to have an hours kip before the fucker knocked on the door telling us (and the frenchies) he was leaving. After a short ‘you didn’t tell us this’ and that we needed 10 minutes, we met everyone else downstairs for the last ‘fuck this guy’ moment.
The ferry port was close by and once out of the van we quickly had to work out what we were doing and where we were going. We walked a little down the road from the ticket touts and settled on purchasing ferry tickets from a place that looked more official opposite the entrance of the ferry port. Tickets were only IDR30k so it was pretty easy.
The ticket lady helped us print the tickets which was great because we were hot and flustered and running on very little at this point. Once through the gates Luke asked everyone he could see to make sure we got on the right ferry, which seemed to have absolutely no fixed timetable - just turn up and see basically.
The ferry itself was grim but at least it was only 45 minutes. Locals filled the deck and everyone appeared to be chain smoking in a room that had zero air flow. Luke has lost about 10 years off his life from a combination of sulphur and smoke today so far and all before 11am.
[Seems to be a sensible point to close out Ijen and continue the day in Bali]
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