Smoking volcanoes

We left Ubud and headed to Denpasar to catch a bus that would take us from Bali to Java. As we boarded the bus, the TV was playing Indonesian Karaoke, we had visions of people getting up and singing for the next 10 hours, much to our relief, the TV was switched off as the bus pulled away. Most Indonesians seem to drive like they are possessed and our bus driver was no exception despite it being a 52 seater coach. Every single small gap in traffic was an overtaking opportunity not to be missed irrespective of how close the oncoming traffic was.
After about 7 hours, we stopped for dinner which was included in our fare. This caused much amusement amongst fellow passengers as the menu was completely in Indonesian – everyone was looking at us as we were advised by the cafe owner what was what. By now we were well off the usual tourist trail and there was much interest in Em & I – more to follow on this.
We eventually arrived in Probolinggo, this was to be our rest stop for the night. We found somewhere to stay and had spotted a KFC when we came into town. Whilst I am slightly ashamed to admit it, we feasted on the Colonel’s finest chicken that night – sometimes you just have to do it!
The following morning we went in search of transport to Cemoro Lawang, a small village in the mountains which is the base for seeing the active volcano Gunung Bromo. After quite a long of hanging around in for enough people to fill a mini van, we finally set off for the hour’s journey which winds up the mountain side to Cemoro Lawang. When we got there, we checked into our lodgings and booked a sunrise trip to Bromo for the following morning. We had a look around the village, at one stage we were almost mobbed by a bunch of school kids who wanted to have their photo taken with us – there would be a recurring theme of random strangers wanting photo’s of us.

Bromo at sunrise

As we were so high up it was refreshingly cool, particularly at 3am when we had to get up! We squished into a 4 x 4 with 4 others and then trundled up to an old extinct volcano to see the sunrise over Bromo. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy, but the mists cleared for a couple of minutes to give us a decent view.

Bromo at sunrise

Bromo view

We then drove to Bromo, and climbed what felt like 10,000 steps up the side of the volcano! Although I exaggerate with the steps, we were really high up and it was pretty challenging due to the reduction of oxygen in the air! The volcano was pretty amazing, as it was smoking, fortunately no eruptions while we were there. After our early start, we then went back to the hotel for breakfast (jam sandwiches!) and then we were off to Jogyakarta, on yet another epic 10 hour bus journey.

Bromo - smoking!

Probolinggo, Indonesia