The previous post ended with leaving Yogyakarta by train on to Malang, and who doesn’t like a scenic train ride?! It was a comfortable train, airconditioned and sold fried chicken! It was a 4 hour ride through central Java and some stunning scenery, lush paddy fields, hills covered in tropical trees and, well I took some videos as that is the best way to describe things.
Malang is the gateway to Mt Bromo, it has wide boulevards and architecture from the colonial days, a popular spot for weekends as it is higher up and has a cool climate. We had a walking tour of the town, an explanation of the road names that had been inherited from the Dutch. We then had a chance to visit the Malang flower and bird market.
Lawrens, our guide, explained to the group that birds are the preferred pets for men, they spend time playing with them, giving them showers and spending more time with them than their wives. I thought back to all those films set in the Far East that I have seen and they always had those big bird cages with colourful birds!!
I have to admit that the animal market was hard to walk through, saw some not very nice things, dogs in small cages etc. but who are we to critisize how other cultures live?
After a few hours drive, we ended up transferring into Jeeps in a little town called Cemoro Lawang and then drove to the Tengger Semeru National Park. Mount Bromo lies in the middle of a huge crater called the ‘Sea of Sand’, which is a protected reserve. There are a total of five volcanoes inside the crater including Mount Bromo, which is active.
The crater was just stunning, a sea of lava sand as far as the eye could see, jagged landscape which created a very moody atmosphere. We were due to have a 3 hour trek across the sand but it had been raining so time was tight and so it was a short walk! The plan was to walk up the side of the mountain to the edge of the crater. I took one look at the incline and I decided I was not going to do that – I know my limitations! I was still recovering from Covid so didn’t want to push it – well that was my excuse anyway ;-).
From what the others said, the inside was bubbling and hissing with a sulphur smell, basically I didn’t miss much! I sat on a rock and watched walkers come and go, some took horses up the hill but I couldn’t bring myself to do that, they look frail and tired – the horses I mean! It was a lovely, contemplative 45 mins and the scenery was contstantly changing with the rain clouds and the sun going down.
See what I mean? It is stunning scenery! We spent that night at The Lava View Lodges, it was chilly so high up! It was like a ski lodge with amazing views over the National Park and we could see Mt Bromo and the smoke billowing out.
We had an easy and quiet morning the next day as the cloudy weather put paid to the sunrise walk to see the morning view over the crater, can’t say that I was too dissapointed.
Our next stop was Kilibaru….. gateway to Bali.
Bit of a P.S. – I have to remember that I actually enjoy recording the travels and experiences of my life, and I am not really fussed if people want to read them or not – it is everyone’s choice. I think that for me, it is an opportunity to look through all the pictures and videos and re live the trip. I often look through my previous posts from Vietnam and Cambodia, think about how amazing it all was and that I was actually there, meeting people, learning the language and being more than just a tourist.
I also realise how fortunate I am to be able to explore the world and I am really proud to have been able to share so much of my travelling adventures with Rajiv and Ajay, my blood family, my Taunton family, my USA family and the Clayesmore sisters. Be it Bologna or Bombay, Kuai or Kuala Lumpur – it is all just amazeballs 🙂
Adventures of Nisha 