September 22, 2006
To Mt. Bromo: Taking a ride up the mountain
Our plans have changed a bit. We don't wait for the breakfast at the Aloha Hotel. As soon as it is light, we hit the road only after some crackers and an apple. After the long day yesterday, we are both tired and don't feel up to another long ride today.
Going around the South side of Mt. Semeru would mean a climb and probably no hotel for about 47km to Malang. Instead, we decide to head North for Probolinggo and see Mt. Bromo from there, just as Patrick did 13 years ago. It's about 52 km to Probolinggo, a long steady climb followed by a long descent. We change plans again, instead of spending the afternoon in the big city with nothing much to do we cut across just South of Probolinggo to the road that leads up to Ngadasan and Cemora Lanang on the rim of Mt. Bromo.
We are not planning to cycle up there though and the people know it as soon as we pull up on the main road again. It takes less than 15 minutes to negotiate a price, unload the bikes and hoist them on the roof rack and stacking our gear inside the mini-van. Another 10 minutes later we set off, slowly driving down the road, the assistant trolling for more people going our way. We get a pretty good deal, 40,000 Rp for about 40km, all of them steeply uphill. Many locals join us for part of the way, each paying about 1000Rp to the driver's assistant. As we pass a school we load up maybe a dozen kids or more, so many one is still hanging off the roof ladder with the assistant besides him.
As we get higher, we lose most of the other passengers, they finally drop us off at the very highest point. Right on the crater rim there is a hotel mentioned in the LP. We look over the main Mt. Bromo crater, maybe 5km across with towering crater rim on all sides. In the middle is an extinct new dome and right next to it is the new Mt. Bromo crater spewing white smoke and sulfur gasses. Patrick checks out a room, haggles a bit to get the price down and settle for a fairly large room with two twin beds and a hot water shower. At this altitude it is not tropical warm, cool enough to really enjoy a hot shower. The bikes fit nicely in the room, and we clean up first before we eat because the kitchen is still closed while the Muslim cook is praying. For 125,000 Rp we have a first-class view right out of our room.
After we eat, we regain some energy and decide to walk down to the crater floor and head for Bromo. The downhill trail switch backs steeply through a thick layer of dust. Walking across the sand sea is like walking on the beach, it is hard and slow going. At the volcano, the soil becomes more solid, but we have to climb up a ridge to a long concrete staircase leading to the rim. At first, we do not see much, the whole crater is filled with smoke. Some nasty intense whiffs of sulfur make us not want to explore around the rim where we could not head down quickly if the gasses got too bad. We hang out at the top of the stairs for a while, a guy tries to sell us a bouquet of something to toss into the crater, surely for good luck. Then the wind shifts, and we get a clearer view of the bottom of the crater; no molten lava but a vent that belches white smoke. We walk back the way we came, but then decide to take the jeep road to the rim instead of the dusty trail. It is really steep but easier going.
We eat dinner at the hotel restaurant and go to bed very early, it's only about 7pm but we have signed up for a sunrise tour to a viewpoint real early in the morning.
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Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 520 km (323 miles)
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