I bumped into Yejun recently and he asked me what was the outcome of the competition. I was surprised. I thought nobody cared and I could pretend I never joined this competition and move on with life. I was wrong. It spiced up my life for awhile and created conversations between me and my friends. But honestly, joining this competition has ruined me. I became obsessed with traffic and it makes me cringe whenever I find myself moving my dirty mouse to the Stats button. The current state of disequilibrium I'm experiencing right now reminds me of the day I said goodbye to Pejoy in 2009. I'm having difficulties gathering my thoughts and writing about my next trip. While you were feeling sick and tired of seeing Tap Zoo Fail every time you come here, I was reading the posts I wrote in the past and searching for the old me. I'm amazed at how well I articulated my emotions and crafted my adventures. I feel so incompetent with my writing skills now. So dear readers, in case you're still wondering, I thought I should at least let you know that I did not win the Singapore Blog Awards. As I close this short chapter of my life, I want to remember it as a milestone. I have no idea how many people still drop by here. If you are still following faithfully, thank you for not quitting on me.
I finally pushed the orange Publish button.
I finally pushed the orange Publish button.
The sunrise tour by jeep to Penanjakan and Bromo takes about 4 hours return. By 8.30am, most of the jeeps would have returned to Cemoro Lawang. If you're visiting Bromo on foot, you should set off at 8am and allow at least 2 to 3 hours return. Follow how the Tenggerese dress. Cover yourself up with a blanket, wear mask, beanie, boots and sunglasses (or better still motorcycle helmet). It's a sand storm out there. Ain't called Sea of Sand for nothing.
As soon as the passengers got down, they started flapping their jackets and knocking sand out of their shoes. They looked like they just had a fight in the sand. Gulp.
Ion waited with us for at least 30mins and managed to help us get a jeep that's willing to take us to PHKA post for Rp 10,000 pp. While waiting, I watched in envy as these school children skipped past us.
We started walking down to the Sea of Sand at 10am. Horse-men were heading home.
That's how strong the wind was.
Selling drinks on the Moon
We left the misleading stone markers leading to Mt Batok
and walked towards the Poten temple. A blue truck was parked outside
the newly constructed temple.
Dragon chefs guarding the Hindu temple
They followed me uphill for quite a distance, hoping I'll give up and take their horses. I didn't respond so one of them stopped following while the remaining one continued. He told me to take my time in Chinese. How'd he know reverse psychology works on me?
Just when we were looking for the stairs up the volcano, we met a solo traveller and he gladly pointed the way to the flight of crumbling stairs.
Standing on the edge of the windswept crater was more terrifying than I thought.
Workers rushed up at noon and looked into the volcano in silence.
I was staring at the smoke when somebody's cap flew into the volcano and everyone went "Woah~~~"
Can I slide my way down?
To avoid late checkout charges, we hopped onto his ojek back to Cemoro Lawang.
We were running really late and there wasn't any public transport in sight so we got on his ojek again. It was fun dangling my feet in the air as we zoomed our way back to Yoschi.
As soon as we got down at Yoschi, we did exactly what the guys in the first photo did - flap our jackets and knock sand out of our shoes. Can't wait to have a good hot shower!
It's a relatively easy climb up to the viewpoint which takes about 2 hours return. No need to drag yourself up at 3.30am, gobble down your toast in the jeep, stand in the cold waiting for something that doesn't exist and vie with tourists for photographs. You may not even have to pay for entrance fees (Rp 25,000) because no one checks! ;)
We started at 10am. It's a quiet and pleasant walk to the top
except for the occasional clouds of sand. She ain't bothered by it though.
Past wooden cottages,
lovely hills
and a bed of flowers.
Halfway up, I was thrilled to see smoke rising out of Semeru!
Anybody up there?
Nobody
That's Cemoro Lawang where we just came up from.
Penanjakan after sunrise. Happy Volcano Birthday!
Lunch was at Cafe Lava. Lalapan Ayam (Rp 20,000) was filled with raw vegetables (later I found out that lalapan means fresh vegetables) neatly arranged on a big plate. The saving grace was that small plate of chilli sauce.
We had planned to visit Bromo after lunch but by mid day, the sun had disappeared and it was all foggy. Waited at least 45 mins to an hour for public transport back to Yoschi. I started having a temperature and slept the rest of the afternoon till the prayers woke me up...
Tugu Pahlawan, Surabaya
