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We buy some hats in the morning for an eigth of the price offered last night by the salesmen outside the hotel.  We walk around and see the warning sign and some horses.

before packing our bags and leaving at 11:00 to Bondowoso. On the way we saw fields growing on an almost vertical slope and after 3 hours stopped at the beach to eat lunch at a near by cafe.  On the way out of the cafe Gerd stood on a cat. We then swam at the beach and Emma steps on something sharp which is not good as we need to climb up Ijen tonight.

On the way we pass the coal power stations that power most of Java and Bali.  Our driver says it’s well protected because it’s a terrorist target.

Up the hill away from the coast we climb towards Bondowosso and meet some groups of girls marching along the road.  We also see a bus that seems to have spinned around.  Our driver says this wasn’t here this morning.

At Bondowosso homestay we find a very clean new house with tidy rooms and shared bathrooms.  It’s very nice, and a shame we have to leave before midnight.  We eat at JoJo’s which has nice food and buy cakes at Fatima’s bakery.  Sam meets us to discuss our plans and hands us the gas masks.

We’re staying in Cafe Lava which is just on the edge of the safety zone around mount Bromo and on the edge of the “sea of sand”.

Some people went up the the viewpoint for the sunrise.  This is not something we’re going to be doing.  Walking down a “private” path with many threats about tickets (or is it a toll?) works with no hassle.  It’s only a half hour to cross the sea of sand to the temple and the path and staircase beyond.  Closer to the volcano the rocks get bigger.  They’re very light but still not the sort of thing you want to get hit by.

Emma and I soldier ahead while Alex and mummy are lagging a bit.

The Bromo crater looks a bit scary.   It hisses and burps, and someone has died falling into it not so long ago.  When the wind turns the smell is pretty unbearable.  I accidentally drop my notes and they are now an official offering to the Gods of Bromo.

On the way down the kids have some coke.  We are offered many rides, and one guy even goes for the “I have no money sir” when I refuse.

Back in the village we have lunch in Cafe Lava and get ready to climb to the viewpoints.

The first part is just a walk along a fairly flat road past fields and houses.  We see some dogs and some impossibly steep fields full of produce.  Even our driver the next day says these fields are crazy.

Lots of animals and construction materials on the way up.

We get to the first lookout point and meet some Polish guys from Krakow who make our photo.  There is a tiny path up the mountain that should take us to the top.  It’s getting a bit late so we agree to try the path for one hour, and then turn back so it won’t turn dark until we are on the main road.

We reach the top before dark!  Everyone is exhausted.

Disappointingly this is the only view of Semaru we get!

We have to go down quickly so we’re on the main road before dark.  Mum gets a bit lost and we have to send her back a bit so she finds the right path.  As we descend the main path we find a place that has nice coffee and battered banana.  We walk back in the dark and spot the southern cross.

 

 

Another early morning.  Although our hotel is almost next to the station, it’s the wrong station.  Apparently the “cattle class” trains go from a different station and a 15 minute taxi ride takes us to there.  No drama as we exchange our voucher code for real tickets, and after a 1 hour lounge the train arrives.

It’s not terrible full, but full enough that we can’t sit together.  The train conductor has a uniform the average dictator could be jealous of, and to top it he also has one or two armed military police to protect him (from political assassination, presumably).
After 10 hours or so we arrive in Probolinggo.

Probolinggo should have it’s own blog.  It’s hard to determine whether Probolinggo residents are just very resourceful or just plain corrupt.  But in their corruption they’re also ignorant to the point of stupidity.

The bus station if 10 minutes away from the train station, and any Indonesian would take a bemo there for 5-7K.  Of course the bemo would wait till it is full, but not for us – it goes straight away.  This is suspicious.  Suspicion is confirmed as the bemo tries to stop at various bus companies along the way, instead of taking us straight to the bus terminal.  And when I pay the guy, he wants 50K.  In the end he scoots off with 30K and a dent where my boot kicks his car (note: always make sure you have change).

Walking back the the bus station we do find the public busses have stopped.  So a guy offers us 35K each to go to Cemoro Lawang.  But this involves a fully crammed bus and some Spanish people complain this is not reasonable.  A big argument ensues and the driver wants 50K each.

Fortunately we form a group of 12 with some other travellers and offer a guy 500K to dive us up – he doesn’t blink an eyelid and says yes.  That’s 42K each or so, which is not bad.  When we leave the other bus driver is still bickering.  It’s more than an hour drive and quite dark when we get there.  We get a quite nice family apartment although we have to walk past an extremely smelly garbage patch to get to the restaurant.