Another hiking trip that I enjoy! Totally planned by @theguytravel who happens to be an industry friend that spotted the same common interest to visiting Bromo and Ijen.
Arrived on a Jetstar Surabaya flight booked from ZUJI SG at noon for a 4 hour drive to the town of Bromo. We had our dinner nearby before settling in our cheap hostel for an early night.
Scrambled up at 3am, took a jeep to drive up G.Bromo for a spectacular sunrise. It was drizzly and cold (it took one colombia baselayer + uniqlo down jacket + oakley wind breaker + long john + a pair of jeans to keep me relatively just chilly).
Reached at 415am and walked 5mins towards the view point. At 5am , there were so many people in the view point and we had to stand to view the sunrise that never came. LOL. I had to make do with whatever that came alone so I took people getting their selfies, 60s long exposure of skies etc. Thank goodness for my Ricoh GR, small and handy. It allowed me to enjoy the trip much more than carrying a DSLR. =D
Clouds covered the entire sky so what we saw was just flat blue skies. That said, i did capture some selfie moments by the visitors, some nice blue starry nights at a longer exposure to filter away human movements etc.
We proceeded to another viewing point to capture the standard Mount Bromo view. At least we got that!
Next was to go to Bromo Crater! This is the most magical place for photo taking where the light comes through perfectly, making all images looking stunningly pretty.
To reach the Crater, it was a 2km walk and it was tough for me (fitness level have dropped real bad). A visit to whispering sands was also amazing, where you do see the sand whisper along with the blowing wind (best described with a video than a static image, attached below at the end of this blog)
Next stop before The 7-hour ride to Ijen is to first visit Madakaripuka waterfall. It is a 5min bike ride into the entrance plus 2 hours round trip walk to the amazing waterfall. Remember to buy the rain jackets that they sell at 10k. Must buy!!! It was quite an positive experience (to have leech on my feet, to walk under an actually waterfall etc), lucky to have theguytravel plan all this crazy stuff!
7hours car ride to Ijen next. We caught some rest and moved off at 1.30am. i packed much lesser, hopefully it aint as cold as Bromo.
We hiked off at 330am upon arrival and reached the crater at about 4 plus 5. It was a steep hike, reminded me of the hike up tigernest bhutan. Local miners are amazing, they could hike up and down with loads up to 90kg and a few times daily.! They also offered taxi services up the mountain too.
Photo opportunity wise, i got a few night long exposures along the way and am pleased with what i got. =D
Up at the crater, we did not manage to see the blue fire as it was too bright to see it. It is supposed to be where the sulphur emits from the crater. The colour of the crater’s lake reminds of the brand Tiffany and co, just that it didnt smell as great.
As we were about to leave, the wind direction changed towards us. We got our first hand experience of breathing in sulphur and having it bite our eyes. I cannot imagine how the miners have to go through this daily!
Okay! Thats the end of our expedition, we are on a 7hour drive back to Surabaya for our urban lifestyle.
The next 1.5 days were spent on feasting on japanese food, my fave soto ayam with rice and lastly, A&W. That has to be on the list for most if not all Singaporeans!!! I was supposed to be on a 1500 calories per day and the last day with A&W brought it all the way to a 2kish but totally worth it!
There are 3 small video clips at the end of the image, which contains a viewpoint of Bromo (me doing a 360 degree selfie), Whispering sand in the blowing wind (MUST SEE!) and lastly, Ijen crater view (360 without myself inside). =D
For the interested ones, these images were mainly taken with my Ricoh GR (and some are from my mobile phone Huawei Mate 9)
Enjoy!
Itinerary from the Bromo Agent
WED-12 APR – DAY 1 : SINGAPORE – SURABAYA – CEMORO LAWANG/BROMO AREA
1210H : Arrive SUB Airport (JQ247)
1230H : Pick up from airport,lunch along the way
1330H : Head to Cemoro Lawang
1630H : Arrive Homestay : BROMOIJEN Homestay
THUR- 13 APR – DAY 2 : CEMORO LAWANG – MADAKARIPURA – BANYUWANGI
0300H : By Jeep bromo midnight trip to penanjakan 1
0400H : Reached Penanjakan 1 and enjoy sunrise Bromo
0530H : To the crarer of Bromo
0600H : Enjoy Bromo crater
0700H : Go on a trip to Whispering sands
0730H : Enjoy Whispering sands
0800H : To Padang Savanna
0830H : Back to Hotel for spotless clean,breakfast around the homestay and check out
1130H : Reached Madakaripura
1400H : To continue the journey to Panorama Homestay/Banyuwangi, on the way lunch at Pasir Putih Beach
1900H : Arrive Panorama Homestay- Dinner at Homestay – Rest
FRI-14 APR – DAY 3 : BANYUWANGI -IJEN TOUR – SURABAYA
0000H : 1.5 hours drive to paltuding
0130H : Arrive Paltuding, buy entrance ticket – walk 3 km to the summit – 1 km down inside the crater
0330H : Enjoy the blue fire – go up to the summit for sunrise
0515H : Enjoy Sunrise
0630H : Arrive paltuding parking area – Back to Homestay
0800H : Arrive Homestay – shower – breakfast
1000H : 7 hours drive to Surabaya (depending the traffic)
1700H : Arrive Ina Simpang Hotel Surabaya
1730H : Finish Program
Price per pax excluding personal tips to driver: 1.650.000 idr/person (I do recommend giving tips as they really do their very best as a guide)
Include:
- Private car(AC), gasoline, driver, parking toll
- Private Jeep in Bromo (view point penanjakan and crater)
- 1 night homestay in Bromo exclude breakfast
- All Entrance ticket bromo
- Mineral water
- Free Wifi
- Professional gas mask to see blue fire
- Taxi motobike in Madakaripura (Somehow they charged us 20k per way for this when we were there)
- Entrance ticket Madakaripura
- Local guide Madakaripura
- Local guide ijen for blue fire and Sunrise
Exclude:
- Any personal expense
- Entrance ticket ijen
- Tour Guide
- Homestay in ijen
BIGBert 