Mount Bromo trip

Escaped from the city for a couple of days before exams and study set in, down to Mt Bromo in East Java. We left at about 930 on Thursday morning (they said 8, typical indo rubber time), and went by luxury mini-bus... it was really nice lol. It was thru a tour company so we just paid and they took car of the minibus there, the hotel, the tours, brekkie and getting back... such a cruisy trip! There were a couple of American hippies heading the same way so they came along with us. Met heaps of foreigners, I didnt realise it was such a tourist trap! Mount Bromo is an active volcano in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru national park (the other attractions are surprisingly, Mount Tengger and Mount Semeru...) and seems to draw everyone on their way thru. It took about ten hours to get there, sounds like a long time, but it didnt feel like it... just felt like a luxury relaxing trip to Smithton, with reclining chairs and tinted windows and air con! We stopped at a restaurant in Madiun, a town about 3 hours outof Jogja, and had lunch... obviously the drivers get a commission for bringing us there... another three tour minibuses pulled up after us! By the time we got to Probolinggo it was dark and we were a bit anxious to get there but we had to change buses and pick up some extra passengers to get to Bromo itself. We arrived and the hotel was such a relief! We got our rooms and had some dinner... and it was a bit cold! Not like freezing, bit like Hobart weather, so i wasnt cold. I had a jumper and was just comfortable but the others hired ski jackets! I was feeling a bit stubborn, I mean how cold could it get, in Indonesia? I told them Id wait and see what the weather was like in the morning and maybe get a ski jacket then but they were so insistent! Noone is more stubborn than an Indonesian wanting to sell you something.. so i got one, grumpily and determined that i wouldnt need it. But ok, I admit I was wrong... We got up at 3 the next morning, it was a bit fresh but didnt feel the need for the jacket. We hopped in our jeep, one of the American-style ones with sideways seats in the back, and headed off up into the mountains with a couple of other european tourists, and it was like a race to the top! A whole convoy of jeeps, semi racing to get to the top! We arrived, got out and ohmygod it was freezing! We had to walk up a couple of streets, past ten or so shops selling scarves and beanies and hot coffee, who must make a killing, to the lookout and it was so windy, so cold I could see my breath! At the top was a bit of a shelter, all nicely developed and it cut out the wind so we could watch the sun rise above the hills and bring out the shape of the volcanoes. There mustve been about 50 people there, lots of people with pro cameras and tripods... i did my bit as an amateur paparazzi and snapped away. There was a guy there trying to sell batteries and rolls of film... it was just beautiful. There are about five volcanoes I think. The whole area is actually in an old volcano crater 10km wide, and Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo are still active. Mt Semeru is the tallest volcano in Indonesia, and it nicely put on a show of steam and ash for us. We stayed there for quite a while, it was so gorgeous and the sun was so warm... We left again in our jeep in a convoy of about five others and headed to Mt Bromo itself, the major drawcard for the area. From the first lookout, located on a hill on the outskirts of the original massive crater, we went down and had to cross a huge desert of grey sand (the Sea of Sand they call it), yet another jeep race (never mind the poor people getting thrown around in the back!). We stopped at the entrance and couldnt resist hiring horses to take us to the Bromo crater... Ive never ridden a horse before, but these were smaller breeds, a good way to start off! Mine was nice and slow anyway, the owner started off leading him and then gave me the reins! I didnt have to do much, a bit of steering here, a pull on the reins there. It was a bit hilly, but little Dekok and I made it. The horses stop short of the crater and we climbed up about 250 very VERY steep stairs to the edge of the crater. It was amazing- a bit scary- its still active, and was letting out heaps of steam from cracks in the base. I think it last erupted in 2003 (only spitting stones, no lava) but you could see where the lava had once flown out across the Sea of Sand towards the outer crater. We rode back down and then got the jeep to the hotel. I didnt realise in the dark, but our hotel was sitting right on the edge fo the outer crater, just below the first lookout and had the most amazing view over the area! So we ate our banana pancakes (actual pancakes thise time) sitting outside watching Mt Bromo and Semeru smoking in the distance. Our bus trip back out of the national park was a bit more crowded. Met an english couple backpacking around Asia for a year, and a German guy finding his path around the world solo. The trip back down to Jogja was a bit longer on the way back... plenty of time to catch up on some reading and zzzzzz's... :) Beautiful place. Ten hours may sound like a long way to go to see a volcano or five but I loved it. Just like a really long Sunday drive, its really nice to just watch and see new places, watch the island go by. Definitely worth all of it :)