Indonesia 2000, Part 12

SATURDAY 8 JULY

This was one of the four best days of Indonesia. (Maninjau, Kerinci and Dieng being the others.)
It started very early. Too early in fact for, though we were meant to be ready at 3:30am, we had
to be woken up a little after. Went on the backpacker bus to the start of the hike to the top of
Gunung Bromo. 

Gunung Bromo, an active volcano, is at the centre of the ancient Tengger crater and, along with
Gunung Seneru, is part of the spectacular Bromo-Tengger-Seneru National Park. The Tengger crater
stretches 10km across with steep walls plunging down to a vast, flat sea of sand. From the crater
floor emerge the smoking Bromo (2329m), the perfect cone Batok (2440m) and Kursi (2581m). Outside
of the Tengger crater stands the highest mountain in all of Java, Seneru. The whole landscape
looks quite spectacular; one of the best sights that I’ve ever visited; a wonder of God’s
creation.  
  
Dropped off at the village of Cemor Lawang, the hike to the to the crater rim of Bromo took about
an hour, 100 metres of which were by horse. (Thought we’d be late for Sunrise but in the dark
couldn’t see how far the horses could take us.) Many, many others, most of whom were Indonesians
including a group from Malang who’d come to practice English with us foreigners, had gathered on
the rim for the sunrise too. (Man, I feel so good when I write about Indonesia!) I think this was
the first time that I’d consciously made an effort to see the Sunrise.  Very nice but not
spectacularly spectacular though. I was too busy talking and think that I missed the moment when
the Sun first came over the horizon.

The views from the rim were more than spectacular though. As the Lonely Planet aptly, for once,
put it, “it had a strange end of the world feeling”. After the Sun had completely risen and we’d
said goodbye to some of the backpackers who came with us from Yogya and who were all heading for
Bali straightaway, we went for a walk around the rim of Bromo. (Man, I wish I could do that walk
all over again! Some things have to be revisited!)  

A quarter of the way around the rim we came across an extinct crater on the other side of the
Bromo rim. Went down to the flat, black sanded floor that stretched at least half a km across with
steep walls rising up all sides.  I went down on my own first and it was a very peaceful and
liberating feeling to be isolated in a crater like that. Mustafa then came down with a 19-year old
from Malang who was on the way to climbing Senaru. Respect!

Got up to the rim and continued around the crater. The views of the National Park got better and
better, with the best views coming at the summit. Wow! The moonscape, the smoking Seneru, the
caldera of Bromo, the vast, flat sea of sand, the cone of Batok, wow! I took pictures obviously
but with sights like that being there is more than enough. Pictures can never capture the beauty
and magnificence of it all. Please go to the Bromo-Tengger-Seneru National Park, my friends.

As much as I loved it, we had to come down. From the base of Bromo, after much bargaining, rode
horses back to Cemor Lawang. My horse’s keeper let me ride on my own all the way; Mustafa’s wasn’t
so generous. I loved it so much that we decided to go riding on the sand floor of the crater after
breakfast. 

Breakfast was good but the horse riding to follow was wow! I was meant to ride for only an hour
but ended doing nearly two! It was brilliant! Rode across to the other side of the crater, first
across the sand sea and then over light bushes. (Mustafa did something else, almost losing his
camera in the process.) Man, it was so cool! Even Clint Eastwood would’ve been impressed! I’d
always wanted to something like this. It felt so great!

Horse riding isn’t actually all that difficult though it was difficult for my butts, which were
very sore afterwards despite adding some of my clothes for extra cushioning! And, unfortunately,
it was difficult for the horse too for it was sweating quite heavily after I’d finished. (I rode
through it’s feeding and drinking time.) I can’t wait to get to Mexico and start riding again!
Cycling is great but horse riding is even better!!!

After a drink we took a motorbike taxi  (yes, three adult men on one bike!) to the top of Gunug
Pananjakan to get the ultimate view of Bromo-Tengger-Seneru. Unfortunately, the clouds had got up
by then and we didn’t get clear views despite hanging around a while in hope. The view was still
good but not the stunning postcard one that I sent home and to you, Imran. Had it not been cloudy,
this would’ve been the best day of Indonesia for me.

Took another motorcycle down Penanjankan, across the sea of sand and up to Ngadisari. Prayed,
slept, prayed, ate only a little for we didn’t have much money, and slept again. (Only three hours
of sleep the night before, and not many more the preceding nights left us very tired.) 


SUNDAY 9 JULY

In Yogyakarta, we’d booked our passage all the way to Denpasar, Bali. So we were obliged to travel
with backpackers again. After a very light breakfast (lunch was also very bare with only rice and
chili/tomato sauce for me as we didn’t have much money. Thought we had just enough but despite me
escaping from a toilet without paying we were caught short by the government tax! They let us off
anyway.) we headed off at about 9am but within the first 15 minutes the bus broke down! And again
in Probolingo it had trouble. We were due in Denpasar at about 6pm but I had a strong suspicion
that we weren’t gonna make it!

It was already Maghrib time on the ferry from Java to Bali. Unfortunately, though the ferry was
full of Muslims, we saw only two others pray in the musollah. We were gonna do the Azhan out aloud
but asked the brother we prayed with to do it. Unfortunately he didn’t do it loud enough.

Before praying I witnessed an incident which really disgusted me. I was talking to this guy from
East Java who was responsible for taking the group to Bali and putting us on buses to Denpasar,
Kuta, Sanur, etc. We were talking about the difference between Lombok and Bali but anyway, there
were these two French girls who were passing by us. He said hello to them and asked where they
were going, as he’d already asked the group to keep together.  They looked back for a second but
totally ignored him after that and kept on walking. He called again but they kept ignoring. It
totally disgusted me and though I’d never do something like that I felt ashamed to be a traveler
and be associated with such people.  

I was thinking about how he must have felt, the thing that these people don’t seem to do or care
for. I say these people as I’ve seen such incidents of tourists ignoring locals on many, many
other occasions on this tour. I don’t think one should even ignore hawkers. They are just trying
to make a living, after all. A simple “thank you, but sorry but I’m not interested” leaves them
happier even though you haven’t given them any custom. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to like
following the Lonely Planet’s advice: “the best way to deal with hawkers is to ignore them from
the first instance. Eye contact is crucial – don’t make any!” Bastards! I’m sorry, but it makes me
so angry!

Anyway, we made it to Denpasar at about 11pm. Had to share a taxi with four Frenchies, two of whom
are mentioned above, to the centre of town. The bus driver wouldn’t drop us off there even though
that was his remit. It just so happened that there were taxis waiting for us there. Though we’d
agreed on a price before hand, the driver tried to charge us more, but we weren’t gonna tolerate
any of it, obviously. Welcome to Bali!

To find beds, eat, check e-mail and sleep were the final missions of the day. All happened within
100metres.  


MONDAY 10 JULY

Had a good night’s sleep – Denpasar was a lot warmer than Bromo. Checked out from the guesthouse
and went to issue our plane tickets to Brunei and Australia. Though we’d confirmed our bookings in
Jakarta there was a problem and we were no longer booked on the flight from Bander Seri Bagawan to
Perth, though the Bali-Bander trip was ok. But they said that they could get us a ticket for the
day that we wanted (22nd July) by the next day and if not, would book us on the 25th. We weren’t
gonna be around the next day so agreed to pay the fare in advance of actually being booked on to
flights.
  
There was a surcharge of 3% for credit card payments and an awful rate of exchange so we went to a
bank to get the money out. They were also gonna charge through the roof for cash withdrawal. We
were heading for another bank but stopped to have brunch and then e-mailed for about an hour. Got
money out eventually and paid for the tickets, all the time asking what if they scank us, but they
looked a reputable company. But isn’t that always the way…

Denpasar is a very busy place. The traffic noise, congestion and pollution seemed to be worse than
that of Jakarta even though it’s a fraction of the size. But the streets were smaller and it was
the holiday season. Anyway, we weren’t planning on spending much time there.

Went to a masjid to pray Zuhr, to Madinah Bakeries for some yummy looking cakes, which weren’t as
good, and then it was time to head for Lombok. Took a bemo to the bus station, where we were
greeted with salams. Prayed Asr at the musollah, hung around for a while (having some food whilst
waiting) before the first minibus for the ferry port of Padangbai departed.

Took the 9pm ferry to Lembar with a car-rental company worker from Bali who gave us a lot of
useful practical information about Lombok. Was planning on catching up on some writing but didn’t
do much besides praying and sleeping.

Arrived in Lembar at about 1am and took another minibus to Mattaram’s Cakranegara district where
we were to spend the night.