I flew to Surabaya, a city in the East of the island of Java. My plan was to meet my friend Bana there. In the plane I was receiving a super strong headache, which was just really painful. I am not a person who takes medicine easily, but I had to do it, the pain was just too much. They gave me pain killers and it got better. The same happened during the flight from Berlin to Singapore, such a weird thing.
A series of getting ripped off
Before emigrating to get officially in the country, it was necessary to pay for the visa and the exchange rate while paying with Euros was really bad. Didn’t know, that I should have paid with card, which then could be better.
After that I was getting ripped off at the Sim Card, where I even got the half price off. The sim card at the end didn’t work, they were not activating my sim card and didn’t give me data, which I just realized in a specific shop some days later. Wait there until it is activated, your phone registered and the internet is working, that will make the start of your trip better.
People tried to get me into their car, while saying that there is no bus going. I hate when people need to lie to me, in order to get my money. Many people would probably fall for it, which is really terrible from them in my opinion. I was luckily making it to the bus, which was way cheaper!
When I was at the main bus stop in Surabaya, the people were surrounding me to sell me stuff, this is at most places kind of normal but still annoying. Indonesia definitely had a bad start!
Meeting my friend
I was struggling to contact him, because my sim card wasn’t working and I didn’t know exactly where he was. I tried to get into every possible wifi, which all haven’t worked. Luckily the locals were helping me with that issue and I was able to contact him.
It was such a relief when I saw him, because I knew I wasn’t alone anymore and that I could only get better from now. I was still a bit afraid of this trip, due to what was mentioned a few personal blog posts ago.
We had no time to lose, so after getting money out of an ATM, it was time to get a bus to Probolinggo, to get from there to the Bromo volcano. The bus ride was hell for me, always people coming in who were singing badly in order to get money. I mean they tried to sing properly, but it was just bad! It was hot and yeah, the good thing was that Baba was there as well and we were able to talk in German about many topics. It was cool having him there, because he planned everything and also was in that region longer already. We haven’t seen each other for the last three years, which was then adding to it good as well.
After some hours, we finally made it to Probolinggo!
It was finally time for some food, the hunger was strong. We went to a little shop on the side of the street, which was recommended by a local. Bana was eating Nasi Goreng, which is the most popular food there. I was getting it without chicken, but with egg.
It was just some basic food, but the store looked a bit like upcoming food poisoning, which luckily didn’t happen! The food wasn’t amazing but also not bad. We were basically just waiting for a ride, to get up to the mountain village, for proper getting to the volcano after.
We wanted to get into a shared minibus, but due to it not being a weekend, not many people were driving up there. At the end we ended up meeting a Dutch couple, with whom we were sharing the over one hour ride up the mountain. It wasn’t that expensive and also just getting up there was good. We had to pay the entrance fee of the little village, which was surprising, but a thing.
It was dark when we arrived, but the driver helped us with a cheap accommodation, also cheap compared to others on the internet. There are cheaper options, but they are really far away from getting to the volcano.
The accommodation and the night
Nobody was expecting any type of luxury and that is also what we got. Two beds in the room with a bathroom in an extra room. It was moldy in the bathroom and also the room didn’t seem to be great. Water was dropping down, luckily not on my side!
The wifi was only working downstairs, so basically outside of the house.
It was a good location, like really good for reaching everything nearby. We went to a restaurant at night and that was the first time we saw many tourists. It was a quite fancy looking restaurant with fair prices, not much more expensive than down the mountain.
My sleep was quite good, it was just too short! We went to bed quite late and had to get up at 3am. I was still doing something before leaving.
Hiking at 3 in the morning!
We were meeting up with the Dutch couple to save some money together and hike up King Kong Hill, which was a few hours walking from where we were. First along the street, while getting passed by the tourists paying money. They had to get up early but were taking a long break to have some coffee. That would actually annoy me getting up so early for basically no reason, they could have slept longer.
We were hiking up in the dark on some mountain, going through bushes and were just hoping that everything was correct. We were not alone and were meeting other Europeans, who were walking the hill up with us together. It was such fucked up experience, which still kind of was fun, but really exhausting. Being up at the hill, many other tourists were waiting as well for the sunrise. It was crazy how many people visited that place.
The sunrise
When finally the sunrise came, it wasn’t as surprising as I’ve been told from Bana. He said that it is a must do thing when going to Bromo. Sadly I can’t agree with him. It was for sure a nice view, but getting up at three and hiking so long there for the sunset. Unnecessary. You could just go there during the day and still have a great view of the volcano Bromo.
We were walking down as one of the last actually, because most people were doing the same. Getting quickly down from Bromo and making it to Bromo itself. Driving with the jeep there and quickly getting up the volcano. This was exactly what our plan was as well, but we were just taking the Donkey Path.
Let’s go to Bromo
It was already a bit later and the sun came out. After having some lunch, we were walking to Bromo over the Donkey Path. When we arrived down the valley it felt so weird. Such an open area and being surrounded by mountains. It looked like being on another planet, but I really enjoyed it. The tourists were creating a camp in the dry land with all the jeeps.
We had to walk from the entrance of the path, all the way up to Bromo. It was hot, even though we were high up with elevation, we still were ending up in feeling the heat of the sun. It was hard to handle for me, but I didn’t want to walk all the distance for no reason.
We walked the many stairs up to Bromo and it is a massive volcano, which is still active. After being up there, I felt scared a bit, due to the height. Also because we were walking along the creator, where no fence was anymore. Just you and the volcano. I wasn’t expecting to be so afraid, especially because it wasn’t my first active volcano which I visited.
I was super happy when being down again on safe ground. Bromo is a really amazing volcano, which is for sure recommended. I liked it a lot
Bana and I were having plans for something else, but the plans changed, read this in the next Personal Blog Post!
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