Sunrise at Bromo, Sunset in Bali

When we first arrived at our Mount Bromo accomodation, we were pretty impressed.  The place seemed very... well, rustic, feeling almost like a Swiss Chalet.  Even though it was dark, we could see that the grounds were very scenic, full of winding paths leading to the various houses.  We sat in the restaurant and one of the first things we noticed were Javanese massages for only 20,000 rupias -- about $2 US!  What a deal!  Sara, Liz and I quickly called dibs, effectively tying up the masseuse lady so no one else could have her for the entire night .... oops.  ;)

Liz and I then went to check out our room.  Really nothing much and it smelled pretty musty and moldy; thankfully, we were only there for one night.  The worst part was the attractive communal facilities, with no flush toilet, might I add.  ick...  Rachel, Sara and Rosie had a palacial, 2-story mansion.  They always seem to luck out these days, since there are three of them. We then all headed back to the restaurant, to wait for the masseuse lady to begin the train. Dinner was quite good and we all pretty much hung out in this log cabin type common room.  At one point during the evening, the hotel staff offered us the opportunity to rent down jackets for the next day, when temperatures were supposed to be about 5C.  What a relief!  Liz made a classic comment, mostly directed to Tanya, saying, "Everyone better get these coats, and if you don't, I don't want to hear you complaining about being cold!" Hahahaha....

We all realize how lucky we are to have just missed it ... we counted many blessings that night.

When the masseuse lady arrived, Sara was first, so she headed off to have her massage.  The woman was quite late -- over 45 minutes -- so Liz and I realized that there would only be time for one of us to get a massage and I lucked out!  Eventually, it was my turn, and I headed back to the room with the woman.  Now begins the massage saga... so apparently Javanese massage means "dig you nails into one's back as hard as possible and slap one's back as randomly as possible".... the torture continued for I don't even know how long, nearly an hour I think, and I was practically crying.  And she was so old!  At least 85, for sure... I have no idea how a woman that old could have so much force!  But here's the kicker.  During our massage, the woman was thankfully careful around my toe and shin wounds, incurred in Pengandaran.  At the end of the massage, she wanted to see what they looked like under the bandages, so I showed her and she examined them quite thoroughly with her face quite close and then... she SPIT on me!  She first spit all over my toe and then moved up to my shin and spit a few times on that!  I was so surprised that I could barely react and mumbled, "Thanks".  AHHHHH.... old lady witchcraft all over my wounds!! Of course, this story was just too good, so I ran to find Liz and the other girls and we had a good old laugh at first my torture session and then the spitting episode.  It was all too much...  :)

But it was early to bed because, in addition to being mauled by cheap masseuses, we were actually in Bromo to see the legendary sunrise over the volcanic valleys.  This meant waking up at 3AM for a 3:30AM departure, in time to see the sunrise at 4:30AM.  By 3:30, we were all safely loaded in the 4-wheel drive jeep chariots, headed in a mass procession (us and all the other tourists) up the mountain.  The drive was extremely bumpy and DARK... couldn't see anything... but we knew from Yude's explanation the day before that we would be driving up the mountain and then drive across a dormant volcano crater to finally drive up the tallest mountain, where we would then walk up the final 500 meters to the landing point to see the sunrise.

When we finally arrived, it was BLOODY cold and we basically ran up the mountain to stay warm.  Once we reached the peak, we found some prime sunrise-viewing locations and set up shop.  It was a good 40 minutes that we waited before finally seeing some substancial light, but we passed the time shivering away and taking endless pictures.  The view was absolutely incredible.  At about daybreak, once of the nearby volcanos spewed a few puffs of ash into the air, seemingly just for us.  It was quite amazing.  Looking down into the valley, the scene looked completely out-of-this world.  The mist from the night clung to the walls of the valley throughout daybreak, sitting like a cloud, but it looked as if the ground was made of air.  I have a picture that I still can't believe.  Although it was SO early and SO cold, the atmosphere all around us was joyous, everyone creening to get that PERFECT shot of the sun peaking through the clouds.  I took well over 50 photos and have still yet to deleted the repeats -- I just can't decide!

When we were all sufficiently convinced that the sun was up to stay, we headed back down the mountain to get a little coffee.  I heard Tanya say to Pauline, "I was SO cold, but I didn't want to say anything for fear that Liz would yell at me."  HAHAHA... much amused.  After a quick coffee, it was back into the jeeps for the main event: climbing Mount Bromo!  Our driver took us down the mountain and back into the crater, which we could now see was full of sand.  With mountains all around us and the clear blue sky above, it was an absolutely surreal sight.  We finally arrived at the path to the summit of Mount Bromo and we could see that it was quite a climb.

As our jeep pulled to a stop, no fewer than 10 horses ran at our car and when we opened the door, 20 men were at us, trying to sell us a ride on the hourses up the mountain.  Being REAL travellers and feeling more than a little badly for these poor horses, we declined all the requests and promptly set out up the mountain.  Now, bear in mind that we were already a fair way above sea level, the air became pretty thin as we climbed.  The path was also fairly slippery because it as all sand... and then there was the sulphur.  Because Bromo is an active volcano, it spews sulfur into the air all around us... cough cough!

It took us the better part of an hour to make the climb (no horses!, which included the final 150-stair case up to the peak.  By now, the sun was fully overhead at we had to laugh at our shivering only a few hours before.  The view was pretty amazing from the top, as we could see neighbouring dormant volcanos, which were decorated by their lava flows centuries before.  While some of us wanted to stay up there all day meditating, the sun was beating down and we needed to head back, so we began our descent, which was actually more trecherous than the climb and several people slipped.  Be sure to wear good shoes when climbing this mountain!

On the way back, I tried to convince Jeff (he's some sort of an investment banker type dude) to go into business with me to make a rollercoaster on the side of Bromo.  I still think it's a great business plan... anyone can ask me more about it if you want! ... but he said no.  lol... Back at disdainful Yoshi's, we had breakfast and got ourselves packed for the journey to Bali!  We first took minibuses down the mountain, concluding with another train ride, which brought us right to the end of Java island.

All that was left was the ferry to Bali!  We boarded the ferry and Yude helped us negotiate our way into the captain's area and Liz, Sara and I took turns "driving" the ferry.  The other perk was that we were allowed to sit on the top deck of the ferry -- which we had all to ourselves -- and afforded primo sunset viewing opportunities.  Liz, Wez, Rosie, Rachel and I sat in a circle, fondly remembering our time in Java.  It was actually kind of sad to leave and the beautiful sunset over the Java mountains seemed to say "Good-bye" back to us.  ;)

Once we were in Bali, it was another 2-hour drive by minibus to Lovina (ark, LONG day!).  In the car, Yude was busy practicing playing Jack Johnson on the guitar while listening to my MP3 player (he's SO good!!), when he got a call on his cell phone.  It was then that we learned about the tragic tsunami waves that had hit our beloved Pangandaran paradise.  Yude made some frantic calls to his friends and family in Jakarta, where there was rumoured to be an earthquake, but, thankfully, everyone was all right.  He spent the remainder of the trip trying in vain to get in touch with Maman and the others, who had been so kind to us.  Finally, he was able to reach Maman and we all spoke to him on the speakphone and yelled that we loved him and hoped he was alright.  He told us that he had lost his baby and they were trying to find him and the rest of the family in the refugee camps.  He sounded pretty desperate and sad, but was still upbeat for us.  We could only imagine the devastation caused to that poor little town.

When we arrived finally in Lovina, the hotel was quite nice, including a pool, but we really weren't in a celebrating mood.  Yude really wanted to go out as a group (I think he needed to be around people), so we found a really nice restaurant and I promptly ordered a bottle of wine, because it was about $8 CDN.  One bottle turned to 2 and then 3, as we told stories of Pengandaran and made toasts to the health and safety of everyone, but especially those who had been so kind to us.  Overall it was a good night -- we all supported each other.  During the dinner, many of us ran out to find a phone and call home, to let loved ones know we were alright.  Wez's family was quite scared, because he hadn't called home or checked-in in over 2 weeks, and since his parents live in Australia, they had heard the news first and were positively FREAKING out.  We all realize how lucky we are to have just missed it ... we counted many blessings that night.  Good luck and safety to eveyone in Pengandaran.  We think of you often and wish you well.