Finally!!! We climbed our first volcano 🙂 But the way to get there was pretty long and full of challenges… First, we took an overnight bus from Denpasar on Bali to Probolinggo on Java. To get to bus station in Denpasar was quite tricky, cause it is 10 km from Kuta (where we returned the motorbike) and there is no public transport, only overpriced taxi. So we had our first hitchhike in Indonesia 🙂 The bus was ok, just you dont sleep much. Then we took a minibus to village Cemoro Lawang, which is situated just at the edge of enormous caldera. So huge sand field, like several football stadiums plus airport could fit there 🙂
We decided to stay in Cemoro Lawang 2 days in case the weather is not good. It turned out as a good strategy. First day we woke up at 3 am, it was little bit raining. Anyway, we took our chance and started walking to Mount Pananjakan, from where is the best to watch the sunrise and panorama of volcanos – Mount Bromo, Mt Semeru and Mt Batok… We reached the viewpoint called King Kong, the hike up was great, but the view not. We were completely in fog :-/ On the way down the views were better but still not the best. Then we went down to the sand filed and cross it to climb up the Mt Bromo. Due to the clouds it was very mysterious experience. One time you could only hear the volcano, it sounds as the starting airplane. It then showed the caldera, se we could see the whole inside of this majestic creater, even flames and big blue clouds of sulphate coming out.
So next day we repeated the same walk ofter 3 am and it was so beautiful. Even the clouds were rolling around, it sudenlly cleared up. Sunrise was really stunning and romantic and the view at volcanos so amazing. Mount Bromo was churning out the clouds all the time and Mount Semeru (the highest on Java) also pooped out few times 😀 On the way down to the volcano we enjoyed views over the fields with vegetables, which is pretty amazing to what slope people can do agriculture 🙂 As it was Easter holiday, Mt Bromo was very much overcrowded by local tourists. Still the volcano was great and also we could see other mountains around. So finally, mission completed!!!
We also experienced very strange moment back down in Probolinggo, where local people were trying to help us how to get from the city, which was not appriciated by local mafia, who tried to scam us. So almost a fight between these two groups started. Luckily nothing happened and we got out from the city. As the train connection was not good for us, we decided to use a night bus to get to Yogyakarta. Till the last moment we were not sure if we get on bus and do not waste money, cause we paid to one guy who claimed to be bus organizor without getting any ticket 😀 Eventually everything went fine and we got two last places in a bus 🙂
Tak konecne! Vylezli jsme na nasi prvni sopku 🙂 Cesta k ni byla ale celkem dlouha a plna vyzev… Nejdrive jsme museli prejet nocnim busem z Denpasaru na Bali do Probolinggo na Jave. Dostat se ale na autobusak z Kuty (kde jsme vraceli motorku) byl orisek, je to 10 km a nejezdi zde zadna mestska linka, jen predrazene taxi… A tak jsme jeli prvnim stopem v Indonesii 🙂 Nocni bus byl ok, jen se moc nevyspite. Druhy den rano jsme pak jeli minibusem do vesnicky Cemoro Lawang, ktera lezi na okraji sopecne kaldery… Tak obrovske piskove pole, ze by se tam vyslo nekolik fotbalovych hrist plus letiste 😉
Rozhodli jsme se zustat v Cemoro Lawang dve noci pro pripad, kdyby nevyslo pocasi. To se ukazalo jako dobra strategie. Prvni den jsme vstavali ve 3 rano a trochu prselo. Nicmene jsme to riskli a vydali se na cestu na Mt Pananjakan, odkud je nejlepsi pozorovat vychod slunce a panorama sopek – Bromo, Semeru a Batok… Vylezli jsme az nahoru na vyhlidku zvanou King Kong, vystup byl super, ale vyhled uz ne… Ocitli jsme se v uplny mlze :-/ Cestou dolu byly vyhledy lepsi, ale zdaleka ne optimalni. Presli jsme pak sopecne pole a vylezli na okraj krateru Bromo. V mrakach pusobila sopka velmi mysteriozne, chvili bylo pouze slyset huceni v krateru (zni to jako startujici letadlo, velmi hlasite…). Pak jsme mohli videt i plamenu a obrovske modre bubliny siry vychazejici z krateru.
Druhy den jsme opakovali stejnou rani prochazku po 3 rano a bylo krasne! Mraky se sice dost honily, ale pak se vycasilo. Vychod slunce byl nadherny a romanticky a pohled na vsechny sopku opravdu jedinecny. Bromo vypoustelo oblaka dymu celou dobu (taky je nejaktivnejsi) a i Semeru (nejvyssi hora Javy) si parkrat psouklo 😀 Cestou dolu jsme se kochali pohledy na policka se zeleninou, je az fascinujici, do jakeho svahu jsou zde schopni obdelavat 🙂 Jelikoz zacinaly zrovna Velikonoce, Bromo bylo v oblezeni mistnich turistu a narvanejsi nez Vaclavak 🙂 Presto vyhledy na okolni kopce byly krasne. Tak konecne, mise splnena 😉
Zpatky v Probolinggo jsme zazili podivnou situaci, kdy se nam mistni snazili poradit, jak se dostat z mesta, coz se ale nelibilo mistnim mafianum, kteri se nas snazili samozrejme podvest. Skoro vypukla rvacka mezi dvema skupinami, ale nastesti se nic nestalo. Prestoze jsme puvodne chteli jet vlakem (ano, tady vlak opravdu jezdi :-D), spojeni nebylo dobre do Yogyakarty, tak jsme se rozhodli jet nocnim busem… Do posledni chvile nebylo jiste, jestli se dostanem do busu a neprijdem o penize, ktere jsme dali mistnimu autobusovemu koordinatorovi, samozrejme bez listku. Nakonec na nas cekala dve posledni mista a my se vydali na dlouho nocni jizdu…