Mount Bromo and Leaving Indonesia * Marking My Map

“I don’t want to own anything until I know I have found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like.”
— Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

More Java

Moving across Java, I took an overnight train from Yogyakarta eastward to Malang. Midnight training across Indonesia isn’t a bad way to get around, but arriving at a train station at 10pm and trying to sleep in an upright seat for 11 hours is not my favorite. It’s as comfortable as you’d expect. So not very.

Malang is one of my last stops in Indonesia. I’d love to stay longer as Indonesia offers anything to suit a traveler’s desire. While here, I enjoyed Buddhist Bali, yoga retreating on Gili Air, and historic temples in Yogyakarta. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. I visited only three of the country’s 18,000+ islands, so you can imagine how much I missed. Other top Indonesian sites include pink beaches, Komodo Dragon islands, orangutan national parks, and a few hundred volcanos. But I can’t see them all. I require an Indonesian short list. And at the top of that list is Mount Bromo.

Mount Bromo is a volcano in East Java. It’s 2,329 meters (7,641 feet) high. It’s not the tallest mountain in Indonesia. Not even close. But it’s the most well known and visited. It’s also an active volcano, having erupted as recently as 2011 and again in 2015 (who doesn’t love a sense of danger??). For those wondering, the name Bromo is derived from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

This is my one last big thing I want see before leaving Indonesia.

Holding Babies

Malang has tourist potential, but it’s not quite there yet today. There are only a handful of hostels here, and tourists are still a standout sight among the local population. I like this about Malang. It’s unpretentious and gives a glimpse into actual daily life of a local Indonesian more than tourist Bali ever can. But these qualities can contribute to some awkward situations.

Case in point – while shopping for snacks at a Kwik E Mart convenience store in Malang, a middle aged gentleman handed me his baby. He wanted a picture of me holding it. Yes, you read that right. I was standing in the aisle looking for snacks, when this excitable man came outta nowhere and handed me, a complete stranger, his (maybe) five month old baby. Before I knew what was happening, had the chance to object, and honestly before he even asked the question, that baby was in my arms quicker than a pack of OREOs.

This wasn’t completely new. I mentioned in my Yogyakarta post that I became accustomed to fielding picture requests from Javanese school children. However this seemed a different level of both trust and invasion. Though I’m not sure who’s – mine or the baby. It certainly felt weird to be thrust a stranger’s child. But it’s done now, and the man seemed positively thrilled by his stroke of luck, running into me when he just so happened to have his offspring in hand. So no harm done.

On to the main attraction.

One Last Mountain

Once again, I found myself sitting in a vehicle at 3am with a bunch of strangers. Like many other mountains and temples I’ve seen lately, Bromo is all about the sunrise.

Myself, an Australian named Matt, and three Indonesian girls who didn’t speak english, all crowded into a not-so-spacious jeep with our two tour guides. This isn’t the kind of jeep you buy to commute to work, it’s the kind you drive to get through the rickety, uneven, mountain roads. It’s a long and cramped 2-3 hour drive from Malang to Bromo. We all would have loved a nap, but a good portion of the drive is curvy, steep, and bumpy, which is not conducive to getting much rest.

Bromo was different than I expected. Given my initial impressions of Malang and the lack of tourists, I looked forward to a tranquil experience, relatively undisturbed by no more than a handful of other tourists. I thought it would be my zen moment, looking out from the peak of the last one of many foreign mountains before heading back to the US for several weeks.

I could not have been more wrong.

The road to Bromo is congested with jeeps, and the viewing spot is positively TEEMING with tourists. Hundreds of selfie sticks, and DSLR cameras with two feet lenses attached at the front, just ready to knock you in the face. And everyone is fighting for the best viewing spot. There was so much aggressive shoving happening at such an early hour.

I knew that not everyone stayed in Malang for Bromo, and tourists have the option to stay in several other nearby Indonesian cities. But I couldn’t help wondering where all these people came from.

Jeeps Galore
Get your viewing spot early!
So many….
People…

I got some great pictures, but it was freezing. Australian Matt’s camera broke a half-hour after we arrived, so he wasn’t particularly happy. We waited up there for a few hours until the sun rose sufficiently above the horizon line. By then I was beyond ready to leave.

Two hours in: Don’t I look excited?
I had to take all of Matt’s pictures and send them to him
I’ll admit, the pictures are still great
Not a bad sunrise either

Craters and Waterfalls

While the experience of Mount Bromo was not exactly what I had hoped for, I loved the other stops on the tour.

Since Bromo is active, the Indonesian government doesn’t currently allow visitors to climb up the crater itself. But not to worry. Indonesia is full of volcanos, and one only needs to take a short 20 minute drive from the base of Bromo to find another nearby crater they can climb.

But first….one short stop for a different view of Bromo.

This other crater, and I’m sorry because I don’t remember the name, is also very popular among jeep driving tour guides and tourists alike. As you can see….

Parking lot of jeeps
The line to the crater climb
Climb a crater and wait your turn

The nice thing about this stop is that it involves a short but healthy hike up to the top. I was SUPEr happy to get some exercise after standing still in the cold for two hours. Even better, most of the other tourists get to the top of the crater and take a maximum of 10 steps to the right or left. This leaves an entire crater rim to explore, free from hassle. So that was pretty great.

No one around
but
Me

Better still, a short five minute drive from the base of the crater is this beautiful green pasture set in a sea of sand. Volcanic ash has fertilized the land for hundreds of years, creating an unexpected garden oasis.

EVEN better, we found a guy selling ice cream snacks off of the back of a motorcycle.

I call this WINNING AT LIFE.

Ice Cream Man!
Lots of sitting poses today

The last stop on the tour involved a visit to the Rainbow Waterfalls – named because you can see a lot of rainbows when the sun hits the mist at the right angle. (Newsflash Indonesia: this phenomenon happens at almost every waterfall in the world.)

I felt worn out by the time we got here. It had been an early morning and a full day of activities. But here’s some more pictures. It’s a waterfall. See how nice?

Technicolor Neighborhoods

My visit to Malang was relatively short and sweet, but I had one free morning open before leaving to find an international airport in Surabaya. My new Australian friend Matt and I used this time to see the one major tourist attraction in Malang – the colorful neighborhood of Jodipan.

The Indonesian government funded the painting of Jodipan in vividly vibrant rainbow as a way to attract tourists. I mentioned that Malang isn’t much of a tourist spot just yet, but given the presence of a major railway going through town, and the proximity to Bromo, it doesn’t mean it can’t be in the future. At least that’s what the Indonesian government thinks.

Matt and I got lost trying to find Jodipan. Which is a little bit ridiculous considering how easy it is to spot, and also the fact that the area was only a few blocks from our hostel. That one’s on me. And google maps for leading us astray.

Luckily an endless stream of locals aided us by pointing in the direction of where we should be walking. We didn’t need to speak the same language for people to realize we looked lost and needed help. Eventually we found the entrance, and paid our entrance fee used to help maintain the art and paint costs. I believe it was less than a dollar.

I’m really fond of Jodipan. Under any other circumstances this people would consider this neighborhood at best, very run down, and at worst, a slum. But add some colorful paint, decorative art projects, the occasional graffiti art, and voila! You have quite the charming neighborhood. How can you not be cheerful, surrounded by these bright colors?

Then that thing happened again. That thing where every last child and the occasional adult started asking for pictures. They mostly asked me (I guess they like blondes?) but Matt got his share too. Since it was almost my last day in Indonesia, and my mood notably brightened by the colorful surroundings, I decided to stop declining these requests. What’s a few pictures?

Of course, when they snapped their pictures, I also asked if I could snap my own. Here’s one of my favs. This girl asked for my picture, and then got super shy and adorable when her mom suggested we sit next to one another. Isn’t she just delightful??? So cute.