A cloudy sunrise

(Written on Monday, 26 July describing the events of that day. Continuing from the previous blog.)

Wake up was at 3:30am and I got out of bed to start layering my clothes. I could hear rain falling outside. About ten minutes later a guy knocked on my door urging me to leave. We weren't supposed to be leaving until 4, so I was a bit peeved and overwhelmed. I wasn't sure what he was getting at, but apparently I was in a Jeep with people from another hotel so I had to leave earlier. Too bad he didn't mention that the night before. I finished getting ready as quickly as possible, but not as fast as the guy would have liked. The ride to the other hotel was somewhat bumpy even though we were on paved road. When we arrived, five people took the remaining seats. Anna came to sit with me in the front. She and her boyfriend were from Holland and traveling in Indonesia for three weeks (sound familiar?).

We had a very bumpy hour ride up to Pananjakan to see the sunrise over Bromo. At a few points, I wasn't sure the Jeep was going to make it; it sounded like it was going to die any minute. The rain had slowed but it was extremely cloudy, and cold. They told us the temperature would be about 4 degree Celsius on the top. I wore my rain jacket and threw my poncho on over it to add greater coverage of myself and my bags. We walked in the dark (good thing I brought a flashlight) through various small stalls of Indonesians selling coats, hats, gloves, etc. There were tons of tourist already waiting at the top, and even though it was pitch black, the abundance of clouds was apparent.

Sunrise should have occurred 30 minutes after we arrived, but time passed and there was no sunrise in sight. The sky become lighter, but all you could see were clouds. Eventually, the wind blew some clouds away and everyone cheered as a piece of the landscape came into view. It got clearer over time but the sky remained gray. It was pretty disappointing because the views are supposed to be incredible. Not only do you see Bromo and the Tengger crater but Gunung Semeru towers in the distance. After taking some pictures, we walked back to the Jeep. The three other people with us were two girls (Czech and Slovak) and a guy (Czech). The guy didn't know the girls well but said that they were picture crazy. 15 minutes later they finally showed up at the Jeep and we could move on. Now I take a lot of pictures; these girls were out of control.

Next stop was Bromo. We drove into the crater and then proceeded to walk to the top of a platform to see the still active volcano. The walk was a bit more than I had bargained for followed by 250 steps; I was worn out by the time I reached the top. There is a small fence which blocks you from falling in the volcano but the viewing space is only 3 feet wide; not much room to walk around people. The States certainly wouldn't deal with a liability like that. Seeing Bromo from above was neat, but the sulfur-y smell of the smoke didn't make me want to linger long. The surrounding views were spectacular and on a clear day I could imagine its quite a sight to behold.

The whole morning I'd been trying to decide what to do about tonight. Should I stay in Bromo or go to Surabaya and try to check into my hotel a night early? Even though I was uncertain of my plans, I didn't have the same worry in my stomach that had plagued me when I flew to Yogyakarta. I just knew it would work out, one way or another, even if it meant spending another night in the disgusting Hotel Sion. On the volcano, I saw some people wearing Yoschi jackets (Yoschi is the budget option where I wanted to stay) and asked them if there were any rooms available. They said their might be and told me where to find their driver, Eddie. I found Eddie back in the crater, but he didn't speak great English, neither did his friend, and I felt like they were all laughing at me as I tried to inquire about availability. I got out my few Indonesian phrases and pointed. They said yes, but I couldn't tell if they were being truthful.

The drive back to Sion took 20 minutes or so and the views were amazing. I definitely wanted to walk around a bit if there were rooms at Yoschi, and since its just 100 meters from Sion, I had the driver drop me there. When I finally found the correct person to speak with, I was in luck, there was one economy room available. Economy means toilet in the hallway and hot shower outside (the shower itself isn't outside, but you have to walk outside to get there). Relief. I wouldn't have to spend another night at Sion. Plus, the restaurant at Yoschi looked welcoming and seemed very relaxed. I went back to Sion for "breakfast" two pieces of bread with jam in the middle which came in a plastic baggie and a couple of pieces of unattractive fruit. I had some of the bread and called it quits.

None of the people from my Yogya bus where back yet, so I ate with more Dutch people. There was also an American guy, the first American I'd seen since the few at Borobudur. He'd done a ton of traveling and had lived in India for two years, so his stomach could handle the food. He ate everyone's small bananas; we called him a monkey.

Eventually I found my bus friends, said goodbye and walked down to Yoschi. I got here at 9:30am and wasn't able to check in, so I sat in the restaurant reading (The Last Lecture, a tear jerker) for a bit. Once I got my room, I took a nap and woke up around 1pm. The best place for me to eat around here is at the hotel restaurant, so I had Mie Kuah (noodle soup) and some tea. The clouds had returned, so I chatted with some people at the hotel (and mom and daughter and two girls from Holland) before walking around the area for an hour. I walked up the main road then ventured down a couple local streets. Chickens were sitting quietly in the open street; people were doing household chores; a man and his two kids walked past me on their way home, smiling the entire time. There was music blasting from huge speakers at one part of the village and guys along the side of the road with huge piles of lettuce. A street seller set up shop next to them to serve some food.

When I got back to Yoschi I decided to venture to the shower. Let's just say it was not a hot shower. I got a blast of boiling water early on which quickly turned to cold, so I wet my hair and body and with the water off, shampooed and soaped hoping the water would warm up. After a couple seconds of warm it was back to cold. I wouldn't have minded a cold shower if it was hot out, but I'm at a higher elevation right now and its pretty cool outside. My hair is still wet two hours later. The rest of the afternoon I've spent writing and its now 6:45pm. I think I'll go have dinner soon and then come back to my room and go to sleep. Maybe watch a movie on my netbook since I haven't done that yet and I don't need to be up until 8am at the earliest.

(I wrote about the rest of the evening and next day on Tuesday, 27 July. Unfortunately, I have to retype everything I've written, so getting this blog updated is taking longer than I hoped.)