Java — Day 3 ...

As a 3:30am pick up turned closer to 4am, Vernon and I began to wonder if the guy we had handed Rp$2,600,000 (NTD$6,295/CAN$250) to was now having a good laugh ... the things you do when you are traveling.

Jeeps and jeeps and jeeps were going by in complete darkness and finally we found ours. The ride to Mount Bromo was bumpy and we couldn't see much except for dozens of Jeep lights bouncing around in the dark. The road was rough at times and the seven of us giggled excitedly most of the way up.

The morning was cool and clear and the outstanding Mount Bromo was settled on a sea of clouds. We waited until the sun came up before heading down to find our jeep. The jeep took us to another place for a different view of Bromo before heading to the actual volcano itself. At this point, one can have a look right into the steaming Mount Bromo. The whole trip was stunning and I found myself wishing we had more time.

Mount Bromo (iPhone 5 image) — more images in album on sidebar (wish they were better!)

We headed back to the hotel around 8am and had time to grab a quick breakfast and shower. The breakfast provided by the hotel was horrible. Fried eggs and dry white toast with a coffee that was undrinkable. After that, we headed for a quick shower as our van was leaving at 9am for the next stop of the tour.

It took two hours to get down from Mount Bromo and the ride was beautiful. In Probolinggo, we had an hour to wander around before our next van arrived. We walked around in the scorching heat and picked up some snacks and cold drinks for the next leg of the trip which would be a 4.5 hour drive.

The ride over to the Ijen Crater (shown on map) offered stunning scenery. The first half the trip was scary and exciting as we drove at top speeds in the oncoming traffic lane while the other half was spent slowly winding through small mountain roads that could hardly be called roads. They were full of potholes and barely paved. We went from a city highway to the rainforest and the latter half of the trip was gorgeous with the sights, the sound, the smells and tiny random interesting villages.

Upon arrival at the Arabica Homestay (see my review on TripAdvisor here) we could see immediately that the hotel was beyond budget; the room was moldy, smelly and gross. Water spurted out of the toilet every time it flushed and the shower shot out in every direction except down. The water was either scorching hot or freezing cold. There were no toiletries and the towels they provided were about the size of a hand towel.

Buffet dinner was very basic at Rp$50,000 per person. They prepared a family style meal at our table that consisted of eggs, instant noodles, rice, chicken wings and freshly made strawberry juice. It hit the spot. After dinner, we walked to the cute village not too far from the hotel to admire the tiny houses with wonderful gardens and then it was bed early, once again, as we had a 2:30am wake up call to see the superb iJen Crater.