1°17' N, 103°51' E Island Slacker's Travelogue: Central & East Java Trip

--1st Stop: Sunrise at Mount Penanjakan--
Highlight of the day is Mount Bromo, the most famous volcano in East Java. In order to watch the sunrise, we gotta wake up at 2.30 am!
At 3 am, we gotta take a 4-wheel jeep ride to Mount Penanjakan (2770m). There were many jeeps and the mountain roads were pitched dark. I really wondered how the drivers can drive so well with such road conditions. Anyway, the ride was rather bumpy, and I kept sliding left and right on my seat.
We were quite early, and managed to chop a good spot for photo-taking. It was super duper cold and I was shivering. Haha! My jackets and gloves were simply not enough to keep me warm. Imagine we reached at about 4am and gotta wait for another hr or so for the sunrise. Terrible!
There were many stars up above the sky, but my dig cam could not capture anything. Sobz~!

Finally, at 5.15 am, I managed to take a picture of the volcanoes in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. Btw, pictures were taken at the peak of Mount Penanjakan.

Sunrise~~~~~

Stunning views of the volcanoes.

A closer look at the crater of Mount Bromo.

Mount Batok.

Sunrise~~~

If I am not wrong, this is Cemero Lawang, where my hotel was located at. Did not know that it was at such a good & stunning location...lol! From Mount Penanjakan, it looked like the houses are at the mountain edge, and one wld wonder why people chose to live there. Hahaha!

Sunrise at 5.43 am.

Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The crater with smoke is Mount Bromo (2392m), and beside it is Mount Batok (2470m, the only peak which is no longer active). The taller volcano in the background is Mount Semeru (3676m), the highest volcano in the island of Java. There are a few other volcanoes around them too, but I shall not list them here.

Sunrise pic taken by Tuan.
We drank some coffee at a coffee shop before moving on to our next stop, Mount Bromo.

The 4-wheel jeep, not the one I was in though.
Incident 1: I boarded the jeep & realised my prayer beads which was with me for 17 yrs went missing. I tried to look around the jeep and the road, but did not find it. I thought I cld have left it at the coffee shop, but I was pretty sure I did not removed my prayer beads there. Very puzzled. I did not want to delay our trip, so I decided it's time to say good bye to it. I was rather upset la...but well, maybe it's fate.
--2nd Stop: The Tengger Sand Sea, Mount Bromo--
This is the place which was covered by the mists.

You can either walk to the crater, or pay money to ride on a horse and travel across the sand sea.

Mist makes wonders. Loved the scenery.

We gotta climb up the stairs to reach the top of the crater. Time to excercise~!

View from the crater.

Mount Batok in the foreground, and Mount Penanjakan in the background.

A closer view of Mount Batok.

Mount Bromo's crater. The crater constantly let out sulphurous smoke, so it cld be quite smelly.

Sand sea.
Incident 2: May Leng lao shi lost her Iphone when we returned to the jeep parking area at the Sand Sea. She said she might have dropped it when she got off the horse. E.W tried to find her phone at the place where we got off the horses, while KH & I tried calling her mobile. In the end, we did not managed to find it, and we suspected one of the horse owners cld have taken her Iphone. Suddenly, my prayer beads seemed nothing hor? Haha!
It's ok now...May Leng lao shi got her Iphone 4...ha!
--3rd Stop: Breakfast at Cemera Indah--
Returned to our hotel for breakfast. The breakfast provided looked boring, so I ate my cup noodles instead.

View from outside the restaurant!

Stunning x2!

Cemera Indah.

Last pic of the hotel before we depart for Banyuwangi.
--4th Stop: Ketapang Indah Hotel--
Another long long journey to the hotel. After travelling for 3 hrs plus, we stopped by a local restaurant for lunch. I was happy to a long stretch of sea coast at Banyuwangi area. It is the most eastern regency of Java, and the gateway to Bali island via ferry.
Ketapang Indah is located at the beach, and there were lots of coconut trees around the resort.

The hotel was more like a resort to me. Did not expect the room to be so nice & comfy.

The garden area outside my room. There was a swimming pool and playground area. Liked the relaxing ambience of the resort.

There were a few types of accommodation. Ours were like 8 rooms in one block and with connected doors for 2 rooms each. There were others which is like our chalet.