Bagpacking Travelogue: 01/01/2016

Excited!
Our gathering trip as promised.
So three of us met during a solo backpacking in Penang and realized we make very good traveling partners - so here we are back together again.

Touched down in Surabaya airport and met up with the rest of them.

Oh my advise is if you are meeting someone at terminal 2 , there's a Popeyes that is hard to miss.

Thankful to our Indon friend who did all the arrangements, our car and hotels etc was settled. ( here's his contact if you need - name : Christian. Very safe and friendly driver who knows a basic English +62 812 30197658)
For this trip, she also invited her aunt and cousins who were foodies - yay! Cheers to delicious food.

Off we went. From Surabaya to Mount Bromo.

It was an arduous 6 hours ride - when we finally reached our home stay accommodation arranged by the driver. It was basic and simple ( and not very clean) but very reasonably priced and most importantly it had a makeshift selling nasi and mee goreng store that was yummy nearby. Since it was freezing cold it was also apt to have indo mie up in the mountains. Awesome! With ginger drink to warm your stomach.

We ate and quickly went to bed since we had to wake up at 3am to take the jeep up the mountain to see the sun rise.

Woke up at around 2am to freshen up.
Aunty gave us this Herb Honey 'drink' to warm our stomach
Very effective!

We reached the sun rise area at around 5am after some delays. Thankfully it was not very cold just very strong winds that my wind breaker could withstand and protect. However as the sun had not risen, we stopped by a store to have the piping hot indo mie and milo/coffee for breakfast. It cost only 13,000 for the indo mie. Very reasonable considering they have to carry the supplies and deliver water up to the mountains.

As we were eating, we heard that the sun was up. so we quickly slurped up our soup and made our way to where everyone was gathering (oh. it was just probably 5-10 minutes of walk from where we were)
We were very lucky that though the weather forecast stated stormy weather, I thing happened and we had a good view of the sun rise. It was such a comfort witness the rise of the sun from all angles. Its been some time......awesome!

* Oh the thing about being late to the summit is that everyone was already standing on the high leveled areas. Errr. but not to worry because they can't be there forever and the sun rise is quite a long duration AND there are many angles to take the sunrise.

After the sun rise we made our way to the volcano ash climb to see the crater ( you can do it on the horse or by foot) if you decide to do it by horse, and in a group, you can bargain. We managed to get it for each 15,000. It will take you to the foot of the crater where you still then have to climb a flight of steps to reach the top of the crater. However as it's an ash climb, if you don't want to get dirty or you detest ash going into your lungs the. The horse is the way to go. It's good exercise though. My advise is to wear glasses and a mask though.

After the crater, the jeep brought us to teletubies which we decided to skip since the dry weather caused it to be a barren hill instead of the greenery we were suppose to witness. Then to the rock which we then were like huh take the rock AH. Ermm..

So we just took some photos and made our way back to the hotel. Washed up and had breakfast at the rinjani restaurant and then made our way to Ijen as it was another 6 hours ride.

At ijen We searched out local delicacies and went to the famous local (as below) - which we were then told the better one was the one down the road. But! This store was already amazing as it is. And only 15,000 for this mountain of food

Once again, early in the wee morning, we made our way up Ijen.
And boy was this tough.
*Okay. so I was tricked here. The person told me I had to buy the foreigner ticket and they will check. But when we reached the entrance, everyone just walked through. Come on, all Asians look the same (specially in the dark!)

Anyway it was a tedious climb.
Up Up Up at a certain gradient for probably 1-2 hours
* But knowing whats up there. Its definitely worth the climb!

After the tedious climb, we made our way back to the hotel where we 'concussed' after breakfast. But due to the long drive back to Surabaya, we had to move off asap.

We stopped by this place. That charged us exorbitant food prices because they heard us speaking in English. It supposedly have good food. ANYWAY.

Since my dear friend had an urge to visit the nature reserve safari.
Off we went
And my advise is, considering how hot it was, I was sure we would not see any animals.
And I was close to being right.
*Realized it was a good way to make money. Just have a land and get people to drive through and spot the animals on their own (haha)

Poor thing for the drivers who had to drive through this whole patch of thing while we take turn sleeping. Ermm. The drive was in a circle so there was no way out. Took us 2-4 hours because of the pot holes on the floor, we could not go fast.

Was hungry again.
So we stopped by some random store along the road for some Mie Ayam.

Entering one of the own, (sorry I don't know the name), we made our way to a recommended food place.
(It was crowded! *But to me, the beef related food items had a very strong taste that I did not like. So really depends on you)

And my fav activity! Apple farm picking.
So you pay an entrance fee. That will allow you to eat your fill.
Then if you want: you can pick the apples and weigh it to buy it.
Its cheaper to buy it outside though
Cheap thrill. BUT
its fun climbing up trees. Finding the good apples.
Worth my time I felt.
*Technique: Get the green ones with a tinge of redness. Get the smaller ones its crispier.