2000 km in attempt to view the mystical Bromo Mountain

Gladly announced that the trip to Bromo Mountain is on, it’s Yufi's b’day treat hehehe yippee

Although we were thinking of not going at all as my brother admitted to hospital because he suffered from appendicitis and cica was also having flu. Sondi was well after his surgery and cica was also getting better.

Day 1

We were supposed to leave home @ 5 am but then decided to take cica once more to see her doctor to make sure she is fine. We left home at exactly 11 am.

I was thrilled on the trip, it was finally a dream come true for me. A chance to view and admire the famous Bromo Mountain, though I was not all ecstatic about the route we were going to take. Yes, unlike the previous trips where we opted to take southern inter province route as because the southern route offers nicer view, less dusty and less humongous trucks. But no can do we had to take the north coastal interstate route A.K.A Pantura as we race with the time if we wanted to make it in time at Giveme's wedding as well. Right, bit my tongue and turned my mind to suddenly thinking of happy thoughts.

Okay passed Bekasi entering the interstate / container jungle. Still happy thoughts, I tried to keep my mind occupied with the cold air of Bromo Mountain. “Okay this is not so bad” I thought. Boy I was wrong, by the time we entered Kosambi (that was only 2 hours from Bekasi) I felt so dehydrated already, darn! Need to gulp on lotsa water otherwise I would get a headache and it would not be good. We made a stop for 15 mins to gulp down some water, I finished the whole bottle in 5 minutes as if I found an oasis or some sort.

After that we continued on passing the dusty, container crowded route, most of the road condition was okay and there were some fixing going on as the festive month of Ramadhan and the day of Idul Fitri is coming, as soon people will by tradition be going back to their hometown for a long break

Anyhow, we arrived at Indramayu and had lunch there as our tummy already screamed for rescue. We stopped for 30 minutes then continued on the next city which was Cirebon. The road was again quite decent although it was kind of wavy and pebbles were scattered on the road side and it seemed that the road fixing happened along the north coastal route at the same time, hence it successfully stopped most vehicles and made them line up like a gigantic snake at some points. I felt that we were not so aerodynamic (if you know what I mean) throughout this journey I don't know whether it was because the imbalance weight of both of us ( yes I am heavier than my lovely hubby) or the wind was blowing quite hard. I felt that the velocity and the wind speed did not match as every time we passed all of the humongous container trucks we flew and swayed a bit and I mean it literally. The most annoying thing was whenever Yufi found an empty road he squeezed the accelerator then flew as well which such action caused me being tossed off my seat a couple of times as if I was a broccoli being fried in a wok. Although I shrieked happily (this has to be read in a sarcastic tone) as the tossing was rather ticklish my horror was what if I landed back not on my seat but somewhere on the asphalt, realizing the reality I banged on Yufi's helmet to remind him to take the road easy.

We made it in Cirebon then Brebes, Tegal, went around the outer part of Pemalang (sorry to my nanny we didn't have a chance to say hello to her hometown) and Pekalongan, Batang then Weleri then Kendal then Semarang.

There was nothing much you could see on those cities except that most are known for its sea produce as those cities located on the north shore. The most you could explore probably just the culinary spots, for example Cirebon known for its small shrimp called "Rebon” although to some it is also known for its cultural and religious heritage. Tegal known for its eatery which in Jakarta known as Warung Tegal (funnily I didn't read any eatery written as Warung Tegal though) it sells homemade food as if your mom made it. Brebes is known for its pot tea and salted duck egg. Pekalongan a bit more interesting as it is known also as the city of Batik ( a traditional cloth which decorated with symbolic pattern) the batik is chinese influenced because the city like Cirebon and along were long time ago trade cities where traders' ship from other countries set sail in Cirebon for trading both in Cirebon or close by cities..

I had to say bye bye to all the batik shops along Pekalongan even though I felt that they were calling my name because we didn't make any stop (if I rode the bike myself I think I would ha ha ha)

We stopped in Batang to taste what they called Nasi Megono. It was white rice topped with julienne jackfruit and shredded coconut. You can pick up various side dishes like fried giblets, fried Tempe (fermented soy bean), fried snails (eww) well almost any fried stuff you can pick to accompany your Megono Rice, super! And it was also friendly in cost.

We continued on to Weleri and Kendal for Semarang right after dinner, I was looking for the famous Alas Roban, apparently it was a new bypass they have cut short the old Alas Roban (Bimo said it was still there we have to make a right turn to go through it) I saw a direction board saying that Semarang is 33 km ahead, they lied, I felt it was forever. We took the new bypass from Kendal to Semarang. At last arrived in Semarang safe and sound at 10pm. Met Bimo and guys from HTML Semarang After a short chit chat, Bimo took us to his house and we met his wife Jenny. We were so grateful that they lend us one of the rooms in their house for us to crash in that night. We were treated so well. Love the sweet green tea Jenny made us. We had a chit chat about ghost yes ghost, some said Semarang is a city of ghost, blame it on the history. The chit chat made us a bit jelly as Jenny were saying that a "lady" (that a ghost to you) came over when a couple of Bimo's buddies slept over at their place and came back again to check whether those guys were still there, spooky, well, talking about ghost's crush. We dozed of right after; I guess exhaustion beat the horror

Day 2

We woke up at 6 (sort of) got ourselves ready for Bromo Mountain while Bimo and Jenny also got ready for work. Jenny's served us a Soto for breakfast (a clear chicken soup) nice. She led us out from their housing complex then we continued on to Solo route.

We took Salatiga route to go to Sragen because it was closer to get to East Java’s border. We stopped at a temple I forgot the name, took some pictures then off to Solo. We went through a road that leads us to Salatiga then Sragen. We stopped at a coffee shop and the lady who owns it told us that a couple of Harley Davidsons have just passed the same route. We stopped for coffee around 20 minutes then continued on. The alternative route was quite empty although the road was a bit smaller but it felt like a highway and guess what I spotted? Shopping spots Batik village! Darn I didn't know the name of the village but I could read that the banner said "Desa Wisata Belanja" well well well all batiks in the village are for sale I thought and my mind started to drift away and I was seeing myself drowned in batik cloths already when I heard someone's voice, darn! It was Yufi's, there goes my hallucination. He asked whether I spotted any sign for direction to Sragen, luckily I admit that I am good with direction (what a brag). We arrived in Sragen and stopped at the closest service station to get the bike's oil changed. We had our lunch while waiting for it to finish.

We continued on, 40 minutes later Ngawi was on site. I spotted Gontor Putri 1,2 and 3. Their building was amazingly huge. Gontor is a modern Islamic boarding school for those who did not know, the boys boarding school is located in Jombang (if I am not mistaken). The girls boarding located in several areas but still on the same route of Ngawi regency, Mantingan is the only exact place of Gontor Putri 1 that I remembered though and No, these Islamic boarding schools do not teach terrorism to its pupil, Islam as most religions in the world teaches peacefulness and believe to love is better than to hate. Those terrorist are simply have twisted mind and got twisted pleasure out of bombing. Indonesians loathe those sick people. We continued and passed teakwood plantation area for 40 km or more before entering Caruban. I spotted some tourists made a stop in kiosk along the teakwood plantation to do some shopping, those kiosks sell all sort of furniture mainly made out of teakwood, the design was unique though. We stopped at Sederhana restaurant to have early dinner as Bromo Mountain was still a long way to go. We met the aforementioned Harley Davidson riders, some said that most of Indonesian Harley owners are stuck up, but the guys we met were friendly they even said that we are nuts going to Bromo Mountain alone while they ride with a complete companion set consisted of a safety car, buddies and mechanics. They were heading to Bali for Harley Davidson's gathering. Well what to say, you guys rode a Harley where spare parts are scarce commodity in small cities along the route, having a safety car and mechanics are part of the deal. I envied their jackets and their protector. It smelled original (unlike ours) as I saw one of them was fitting his knee protector on and sort of spotted the "A" with a star behind it (read: alpinestars) When he walked, the protector didn't even wobble (ours do) oo well sob sob J

We finally entered Nganjuk and got the chance to show Yufi my lovely hotel in Nganjuk where I stayed last time on a work trip.

We continued on to Jombang and Mojokerto. In Mojokerto we took a right turn which leads us to Mojosari. We want to avoid the famous Lapindo mud which successfully eaten more of a dozen villages and left the villagers homeless. We showed up around Gempol and took the route to Pasuruan through Pandaan. We made a stop at Pandaan. Asked around which way is the closest to go to Pasuruan then Probolinggo then to Bromo Mountain. Most of them directed us to Tosari as they said it was closer and we could also go to Cemoro Lawang from there (later we found out that Bromo Mountain has 4 entry gates, the most used entry are from Probolinggo and Tosari, most decent hotels and home stays can be found in Ngadisari village, Cemoro Lawang and you can reach the place from Probolinggo entry gates. Whereas in Tosari mostly are home stays the two areas are on the opposite side, in the middle of those villages lies a desert, which can only be crossed by a 4 wheel drive or a lighter, slimmer tires motorcycle, a fully loaded bike like ours would get stuck in the sand unless you are willing to push the bike through the desert, I don't think so). Since our hotel was located in Ngadisari, Cemoro Lawang and the easiest to reach the place was from Probolinggo. O bollocks! We wasted 2 hours of our time going around and dazzled ourselves with confusion; we supposed to arrive at around 6 pm at Bromo Mountain. We turned the bike back to Probolinggo route.

We arrived at Tongas (There were two routes to reach Bromo Mountain from Probolinggo, one is from Tongas and the other one from Probolinggo city, both routes meet at a point called Sukapura) around 7 pm and I couldn't feel my derriere anymore we stopped there and had a chit chat with the locals for 20 minutes, we continued on to Bromo Mountain. Yippee Bromo Mountain, I am coming! The road was noticeably and slowly inclining, the more we went up the steeper it became, the bike worked really hard to take us to the top of the mountain ( as you know it carried me and my set of beauty necessities hahaha), we passed several villages and I felt like it was forever, we passed a village where land cruisers with "Bromo Mountain Sunrise" stickers lined up. Finally our lovely good ol' bike took us safely to Ngadisari, well almost, obviously (d'oh) we took a rather difficult route, it was concrete made road, sort of 60 degrees ( it felt like it was 60 degrees, I am bad with numbers) inclined, the bike couldn't perform its best show because the load (yes moi and the necessities were heavy) the bike slowly went down the hill, Yufi and I had to jump off and hold the bike, prevent it to slide down further. That was, I am telling you a horror. To make the load lighter I offered myself to walk up, that wasn't a good choice either as I was gasping for fresh air as I felt my lung wasn't functioning properly. Walking in a cold air and on a steep road weren't exactly a soul mate, what a fitness test! I told my self "damn it! Breath slowly, I don't wanna drop faint here" I stopped to catch a breath and manage my breathing, took off my jacket and glove as well. I have never felt so panic in my life, I did this time. Finally the bike was able to take us up, Yufi squeeze the accelerator way before the steep road to help the bike climb up. The bike was apparently overheated. Sorry Bike

Finally the Cemara Indah hotel was in sight. Thank God! I was like "mmmkay” I thought the hotel was kinda you know a hotel (I always have certain imagination of a hotel, mostly they are good) as it has the best view of Bromo Mountain, fully booked by mainly international tourists but the room looked like well a room, oh okay it was pretty decent, very minimalist. Never mind the most important thing was, it offered a hot shower and blankets. Imagine yourself taking a cold shower at around 2600 meters above sea level, unless there are some scientific proofs that taking a cold shower in certain altitude keeps your youth, adds glow to your skin and reduce your excess fat, I would go for it without complaints.

I loved the cold air though (but not the part where I was gasping for O2), cold air always unfailingly gives me a happy buzz. We headed down to the restaurant to have dinner and Yufi got a bit worried about the bike's clutch as the result of the "small" (it was life and death to me, remember hard to breathe?) incident, he took the bike to where employees keep their bike. We had a hearty dinner because you know cold air makes you hungry fast. The food were okay or maybe because we were starving. After dinner. I took a hot shower and went out to admire the stars, they were so close as if you could grab them and put it in your pocket as souvenirs. Beautiful!

We went to bed at 11 am as we have to rise and shine at 3 am to go to see the sunrise up in Penanjakan. I fell asleep in a second, tired and cold air was a perfect combination to doze off fast.

Day 3

We woke up at exactly 3 am. Yufi was thinking to take his bike up to Penanjakan and that means go through the desert. The employee said he better not to, as he might get lost in a fog and that the sand would definitely slow him down or straight forwardly he said would cripple the bike, unlessYufi was one of the locals who effortlessly ride their bike around like it was asphalt road. No way! I don't wanna push the bike along the desert and along those entire steep roads. After a stiff argument that he could go ride in the desert all he wants after the sunrise, we took the Land Cruiser instead (not mine but we paid Rp. 275 grand to rent it plus the driver, we met some lost local tourists to split the rental fee and you also have to pay Rp. 6000 per person to enter the gate of Bromo Mountain complex)


Here is some info on places to visit when you are in Bromo Mountain. There are 3 must visit places in Bromo Mountain. First are Penanjakan, it is the highest summit of Tengger mountain where you could view the beautiful sunrise on the viewing point. You could see the top of mount Batok and Mount Semeru enveloped in a blanket of fog. It was magnificent. There was no exact definition on how beautiful the view was. Second, after Panajakan, it is the sulphur crater. You have to walk passed the Tengger temple and walk up to the slope of the crater around 3 km; you have the option of walking or riding a horse. You have to fork up Rp.100000 for a return trip to and from the crater on a horse. The third would be the savannah and the "Pasir Berbisik" they called the place after a movie with the same name as it was shoot in the area. To go to these areas, you could hire a land cruiser (unless you ride in a group where your mates could lend a hand if you stuck in the desert, Yufi's mate was just moi, pushing? No way!), just go to the closest Land Cruiser’s post they will call one for you of course you have to pay the rental fee. It is cheaper if you go to the post than hire the land cruiser through a broker. There is actually fourth place to visit which is Ranu Pane, a lake in the middle of Mount Semeru but since Semeru is a little bit active at the moment, the Government closed the park to avoid danger.

Yufi and I visited the first two places as going to the third one cost us another Rp.200000 and we short on cash hahaahaha. The first two dazzled us. We went up there in a Land Cruiser, at most of steep road they had their 4WD gear on, I looked at Yufi and murmured, "look, otherwise we would be pushing the bike right now going up and say bye bye to sunrise" he agreed. We couldn't even see a thing within 2 meters as thick fog was all over the place. The driver on the other hand, could drive with his eyes closed because he has been passing the same route thousand times to take us tourists up to Penanjakan. One small thing I noticed from the driver was, at certain points on the way up, he flicked the cabin light on and off a couple of times, which made me wanted to know why he did that. But I forgot to ask. Let it be a mystery.

Stopped by to a kiosk to sip on some coffee, met an old lady and had a chit chat, she said “do what you are doing now while you both are still young” (ahemm) as she said she wanted to do the same when she was young but didn't have a chance. We took her advice as a motivation. Everything was beautiful in Penanjakan the sunrise, the view of Tengger Mountain from the top. We even had to cram ourselves in between international and local tourists, some were even bitchy as Yufi tried to squeeze his camera between them to capture the sunrise, and one of them kept saying “No place" like a dozen times as if we were some idiots who didn't understand English. They didn't even take picture for God's sake; they were just standing lazily on the gate looking at the sunrise as if they were on their own porch.

Don't let this ignorance ruin our mood. We took a dozen of pictures while we were in Penanjakan. We then headed down to the crater... Fog was still up in the air, you hardly saw a thing around you. The ambience was mystical. You felt as if you were in one of that kungfu movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" awesome! We wanted to go up but instead roamed around to see whether there were food kiosks, we were starving again, found a guy who sells bakwan malang, I curiously asked where he comes from, he said


he's from Tosari. Our jaws dropped hahaha he had to pass all those steep roads and the desert before to get to the temple. He

said in the dessert there is a path for motorcycle. The sand is a little bit hard as locals pass the road all the time and it was a bit grassy. Hat off for him. He said because he is used to it already.

Still we couldn't hide our admiration. A motorcycle with a bakwan stall fitted on the bike climbing up steep road Awesome
We had a chit chat with a clever tourist guide and drown in a conversation from politics to Global warming. The last one, was indeed has a direct impact to Bromo Mountain. August was supposed to be the coldest month in Bromo Mountain but this year was not so, usually farmers there experienced the "upas" where frozen iced blankets their plants. There is no such a thing this year, although upas causes farmers lost in their revenue, but to some it's also a sign that global warming is slowly taking its toll to the environment. Sad aye.

The guy gave us advice not to go up to Pananjakan by motorbike alone, unless you are in a group; you have mates to back you up as it is not an easy route to go through.
Finally the fog cleared up a bit and you could see the Mount Batok standing next to you, whoaa great view. We opted to ride a horse, although I was a bit worry the horse couldn't take my weight hahahaaha but the guy said "don't worry you are not heavy at all" what a compliment.
I decided not to go up to the crater but hang around around the stairs, because the sulphur smell suffocated my lungs, instead we took some pictures and help others took picture. The view from the stairs also as amazing as one we viewed in Penanjakan only from different altitude. We went down again and by this time the fog started to dwell back in the area. An incident happened, a horse threw a little girl off its back, and lucky she didn't crash on the concrete pilars. I asked whether she was okay and got hurt, she said she was fine, although I could see she was a bit shaky and she said she was trying to control the horse but got threw off instead. Talking about mad horse and law suit to someone one of these days. We got back to the hotel, had breakfast consisted of Nasi goreng and tea. Yufi begged whether he could go back to the desert on his bike to fulfil his curiosity, because he gave me a begging look, I gave in. We took off the top box to reduce weight off the bike. Finally got to the desert, a couple of meters ride he got stuck and I jumped off to give the bike some push and I decided to walk, he fell off from the bike, 200 meters later and tried hard to lift his bike up, I was there laughing hahaahaha.
While we were trying to lift the bike up, a guy with a Honda GL Pro passed us in full speed, whoaaaaa. We broke into into a hysterical laugh. Ironic. After Yufi felt satisfied riding around, fell off on the desert a couple of times and got himself souvenirs, a couple of scratches on his legs we rode back to the hotel, we made a stop for a coffee near the hotel. A seller asked Yufi how's the bike and gave a short crash guide how they usually handle the bike on the desert, he told Yufi not to fight the shaky steering, hold on to it and accelerate in the highest speed so the bike wouldn't sink in but fly on the sand. A wee bit too late but useful for next time. We got ourselves ready to go to Solo afterwards..

Bye bye Bromo Mountain wish could make another visit with Cica sometimes next year. Went down the mountain at 12 pm, we feel the hot air blew us, darn! Back to reality the kungfu movie is over. Had lunch at Rawon Nguling in Nguling, Pasuruan. Felt so lazy and sleepy right after lunch but the show must go on, Giveme's wedding is waiting.

We continued on Pasuruan city and arrived at Gempol to Mojosari, we were blocked by a pre Independence day marching. We had to stuck in the crowd for half an hour before could slowly ride through them. Off we got to Mojosari, then Mojokerto then Jombang. The road was more crowded compared to the other day, holiday is over. People rush to go back home. We got to Nganjuk at 5 and stopped for some snack and drink. We saw carnaval to celebrate Independence Day. We got to Caruban at around 6pm and again got stuck in a pre Independence Day celebration, this time was a carnaval, so funny as well as amazed how close tied these small cities people to each other. They wore all sorts of costumes and had a lot of themes. Apparently army or police capturing terrorist became a trend theme, some wore police or army costumes while some were being dragged around pretended to be the captured terrorists. Yufi took some pictures off them. We enjoyed the carnaval.

We got to Ngawi at 6.30 pm and go straight to Sragen. We had dinner in Sragen's "Lesehan Bandung". A famous eatery in Sragen (as recommended by my office's interviewer last time I went to Sragen for work) and made some phone calls to some hotels in Solo, damn most of them were fully booked. We decided to go look for a place to stay later. Yufi rode on a full speed, we felt tired already and I need a good hotel to sleep in. We finally entered Solo at around 8pm and bumped into Asia hotel in Jalan Monginsidi, we went there to check whether they have a room available. They did so we decided to stay there for the night. The room was fine. Felt so tired I dozed off right after.

Day 4

We woke up late, had breakfast and got ready to go to Karang Anyar. We left the hotel at 12pm straight to Karang Anyar. Yufi felt the clutch string a bit off (later we found out it was nearly worn out) we arrived at the wedding and stayed there for an hour.

We went to local bike workshop to get the clutch string changed. On the way back I read "Tawangmangu 30 km". We decided to go up there. We passed Tawangmangu, ride on to Cemorosewu which located on Gunung Lawu. I remembered passing this road long time ago with my dad from Madiun. We hung around for awhile had late lunch. Yufi had a bunny satay and I had an indomie. I grieved for all those bunnies. We took off at 6pm we arrived in Jogja at around 8pm. Had dinner in a street stall. The street stall was unique because it was a VW Combi. We had spaghetti and lasagna with cold chocolate yummy and cheap. We continued to Kebumen. Around Banyumas. At Tugurejo we stopped at a gas station to have some coffee and I spotted a small sign next to a guy "Pijat Pak Bagyo" whoaaa a massage service, I asked him how much (we were broke already) he said it was up to us. Yufi went to have his back, legs and hands massage while I opted for legs massage. Bliss. At 12am something we got ready to continue to Wangon and may stop there as the route from Wangon to the province border a bit dangerous. You could get mugged along the route. Yufi ride on the higgest speed this time. Got to Karang Pucung as Yufi was so sleepy, we decided to continue after dusk. I couldn't believe me sleeping on the porch of a gas station. With other bunch of people. I got myself close to Yufi hahahaha. My late dad must be sad knowing his pretty princess slept in a gas station hahahahaa. Amazingly there were no mosquitoes.

Day 5

6 am we continued to Banjar. Actually from a gas station (where we stayed overnight) to Majenang was only 17 km but the road condition was bad, loose gravel, bumpy, you name it. Afterwards the road mostly already fixed with hot mix asphalt. Finally, I never felt sooo happy in my whole life seeing the gate saying farewell to Central Java and Welcome to West Java. Closer to home already although it was still 293 km to Jakarta from Banjar. We had a Soto daging as our breakfast in Banjar. Took the road slowly this time. Nagrek felt soooo faraway. We also bumped into carnivals along the route from Banjar to Nagrek. It was our Independence Day. Happy Birthday Indonesia!!!

We stopped at Nagrek to take some rest as Yufi wanted to take a nap. We continued around 11 o'clock and had lunch at Ampera restaurant in Soekarno Hatta road.

Yufi decided to go back through Jonggol because it was daytime and it was a shorter cut. The road to Jonggol was amazingly full of people; I guess they didn't want to get stuck in the traffic as well as people were also going back from their holiday. In some areas along the route the road condition was so bad but we took it easy. At last Jonggol. Yippeeee home is only a blink away. We cut short our route through Kota Wisata and stopped to have some ciggies. We continued to home.

Arrived home at exactly 5ish pm. Home sweet home, my sweet Falisha was sleeping and I was relieved.
I thank God for keeping us throughout our trip safe.
I was happy and I am still happy, although we felt unbelievably exhausted.

Merdeka!!!!

Visit Indonesia Year 2009

Let’s get Lost!!!!