Bromo and Ijen

October 02, 2019

In November 2018, Jet and I decided to try hiking Mount Bromo and Ijen in Indonesia to celebrate his birthday.

Kindly note that these two volcanoes (although both are called "Mount) are about 7-hour drive away from each other. I missed this information during my research and was left with the mercy of our Indonesian driver with very limited English who failed to inform us that we are allowed to do stopovers along the way to check and enjoy other scenery in Surabaya. Anyway, Ijen is breathtaking, specifically in pictures.

It can be pretty cold when doing the hike early morning but it is all worth it.

Mount Ijen crater

the sandy way to Mount Bromo

Mount Bromo Indonesia

Cloudy and cold on top.

stairway to Bromo crater

4x4 ride to Mount Bromo

stairs to Mount Bromo crater

Lazy tourists took horses 🐎 to bring them to the crater. We just walked our way up, around 2km for 1.5 hours! Walang pambayad sa kabayo! 😅

The hike to the top ni Petrang Kabayo 🐎

Kutsero 👨🏻ni Petra! 🐎

Toilet 🚽 sa kabundukan. 🏔

We started at 3am to wait for the sunrise 🌄 at Love Hill.

Windy at Teletubby Hill! 😂

My own tele-tubby, Rey Castillo 😅

At Bromo Terrace Hotel, the chef said we were the first Filipino guests they had

Hubby got better feet 👣 than me! Slippers courtesy of Bromo Terrace Hotel and Resort S

While in Bromo, we stayed in Bromo Terrace Hotel which is one of the memorable accommodation we had in Indonesia

Hubby was so chill at Bromo Terrace Hotel

Birthday brekky sa bundok 🏔! Courtesy of Bromo Terrace Hotel

My kind-hearted husband, Rey Castillo

We did not dare to go down the crater because of the sulfur smoke which smells like rotten egg. It can dry the eyes 👀 and will make one cough like crazy. We also failed to see the blue fire as we’re lazy to wake up at 12am and start the hike at 1am! 😓 — at KAWAH IJEN.

Considered as one of the hardest job in the world, the sulfur miners in Ijen carry up to 90kilos of sulfur from the crater and earn around $2 per day! 😟 We should try to appreciate a bit more the work that puts bread on our table. — at Kawah Ijen.

The crater’s lake is 183-meter deep. — at KAWAH IJEN.

With our tour guide, Irfan. 👨🏽 — with Rey Castillo at Kawah Ijen.

Glad we did this hike during our prime years. Give it another decade or two, I don’t think we will have the energy to travel like this. — with Rey Castillo at KAWAH IJEN.

If you happen to go here, have some level of fitness and do not be like us. We paid for this ‘taxi’ to bring us to the crater 🌋. There was a point in the ride where it felt like modern day slavery. You can hear the breathing of the man pushing the trolley and another two in front dragging it like reindeers at 3am! 😓 We were forced to ride because we wore the wrong shoes 👟 without the strong grip and the hike was draining at 3km to reach the crater before sunrise. 🌄 — with Rey Castillo at KAWAH IJEN.