The bus to mount Bromo is a van and I’m the last pickup. It’s a squeeze and I end up in the back next to a Nick and Annette, brother and sister from Holland. Interestingly a lot of Dutch travell here in Indonesia, connected somehow from the colonial past. Annette is a medical student and she has just completed an internship with a hospital in Jogya. Nick has come over to join her for a trip around Indonesia before heading home. ‘Only 12 hours to go to get to Bromo’. ‘What?’ is my reply! Typically I have signed on to this 3-day trip without reading the fine print.
They’re right. The whole day is spent in this cramped van traveling at reckless pace on typically crowded Indonesian roads. Fortunately I’m in the back seat and can avoid the terrifying vision of near misses and close shaves through the windscreen. I highly recommend not sitting in the front of the vehicles when travelling in Indonesia. The chaotic nature of the traffic continues outside of the city except that both speed and passenger anxiety are amplified considerably. It’s best to focus your attention out of the side windows.
We arrive at our hotel (Sunsia Lodge) in the village of Cemoro Lawang in the dark at 9.00pm, exhausted and hungry. And it’s cold here. It can get down to 5 degrees at night. What have I signed up for?
Mount Bromo better be good!
angusmccoll 