On the Top of Mount Bromo

“I am kind into nature because I can feel God in it, every time I am on the peak and see what lies beneath me; It is echoing that I need to respect it not only proud of myself–human—as the biggest beneficiary”

The Jeep couldn’t take us nearer to the top. My friends and I went out quickly as the driver opened me the door. My hands are shivering. I took out my gloves and put it on. It was below 10 degrees Celsius. We had to walk faster to keep our body warm as trying to manage our space among the crowd. As we walked higher, some people talked laud offering thick jacket to rent. I still could see the haze when they were talking. In both sides of the road, I didn’t see the two long rows jeeps anymore. It is cut by the shops and small restaurants. Around 10 minutes walk. We stood in front of a gate which is written “Landscape View Point” on it. We didn’t directly enter it. We went to the Gazebo where a bunch of people doing their sholat that is located about few meters from the entrance. I couldn’t imagine the water that they used for taking ritual ablution, must be super cold. I was standing in the corner, wrapping my body with my arms while listening to the Azan—praying call.

As they finished, we impatiently walked in trough the gate and fitted our self in a good spot. We were on 2700 meters above sea level easily. I was standing on the concrete and held tightly on the iron bar. I could see little light where the sunrise is coming from. The cloud was too thick. However the picture of Bromo, Batok, Widodaren, Watangan and of Mahameru could be seen. It was not clear enough but still, I could feel its beauty. As the fog coming, the picture of that mountain range totally faded away. “You should come on July or August, if you want to see it clearly” suggested a stranger that stood next to me. I looked at him and shortly replied “Yeah I will”.

After taking some snaps, my friends and I went down. The jeep took us lower. The winding road made my stomach rumbling. I felt like butterflies in it. Fortunately from the landscape view point to Bromo is less than 20 minutes. Our jeep stopped on the flat spacious sandy land circled by the hills, Mount Bromo and Mount Batok. It was not dusty. I didn’t even put my masker off. January is a suggested month to visit Bromo especially if you don’t want to experience thick dusty air. Around 200 meters away stood a Hindus Temple.  This is the main temple where Tengger People conducts their ritual and religious ceremony. On the corner, many warungs—small shop—stood under their colorful tents, ready to serve the climbers before and after trekking. To climb Mount Bromo, I don’t need to be a skillful climber. Everything in Bromo seemed much easier compare to my climbing experience before.  There are stairs, if I wanted to, I can even ride a horse from the parking lot to the stairs. It took me less than one and half since I stopped many times to take pictures and to bargain Edelweiss. I didn’t even count the stairs. People said “none counts the stairs right”. I think its distracting angelical beauty make people cannot focus on counting them. From the top, I could see the whispering dessert, the green hills which were covered by the wild ferns and the amazing hole in the middle of Bromo. I took selfie for couple times with the background of the crater. As smoke keep going up, the smell of sulfur was getting stronger. I put my masker on and went down.

Since I started my trip to Bromo from Pare and traveled in group which consisted of 7 people, it made this trip cheaper. I paid IDR 250, 000/pack for whole trip, included Jeep and the ticket entrance. My friends and I didn’t need to spend a night. We left for Bromo at 11 p.m. We slept in the car. We reached Tosari—the village on the slope of Bromo— at 4 a.m. We had breakfast and early morning tea while waiting for the Jeep to pick us up. On the way back, the driver even took us to one of the biggest gardens named Selecta which is located in Batu.