Tag: Bromo Mountain

Off to the Blue Village! Jodipan Colourful Village is a stop we made on our way to Ngadas. One side is all blue houses and the other side is all colourful houses. We walked across the bridge to see both areas. Above is a mural we passed. It was all very colourful !

We headed up into the mountains to the village of Ngadas where we are staying at Homestays. We have done Homestays on other trips and they can be quite interesting. There were twelve of us, so we split up into three different residences. Clint, myself, Lisa, Paddy and Michaela were all in one house for two nights. We stayed upstairs on the 2nd floor and the family was on the main floor. We had 3 bedrooms and a small sitting area and there was a bathroom the 5 of us shared. Not a bathroom that most people are used to, that’s for sure ! They made our breakfasts and dinners which were pretty tasty and we ate them downstairs in the kitchen. They were very nice people who spoke no English but we couldn’t speak their language either and yet it all worked out.

Homestays are not for everyone but we’re easy going and have traveled a lot so we just go with whatever is going on. Except for the beer situation…not sure if I mentioned that but because this is primarily a Muslim country it’s not always easy to find beer, but trust me, I’m resourceful and I usually can figure something out !

It was an interesting village, there was a Buddhist temple, a Mosque and a Hindu temple all close together. The population was 1,700 people.

The second morning, we got up at 2 in the morning, yes you read that right…..TWO in the morning to leave at 230 a.m. to drive up to Mount Bromo for the sunrise. There were 3 jeeps for our group, one for each Homestay group. We waited until 3 a.m. because one of the jeeps didn’t show up on time. Clint sat in the front with the driver and the rest of us (4) sat in the back; it was bench seats positioned sideways so we were facing each other. And did I mention cold and uncomfortable lol. We drove for 90 minutes up a very bumpy steep hill, partly paved and partly dirt. One of the jeeps got a flat tire so they stopped all 3 jeeps and had all of us walk up the rest of the way. We had asked our tour guide how cold it would be and he said oh it will be between 15-20 Celsius. He was wrong, it was so cold up there that we had to rent parkas from one of the shops lol. I think it was 10 Celsius, for my US readers, that is 50 Fahrenheit. It was still too early for the sun to come up so we sat in a little cafe and I had a hot chocolate and Clint had a coffee. There were lots of little shops and restaurants up here. After taking photos, we got back in our jeeps and drove to Teletubby Hill lookout for our breakfast. We had bread, jam, bananas, boiled eggs and coffee. They really treat you well on these trips and they are so happy to be able to give us our meals no matter where we are.

When we left the mountain, one of our 3 jeeps picked up the wrong people and we didn’t realize it until we were halfway down the mountain. We all stopped and that jeep had to drive back to the top and pick up our people! Then our jeep drove into another jeep on the road but our jeep didn’t stop! I was knocked into the back door and hurt my shoulder and the muffler hose on the jeep was bent out of shape but I guess it’s common so the attitude is just keep going lol.

After the excitement at the top, we drove to the bottom, to the base of the crater and it was like a desert down there, and warmer. Lots of horses and jeeps and it was a hike to the crater, about 700 m to the base from the parking area and then a steep climb way, way up, along with about 250 stairs.

So this the end of our two weeks on the island of Java in Indonesia. Our third week was spent on the island of Bali.

See you next post !