We ended up keeping our driver for three days, seeing Gunung Bromo, staying on a coffee plantation, doing the Kawah Ijen hike, and finally getting dropped off in Ubud, Bali. There were quite a few other couples who we bumped into along the trip that were doing similar itineraries, also with a hired car and driver.
First was a long eleven hour drive from Yogyakarta to Cemoro Lawang, a town on the edge of the ancient Tengger caldera. Inside the 10km crater are three volcanoes, including Gunung Bromo (2392m).
We woke up at 3:15am to get to a viewpoint well above Tengger. We arrived just before the break of dawn, and found maybe 300 other tourists (half Indonesian, half foreigners) also at the viewpoint. It was a cloudy morning, and we waited for an hour to see if the clouds would break. We jostled with the other tourists for photo ops. There were occasional great views of Gunung Semeru (3676m) in the background, which spewed up dark clouds of smoke every few minutes. We did manage to get a big picture view through the clouds, but nothing picture-worthy.
Next we drove down a very steep (45*) "road" to the foot of Bromo. The enterprising locals have set up a fence about 500m from the base; and offer horse rides across the short distance. We chose to walk :)
Due to the altitude, it was a tiring climb up 253 stairs to get to the rim of Bromo. The smell of sulphur didn't help. About half way up, we sat down on some rocks to rest. We were soon surrounded by teenage kids wanting to take my picture. I felt I had to uphold the reputation of my doppelganger, the Bollywood star, so posed for a few pics, signed an autograph etc. We resumed our climb after a few minutes. Once at the top, there were great views into the crater, with smoke billowing out. Very smelly, though.
Back at the hotel we had breakfast (it was only 7:30am!) and then settled in for the drive to the Ijen Plateau. About six hours later we arrived at Catimore Homestay on the Balawan coffee plantation. It was a great setting, in a big old Dutch house. We relaxed, had some tea by the garden, and read a bit. Later in the evening we had dinner and a couple beers, and then went to bed around 9pm.
We were up early yet again to visit the coffee factory at 6am. There was a noisy room where dozens of women graded the coffee beans, tossing them into the air with large trays. We also saw a large heated warehouse where the beans are dried. It was pretty cool. I had no idea what a coffee plant even looked like before this trip.
I had to have coffee with breakfast on the plantation (I'm more of a tea drinker). It was excellent. If there was coffee like this in Toronto, I may even become a coffee drinker.
It was a short 30-minute drive from the plantation to Kawah Ijen, which is a beautiful turquoise lake. Sulphur is collected inside the crater by workers who carry 80kg loads along a difficult trek. It was tiring for us and we weren't carrying anything. The path is 3km up the crater, pretty steep for parts; and the smell of sulphur was overpowering towards the crater rim. We stepped aside every few minutes to allow the sulphur collectors to pass going downhill with their loads. Along the path were loads of sulphur waiting to be carried; the yellow sulphur made a nice subject for pics.
We finally reached the lookout point on the rim of the crater. The smoke from the crater obscured views of the turquoise lake and so we waited, breathing through our clothing, hoping for the wind to shift the smoke and give us a view. After about 20 minutes, we were rewarded with a partial view. We started trekking back, and just before we left the rim, the smoke cleared completely! Another 10 seconds and we would been downhill and missed the view. It was gorgeous and well worth the journey. It's off the beaten path, and the lack of tourists was nice compared to Bromo.
We trekked back to our vehicle, and were off to Bali. It was a short one hour drive to the ferry, about an hour across to Bali, and then a four hour drive to Ubud, in the middle of Bali. We said goodbye to Eko (sp?), who had been our excellent driver and guide over the last four days, and checked into the Pradha Guesthouse.
The Pradha Guesthouse is in a beautiful Balinese setting. There grounds are enormous, with intricate carved pillars and roofs, ponds, lots of seating, and a view into the Pura Desa Ubud temple next door. Last night we were pretty tired from the past couple days of travel; and we also had a bit of culture shock with so many tourists (it's like in the movie The Beach when they come back to the partying on the mainland). However, our guesthouse is a bit off the main drag, and there's many walks through rice paddy fields that start from our front door. We'll be relaxing here in Ubud for the next few days, doing walks, maybe hiring a driver for a day trip to surrounding sights, buying souvenirs, (and getting back to a civilized sleep schedule!)
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