EXPLORING THE CRATER OF BROMO AND ITS SURROUNDING - PART ONE

   26TH JULY 2025    ~ From the highland after chasing the sunrise, we then moved to the lowland of Bromo. The place was a vast, flat ground with mountains and hills on the horizon. The land was covered with light, grey/black fine sand and the minute particles would easily flew everywhere when one stepped on it.

The activity: to get ourselves photographed in the beautiful nature. This place could be once the spot where tragedy happened and we were there in another time frame to admire the beauty that was the left after the natural disaster.

We had Mr, Yoga the tour guide who also acted as the photographer and the director of photography at the same time. We never said "no" to all his instructions to pose and consequently, we had a lot of photos of the whole trip.

NEXT: Exploring the real crater of Bromo Mountain in PART 2.

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SPOT THE ERROR 212

[SPOTTED FROM MY RECENT SURABAYA TRIP]

One letter spelling error, and I am not going to tell 😀

CHASING SUNRISE AT MOUNT BROMO

   26TH JULY 2025    ~ The highlight of the Surabaya trip was to chase the sunrise at Mount Bromo. To get the mission accomplished, we had to push off from the hotel as early as at 12:30 a.m. so that we could arrive at the transit point on time [after about 3 hours]. From there, we had to be separated into two groups and get into two jeeps.

spot me if you can

Then, another long journey uphill started. There was like a race with hundred of other jeeps to get to next check point in the wee hour of the morning.

We reached the rest area which was a coffees shop at about 3:30 a.m. and it was extremely cold. While waiting for the Subuh [dawn] prayer time [at 4:30 a.m.] we had hot drinks and food like instant noodles. We could also access the toilets and Musolla [the small room for prayer] here.

It was only 4:00 a.m. but the place was already flocked with visitors who had the same mission.

FYI, I decided not to go on the adventure hiking up the place called King Kong Hill with the other group members to observe the sunrise against Bromo due to the issues that I had with my knees. It was better to be safe than sorry and I had no regret at all. [The moral of the story: go travel when you are still fit and healthy] Nevertheless, I was still glad to share the magnificent view of the mountain seen by my friends up there.

Thanks to my friends who had shared the awesome photos and videos of the picturesque view of the volcano.

When my friends came back to the coffee shop, we were ready to continue with our exploration of Bromo.

The trip downhill in the jeep was another challenge. There were just too many jeeps on the narrow road, hence there was a massive traffic congestion. We were even in a stationary position for quite sometime, and the jeeps were moving bumper to bumper.

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If you are looking for a guide for your Bromo Trip, here's the link:

Agent Surabaya Travel

THE LATE LUNCH DATE IN THE RURAL AREA OF THE CITY

   2ND AUGUST 2025   ~ The buffet breakfast session at Sunway Hotel Big Box [READ HERE] sure had made us full and because of that, we decided to meet up for a late lunch session at 4:00 p.m. When asked by my guests of a place where we could get good food, Restoran Pantai Sungai Melayu was the venue that crossed my mind. I did warn my friends of the route where one had to drive quite a distance through a palm oil plantation before reaching the place.

I sure had not been here for a long time as a lot of things had changed. First, the junction from the main road to get into the fishing village had been rerouted and second, there was a construction work that was in progress right beside the restaurant so there was no parking space for the visitors, except by the road side.

It was a good idea to get our lunch much later as there were fewer diners when we arrived. For one thing, I was glad that Puan Nurhanim Hassan and her husband, Mr. Mashor, loved the Stingray Asam Pedas and other dishes served at the restaurant. We did not think we could go for another meal after this so that should wrap up the gastronomic adventures with the lovely couple from Klang this time. They better be ready for more restaurant-hopping activities when they come to visit next time.

THE BREAKFAST SESSION AT SUNWAY HOTEL BIG BOX

Puan Nurhanim Hassan, a friend of UPM TESL Class of 1993, and her husband, were in town. The venue for our meeting in Johor Bahru was Sunway Hotel Big Box where they were staying and it was a breakfast date at the cafe.

This was my second time at the hotel. I attended the school hi-tea event many years ago here.

The very last time Puan Nurhanim came to Johor Bahru was back in 2016 [READ HERE] and surprisingly this was her husband, Mr. Mashor, first time visiting the city.

The buffet spread was amazing and you could get variety of choices from the different ethnic groups in the country. For example: Nasi Lemak [Malay], Lotus Rice [Chinese], Idli and Paratha [Indian]. The pastries were hot from the oven. You could even see the pastries being baked in the hot oven which was intentionally put in the dining area.

A lot of food and a lot of things to be discussed over breakfast, I guess we were there for almost 2 hours and a half. It was time to go and get the food digested as we had another late lunch/early dinner date in the afternoon.

WELCOMING FRIENDS TO SURABAYA - AND THE ADVENTURE BEGAN

   25th JULY 2025    ~ The other group members who flew out from Kuala Lumpur at 3:15 p.m. finally arrived at Juanda International Airport at about 5:40 p.m. I was there with the guide to welcome them to Surabaya, Indonesia and was able to greet them with "Sugeng Rawuh" [which means "welcome" in Javanese].

The group members comprised of three TESL UPM friends: Puan Hazlina Aziz, Puan Hanna Sheikh Mokhtar [and her husband] and Mr. Ridwan A. Wahid [accompanied by his wife and daughter].

Everybody was extremely excited to check the small, blue bus which was called "Alf" by the locals.

The adventure of the seven people then began and the first activity was to stop for dinner at Pondok Tempo Doeloe in the city before we continued the journey for another approximately 2 hours.

The final destination of the day was Bromo View Hotel. We checked in but was there only for about 2 hours and a half, just to freshen up and rest a bit, perhaps to catch the forty winks. We had to check out at 12:30 a.m. and started the journey to Mt. Bromo. That was my shortest stay in a hotel ever. I did not even dare to get a short sleep for the fear of not being able to wake up at all.

Everyone was so ready for the highlight of the Surabaya trip: watching the sunrise at Mt. Bromo. The fun had actually begun when I saw them at Juanda Airport Arrival Hall nonetheless.

[If you need to get a guide for your trip to Surabaya and Bromo, you can visit the website of Agent Surabaya Travel HERE.]

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