4D3N Itinerary
- Day 1: Singapore - Surabaya - Ijen
- Day 2: Ijen - Madakaripura Waterfall - Bromo
- Day 3: Bromo - Coban Rondo Waterfall - Museum Angkut - Malang
- Day 4: Surabaya - Singapore
27 May 2018 Day 1
We took the morning flight from Singapore via Singapore Airline and it was around 9am when we reached Surabaya. It took more than one hour to clear the immigration and collect our luggage. The tour guide, Arif was already waiting in the arrival hall with my name on a paper in his hand. After short introduction, we went to the car park and the driver, Bimo picked us up and fetched us for lunch.
After about an hour of driving, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. My friend ordered fried rice and I order Chinese fried noodle. The food are relatively cheap in Indonesia, but they are usually quite plain without much ingredients. They taste good though. The rice and noodle costed less than S$2.50 each. We ordered one glass of chendol which is salty and diluted coconut milk with chendol and some other jellies. Honey was served separately and you can adjust the sweetness depending how much honey you put. I did not really like this drink, the combination of sweet and salty was just too weird. To fulfill my craving for dessert, I bought an ice cream which was relatively cheap but small.
We continued our road journey to Bondowoso. Along the way we passed by Bayuwangi. We finally reached our hotel, Ijen View Hotel at 3.30pm. Our room was just in front of the swimming pool and the restaurant.
We were informed to set off to Ijen at 12am later. Yes you are right, we were not staying in the hotel for one night. We at first were planning to have early dinner and take rest for at least a few hours before we departed to Ijen. However most of the food stalls were closed due to Ramadan month. We waited till 6+ and our tour guide and driver fetched us to Jojo Restaurant in the town for dinner. To express our gratitude, we invited them to join our dinner.
We were informed to set off to Ijen at 12am later. Yes you are right, we were not staying in the hotel for one night. We at first were planning to have early dinner and take rest for at least a few hours before we departed to Ijen. However most of the food stalls were closed due to Ramadan month. We waited till 6+ and our tour guide and driver fetched us to Jojo Restaurant in the town for dinner. To express our gratitude, we invited them to join our dinner.
We ordered a set for 4 pax (Jojo 1) at 180,000rb which came with fish and chicken. Some of the dishes were already sold out. The free dessert, Klanting & Lupis with brown sugar was the most impressive. It did not look good but it was actually very nice. Lupis is sweet cake made of glutinous rice. Klanting is one of the traditional dishes of the Javanese people. Klanting is made from corn starch, giving the food a rubber-like texture similar to agar-agar. It comes in a variety of colors, including red and green. Being tasteless, it was served with brown sugar and fortunately it was not too sweet.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and slept for less than 3 hours before we departed to Ijen before 12am.
28 May 2018 Day 2:
We set off from the hotel around 12am. Arif packed us sandwiches from the hotel for our breakfast. After driving for 2 hours in the dark, we reached the trail head at Paltuding, where we would start our hike to the Ijen crater. Because the gate was not opened, we took some hot beverage in the drink stall nearby. Arif introduced the hiking guide, Sherly, to us. As it was a ramadan month, Arif was exempted to do the hike with us.
The Ijen volcano complex is a group of composite volcanoes in the Banyuwangi Regency of East Java, Indonesia. It is inside a larger caldera Ijen, which is about 20 kilometres wide. Mount Ijen is a quiet but active volcano. It is set amidst a stunning landscape of volcanic cones.
We started the hike at [2.30am]. It was a 3.3km hike from the strting point to the crater rim. Then entire trail took about 1.5 hours. I have to admit that the challenge of the hike was not the 45 degree incline, not the coldness and darkeness, not the sulphur smoke but to stand with the cigaratte smoke from a few tour guides around. The first 1km was pretty gentle and so was the walk from 2.2 to the crater. The portion between 1.2-2.2km was challenging, climbing approx 1000-1500ft.
At the top, we were given the choice to wait around in the cold for sunrise or to hike down to bank of the crater to watch the blue flames. Most travellers come to Ijen for what’s known as the “Ijen Blue Fire”. If you want to see the blue flames, you will miss the sunrise at the top of the crater. We chose to see the blue flame. Going down to the crater, especially in dark was not easy. Thankfully our guide was holding my hand the entire time. He was leading us down the safest path to the heart of the Ijen volcano. We were lucky as the wind was not too strong and the sulphur smoke was not everywhere in the air. I did not wear the mask most of the time.
Blue flame is an electric-blue flame that appears from the combustion of sulfuric gases. The gases emerge from cracks in the volcano at high pressure and temperature of up to 1,112°F (600°C). Igniting when they come in contact with air. The Ijen blue flames can reach up to 16 feet (5 meters) high. We sit and watched the blue flames while our tour guide climbed near to the source of blue fire to take a video of it. According to him, it was very hot standing near to the blue fire. While I was waiting, I prayed that he held my phone tightly and my phone was not going to fall into the fire.
After a long photo taking session, we hiked up from the crater bank and walked the same way back to the car park. The trail from the lake back to the top of the crater was rocky, but it was much easier to walk up than down, especially it was bright now. It was clearer to see how the sulfur collector were working hard. They work for a minimum wage and visibly terrible conditions. They hike up early in the morning, work straight through until noon. Most of them use wet cloths to protect themselves from the sulfur flames. Most miners carry 40-50 kgs of sulfur back up to the surface without proper footwear on. Hence, most tour guides always reminded the hikers to give way for the miners. We were told that the going rate for sulfur is only about 1000 IRP (less than S$0.10 per kilo). So a 2-3 hour return trip with 40 kgs of sulfur would only make the workers about S$5. Our tour guide said that he does the mining when he has no tour too.
We reached the car park around 7+am. We drove back to the hotel for shower and check-out. After checking out from the hotel, it was again a 4-hour journey on the road to Bromo. Along the way, we stopped for lunch and then we visited Madakaripura Waterfall. It’s the biggest waterfall in East Java. It is a waterfall with rainlike streams tumbling down the walls of a verdant, cylindrical canyon. You need to do a small adventourous trip of 20 minutes to climb the cliffs before you can see the main waterfall. Raincoat is provided but you will get wet a little bit. The stunning glory of rumbling water going down from the cliff is worth the effort for sure!
A legend of this falls is connected with the name of Gadjah Mada, who was a prime minister of the largest Javanese empire Majapahit. In 1355 Vuruk Khayyam an emperor of Majapahit gave lands in the area to the prime minister. It is said that the source of his overwhelming power and bilities lies within the cave of the Madakarupura Waterfall, where Gajah Mada frequently came to meditate.
Madakaripura is also called as “the last residence of Gadjah Mada“. According to a legend, the 60-year-old prime minister have been vanishe spiritually and physically during his last meditaion. It’s believed that swimming in the Madakaripura falls give health, strength and youth.
Nearby the waterfall there is a family-run restaurant at the corner, named RM. BTS (Bromo Tengger Semeru) which serves awesome food. The restaurant is at downstairs and the owners sleep upstairs. Arif recommended us for grilled fish and oxtail soup. At first I hesitated to try the oxtail soup but I was finally convinced. The soup turned out to be very nice. The mee goreng that we ordered had the taste of mother's cooking. There were different kinds of ingredients in the noodle, as if your mother digs into the fridge to find all available ingredients to cook a bowl of noodle on your request at late night. We also bought 10 sticks of satay along the stretch of stalls at the roadside.
We drove to Cafe Lava Bromo hotel. We were going uphill and it was getting colder. The car could not move at one point where the slope was steep. We got down from the car and helped to push the car. We then walked up the slope. When we were almost done with the climb, we sadly saw our car was being driven further away in order to give way for a coming bus. What a good exercise in cold after a heavy dinner!!!
29 May 2018 Day 3:
Once again we woke up early for sunrise over Mt. Bromo. We set off from hotel at 2.30am in a jeep to the viewpoint. Our guide led us up to a small hill (which is not the common viewpoint). The hike was easy and short but make sure you have light with you. In less than 10 minutes we reached the top and there were few groups of people sitting on the field getting ready for the sunrise.
The sun started to rise at about 3.40am. Slowly we could see Bromo appear in front of us, and also a unique view of sea of clouds invading the village of Cemoro Lawang. The view is just magnificent! I have seen a number of sunrises in different countries/places but the sunrise here was the best so far.
From near to far, Mount Batok, Mount Bromo with smoke rising high, and Mount Semeru from afar, highest peak of Java Island. Mount Semeru, also known as Mahameru ("Great Mountain"), is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes. What stands out most about this mountain is that it erupts reliably: every 20 min or so, the volcano belches out a huge cloud of steam and smoke, sometimes interspersed with ash and stones.
About 5am we were done with lots of photos taking. We boarded the jeep again and we were driven down to the bed of the caldera where we would hike up to Mount Bromo. The guide offered to sit on the top of the jeep with me during the ride. Hafiz told me I was his first guest taking the challenge so he did this for the first time as well. I did not expect the wind and I put my jacket in the jeep. Both of us ended up shivering throughout the entire ride. It was not a good idea but I enjoyed the ride.
We started our hike to the base of Mount Bromo by walking across the seas of sand. (Laut Pasir) (~an hour walk; 2-3 km). Horses can be “flagged down“ any time along the trail if you prefer to ride rather than walk. There was a concrete flight of (~ 240) steps which led us from the base of Mount Bromo to its crater rim. From the crater rim, you can peep down into its crater as closed to a live volcano as you can get. I only took a short walk along the crater rim as I think it is easy to fall without barrier.
We boarded the jeep again and went back to the hotel to enjoy our breakfast. We checked out from hotel at 9am and moved to Coban Rondo Waterfall. Unlike Madakarupura Waterfall, it is well maintained with proper walkway. The water and surrounding are clean. However I found it less attractive as it is not as magnificent and adventurous as Madakaripura Waterfall.
We continued the journey to the Malang city. We visited Museum Angkut. At first I thought it was just a car museum but it turned out to be like a theme park featuring Hollywood scenes.
Malang is very famous for their meatballs (bakso). Bakso or baso is an Indonesian meatball, or a meat paste made from beef surimi. Its texture is similar to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball.
We had our last morning to do some visiting before flying back to Singapore. Kampung Warna Warni Jodipan is literally warna-warni or colorful. A house in that kampung has at least three different colors painted on its walls and roof.
Kampung Jodipan was actually a slum area that is located on the riverbank of Daerah Aliran Sungai (DAS) Brantas. It was even one of the 11 most rundown villages in Indonesia. It all changed when a group of Public Relations students from Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) had a task for PR and Event Management subject. They tried to propose the initiative to a paint company to work on the project together. It turned out that the company was also going to make a CSR program, and they collaborated to make the slum at Jodipan colorful.
Singosari temple, also known as Kendedes temple, was founded in honor to King Kertanegara, the last king of Singosari dynasty who died in 1292 AD. It was erected in 1300 AD at the same time when the ritual Sradha took place. In the vicinity of the temple there are two gigantic statue called Dwarapala, believed to be the entrance guards to the palace.
As the other East Java's temple, Singosari temple is formed from red bricks and arranged in cone building, called temple. This temple also has beautiful relief that describe the great of Singosari Kingdom years ago.
We requested to have Nasi Padang for our dinner. Nasi Padang is a Padang steamed rice served with various choices of pre-cooked dishes originated from Indonesia like our Chinese Cai Fan. Unlike the usual nasi padang, there were limited choices of dishes to choose from. To order, we chose one meat and it will be served together with side dishes and rice.
Malang is very famous for their meatballs (bakso). Bakso or baso is an Indonesian meatball, or a meat paste made from beef surimi. Its texture is similar to the Chinese beef ball, fish ball, or pork ball.
After a very sumptuous dinner, we went back to hotel and took rest.
30 May 2018 Day 4
We had our last morning to do some visiting before flying back to Singapore. Kampung Warna Warni Jodipan is literally warna-warni or colorful. A house in that kampung has at least three different colors painted on its walls and roof.
Kampung Jodipan was actually a slum area that is located on the riverbank of Daerah Aliran Sungai (DAS) Brantas. It was even one of the 11 most rundown villages in Indonesia. It all changed when a group of Public Relations students from Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) had a task for PR and Event Management subject. They tried to propose the initiative to a paint company to work on the project together. It turned out that the company was also going to make a CSR program, and they collaborated to make the slum at Jodipan colorful.
As the other East Java's temple, Singosari temple is formed from red bricks and arranged in cone building, called temple. This temple also has beautiful relief that describe the great of Singosari Kingdom years ago.
In front of Malang Mayor city hall, there is a round big garden where Tugu Monument, landmark of Malang stands. This garden is rich of beautiful and colorful flowers. It was Dutch that built the city of Malang with various city plans. This monument is in Bouwplan II that was included in city expansion or Gouverneur-Generaal buurt known as Alun-alun Bunder and completed with fountain and pool in the middle of it. Monument Tugu garden was former garden of Governor of East Indies Jan Pietersen Zoen Coen that is surrounded by beautiful garden with lotus. There are old trembesi trees grow here.
