After the whirlwind of a road trip in Iceland (June 2018), I got myself a proper camera, a Sony a6000, and 2 lenses – a 50mm f1.8 and 16mm f1.4. I was itching to go on a trip to test these babies out, and I decided that we had to go to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park to witness the quintessential East Javan scene:

Day 1

We landed in Surabaya, where our hotel had someone pick us up in a Toyota Innova to bring us to our hotel in Malang. The drive took about 2 hours, and the views of the surrounding mountains really got us excited for the purpose of our trip here.

After checking into the hotel, we booked a Gojek (extremely convenient and affordable!) to Java Dancer cafe for lunch. It’s a cool spot, but our experience was slightly soured due to the slow service (We were pretty hungry after the flight and drive).

After filling up our stomachs, we made our way to Kampung Warna-Warni. Kampung Warna-Warni (Colourful Village) is a slum in one of the poorest areas of Malang. Painted by local university students as a project, this area has turned into a tourist attraction.

The locals seem used to having visitors passing through their alleys and curiously peering into their doorways. There’s an entrance fee, but it’s nominal and we didn’t mind helping the locals out.

Then we had dinner, headed back to the hotel for an early night because our next day was going to have an early start – pickup was at 12.30am!

Day 2

We had only about 3 hours of sleep. The hotel staff passed us a breakfast box, and we got into our ride. About an hour into the journey, we got down from the Toyota Innova and got into a Toyota Land Cruiser. I think we were near the base of Mt. Penanjakan during the switch. I couldn’t tell because it was dark. Going up the mountain was extremely bumpy. Any thought of sneaking in a nap was out the window. It got colder and colder as the jeep went up the mountain, but I was not prepared for -1°C.

We arrived at the top of Mt. Penanjakan about slightly past 3am. While waiting for sunrise, we had our first try at astrophotography.

Not very impressive, right? But it was breathtaking in person. I distinctly remember shivering violently, fumbling with the camera settings as the chilly wind blew. I was only dressed in my long-sleeved adidas t-shirt and my The North Face jacket with a fleece layer, and jeans. No thermals.

We chose a spot by the “guardrails” facing Mt. Bromo, and didn’t budge for the next hour or so. It was good that we arrived early, because it meant securing a prime spot for the gorgeous display of light and colour which was happening soon.

Mt. Batok, Mt. Bromo and Mt. Semeru in the caldera complex.

After the sun rose, the jeep brought us down to the flat area of sand near the base of Mt. Bromo. Along the way, we stopped for a few gorgeous photo ops.

We started our climb up the black sand slopes of Mt. Bromo. By then, it was already pretty warm, so we stripped off our jackets. We put on our buffs to filter out the dust. It didn’t quite work because I excavated quite a yield of black boogers when we got back to the hotel 😅

There were local people persuading us to take their horse up to the summit. But the horses didn’t look like they were being treated well, so we declined. During the hike up I started to think about getting on a horse, but I pushed the thought away.

I can’t remember exactly how long it took for us to reach the summit, but it was worth the effort and sweat! It’s not every day that you get to look down the mouth of an active volcano.

After Mt. Bromo, we went back to the hotel to rest and have lunch. Then we got on a Gojek to check out this beautiful lookout point near a waterfall called Coban Putri. Some may find these “lookout points” tacky, but I think they really added some pizazz to the scenery.

Then, we hoped on another Gojek to take us to Goa Pinus – a cooling pine forest, with more of those “lookout points”.

And that was our short, fast and furious experience in Malang! It was one of the most packed vacations we had, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I’m excited to see what else amazing Indonesia has to offer!