Bromo

Step back to the day following our journey to Sendangbiru Beach and come with us to Mt. Bromo, one of the several active volcanoes in East Java. We left at 2:30 p.m., mercifully affording us a morning's rest from the previous day's exertions. Our driver took us north and east into the Bromo Tenggara Semeru National Park and part way up the mountain to a little village. There we checked into our hotel, the Yoshi, a charming place with rooms in cabins set among a delightful garden of trees and beds of flowers. It was dark by that time, so we ordered dinner. The German owner had taught the kitchen staff how to make really great roasted potatoes, and to our surprise we dined on good German peasant cuisine.

We retired early to our room, most charmingly appointed with colorful spreads, throws, and other furnishings, and to bed to catch a few hours sleep before our 3:00 a.m. wake-up. Then, bundled up, we boarded our jeep, and our driver drove us through the darkness to the very top and edge of a huge caldera. There, in the cold (yes, in East Java!), wearing rented sheepskin coats, we joined other tourists to watch a breathtaking sunrise over the caldera and view the cone of Bromo below and the cloud of sulfuric steam and ash that rises from it. We gawked. There is really no way to describe with justice this remarkable scene. We took turns trying to capture it in digital images, and they do better than any words of ours.

After some time, we headed down the road which in the growing sunlight we could see hugged the interior edge of the vast caldera, covered with green, the remains of a more ancient, now dead volcano. We passed up a chance to ride ponies up the side of Bromo and opted instead for the restful, leisurely breakfast we enjoyed in the beautiful hotel garden, before returning to Malang.