Gunung Bromo and kuda lumping
Malang was my next base in Java. Merely for its location rather than loving a next city. New Year’s was till near future and therefore Malang was packed with locals. Despite my booking (which they fucked up!) I had to search for a different place to stay. I stayed three nights here in fucking three different places! I have been travelling for more than a year now, but haven’t lost anything untill the days of living like a real nomad in Indonesia. At this stage I can only swear.
Anyway, I ended up one night for 40 Euro in a “fancy” hotel. Yes, the place looked gorges, but in fact was just a shithole. No hot water, leking pipes, no toilet paper, etc.
I managed to get things right by a massive planning operation where myself and luggage were placed from location to location. These included three different hotels, the volcano, a trip to waterfalls & hot springs, and damned New Year’s.
Things worked out. I peered into Gunung Bromo volcano! this giant seemed to be sleeping, since it wasn’t even fuming, boiling, etc. Imagine this as a very active volcano. The sunrise and volcano crater photos are one of the best I could have ever imagined. I don’t know how to describe the feeling to look into the heart of mother earth… everyone needs to look into a volcano crater to know what I mean. I walked on the rim of it, ran down from the outer slope and sniffed, touched, and listened to it. But Gunung Bromo never answered and kept silent that day. It was my historical volcano trip.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that tour I did. That was fantastic, since I got to the country side where they have flower fields and apple gardens. The views on the volcanoes was impressive with clouds just hanging near the tops of these fire spitting giants. And this time I am really an ant… a lonely one humble, looking at the volcano. Unfortunately I knew before this was coming to an end and New Year’s was already the same evening. I don’t remember a lot of it. No I had no single drop of alcohol. What I know is that I fell asleep around 8.30 pm and woke up the next morning. The time before 8.30 was choking, disgusting, noisy motorbike traffic all around town. Puffing on the main square and youngsters sitting on their damned motor bikes watching the artists on the stage. I was soooo glad there was pooring rain. I never had such a pathetic New Year’s experience. What a sad way of celebrating New Year’s there in Indonesia. That’s why I went to bed and didn’t miss a thing.