Indonesia 🇮🇩 | Bromo Volcano - The otherworldly landscape resembling the surface of the moon 🌋

If the sunrise at Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island is like a ray of hope after a perilous journey, then the sunrise at Mount Bromo in Java is a gentle paradise. I learned about the existence of Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen from backpackers in Seminyak, Bali. When I arrived in Yogyakarta (Jogja), I thought Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen were nearby, but they turned out to be quite far apart. There are package tours from Yogyakarta that cover both volcanoes, but after doing some research on Google, I found that most people who joined those tours were not satisfied. The reason being the long and bumpy bus ride from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo and Mount Ijen, which could take more than ten to twenty hours. In the end, I decided to take a train from Yogyakarta to Surabaya and then transfer to Probolinggo, the closest city to Mount Bromo, before taking a bus up the mountain. As for Mount Ijen, it would have to wait for another time. Taking the train from Yogyakarta to Probolinggo, I purchased a second-class ticket and arrived at the station early in the morning. Initially, I didn't plan to arrive so early and wait at the station, but the people at Sae Sae Hostel kept warning me that Indonesian trains were punctual and wouldn't wait for anyone. Since I had never taken an Indonesian train before, I was a bit scared by the hostel staff's words and went to the station with a sense of urgency, as if I were catching a flight. The journey from Yogyakarta to Surabaya offered picturesque rural landscapes, with lush green rice fields stretching alongside the railway. Villages, farmers, children, and dogs appeared from time to time, adding the finishing touches to the scenery. Compared to trains in Thailand, Indonesian trains are relatively ordinary, and the seats are smaller. To get from Surabaya to Probolinggo, taking a train or a bus is convenient. Considering that the bus terminal is quite far from the train station, I chose the train. The train fares are a bit more expensive than the bus. If the train from Yogyakarta to Surabaya made me happy, the journey from Surabaya to Probolinggo was the opposite. In the cramped space of the four-person seating, with two facing each other, passengers were squeezed together and unable to move like wooden dolls. By the time I arrived in Probolinggo, it was almost evening. I asked a European backpacking couple if they were also taking the bus up the mountain, and they said they had booked a package tour with transportation included. So I had to avoid the chaotic taxi drivers and take a public bus to the minibus station for Mount Bromo. There, I noticed that there were surprisingly few backpackers who arrived in Probolinggo on the same train as me. It was just me and two Swiss girls left. The minibus to go up the mountain would only depart when there were more than ten people, and the night was approaching, yet we were still waiting for more fellow travelers to join. #週末遊 #印尼#trip #like #放鬆 #行山 #行山路線推介 #行山好去處 #行山路