Tag 8: Sunrise at Bromo

The night was very short today - we left at 3 AM. We drove up to the viewpoint on Bromo in an off-road vehicle. The cars climbed the mountain in an endless line. The first part of the route went through the caldera - it felt more like an off-road race at times.
At the top, the cars piled up - parking was on the left and right, while the following vehicles squeezed their way up the mountain, and mopeds wove through on both sides as well.

We had to walk the last kilometer.
Then we waited on the observation platform for the sunrise...

With the first light of dawn, an impressive panorama unfolded beneath our feet.

Just below the observation platform, a family of monkeys was frolicking in the trees.

The way back was just as challenging - first walking through the vehicles parked in three rows along the road until we reached ours (luckily they were numbered) - and then we had to wait until this part of the car keys got moving downhill.

By around 7:30 AM, we were back at the hotel. We had breakfast there. Unfortunately, what the travel guide said was true: the hotels mainly focus on selling tourists some tours, and the food is rather mediocre and not commensurate with the hotel price. But there was coffee and we were satisfied.

After we packed our things afterward, we set off eastward. We had a good four hours of travel ahead of us. On the way, there were again impressive examples of Indonesian driving skills.

We stopped at a cluster of large buildings. Our guide explained that these buildings were tobacco warehouses. They were entirely made of bamboo, with the roofs and cladding made from sugarcane leaves. In these buildings, tobacco leaves are dried. The tobacco is grown in the fields behind and protected from pests with nets. The entire production of the cigars goes for export - in Indonesia, only cigarettes are smoked, cigars are too expensive for them.

Afterwards, we continued to lunch and then to the hotel. Since the day had begun very early and the local area did not offer much, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading. In the evening, we had dinner at the hotel with a round of games.
Since we had to get up early again tomorrow, we went to bed relatively early.

Statistics:

Distance covered: 165 km
Walked: 8.3 km
Overnight: Hotel Aston Jember