Hi, guys!
For the sake of not giving you unrealistic expectations, I will not be editing the colors of my photos so you can see the real beauty of Mount Bromo Trip 2019. I will be giving you some tips that I did to maximize your Mount Bromo Trip 2019. This is one long post so grab a snack.
My husband and I went on a Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. We stayed at a hotel in Batu and booked our jeep + driver about two weeks before. My husband booked the jeep via WhatsApp (the number is at the end of this post) and we got picked up on Wednesday night 12AM. The driver was on time and was driving in a safe manner. I heard so many stories about how the jeep driver drove recklessly but thankfully not this one.
From the hotel we were picked up by a city car before switching to a Jeep with also a different driver. The drive with the jeep car was long. We made one pitstop at a meeting point if you want to pee but that is after about one hour from the hotel or so. It was another two hours to the top. The two hours drive was one hour of drive in a dark winding road and another hour through another dark but this time it was all sand.
So here's my 1st tip : If you want to squeeze in some sleep, definitely try to sleep after the pit stop since I think it's really hard to sleep with lots of turbulence on the sand area.
The drive around the sand was definitely daunting. There were plenty dune sands and even more deep pit; but our driver was driving in a safe manner so I wasn't scared. My husband was asleep 90% of the drive but he is one of those person who can sleep through an earthquake tho.
Our jeep parked near the viewing point but we did need to walk for a little bit. It was uphill but it was only about 15 minutes walk. The perk of arriving earlier is your jeep can park closer the the viewing point; if you arrived later, your jeep will be parked even further and you have to walk even more.
Our driver waited in the car while we went ahead to the viewing point. Since we got there around 3AM, we decided to eat something since the sunrise is still 3 hours away. There were lines of small stalls for you to ordered instant noodles and hot tea.
My 2nd tip : DEFINITELY eat something first and get that hot sweet tea in your system since it was super cold up there. The food and the sugar will help to make yourself feel warmer.
Around 4AM we went to the viewing point (ours was Mount Pananjakan viewing point). It was really dark so we had to use our phone's flashlight as not to trip. It was a short walk but boy wasn't it an uphill battle, we were running out of breath a little as we reached to our seat.
As we reached our seat, a few people started to offered us blankets and carpets. We did rented a carpet since our seat was very cold and even with the carpet, it was still cold.
My 3rd tip : dress very warmly. I wore an extra warm heat tech inner on (the one from Uniqlo). I also wore a sweater and a leather jacket on top plus decent gloves. I was still freezing. Oh and the beanie hat definitely helps to warm my ears.
Do note that the closer it get to sunrise time, the more crowded the place get. I think about thirty minutes before sunrise, the place gets really packed and a lot of people were just standing since there's no place to sit anymore. I definitely did not enjoy how close everyone was together but I did enjoy the serene coldness and city lights before the crowd started to arrive.
I think it was around 5.30 when we finally see hints of orange in the sky and about fifteen minutes later it was bright enough to see the beautiful view (and also the crowd). Most of us head down before the sun really up in the sky since we heard going down can also take some time with all the traffic. We got back to our jeep and sure enough we were greeted with a hectic situation going down; but it wasn't too bad. It took about 45 minutes going down to the sand area where you can take pics with the jeep.
From the sand area, our driver offered us if we want to take a closer look of Mount Bromo crater, it is an active volcano so it can be quite interesting, but to be honest, I went to Mount Tangkuban Perahu crater two times and I know how intoxicating sulfur smell can be so my husband and I decline the offer. You do need to pay extra for the horses if you want to see the crater. You can also walk, obviously, but taking the horses sounds like a more fun option.
My 4th tip : definitely buy masks at the top if you want to see a closer look at the crater. I heard it's way more expensive around the crater area.
Since it was only the two of us, we were free to go wherever, skip any area we want at anytime we want. It's definitely more convenient but it is undeniably a more expensive option (we paid Rp 1.4 million or around US$100 for the half day, we also tipped our driver). So from the sand area, we went to Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sand) and it gets the name from a famous local movie that was shot in that area titled, as you can guess, Pasir Berbisik. Our guide called it Lautan Pasir (Sea of Sand).
I brought out my ethnic fabric that also doubled as a blanket while we were waiting for the sunrise. Smart, I know. We tried our best to take artistic pics here so we spent about twenty to thirty minutes. There isn't much to see except for well, sand.
From Lautan Pasir, we went to Bukit Teletubbies (Teletubies Hill) which was about another 20 minutes drive. Do note, that it's not the real Teletubbies hill, it's merely look similar to the ones on TV; so there you go. You can also ride horses here and be very careful where you step since there were plenty of horse's feces; I almost stepped on a few.
On Teletubbies Hill there were also stalls that sells food and hot drinks and most importantly, decent toilets. There were toilets at the food stalls near viewing point but it was really dark and it was all squatting down type. The weather was the coldest at the viewing point (around 4 degree Celsius) and I was feeling comfortable around Teletubbies Hill (around 14 degree celcius).
And the savannah . . . Boy, I did not know what to expect but I really didn't expect it to be just a bunch of dead brown grass. The savannah located behind Teletubbies Hill toilet area. This one was underwhelming but nevertheless, we took pretty cool pics here. I would say as my 5th tip : definitely skip savannah area.
And the savannah . . . Boy, I did not know what to expect but I really didn't expect it to be just a bunch of dead brown grass. The savannah located behind Teletubbies Hill toilet area. This one was underwhelming but nevertheless, we took pretty cool pics here. I would say as my 5th tip : definitely skip savannah area.
We had a great time for sure altho we lost one night' sleep (which me made up after the trip). We were also blessed with clear sunny weather. You can't see the sunrise when it's raining; and basically do anything else, really. Also, we heard some warning about the volcanic activities but the ban was lifted before we get there. We were also blessed with a decent (thankfully not chatty) driver. He even took our pics below which turned out pretty cool.
And if you're not a morning person; there is also the sunset version available. Basically you visit all the places I listed above first, and THEN you watch the sunset. However, do note that the sun would be behind Mount Bromo, in Mount Pananjakan viewing point. Most likely will not be as magnificent as the sunrise.
And if you're not a morning person; there is also the sunset version available. Basically you visit all the places I listed above first, and THEN you watch the sunset. However, do note that the sun would be behind Mount Bromo, in Mount Pananjakan viewing point. Most likely will not be as magnificent as the sunrise.
Here is the contact number for our Jeep rental
082231737000 Jeep Bromo Hartop
Also, please watch our vlog. Mount Bromo starts at 11.16
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