Tuesday, September 16th, 2003 – Day 210 to Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 – Day 211

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003 – Day 210

I was up around 7.15am and had a small breakfast. I took the number six beano from outside the hotel to the bus terminal. It was 2000 IR and takes about 20 minutes. A wave of corruption has taken over Indonesian Bus terminals. There are agents waiting around the buses. You ignore them and get on the bus but they follow with the help of the driver and main ticket seller. Normally you buy your ticket mid way on the trip.

These guys have made a deal to make you buy a ticket there and then (for about twice what a local pays). You have little choice. If you do not pay, they kick you off the bus. Its an official ticket but its a rip off. Be warned. You may want to stand en route (to your destination) about 1km away from the station. The agent will have left the bus and you can then pay normal price!!!!

It was a 5 hour journey to Probolinggo. The ticket cost me 30,000 IR. It was a slow public bus (instead of air con which is dearer). It was hot, sweaty and stuffy. Ugg, Lots of stops and coming and going. Ignored most of it. At every stop about 12 guys came on selling food and drink. Maybe one sold something. Times are tough. We usually had a guitar player and singers on BUSKING as well. A hundred guys must have came on selling stuff during the trip. It was about 2.00pm when we reached Probolinggo. The ass hole in the pus would not leave out of the bus at the station. He told the driver to go on and let me off in front of an AGENT. I hate that shit and I did not acknowledge the agent. I walked back to the station. It was tough in the heat and dust but in principle I do not deal with middle men. I got a public mini bus to Cemoro Lawang. Again the true cost was meant to be 5000 IR but they charge foreigners 7500 IR. It was about two hours to get there. At least you pass some great scenery with nice farms growing onions, cabbage, corn and potatoes. It was real nice mountain scenery. You also see guys on horse.

We reached Cemoro Lawang about 4.30pm. This is a small crossroads village with a few shops and hotels. I booked into the basic room at the LAVA Hotel for 30,000 IR with shared Mandin and squat toilet.

Traditional Indonesian toilets (like those in most parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Â— once Â— Europe) consist of a hole in the floor and the necessary accoutrements. Here, a white porcelain plate generally surrounds the hole, with two slightly raised footprints.

You stand on the footprints, pull down your pants, and squat, trying to line up the relevant holes; this alignment gets easier with experience.

It also gets easier, with experience, to keep your pants out of harm’s way. The first few times, it may be simplest to just take them off. At first, you’ll probably also need to hold on to something with one hand to steady yourself.

In traditional squat toilets, a barrel of clean water sits beside the toilet. People use this water (a ladle or bowl floats inside) and their left hand to clean themselves, then empty a few more scoops of water into the toilet until all traces of their visit disappear. The water barrel is gradually replenished from a spring or brook (or from a faucet, if available), and this water remains pure. Wash your hands by ladling water over them, outside the barrel. Nothing dirty should ever be put into the barrel.

Note that Indonesian plumbing often cannot accommodate toilet paper without clogging. In many toilets (including western-style toilets), you’ll spot a nearby wastebasket for used tissue. Please use it! No, this isn’t what you were taught growing up, but you were taught to treat your hosts with respect, weren’t you? That means not clogging their toilet.

One more refinement: The shared bathroom where you take the water also doubles as a shower. You can sit in there throwing water over yourself but you should do it on the ground outside. its tough.

Asian Squat Toilet – photographs and descriptions of David Atkinson’s experiences using different installations.

Balinese Toilet – recounts a travelers experiences.

How To Use A Japanese Toilet – picture and instructions.

How To Use Japanese Style Toilet – instructional slide show.

Squat Toilets and Cultural Commensurability – article exploring how bathroom rituals offer insight into cross-cultural interaction, ethnographic experience, and the problem of cultural commensurability by William Cummings.

Squatter’s Rights and Wrongs – offers lessons learned in using and a variety of cultural assessment of toilet design.

Story Of Asian Toilets – recounts a travelers toilet tour with an unbending habit of defecation.

Anyway the people at the hostel were real nice. Linda was the manager. She gave me a map of the area. She said they were only teo other tourists staying and maybe 6 in the whole town. Things are bad. Is gets very hazy here at 11.00am, misty at 1.00pm and very cold and foggy at 6.00p(as well as dark). It was nice walkinga round the village as there are no street lights. Local people all wear a balnket around themselves here. It was nice and I had a nice quiet dinner and beer. I met the Austrain couple who are staying. The reason I am here is to visit Mount Bromo.

One of the most actively promoted attractions in East Java today is the excursion to Mount Bromo, situated in Tengger. It is a vast mountain, an eruption of massive proportions blew off its top leaving a huge caldera in which two peaks are located. One is the active volcano of Bromo and the other is the non-active of Mount Batok.

The uniqueness of the area’s characteristic is a reminiscent of a moonscape rather than anything related to the earth offers such breathtaking experiences, like observing sunrises and gazing into the volcano’s crater

Mt. Bromo is about 2,382 meters above sea level. Time has filled the caldera with grey sand and this expanse, which you walk across en route to Bromo itself, is known as the Sand Sea. It is about 10 km.

Across the Sand Sea is Mount Batok with its almost perfect cone. To the south, Mount Semeru, the highest mountain in Java provides a fining backdrop for this unearthly scene. While crossing the Sand Sea, low-lying fog which often envelops the caldera’s floor, adds to the mystery of the surroundings. As the temperature drops several degrees, the combination of cold air and the strange echoing of horse’s hoofs creates a fantastic sensation of walking across a huge frozen lake. Temperatures at the top of Mt. Bromo range about 5 to 18 degrees Celsius.

In the south, there is a rolling upland plateau dissected by valleys and dotted with several small scenic lakes extending to the foot of Mt. Semeru, a towering grey forest-skirted cone dominating the southern landscape. The offering ceremony of Kasodo is held each year by Tenggerese on the 14th day of full moon Kesodo (Tenggerese Calendar). Inhabitants of Tengger Mountain gather at the rim of Mt. Bromo’s active crater to present annual offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers, livestock, and other local products to the God of the mountain. As adherents of religion combining elements of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, they ask for blessing from the supreme God Hyang Widi Wasa.

How to get to the crater rim ?

I wanted some exercise so I decided to walk to the Crater at sunrise. it takes one hour in the dark and I set my alarma t 3.34am. I wanted to walk from there to the view point at Pananjakan (1 hour) and then to Mount Pananjaka proper (1.5 hours). It would then be a 2 hour walk back to the hostel. I bought the necessary water, cholate and bread for my trip. The Austrains were taking the same trip but in the opposite diretionn.

You need to be at Bromo before sunrise which starts at 5.00 am till 6.00 am. Take warm clothing with you because temperature is around 15Â° degrees.

A horse ride from the crater rim to Mount Bromo (2.5 km) is about 25.000 Rp. Taking a Jeep to go to the Viewpoint (12.5 km) on Mount Pananjakan and later on to Mount Bromo (10 km) is 20.000 Rp.

I was in bed my 9.00pm for my early start. There is nothing to the vilalge and nothing to do. It was also getting cold.

Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 – Day 211

I set off alone at 4.00am. it wasnt all that easy as when you there the fog is very tick and you have to follow the jeep and horse tracks. I was happy to reach the bottom of the crater at 4.45am. I had a chance to follow a horse rider some of the way. I was pitch dark and not a sound could be heard around the valley. It was pretty weird. Its a flat walk on pure sand so my boots were handy. There were a small group of people from Jakarta there and we walked the 350 steps to the rim of the crater to wait for sunrise.

If you take a left on the rim, you can walk around. This was better to escape any crowds and avoid the foul sulphur fumes comingfrom the crater. Sun rise was nice and it was soon light. I walked accross the sea of sand to get to Pananjakan. A the bottom of the steps there were many guides with horses bringing tourists.

It was like Cahirmee Horse Fair in Buttevent (2nd site here) in County Cork with the amount of horses. Check here for more information about the Bromo horse riders.

After an hour I got to the steep bit. it was a very hard walk and very steep. it was very hot. It took 2.5 hours to reach Mount Pananjakan proper. It was uphill ALL the way. All the tourists were gone and I ahd the place to myself. It seemed I was the only fool (except the Austrians who I met coming down) who were walking. Still the views were good and I could see Semur eruting smoke and fumes every 20 minutes or so.

I twas a very hard descent to the village as it was a dirt track with no signs. It went throught farms and forest and all the time the fog and mist were closing in. Its a track for farmers and wide enought for one person. Its like a cow track or anaiaml track and is rarelkyu used by tourists. i had to sk farmers the way a 2 or three cross roads. I was happy to get back and thirsty.