Surabaya is a city located on Java island of Indonesia. Located to the east side of the Javanese island, it is less popular compared to Jakarta and Bandung. Landing there for the first time, Surabaya has its own charm to mesmerise – both new or old tourists alike.
While planning for the trip to Surabaya, the focus was on the famous side trip to Mount Bromo. About 2 + hours away from Surabaya, Mount Bromo is famous for its sunrise views. The trip was almost delayed as the national parks around were involved in forest fire. Luckily the forest fire were finally brought under control and the national park was finally re-opened to the public. Apparently, the culprit is a couple who was busy taking their wedding pictures and accidentally set aside bush fire with their antiques.
We took a private tour to Mount Bromo, staying at the bottom of the mountain. As the national park (Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park) is elevated at an altitude of ~ 2,000m, the route going up is slighty winding. Private vehicles are only allowed up to a certain level, from which local 4-wheel drives will take visitors up the narrow and uphill road towards the viewing points for the sunrise. Most tours commences early in the morning, as early as 4 am, to beat the traffic upwards (and subsequently downwards too).
As the national park is elevated, the weather is cooling especially in the morning. Temperature can dip to single digit early morning, but day time is pleasant. If you are slightly more adventurous, you can go out even earlier to take a longer hike around with headlamp & good hiking shoes. There are campsites nearby with little amenities other than the nature around. Great for outdoor-lovers.
Although Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country, Mount Bromo derives its local culture more from Hinduism. The name Bromo is actually derived from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma the Hindu God of Creation. My impression of the national park & tourism industry there – it is well organised with much involvement of locals. Agriculture is still a big part of the local community. Fields are aplenty in terraces cut through the mountain sides. Beautiful sights to behold but lots of work for the locals.
Once the sunrise view is completed, the hard work continues with the hike up Mount Bromo. The actual Mount Bromo is a short drive away from the sunrise viewing points. There are horses for hire to go uphill, although we decided to take a slow walk up. The surrounding of the volcano is full of black ashes and hardy sand, and very dusty. Many actually resorts to wearing masks going upwards. Washing up after the hike reveals black residue on skin & nostril alike! Ewww…
Food-wise, alpukat or avocado juice is always a great start to breakfast. The deep-fried fish with sambal is also great food whereby all the bones are edible as these are already fried to crisp.
We also took a detour from the Mount Bromo private tour to a nearby waterfall called Madakaripura. The hike up to the waterfall is relatively easy, but once you don the raincoat and started the journey into the waterfall – lo and behold, a totally captivating scene welcomes the visitors all in its wet splendour. Frankly, the water is refreshing especially in the humid weather in Java. What is mesmerising is the greeneries & moss, surviving so naturally within the towering waterfall, with water splashing downwards.
There is a legend of how the warrior Gajah Mada spent time meditating in the midst of the waterfall. I presume it is similar to how the Chinese warriors meditate to improve their inner power. The scene actually reminds me of the Wind & Cloud, especially Aaron Kwok’s character of Cloud practicising his martial art in the waterfall scene. 😀
Once at the foot of the waterfall, it is wet all over and quite slippery. Even with hiking shoes with good grip, it is really not easy to maneuvre. Imagine the local guide in his slippers jumping here and there at a pace faster than all of us. The local guide really helps to guide the hapless visitors as we slowly goes around the slippery rocks all around. Climbing upwards a little, the views are even better with panoramic capture of the scenes.
Surabaya city itself is big. There are many hotels available and malls to explore. Food is quite sweet & tasty, and exploring the city for food will be another adventure. I see many quaint cafes, western joints, local food too. Korean cuisines seem to be popular amongst the local, sprouting out everywhere while localised Chinese cuisines retain a certain familiarity but with tweaks to local taste. We missed out Mount Ijen, another attractions nearby Surabaya city. I guess this gives us another reason to visit again in the future.
Cheng's Musings 