Bromo Trip Part II

Bromo from the top

When you see this amazing view of Bromo mountain, you won't be able to hold yourself not to take pictures! Every angle of it is sooo pretty . . . You can also see a temple or "pura" from the top. This "pura", which is called Pura Luhur Poten, is only open once in a year when the Tengger tribe holds Kasodo, the Tengger annual ceremony. Tengger people are the local people of Bromo who are majority Hindus. The word Tengger came from Roro Anteng (princess of Majapahit King) and Joko Seger (son of Brahmana, the Indian God). Tengger people are believed as their descendant. The ceremony is held at midnight, right at the peak of the full moon, in Kasoso month according to Javanese calendar.

Pura Luhur Poten taken from the top

 After we felt satisfied spending time at the mountain, we decided to go down to look for some food and continue our journey.

Not for sale

Segara Anakan Trip

Segara Anakan is a lagoon located in Sempu Island, a small island in Sendang Biru site, Malang, East Java. To go there from Sendang Biru, you should get a permit letter from the local office in Sendang Biru which is in charge to manage the Natural Reservation around Sendang Biru area. Then, you can take a boat to cross the beach to Sempu. This round trip boat costs Rp 100.000,- and is able to take around 8-10 people. Remember to ask the sailor's phone number, so you can ask him to pick you up when you're ready to leave.

It was in June when I went there with my husband and some friends. It was the start of dry season, but it rained a little on the way to go there. As another trip I've done, I went there by motorbike! ^_^

However, there are many ways to go to Sendang Biru. There is a public transportation that you can take to go there from Gadang Bus Station.

It took two hours for us to go there from Malang. However, we started our journey to Segara Anakan at 10 with "bismillah" There were twelve of us and two of my friends' kids. We were ready with all of our stuff from home: clothes, towel, water, lunch, first aid, and some fish from Sendang Biru fish market.

Most of Sempu area is a mangrove. Therefore, the path will be muddy during the rainy season. As it was the start of dry season, the path at that time was a bit muddy, slippery and sticky. It was my third time to go to Segara Anakan. The first time I went there was in Agustus 2009 The path at that time was dry and easy enough to take. On the other hand, when I went there in August 2010, the path was so terrible. The mud was very thick and of course very difficult to take. With the easy path, we can take around one hour to go to the lagoon, but with the muddy path, it can take us around three to four hours trip, even if you wear proper boots. Fortunately, this time the path wasn't as difficult as it was the previous year. It was quite muddy, but easy to step on as long as you hold on to the branches around.

Finally, after one and a half hour, we were succeeded to see this God's amazing creation. It really paid us a good deal when we arrived there.

Segara Anakan 2009

Bromo Trip

It was more than a year ago when my friends and I got this crazy spontaneous idea. Yeah, we went to Bromo!
This mountain is located in Probolinggo, East Java. It is famous for its beautiful crater.

Bromo crater

Bromo is also one of the active volcano mountains in Indonesia. This mountain is often used as a movie's setting because of its beauty. It's also a big secret that it has the most beautiful sunrise view!!! There is an amazing sensation to see the sun coming up as if the mountain has thrown it up slowly while the clouds are below us. It is awesome!

Sunrise

Waiting for the sun to pop out from its nest

and the morning begins . . .

The ocean of clouds

Anyway, there were six of us together . . . We went there by motorbike. It was one of our touring expeditions. Actually, for those who want to go to Bromo, you can go by public transportations or travel agencies. There are a lot of travel agencies who offer Bromo package tour nowadays. To go there by bus, first thing you should do is going to Probolinggo Bus Station. There, you can take a local public transportation, a colt which will take you to Ngadisari.. If you want a simpler way, you can always take a package tour which is offered by some travel agencies with different range of price depends on where you are from.
We went there in the afternoon. It took about two and a half hours trip from Pandaan, East Java. We planned to camp there while waiting for the sunrise. However, when we arrived there at 7.30 in the evening, they didn't allow us to hike in the night, so we decided to build the camp on the pavement outside the gate as what the other visitors did. We cooked instant noodles for dinner using the stove that one of my friends took and made some coffee to warm us up.

A Big Lost

One summer day in 2010, I got this exciting news! A friend was going to give me her kitten. I was so excited and couldn't wait for the day she gave me. She owned the mother cat who had delivered four cute kittens. She gave the three kittens to her friends, including me! She showed me my future kitten. He was the most gorgeous little creature I had ever seen. He looked like a furry gray ball.

August 2010

I spontaneously named him "Tomtom". He reminded me to "Tom" from "Tom and Jerry".
Finally, the big day came. I picked him up and took him to my parents' house in a big box. He tried to escape from the box. He was so restless. I always knew that he was going to be a great cat.

September 2010