10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia | Mt.Bromo, Jawa Timur

10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia are :

[caption id="attachment_2859" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mountain on the left with a bit of smoke at the top is Mt. Bromo. Picture is captured from Mount. Penanjakan."][/caption]

1. To tell you the truth, none of us knew about Mount Bromo until we were told about it while going for our maiden hiking expedition at Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. A fellow hiker, Akmar introduced to us to this absolutely beautiful and picturesque view of a volcanic mountain called Bromo or Mount Bromo straight out from her iPhone. We wow-ed over Mt.Bromo right at that instance and we told ourselves, we really need to go there and we finally made it there after 2 years which was on April 30th, 2012.

2. To get to Mount Bromo, you need to fly into Surabaya, East Java (Jawa Timur), Indonesia and take a couple of hours of car ride to Probolinggo province ( I think) and then exchange into a jeep to get you higher up the rough road condition up the mountain. When I say "rough road condition", brace yourself for a super bumpy, almost roller coaster-like jeep ride. It was awful and if you needed to pee, forget about it. You will almost certainly pee in your pants with all those crazy bumps and bounces.

3. Akmar did mentioned that you can hike Mount Bromo by going on a horse ride and that's exactly what we did. It cost us about IDR 90,000 (approx. MYR30 or USD10) for both ways going up and down the volcanic mountain. I can't remember the exact duration we were on the back of the horse but it felt really long maybe about 15 minutes one way. Since it was our first time riding a horse, it was the most awesome thing anyone could have ever done in their life. At that moment, it wasn't really about the fact that we were literally hiking an active volcanic mountain, but we were more excited with the whole idea of going horse back riding.

[caption id="attachment_2861" align="aligncenter" width="1600" caption="Mt Bromo horses with their guides and the jeeps"][/caption]

The horse riding episode is certainly something one should look forward to doing at Mt. Bromo and no worries for first timers, the horse is guided with his owner and just make sure you sit up straight, go along with the rhythm of the horse, hold on the rope tight and simply enjoy the ride and view!

4. Make sure before you get on the horse ride or if you can't care for horse adventure and splurging money are not in your agenda, just be sure to clear your bladder before you begin your hike. There is a toilet right at the parking area with a typical standard fee of Indonesian toilet run - IDR2000. Bring your own TP or wet wipes if washing with water isn't your thing and the toilet is in okay standard.

5. The weather at Mount Bromo is just nice but it can be very dusty to go all the way up the mountain. It only get worse when you will be hiking right next to people on horses because there is only one track to go up and down. Your best choice of clothing is to wear a long sleeve shirt and pants, sunglasses ( to keep the dust out of your eyes) and a bandana ( to function as a mask) or get yourself a proper mask to cover your nose. Do not be surprised when you blow your nose right after this hike, you'll be seeing black dusty ashes coming out from your nose. So do make sure, you remember to clean up the nose right after. Haha.

[caption id="attachment_2863" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mount Bromo and it's very much alive smokey crater."][/caption]

6. The horse ride will only take you to about 3/4 of the way up. The rest of the way, you will need to take the dusty ashen stairs which was fairly okay, not difficult to climb. You will have the view of the Bromo Crater right at the top and be careful right up there. There is no divider to protect you from falling down into the crater so don't get all too excited with the camera works and do watch your steps.

7. I would say, all around 360 degrees view from the top of Mount Bromo was absolutely amazing. The place is totally barren and almost desert-looking with grey ashes covering pretty much everything.

[caption id="attachment_2862" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Mt. Bromo view from the top facing away from the crater. If you look closely on the front of the picture, you'll see the trail of people climbing the stairs."][/caption]

*picture by Miss M

8. You can avoid the stairs when you are descending down from the mountain by going all adventurous, trailing down the mountain and kick more dusts all over you just like this guy in the picture below :

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

* It's no doubt risky and whatever you do, safety first!

9. You will be bombarded with the many local folks who will come up to your face with bunch of Bromo tshirts for sale. You can however, choose to say no and walk away as quickly as possible or ended up buying a bunch of tees which will be way too small for your size. The last I checked, L size is equivalent to the standard S size. So make sure you check the size out first before buying.

10. Despite the cost for the horse ride was just IDR 90K, I'm pretty sure you will want to give the guides an extra tip for all their hard work or probably just something extra for the horses too. Their job is really tough and going through that kind of working condition everyday, climbing up and down the mountain multiple times a day while breathing black volcanic ashes day in and out is really one heck of a job to do.

[caption id="attachment_2860" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

All in all, if you are looking for a chance of a lifetime to experience stepping foot on one of the most beautiful and scenic volcanic mountain ( in my rating that is), Mount Bromo located just a couple of hours away from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia is the place you certainly need to go.

*Note: Surabaya is just a couple of hours away from Bali. I personally think adding Bali as your next travel destination after visiting Surabaya by travelling via land using train, ferry and van is totally going to be one heck of a road trip and you should seriously consider doing just that.