Chiliana Jones
New member
Hey gang!
Here's a short story from another trip i did to Indonesia (i believe this is my 4th time there) that i did this summer. Stayed there for almost 3 weeks (July 17th to august 5th). Met my old friend Øystein and his family and his newborn child in Jakarta and then i went through some other shenanigans around the island of Java.
But those are some other stories wich i won't bring up now. The story i will bring up is something me and my friend Øystein had been talking about doing for about a year, and that was climbing the active volcano SEMERU, wich also is the highest point on the island of Java.
I'll keep the story short but with photos.
Well here goes.
After been around Java, me and Øystein headed off to Surabaya to meet up with the two other guys who were going to join us on this little adventure. From there we had hired a driver (who actually came with a minibus. A minibus for 4 persons? Sweet!) who took us to Bromo where we were going to meet up with our guide who will drive us to a small village where we were going to spend the first night.
Bromo:
In the village. We stayed at a small guesthouse. Locals were hanging around and made a fire right there on the livingroom floor to keep warm:
Early the next morning we left the village by foot and we started trekking through the jungle:
It was really hot, dry and dusty:
After some hours we came to a lake where we had lunch (many locals who are doing the Mount Semeru trip usually camp by the lake for one night but we continued right after we had filled up on fuel):
On this photo you can see a forest. We had to go through there..and oh my that was no kittenplay. It was only uphill and at the same time you had the burning sun over you. Hiding behing a tree for some shadow was something we did a few times:
We made it. Mount Semeru right behind me. We are close to the camp where we will eat, rest and get some sleep before we start climbing the mountain at midnight. (we start at midnight so that we can see the sunrise from the top of Semeru. It takes about 3 hours to get there):
MIDNIGHT. We are ready for the hard part: The climbing.
First we have to go through the forest. Luckily a guide will join us. There are many people who have died at Semeru. Some have been hit by falling rocks from the volcano and others have been lost in the woods and have never been found again. There is no water around these parts so if you get lost...well..you might be screwed:
Walking through the tight forest (i started to understand why it is easy to get lost there. It's like a creepy maze). It might look like it's snowing in the photo but it is actually ash from the volcano:
Suddenly, in the dark, through all the dust and ash, as i turned i noticed something on the ground (thanks to my head-flashlight on my hat). It was a memory plaque for someone who got lost there:
Hours after we got out from the forest and after that dreadful climbing through loose stones, sand and dust (every step you took you'd slide half a step back, or even more!) we finally reached the top....but we were too EARLY. It was still about an hour and a half until the sun would show and it was REALLY cold so we had to find shelter from the strong wind:
And finally, after that cold hour and a half we went up:
There were a few eruptions while we were there:
And then there's the one photo: MISSION COMPLETE
Hope you like this little photo story. Probably not as detailed as my trip to the Indy-locations in Sri Lanka but i don't think this one really needs that much details.
:TOH:
CJ
Here's a short story from another trip i did to Indonesia (i believe this is my 4th time there) that i did this summer. Stayed there for almost 3 weeks (July 17th to august 5th). Met my old friend Øystein and his family and his newborn child in Jakarta and then i went through some other shenanigans around the island of Java.
But those are some other stories wich i won't bring up now. The story i will bring up is something me and my friend Øystein had been talking about doing for about a year, and that was climbing the active volcano SEMERU, wich also is the highest point on the island of Java.
I'll keep the story short but with photos.
Well here goes.
After been around Java, me and Øystein headed off to Surabaya to meet up with the two other guys who were going to join us on this little adventure. From there we had hired a driver (who actually came with a minibus. A minibus for 4 persons? Sweet!) who took us to Bromo where we were going to meet up with our guide who will drive us to a small village where we were going to spend the first night.
Bromo:
In the village. We stayed at a small guesthouse. Locals were hanging around and made a fire right there on the livingroom floor to keep warm:
Early the next morning we left the village by foot and we started trekking through the jungle:
It was really hot, dry and dusty:
After some hours we came to a lake where we had lunch (many locals who are doing the Mount Semeru trip usually camp by the lake for one night but we continued right after we had filled up on fuel):
On this photo you can see a forest. We had to go through there..and oh my that was no kittenplay. It was only uphill and at the same time you had the burning sun over you. Hiding behing a tree for some shadow was something we did a few times:
We made it. Mount Semeru right behind me. We are close to the camp where we will eat, rest and get some sleep before we start climbing the mountain at midnight. (we start at midnight so that we can see the sunrise from the top of Semeru. It takes about 3 hours to get there):
MIDNIGHT. We are ready for the hard part: The climbing.
First we have to go through the forest. Luckily a guide will join us. There are many people who have died at Semeru. Some have been hit by falling rocks from the volcano and others have been lost in the woods and have never been found again. There is no water around these parts so if you get lost...well..you might be screwed:
Walking through the tight forest (i started to understand why it is easy to get lost there. It's like a creepy maze). It might look like it's snowing in the photo but it is actually ash from the volcano:
Suddenly, in the dark, through all the dust and ash, as i turned i noticed something on the ground (thanks to my head-flashlight on my hat). It was a memory plaque for someone who got lost there:
Hours after we got out from the forest and after that dreadful climbing through loose stones, sand and dust (every step you took you'd slide half a step back, or even more!) we finally reached the top....but we were too EARLY. It was still about an hour and a half until the sun would show and it was REALLY cold so we had to find shelter from the strong wind:
And finally, after that cold hour and a half we went up:
There were a few eruptions while we were there:
And then there's the one photo: MISSION COMPLETE
Hope you like this little photo story. Probably not as detailed as my trip to the Indy-locations in Sri Lanka but i don't think this one really needs that much details.
:TOH:
CJ