The Ijen & Bromo Volcano Experience From Hell

This post details my Instagram vs reality experience visiting Java’s famous Ijen and Bromo volcanos. I aim to portray the good and the bad of my travels, and well … this one was an utter mess with a surprisingly positive ending that served as one of the highlights of my trip through South East Asia.

Following the Komodo Island tour my body began to catch up with itself — and I developed a cold for the first time in my three-month trip. This persisted as I flew from the island of Flores back to Bali, and then on the 3.5 hour Grab bike ride and subsequent ferry to the island of Java.

Before heading to the volcanos I took a much needed day of rest in the town of Banjuwangi. Here despite the proximity to tourist-heavy Bali the locals were surprised by the sight of a westerner, and I received my first Indonesian photo requests.

Mt. Ijen is famous for the blue flames viewable at night from the base of the crater. The pick up time for my tour was 12:30 AM. Following a 1-hour drive we hiked up and into the crater, and were provided with gas masks to protect from the sulfur fumes. As we reached the bottom two small streaks of blue flame were visible.

Minutes later things took a turn for the worst. Winds picked up, covering up the flames with sulfur gas. Then the wind changed direction, this time directly at us. “Close your eyes!” –– yelled our tour guides.

Our masks weren’t of good quality — and soon many of us began violently coughing. It felt like we had been brought down into a volcanic torture chamber. No one I met in my travels had spoke of an experience like this at Ijen.

For what felt like an eternity we stood, eyes closed, with only small breaks from the sulfur onslaught. The guides kept their cool — many of them are former or current sulfur miners who’ve sadly built up a tolerance.

Eventually I couldn’t stand around anymore struggling to breathe. I had seen the blue flames and it was doing me no favor to choke on sulfur fumes. So I left the group, and made my way in a hurry back up the trail. I’ve never smoked, but I imagined this is what it must feel like to smoke 10 packs of cigarettes in a row.

Once everyone had collected themselves we walked along the crater rim for views of the toxic green lake below. We watched as miners carried up large yellow blocks of sulfur. Meanwhile locals offered rides back down the volcano on what looked like a cross between a wheel-barrow and a wheel-chair. The views from the rim were only a slight consolation to the misery we had just experienced in the crater, yet the whole thing already felt like a crazy memory.

At noon I caught a seven hour van transfer to the village of Cemoro Lawang for my second volcano stop — Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. This is the location of one of the world’s best sunrise viewpoints, with numerous volcanoes located ideally within a large caldera. This was the photo opportunity I looked forward to most in my trip.

Once in the village my driver took me to a check point where I was required to pay 325k Rupiah ($21) for the weekend national park fee. This seemed expensive to me. Then, upon entering the private room of my guesthouse I found there was no sink, no garbage can, a shower that wouldn’t get hot, and no WIFI (though my host texted me a network name that didn’t seem to exist). Fortunately the king-sized bed was comfy and warm to combat the chilly mountain air.

My alarm rang at 2:30 AM — it was time to make my way up to King Kong Hill for sunrise. Jeeps carrying tourists from other cities sped past in the darkness, meanwhile I used my phone flashlight to illuminate the winding road up to the trail. I arrived at the summit just as dawn broke, at which time a sad reality hit. It was a very cloudy morning. The best I could see was the most distant volcano, but not even that lasted too long before we were fully in the clouds. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Around 5:30 AM I made my way back down, dumbfounded by my terrible luck. Near to the guesthouse I passed the ticket check point from the night before. The same man asked to check my ticket. He scanned it over for over a minute before handing it to another man. What now — I asked, out loud. I felt bad for being agitated, but I expected this would be quick. Besides –– I was hungry, tired, still sick, and annoyed at mounting poor circumstances. I want to go to sleep, I said (somewhat dramatically) — and the man finally handed me back the ticket. I don’t want to have to show you this again, I said — and I walked away. (In my defense they may have been trying to wrongly charge me a second time for the park). After this I steered clear of that street.

That morning I slept, and relished in the one other good thing about my guest house — a free breakfast delivered to my door. I had planned to leave Cemoro Lawang that afternoon, but I was not in the mood to get back out on the road. I extended my booking a second night, which gave me more time to sleep and then hike the crater rim of Mt. Bromo in the late afternoon.

Clouds had ruined the sunrise, but they actually added to the experience of hiking Mt. Bromo. To get there you have to walk (or hire a motorcycle/jeep) across the Sea of Sands (a fancy name for the open expanse of the caldera). I was appalled at how much trash was littered along the trail at Mt. Bromo — just one reason the $21 entry ticket felt like a rip off. What was my money being used for? Definitely not to clean up.

The crater rim of Bromo is very narrow, and other hikers online have warned that certain sections are impassible. Call me masochistic, but I was in the mood for a little adventure, anything to give some spark to my day –– so I set out to hike the entire rim. I had to get creative in parts, but it wasn’t impossible. Along the way I had sublime views of the massive crater and finally some good moments for the day.

The weather called for rain all week, and I had no motivation to try for sunrise again the next morning. But surely I found myself awake at 4:30 AM, wondering what it looked like outside. I got up to take a peak —

Are you kidding me? I asked, surprised to see a mostly clear sky at dawn. In that moment I said to myself — Brandin, I know you’re tired. I know you’re still sick. I know you’re still pissed off. But this is probably your one and only chance to catch *this* view.

So I got myself together, grabbed my camera bag, put on my dusty sneakers, and set out … again. This time I hired a motorcycle to the base of the trail to make up for lost time. From there I busted my ass up to the summit of King Kong Hill in 45 minutes.

Up there I couldn’t believe the scene before me. Splotchy low clouds danced around the base of Mt. Batok, while a light haze added a mystical aura to the stunning composition. This was absolutely worth all the upsets of the past couple days, and I couldn’t believe that I had almost passed it up for fear of disappointment and lack of motivation.

I found a quiet spot and a semi-dry plot of grass to sit and enjoy this feast of a view. Being a Monday there were few tourists, and most people had already began their descent. I stayed for nearly an hour before clouds moved in yet again, followed by heavy rain later in the morning.

My first trip through South East Asia had been so relatively hassle free, these two days completely threw me for a loop. I lost a sense of control that I had otherwise taken for granted. Difficult and uncomfortable things are bound to happen — and it’s unfortunate that they’ve hit so late in my trip, but it’s reminded me that perseverance and gratitude are key to pushing onward.

Up Next: “Concluding Three Months in South East Asia“