Backpacking to Surabaya, Indonesia Part 2

By Kirah - February 02, 2015

So after approximately 6 hours journey, we reached our hotel which was Catimor Homestay. It was bit creepy when we entered the hotel area. I thought we were filming horror movie. The surrounding was really dark and Pak Ari was trying hard to figure out which way he supposed to follow. There was an abundant village along the main road. About 1am in morning, there was no one outside; it seems like a dead village. We acted silence and afraid to talk about it. But for me, I need more sleep than anything.

Kawah Ijen

Source: Google

Actually, Pak Ari got lost from track to Catimor. Luckily, there was a group of bikers that willing to show the exact way to go there. For us, backpackers, I think this homestay is a good choice and we wished to stay longer. The directions were really confusing, so finally arrived around 2am. We put our things in the room and changed to more comfort and thicker clothes and ready to hike Mount Ijen! At first, our purpose is to witness the amazing blue fire at the top of Mount Ijen. But we were informed that, blue fire is active only between 11pm to 1am. So after this, if you want to see blue fire, plan your journey really well. After all, we proceed to hike the mount.

Based on my research, they said to reach the top of Ijen may take 3-4 hours of climbing. At first, we climbed together in a group of 6 including Pak Ari. Then we separated to two groups. Ira, Husna and Pak Ari were far behind us. Therefore, we made to the top at 4.30am. We decided to perform Subuh prayer and did Tayamum. I was very excited because that was my first ever Tayamum and prayer on a mount. Three of us took pictures and witnessed the view in front of us. About 6am we decided to go down, but suddenly, I heard very familiar voice and did not believed what I had seen. They were Ira, Husna and Pak Ari, haha. And I heard Pak Ari sighed “FINALLY, WE ARRIVED AFTERALL!” Ira told us that Pak Ari actually had make to the top twice because he wanted to checked either the mount was still reachable by them or not. I am so speechless.

So for you to climb Mount Ijen (for beginners), I suggest you to prepare mentally and physically. Along the route, we could see the locals carrying kilos of sulphur up and down of mountain. They shaped the sulphur to sell them to the tourist and it was cheap. I pity them. What I can say is, THIS JOURNEY WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY AND SWEAT!

Husna is cute like SNOW WHITE ! Didn't she ?

We slowly climbed down and take some rest in homestay before we checked out at 12pm. We continued our journey to Malang. It took more than 7 hours…We stopped by at a stall (I don’t remember the place) and had Bakso for lunch before we arrived Malang at 8pm.

We were too exhausted because we did not managed to have proper sleep (car was our bed) for approximately 2 nights after we touched down. That night we were discussing stuffs and activities for the next day with Pak Kuku. Pak Kuku’s wife (pretty woman!) agreed to drive us around Malang City.

And I surely will continue Part 3 on next post. Wait for it J