Up again at the exciting time of 3.30 am. Trip up the mountain in the rusty old Toyota land cruiser. I now know where all the old short wheel base 1970’s Land Cuisers are - They are at Mt.Bromo!!!! So off we go Trace in the front me on a dodgey bench in the back, bumpdy,bumpdy down the road, along the flat sandy track and then up the vertical mountain range in the pitch black with a guy who can’t speak English and looks like death warmed up. Did I mention no seat belts and a sheer drop over the side of the mountain, all making for more than and exciting ride. Slowly but surely we edge our way to the top and guess what??? Of course there is a tourist trap on top of the mountain. Buildings precariously stuck to the side of the mountain held up with some sticks!! As we waited with many other tourists I did not realize that some of the protective rail had been replaced with a bit of bamboo because the old safety rail had fallen down the cliff!!! I could only imagine how many people went with it. The funny thing was people were pushed up against the bamboo railing and a few stupid tourists actually jumped the fence for that great camera shot. The idiots were about 10cm’s from death!!!!! I guess the early morning start was worth it, as the sun rose the different light and colours in the mountains and clouds was inspiring. Its times like these you need a good SLR Camera to capture the moments (A Canon EOS Hint, Hint would be good). We did get some good shots with the volcano in the background. We waited for the crowd to thin out then headed down to find our driver. After we battled our way through the hawkers we found our Toyota and were off down the mountain. It did not seem as dangerous in the daylight but you could see if you went over the edge you would have more than a large headache. The procession of old Landcruisers going down the mountain keep me amused for a short time at least. 
We bumped our way down the mountain and across the sandy flat, of course even though the cruiser go to the bottom of the volcano they wouldn’t so you would have to hire a horse off one of their mates. The first part of the walk was pretty flat but as we neared the volcano it got a bit stepper. Tracey was not well so we busted a horse down to 30,000 for the trip up the rough bit and 20,000 for the return normally they want 100,000 so remember to walk the flat part and then bust ‘em if you need the horse. I chose to walk and take photos as I needed the exercise, I also did not want to squash the horse. You still have to climb the last 240 odd steps to get to the volcano rim and boy these are steep. After a couple of short breaks we made it to the top. I was hoping for bubbling lava and priests sacrificing virgins into the fiery mountain but to my disappointment they only did this every 500 years on the first Sunday of month on a full moon. I would have to wait another 300 or so years apparently. Never mind we did get to see the volcano hissing a swearing at all the tourists to piss off and leave it alone. Out of respect for its wishes we took a few pics and headed off leaving it to be pissed off with the steady line of tourists that tickled its side as they moved up and down. Tracey jumped onto the waiting horse and I tried out my version of tactical downhill running and jumping while taking photos.
We made it back to the Land cruiser station and the horse guy wanted more money. Sorry old bean that’s all your getting!!!! We found the driver snoring away in the cruiser, woke him up with a start and back to the motel. Bit of ordinary free breaky, basically cold rice and toast !!! Yummo!! Showered and packed up and headed off. Nothing much to talk about until we got to the mud disaster near Surabaya. This is where some company was drilling for gas or oil and they stuffed up and cracked the earths crust or something like that and slushy mud started spewing out. It engulfed heaps of villages in 10 metres deep mud. They have had to build this huge wall to stop it engulfing the nearby city. The wall they built is over 10metres tall and is holding back something like 1,000 acres of mud. It’s unbelievable!!
We stopped as it is now a tourist attraction and got to ride on top of the mud with one of the guys whose village is under the mud. The company did not take any blame and only gave them 20% of the value of there property if they could prove they owned it. Many could not prove it so they got zip!!! They say the mud is gonna keep coming for another 30 or more years!!! The wall will have to be 100 meters high!! I don’t know how they are going to contain it. We have a video with footage before and its mind boggling. After that it was pretty much get the driver to take us somewhere for lunch and then off to the air-port. Off To Yogyakarta where we had unknowingly booked a fantastic room with a pool! What a pity we were only staying one night! Prambana Guest House – Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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