Overnight Trip to Mount Bromo's Sunrise

The frozen overnight wind was bushing harshy, the narrow backseat worsened the backache. I reminded myself to stay awake so I won’t fall off from the motorcycle speeding up to 80 km/hour.

I departed at 12 PM from my Couch Surfing's host in Malang, Joe, with his friend riding motorcycle to Mount Bromo, which has the best sunrise view in Indonesia.

But that was still imaginary as we still had 4 hours ride to catch the sunrise. The ride was ambiguous enough to drill my nerve as we surpassed unlit, beaten path with almost no settlements at all. I ensured myself to trust Chairil, my driver, with whom I just met a day ago. I tried not to care about the clamp milieu and focused more on the decreasing gas meter, prayed so it won’t hit 0.

“We have reached the inner track of mountain railway to Mount Bromo,” said Chairil as he pointed forward to sinuous mountain railway we were about to horn in.

No wonder my friend recommended to go with a jeep, because the road was awfully wretched and steep. The surrounding, however, was mystical yet precarious. The dark lines of the mountain range was hazed and gradually disappeared to the valley. With temperature decreased quickly, I covered my ankles with scarf as I recklessly wore casual jeans that night.

We entered Mount Bromo National Park at 5 AM. With 45 minutes left to reach Bukit Penanjakan, the sunrise spot, I cared less about the bumpy sandy road that caused the motorcycle went tottering inordinately.

“I think my wallet fell off.”

I fatefully put down my ego for sunrise as I heard Chairil’s statement. Looking for a wallet on a think sandy ground sounded nearly impossible. Unlike Disney’s fairy tales, this ended unhappily.

Sunrise was almost over and gas has decreased drastically, so we decided not to go to sunrise spot. We hiked a bit to the crater and finally saw a tint of yellowish auburn gradually coloring the body part of volcanoes. It was pure tranquility.

I left Mount Bromo with new perspective, to value my journey more than the destination, Bromo's sunrise. A true ‘travel discovery’ doesn’t constitute an exact prescription, often ignored and overlooked by the destination, it remains personal and unpredictable.

For the transportation, it’s more convenient to go with jeep when you’re with a group and not up to throw in big bucks for guided tours. Motorcycle will do it for solo traveller who's a frequent motorcyclist.

Also, if you decided to ride a motorcycle, never put your wallet in your back pocket.