Volcanoes, Yogyakarta and no itinerary…

In the last few weeks there has been a number of dramatic footage of Mount Merapi on Java erupting. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and st last count a couple of hundred killed.

I was going through some stuff a couple of nights ago, looking for a text book and came across a diary I kept in the early 90’s while I was away travelling for a few months. I was travelling through South East Asia with a Swiss girl, Lili. This was a truly great time with many, many highlights and just the sort of thing people in their 20’s should be doing.

I’ve kept a diary on and off for decades, it’s moments like this the reason why is driven home and the English teacher that first started me doing this will always have my gratitude.

Indonesia is a wonderful place with lots to see, wonderful people and in the early 90’s rather cheap. This particular time we were traveling together from Yogyakarta on Java, to Kuta Beach on Bali. We broke this particular trip up with a stop in Tumpang high up in the mountains of Eastern Java. The reason to stop at a little guest house in a little town was to see the sun rise over an active volcano, this one was Mount Bromo.

Bromo is about 250KM east of the current eruption on Merapi, but Yogyakarta is affected by the eruption, I assume it’s done a lot of damage to  the tourist trade in central Java.

We had no fixed itinerary and the time to do whatever grabs our fancy. It’s a fun way to travel and I was lucky to have the opportunity to do so. If you want to go to Toronto because Scotland is playing then go, it’s OK to travel 200 miles out of your route to see an exhibition by Magnum photographic agency. Bromo was a last minute decision. We took a bus from Yogyakarta to Malang, then a jeep to the guest house in Tumpeng.

Here is an excerpt from my journal entry for that day

“One of the luxuries in the guest house was a warm shower, it had been almost two months since Chang Mai in northern Thailand”

[I make a note in my journal of how awesome it was. When it’s 80-90 degrees every day cold showers are not too much of a hardship, but in places like Tumpeng and Chang Mai that are high in the mountains where it gets cold it’s a little different story].

“At 3 in the morning we were woken by gentle Indonesian music played in the hotel and left about 3:30 on a jeep for the rim of the volcano. There were maybe 30 or 40 jeeps parked at the rim and about as many people offering to take us on a horse into the crater. From the carpark we descended down a steep path onto the crater floor, the walk from there to the caldera from where we watched the sun rise was about 3 miles in darkness. The sky was clear and the night cold. The stars were extraordinary and gave plenty of light to follow the white painted stones by.”

“Across the crater floor we climb up a steep path and finally a staircase to the rim of the active cone. Looking down into the cone there is a slight red glow and the strong smell of sulphur. When we got to the top the sky was just starting to brighten in the east.”

“we sat with maybe 60  others watching the stars give way to the rapidly approaching dawn. As it brightens a mist started rolling over the outer rim of the volcano filling the large crater, obscuring the ground we just walked across.”

“As the sun rises we started to grasp the scale of the volcano, it’s miles across the outer rim. In the center of the crater is three smaller cones, two of which are spewing smoke, including the one we were sitting on. It was truly spectacular.”

I need to get a slide scanner so I can add some photos of Mount Bromo. The pictures really are very cool to look at, but like my words unable to do what that morning justice.

This was a spectacular time in my life, making a living racing, great travelling companion and time to enjoy it. Everyone should have a chance at the freedom at some time on their lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget how trips like this really do alter the way you look at the world.