07:39.763 S   111:11.52 E

 

More confusion!

 

Last night, though we didnt want to, we were taken to Parmans brothers place for nasi goreng.  Parman and his folks were huddled around a fire, and Verdy, Sandy and I were shown to a chilly outside table some way away.  Verdy was shivering, Sandy had his Himalaya jacket on, and I was wrapped in a silver survival blanket.  We dutifully scoffed our nasi goreng as fast as possible.  There was a lot of discussion about what time the sun would rise.  5.30 seemed to be the consensus, so we said, can we be picked up at 4.45?  Verdy was scuttling back and forth to Parman conveying messages and we agreed on 4.45am.  We went home early and tried to sleep on our slippery bed that still had the polythene covering over the mattress, covers all a-kimbo, waking up every half hour in case we were late.  Just falling into a deep sleep at 4am, there was a knock at the door, and there was Parman to pick us up, 45 mins early.

 

We charged around getting dressed and jumped into the jeep to be driven back up the hill to the viewing spot.  On arrival the place was packed with jeeps and French tourists, amazing, because we didnt see a soul yesterday afternoon and were convinced we were the only tourists there.  Just as well we did leave at 4am, the sunrise was about 4.45 so we would have completely missed it.  It was even better and more surreal than the sunset.

 

Parman then drove us in the jeep back down exactly the same route we had done yesterday in reverse, bit of a non event really, it was much more special on foot, alone in the fading evening light.  Droves of tourists were being conveyed up the side of Gunung Bromo on horseback and we declined this opportunity, preferring to get back to the losmen and on the road, knowing we had another very long drive ahead.

 

We got back by 7.30am to find Verdy up and polishing the car till it gleamed (which he does every day), said goodbye to Bromo and headed back west towards the next volcano we wanted to climb, Gunung Lawu.