COMMENTS FROM TOURISTS ON MOUNT BROMO
"REALLY IT IS A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE!!!"
The eruption has filled the valley and it looks like a desert. Miles and miles of sandy desert. But to enjoy the stay you must avoid the week ends. It is like in a city Toyota Land cruisers racing up the hill early morning to see the sun rise. But it is a fantastic site you will not forget till you die. At least more than 100 land cruisers were climbing the hill. Due to heavy traffic we had to stop the vehicle half way and climb by foot. As the sun comes up you must hurry down other wise you get caught in the traffic again before climbing up the crater. There are so many horses for hire too. Following day a Monday it was different, no rush, we had the day for us. But you can have the same view from Lava view too. Do not miss this site, but be prepared with winter clothing and masks to avoid the dust. We engaged a great, humble and friendly english speaking tour guide under World Heritage Network and if you are looking for one that will make you safe and make your day in your trip, try email to them: worldheritage101@yahoo.com Also their website has all the info and pictures of Ijen Crater and Mt Bromo which I find them very useful for my trip: www.worldheritagenetwork.blogspot.com So enjoy you tour as much as I enjoyed mine. good luck! The trip to Cemoro lawang(the closest village) is lenghty and almost like a roller coaster ride and it gets really cold when the sun sets but the view and the sun rise from the viewpoint are spectacular if the weather is nice. I recommend you stay there just 1 night, because you get up early to go to the viewpoint and after that you go up Mt.Bromo and then you can leave at 9.30 or 12'o clock. Homestays are very cheap(our room was 100k IDR/night) and very very basic but i would rather recommend one of the two hotels there, because it's nice to have breakfast while looking at Mt Bromo within your vicinity.
...Commented by Pann, Phuket, Thailand.
"A JOURNEY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER!!!"
After months of hard work, I finally able to jump on my car and headed to an airport to catch a plane to East Java to visit Mount Bromo. Visit Bromo means 1) Waiting for the sunrise over the volcano complex and enjoy the view from the above, at Mount Pananjakan. 2) Going down towards the volcano complex and climb the stairs on the mount Bromo to see its crater. If you have time, do both, if you don’t, choose number 1! This is the breathtaking, spectacular view you might want to see before you die! Truly one-of-a-kind! I have seen hundreds of this famous Bromo view from postcards or internet, but really, to be finally there,see it and feel the atmosphere with my own senses, was kind of spiritual experience.. It is very important that you check the weather and choose the best season, since it wouldn’t be perfect if it was cloudy and rainy. But I think the most important part in this tour is to engage a reliable guide to make your journey an unforgettable one. We were so glad to have engaged a guide from World Heritage Network after it was highly recommended by our friends and reviews we had read in Tripadvisor. True to their dedication and professionalism, we were guided so safely and so comfortably along all our journey. I don’t think we could enjoy the best spots and the best moments in this tour from the guide who speaks good english. To engage them, you can email them here: worldheritage101@yahoo.com We also found their website with a lot of info on Mount Bromo which was useful for our preparation of our tour. You can see it here:
www.worldheritagenetwork.blogspot.com After comparing our pictures and the ones we saw on the website, we decided to take more pictures and it came to hundreds of pictures at the end of our tour. We went down to do number 2 by a Jeep continued by motorcycle taxis (ojek). The road was badly damaged from the recent eruptions, so no Jeep allowed going down. Although our tour operator was quite good and the price we paid was already included the Jeep and entrance fee, but the motorcycle taxi was unexpected expense (Rp 75.000 per person round trip, 30 minutes one way). That pissed us off, but not after we finally got on the motorcycle. The journey of going down and going back turned out to be a great adventure, because the view was also amazing and the feeling of closer to the nature would not have been so great if we used the car. The motorcycle drivers made a stop at the great view ‘savannah’ in front of Mount Batok, and we took many pictures here. However it was an almost-vertical dangerous ride with no helmet provided, so if you’re an avid hiker and have enough time, walking might be better and less risky. What annoyed me was the motorcycle drivers kept asking if we want to continue to other attractions such as the lake (and give them extra money). They really invaded our private time. This type of ‘pushy sellers’ were all over Bromo area, so be prepared for that! At the beginning before watching the sunrise, the jackets/ gloves sellers followed us to the rest rooms even tough we said NO hundred times and already wore jackets and gloves! In the crater area you would find plenty of locals offer horse riding to the crater. We had already decided to walk to the crater and no horses, but they kept offering horse ride from Rp 100.000 in the beginning until Rp 10.000!! Be aware of this and don’t let these people distract or manipulate you, let you pay overprice or ruin your vacation. The day we visited Bromo was the day its crater area first opened after a series of eruptions since January. The bad things: the crater and its safety fences were broken, due to eruptions. So very limited space to walk/sit, a little wrong step could send you fall to the crater! This made us nervous so we went back down soon after climbed 250 stairs! Nothing to enjoy there, the sulphuric gas smelled vividly, strong winds blew the volcanic ash to our nostrils and eyes. Check to avoid the windy weather if possible, bring mask and sunglasses just in case. The good things: the scenery between the temple and the crater was actually much more spectacular than the one we saw when the volcano was not so active. Kind of dramatic, less man-made and wild. We actually enjoyed going up to the crater until we finally found no reason to stay up there. After all good and bad things, I still say the breathtaking scenery above and around is worth the effort. I am definitely willing to go back again with more well-prepared plan! It was a journey that had changed my life forever!
...Commented by Michelle Lee, Malaysia.
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COMMENTS FROM TOURISTS ON IJEN CRATER
"IT'S A PLACE LIKE NO OTHER!!!"
Terrific mountain! Don't miss it! We start our tour at 1 am to see the blue lights at night. The blue fire was the highlight of the entire trip and its worth it. The striking blue fire is like a giant stove with blue fire burning its way into the air. A great and magical sight for any tourist who visit Ijen Crater. We were also glad that we engaged the service tour guide by World Heritage Network You can engage them by emailing to them:
worldheritage101@yahoo.com The guide is really a professional and he made our trip so memorable. We start hiking up at 2am, arrive around 3am at the top. Walk down and up to see the blue lights around 1 to 2 hours. It got bright at 5 am. You should walk a bit up the mountain sides, that's one of the best views! It's worth to go just be prepared with lamps, warm closes, food :)
....Commented by Chapoon Narasiputak, Thailand.
"MY LIFE CHANGED AFTER VISITING IJEN CRATER!!!"
Ijen, a place I know not much except for the famous story of those sulfur miners. The climb up to the crater was not hard and it make it easier for me as it rained a night before my climb. As we went higher the view was getting better and we also can start smell the sulfur gas. At some point, the sky was fully covered by the sulfur gas. Once we reached the crater, I was almost speechless. Those scenery just like the one I only can see in the Discovery Channel or National Geography Channel. The water at the crater is turquoise color with super cool landscape. Though there was sign that visitors are prohibited to go down to the crater, I took the risk went down with my tour guide and a sulfur miner lead us the way. The road down the crater was not easy because it was narrow and only allowed one miner to pass through at a time. So most of the time if there was miner coming up from the crater, we have to stick ourselves very close to the crater wall. I absolutely respect and salute those miners who work there everyday. The weight they have to carry daily is never a "normal" person like us can do it and not to mention up and down hill with those average of 75kg for each miner. This place is definitely one of the best highlight of my recent trip to Indonesia. We were also glad to have a wonderful guide who showed and guided us all the way with patience and care. Thanks to World Heritage Network's
guides. If you want to engage a reliable guide, try them by emailing them: worldheritage101@yahoo.com
guides. If you want to engage a reliable guide, try them by emailing them: worldheritage101@yahoo.com
...Commented by Mary MacDonald, New Zealand.
"DO NOT MISS THE BLUE FIRE IN IJEN CRATER!!!"
worldheritage101@yahoo.com We also found their website with a lot of info on Ijen Crater with beautiful pictures of the “Blue Fire” which was useful for our preparation of our tour. You can see it here:
www.worldheritagenetwork.blogspot.com Unfortunately due to time constraint, we were unable to visit Ijen Crater in the wee hours in the morning to catch the blue fire. We reached there at noon and during the climb, the landscape changes the nearer you get to the top and when you finally reach site, your jaws are going to drop to the floor. It's very well worth every single step climbing up. It is such a rewarding experience. If you are adventurous, and brave enough, you may go down into the crater and have a much closer experience. But be warned, it is dangerous, and is against the law (but only when the authority is around). If you have the chance, go and have a friendly chat with the friendly miners. They are not shy to share their experience and you are going to have a new profound respect on what they do on a daily basis. We will definitely come again but next time, we are going to start early, possibly around midnight. We were told that we will be able to watch 'blue fire' if we go up early. We missed that. After knowing how beautiful “Blue Fire” is in the website, we definitely will come again to catch the BLUE FIRE in Ijen Crater.
www.worldheritagenetwork.blogspot.com Unfortunately due to time constraint, we were unable to visit Ijen Crater in the wee hours in the morning to catch the blue fire. We reached there at noon and during the climb, the landscape changes the nearer you get to the top and when you finally reach site, your jaws are going to drop to the floor. It's very well worth every single step climbing up. It is such a rewarding experience. If you are adventurous, and brave enough, you may go down into the crater and have a much closer experience. But be warned, it is dangerous, and is against the law (but only when the authority is around). If you have the chance, go and have a friendly chat with the friendly miners. They are not shy to share their experience and you are going to have a new profound respect on what they do on a daily basis. We will definitely come again but next time, we are going to start early, possibly around midnight. We were told that we will be able to watch 'blue fire' if we go up early. We missed that. After knowing how beautiful “Blue Fire” is in the website, we definitely will come again to catch the BLUE FIRE in Ijen Crater.
...Commented by Michelle Lee, Malaysia.
“A great network to look for reliable professional guides for tours in East Java”
Well I just been to Mt Bromo and Ijen Crater engaging a guide from this network called "World Heritage Network". It was fine for us. The english speaking guide was friendly and helpful. I seriously don't think you can actually do the "blue fire" by yourself. It is way too dangerorus. We did it at 3am in the morning and there were no lights with total darkness. Luckily, our guide guided us with his torch light. Pointing the light at the pathway in front of us leading us all the way downhill under a rumble of rocks along a very very narrow pathway. When we were down at the sulphur lake (after streneous 40 minutes trekking down) during the sunrise, we could see and finally realized how high the crater was and how dangerous it was. One slip, I think you can easily fall and break your legs. All this was prevented due to the professional service we had from our guide. I think we owe our enjoyment and comfort to our guide. Like you, we did not know who they are and what network they are from but they are highly recommended by our peers and friends who had traveled and trekked Mt Bromo & Ijen Crater with them. I think it is always safe to trust tested guides that are highly recommended by other tourists and friends. So go ahead and engage them.
As for their charges, I think it is quite reasonable looking at the fact that these guides have to bring you there at 1am in the morning just to catch the blue fire before sunrise. The network even helped us book our accommodation that we want at the last moment without fail (even when we tried booking ourselves and the hotel was already fully booked). It was amazing how the network was able to get us a last moment accommodation. I guess it was because of their connection with these hotels and their superb services.
For your info, we did a lot of research on the tour charges of this kind of tour, there are other tour companies charged even more like USD358 per person and there are also others who charged must lesser but they only do normal tour to Ijen Crater minus the blue fire trip during sunrise and they don't know how to go to this blue fire location. Further other tour companies we researched also have bad reputation of making a hard time for tourist like changing guides in different places with non-english speaking guide as they do not have the expertise to do all the volcano tours themselves.
So after considering several options, we had decided not to take too many chances and risk our lives trekking these volcano craters and just engaged this network just to be safe. True enough to what they claimed to be, they are the professionals and we really had a lot of fun trekking with our guide and the jokes that our guide told us really kept us company at all times. It was a memorable tour and journey we will never forget. So to our guide and to World Heritage Network, we thank you.
...Commented by Ryan & Michelle, USA.
As for their charges, I think it is quite reasonable looking at the fact that these guides have to bring you there at 1am in the morning just to catch the blue fire before sunrise. The network even helped us book our accommodation that we want at the last moment without fail (even when we tried booking ourselves and the hotel was already fully booked). It was amazing how the network was able to get us a last moment accommodation. I guess it was because of their connection with these hotels and their superb services.
For your info, we did a lot of research on the tour charges of this kind of tour, there are other tour companies charged even more like USD358 per person and there are also others who charged must lesser but they only do normal tour to Ijen Crater minus the blue fire trip during sunrise and they don't know how to go to this blue fire location. Further other tour companies we researched also have bad reputation of making a hard time for tourist like changing guides in different places with non-english speaking guide as they do not have the expertise to do all the volcano tours themselves.
So after considering several options, we had decided not to take too many chances and risk our lives trekking these volcano craters and just engaged this network just to be safe. True enough to what they claimed to be, they are the professionals and we really had a lot of fun trekking with our guide and the jokes that our guide told us really kept us company at all times. It was a memorable tour and journey we will never forget. So to our guide and to World Heritage Network, we thank you.
...Commented by Ryan & Michelle, USA.