Tengger Celdera & Mt Ijen - Day 4 (11th August 2015)

The last day of the trip started with a lazy morning where the tour guide told us that he would not bring us to the cliche Mount Penanjakan for sunrise since it is always very crowded. I was also still rather bummed about my damaged DSLR and had to comfort myself that my mobile phone has enough battery for taking photographs. We headed to the nearby cliff that lies along the huge Tengger Celdera (Noted by others as viewpoint #1 on google maps). 

Upon reaching there via the 4WD, we took a short hike up for approximately 10 minutes before reaching a rest stop where there was a small hut with a local lady selling hot drinks. 

I decided to stay there for sunrise instead of heading further up. Without the DSLR and my telephoto lens, I was unable to capture the beautiful sunrise coupled with the mesmerizing volcanoes in front of me. Thankfully, the camera did manage to capture a certain level of its beauty. 

It was really amazing seeing how the fog above the Whispering Sands slowly started to overflow onto the village where we had dinner the night before.

Soon, the fog cleared and we were able to make out the sandy floor of the Tengger Celdera, also famously known as the Whispering Sands.

After an hour of watching sunrise and a hot coffee later, we headed back to our 4WD where it brought us to our campsite. It was time to bring all our belongings onto the car and head to Surabaya Airport for our flight at noon.

Tengger Celdera & Mt Ijen - Day 3 (10th August 2015)

Initially, the tour guide asked if we wanted to hike up a neighbouring mountain at 3am so as to catch sunrise from there. However I declined as I wanted to rest a little more, plus I wanted to catch sunrise from Metigen hill instead. And with such a decision, I was allowed to sleep till 4:30am. Upon waking up, I got my camera and tripod ready and pointed it at the predicted direction of sunrise. Within 15 minutes, the sky started to change in colour. It was beautiful seeing the sky turn from black, to dark blue, before eventually turning purple and orange. The beautiful radiant orange globe started to appear from behind the mountains and with the variety of mountains in the distance, it was gorgeous!

After the sun was fully up, I hiked up 50m along a steep slope before standing at the thin edge of the Tengger Celdera. It was beautiful seeing the sea of fog covering the Whispering Sands and the different volcanoes in the background. Mount Bromo constantly emited smoke while the other active volcano, Mt Semeru, puffed up every few minutes.

After 20 minutes of pandering around the crater edge, it was time to head back to the campsite for a light breakfast of hot milo and biscuits. 

We then boarded the 4WD that was awaiting us and it drove us down into the celdera and through the Whispering Sands into the nearby Gunang Probcia for some landscape photography. 

After 20 minutes of really bumpy 4WD ride across the Whispering Sands and up the mountain, I finally alighted with rubbery legs and a sore behind. It was a short 5 minutes walk to a nearby tiny little hut before we had to walk down a really steep 45degree incline along a tiny sandy path. The inclined terrain was flanked by a steep slope downhill on both sides with the front end ending off at about 30m away in a steep slope too. 

 While navigating this undulating terrain at a height of about 2500m, my fear of heights gave way to my intense wanting to capture the beauty of the mountains and greenery around me. I slowly and carefully moved down the incline so as to go that couple of meters closer to the wide expense in front of me and started to use my camera.

Changing lenses was rather tricky as I did not have my bag with me so I had to shoot and change lenses while holding onto my camera body and both lenses at the same time. Never had I expected myself to have so much courage standing at where I stood, with three sides of steep slopes flanking me!

After the photo opportunity and some selfies, it was time to head down to the Whispering Sands for more photography! We made a stop at two different areas of the whispering sands. One area was a common spot for tourists to take horse rides. It was facing a grassland known as Teletubbies Land (due to the lush greenery that used to be there before Mt Bromo erupted a couple years back). The other was an area filled totally with beautiful fine grey sand, looking completely like a desert with its sandy dunes and 4WD tracks! At both spots, photography was a must and I took the chance to ask the tour guide to help me take some posed photos. 

It was really amazing wandering around the "grey desert" as I admired the beautify of God's creations. The fine grey volcanic sand was such a new sight to me. 

Not long later, it was time to head back to the campsite. After packing a day pack, it was time to head to the famed Madakaripura Waterfalls. Along the way, lunch was at a simple local Nasi Padang restaurant along the road. 

Upon reaching the waterfalls entrance, we were accosted by many touters selling ponchos and slippers. Feeling stingy, I refused either although the tour guide bought ponchos for us. I decided that I would walk upstream barefooted instead, saving that miserable S$1! After a ten minute easy walk along the marked path, we reached the river that the waterfall created. 

It was not easy walking upstream as the little pebbles underwater pressed hard against the soles of my feet, making it a rather painful process. However the thought of wanting awesome waterfall photographs made me carry on. After a while, there was more and more streams of water flowing down from the forest above and that was where the ponchos came in handy. However, my camera remain unprotected as it was used to capture long-exposure shots of the moving water. 

With the constant pouring of water onto my camera, it's weathersealing ability was put to the extreme test and eventually, water leaked inside. It caused the camera to start becoming unresponsive in certain button-presses and eventually, failing to operate at all. That was a rather traumatic experience as I was really worried about my camera.

After walking back from the waterfall, I kept trying to operate the camera and that was a really stupid move as it caused the camera to malfunction on a mechanical level. The driver brought us back to Cemara Lewang for a short tea break at a hostel restaurant before we headed out for sunset. Due to my malfunctioned camera, I was only able to take sunset photographs with my handphone.

Dinner was next and it was a rather simple affair of fried wet noodles for me. After dinner, we headed back to our campsite at Metigen hill. As my phone was charging and my camera was dead, it was a good time for some solitude under the stars.

Tengger Celdera & Mt Ijen - Day 2 (9th August 2015)

Day 2 of the trip started at 1am in the morning. Felt so glad that I decided to take a short nap as I felt really recharged and energized. After rearranging my bags, I joined the rest at our car and we left for Mt Ijen at 1am in the morning. The trip to Mt Ijen took us along a long windy and bumpy road and as I look out of the window, I could see the countless stars in the dark sky and it was so exciting to know that it would be what I see for the next few days in Indonesia!

And after 1.5 hours of bumpiness, we reached the base camp of Mt Ijen. There were quite a lot of hikers there, all waiting for the entrance to be open. We made our way to the entrance and since our guides had already prepared everything for us, we could go ahead and start the climb. It was in total darkness with the only light coming from the faint moonlight and our torchlights. The hike started with a gentle sandy slope uphill before slowly transiting to a steeper rocky slope after 40 minutes of hiking.

Another 30 minutes later, we reached the midway point, where there was a hut selling warm drinks and there were people there resting.

 Another hour later and with a lot of effort climbing up the steep and almost never-ending slopes, we finally reached the summit of Mt Ijen! It was a rather scary experience for me as I have a fear of heights and we had been constantly climbing and walking along a path that is barely a meter wide at its widest and a steep drop down on either/both sides!

It was a mesmerizing sight seeing the amazing blue flames down inside the crater where the sulfur mines are. I decided not to go down due to the level of risk involved in climbing down and back up again so just made full use of my telephoto lens to capture this marvel of nature.

Instead, i went further up a rocky slope and perched myself on the edge to capture the beautiful landscape and night sky around me.

After many long exposures in the FREEZING COLD and WINDY weather. The sky started to lightened and I went further up the slope to get a better vintage point of the sunrise. However I chose not to go to the end of the slope since it was really high up and I was still affected by my fear of heights.

Sunrise created a beautiful symphony of colours in the sky as it slowly transited between black, dark blue, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow and finally pale blue. It was the opportunity I was waiting for and the reason why I climbed a 2.7km tall mountain. I alternated between taking photographs and enjoying the beauty with my naked eye.

After being done with the sunrise and the photographs, I started to head down the mountain. It was much easier than climbing up and after stopping for a short while at the midway point to keep my jacket, I quickly headed down to the summit of the volcano.

It took about 2.5 hours to climb up but only 2 hours to climb down!

At the bottom of the mountain, there was an opportunity try the heavy baskets of sulfur that the miners have to carry down the mountain daily and my shoulders failed me when I tried to lift the 80kg load on a single shoulder!

Since it was breakfast time, I enjoyed a nice cold bottle of coke in the nice cool weather while my travel companions opted for hot coffee and tea! So refreshing to drink some cold coke while my legs were feeling sore and my face feeling sandy! After the hiking, it was time to leave the place. Our driver brought us to a nearby waterfall for us to take some photos. My adventurous tour guide encouraged me to climb the steep and rocky slope beside the waterfall, just to reach another waterfall that is upstream. With the useful ND10 filter, it was easy capturing the smooth flow of water!

After this tiny waterfall, our driver drove us to a much bigger and rapid waterfall! It took a little walk up and down a quiet path before we came across a really fierce and fast outpouring of water! Time for some selfies!

Right after this little off-road trip, we headed back to our homestay where we had two hours of rest and washup. The water was really freezing so it was a terribly quick shower with the focus being my face! After that, we had lunch at the coffee plantation's cafe, which was a simple Ayam Nasi Goreng (Fried rice with chicken).

After the late lunch, it was time to head over to Tengger Celdera, where we would be staying overnight for tonight and tomorrow night. Dinner was at a restaurant along the way, which served pretty lousy food. We arrived at Metigen Hill at around 9pm, and it was totally pitch dark. To our amazement, our travel guide had arranged for our tents to be pitched and it was awaiting us! Looking up, I could make out the faint gaseous cloud of the milk way galactic centre with my naked eyes!

Spent the next four hours taking photographs before retreating to my sleeping bag inside my tent for some shut eye. The next day would begin early at 4am as I planned to catch sunrise from my camping grounds.


**NOTE**
As a treat, here is a panorama of the milky way that I have captured and processed, now awaiting printing. I have planned to print this out in A0 size to frame up and hang on my bedroom wall. :D