We headed over to Java to climb some mountains and do some more backpackery stuff before going to the Philippines to continue lying on beaches. Java is a lot less touristy than Bali and seems to attract more of a middle aged couple climbing the volcanoes crowd, and so perhaps appropriately everything costs a bit more and it's a bit more of a challenge to travel there
Accomodation
We stayed at Ijen Farmer Homestay to climb Mount Ijen, a volcano with a blue sulphur crater lake at the top. This was a very basic homestay. We had a triple room which had bunk beds and a mattress on the floor, and an ensuite which didn't have a sink, and for some time there was no running water. It was really really cheap (about £5 total) and the hosts were nice (though we saw him kiss another woman despite introducing us to his tiny wife, which was slightly off) and they had fast WiFi despite being in pretty much the middle of nowhere. They also made us a chocolate pancake and tea for free when we arrived and very cheap noodles for dinner and some rice included for breakfast.
What to do
The main attraction of here is climbing Ijen. Other than that there wasn't much around, though we did go to see some rice terraces in the afternoon which were very pretty. We organised our ferry port pick up, transport to and from Ijen and drop off at the bus station through the hostel owner's friend arranged through WhatsApp before we arrived. We paid him 600,000 IDR for this, about £33, which involved him waiting at the bottom of the crater for hours in the middle of the night. He also spent ages driving us around the next day to a train station, bus station and back again because we hadn't booked onwards travel. He was such a sweet man aw
Climbing Ijen
We left the homestay at 1am and began the drive to the base of the volcano. It took about 45 minutes where we paid the entrance fee (think it was 100,000 IDR) and then got a lot of warm stuff ready for the climb. We hired masks from the homestay, and took blankets with us, and the driver even gave me a coat. The hike itself was pretty much all uphill, and to the crater took about an hour and a half. Climbing in the dark sounds pretty terrifying but there were loads of people there and we could kind of see but also used our phone torches to help.
From the crater there is a viewing area to see the blue flames. This was the reason for climbing in the middle of the night, but annoyingly for us we didn't get to see the flames. Some people were walking down to the crater lake, but it's apparently pretty dangerous and we were freezing by this point so ended up lying down in our blankets.
From the crater lake we walked for about half an hour to reach a sunrise point. We weren't entirely sure where it was but everyone was walking the same way and we asked some people. As the sun rose it became really really beautiful and a bit warmer so we spent an hour or so taking photos before climbing back down, which took about 45 minutes
Food
We just ate at the hostel, but there were a few little general stores, as well as one at the start of the hike where we got a drink. I'd recommend taking snacks or a sugary drink for the walk
Getting to/from
To reach Ijen we followed lots of instructions on blogs. We took a bus from the bus terminal in Denpasar to Gilimanuk, and then took the ferry from Gilimanuk to Banyywangi (Bali to Java) and from there our driver met us and drove us to the homestay.
From Ijen we took a bus going to Probolinggo, where Mount Bromo is. The direct train took about 3.5 hours, but we missed it and so ended up getting a long local bus journey which took about 7 hours. Not fun with no A/C
Accomodation
We stayed at Ijen Farmer Homestay to climb Mount Ijen, a volcano with a blue sulphur crater lake at the top. This was a very basic homestay. We had a triple room which had bunk beds and a mattress on the floor, and an ensuite which didn't have a sink, and for some time there was no running water. It was really really cheap (about £5 total) and the hosts were nice (though we saw him kiss another woman despite introducing us to his tiny wife, which was slightly off) and they had fast WiFi despite being in pretty much the middle of nowhere. They also made us a chocolate pancake and tea for free when we arrived and very cheap noodles for dinner and some rice included for breakfast.
What to do
The main attraction of here is climbing Ijen. Other than that there wasn't much around, though we did go to see some rice terraces in the afternoon which were very pretty. We organised our ferry port pick up, transport to and from Ijen and drop off at the bus station through the hostel owner's friend arranged through WhatsApp before we arrived. We paid him 600,000 IDR for this, about £33, which involved him waiting at the bottom of the crater for hours in the middle of the night. He also spent ages driving us around the next day to a train station, bus station and back again because we hadn't booked onwards travel. He was such a sweet man aw
Climbing Ijen
We left the homestay at 1am and began the drive to the base of the volcano. It took about 45 minutes where we paid the entrance fee (think it was 100,000 IDR) and then got a lot of warm stuff ready for the climb. We hired masks from the homestay, and took blankets with us, and the driver even gave me a coat. The hike itself was pretty much all uphill, and to the crater took about an hour and a half. Climbing in the dark sounds pretty terrifying but there were loads of people there and we could kind of see but also used our phone torches to help.
From the crater there is a viewing area to see the blue flames. This was the reason for climbing in the middle of the night, but annoyingly for us we didn't get to see the flames. Some people were walking down to the crater lake, but it's apparently pretty dangerous and we were freezing by this point so ended up lying down in our blankets.
From the crater lake we walked for about half an hour to reach a sunrise point. We weren't entirely sure where it was but everyone was walking the same way and we asked some people. As the sun rose it became really really beautiful and a bit warmer so we spent an hour or so taking photos before climbing back down, which took about 45 minutes
Food
We just ate at the hostel, but there were a few little general stores, as well as one at the start of the hike where we got a drink. I'd recommend taking snacks or a sugary drink for the walk
Getting to/from
To reach Ijen we followed lots of instructions on blogs. We took a bus from the bus terminal in Denpasar to Gilimanuk, and then took the ferry from Gilimanuk to Banyywangi (Bali to Java) and from there our driver met us and drove us to the homestay.
From Ijen we took a bus going to Probolinggo, where Mount Bromo is. The direct train took about 3.5 hours, but we missed it and so ended up getting a long local bus journey which took about 7 hours. Not fun with no A/C
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