#javatheislandnotprogramminglanguage

I left Malang a little bit heavy hearted as it was such a lovely place. But the tickets were already booked, so off I went. I took a train to Banyuwangi with a short lay over in Bangil. Indonesian trains were surprisingly modern and on time. I also made some friends with locals at Bangil’s train station and had to skype with my new friend’s daughters - apparently not a lot of western tourists make it to Bangil so that was quite a thing for them.

In Banyuwangi there is not a lot to do so I treated myself to a bit of me-time in my lovely homestay. Also went for a walk through some coconut, chocolate, peanut and pineapple plantations the receptionist of my home stay showed me.

As Lombok’s Gunung Rinjani is closed till 2020 due to the devastating earth quake earlier this year, I decided to skip Lombok and go to East Java instead. Got a pretty decent flight from Denpasar to Malang and was surprised when I got there: hardly any other tourist, lovely architecture and most importantly extremely friendly locals! I met so many lovely people who put out there best English for a quick conversation. Also, the local kids just loved to pose in front of my camera and see the pictures afterwards.

Malang was also the starting point for my sunrise tour to Mount Bromo - a still active volcano. Had to get up at midnight and take a very Jeep on extremely windy roads to get there in time for sunset. But it was all worth it! We had an amazing view for sunrise, a quick but fabulous trek through the black dessert and a great walk around the crater of the volcano. You could even hear the eater boiling in the crater.