Either my memory failed me, or Surabaya had really changed. I mean, I remember Surabaya to be so boring and there was nothing much to do. Now that we were back after 13 years, Surabaya seemed to be a place that was full of vibrancy. It even looks much cleaner than I remember it was back then.
We were there on the first of May, when the whole world was celebrating Labour Day. It wasn’t the best day to be in Surabaya, because most of the main attractions including the Dataran Pahlawan which was built to commemorate the fierce 1945 Battle of Surabaya where locals fought for independence, making Surabaya the “City of Heroes”.
We stayed at Ibis Hotel in the middle of the second largest city in Indonesia. We got to see the massive procession of Labour Day right from the lobby of the hotel. Somehow, watching a procession of such a big scale made me choke with emotion.
Since most places of interest were closed, perhaps I can only highlight our visit to a place called Hops Kitchen & Bar – a place that we found on an internet search – and it was such a relaxing place to be. There were live band performances, it actually provided the relaxing vibes of a lounge or something. The selection of songs was great too, a combination of English and Indonesian songs. We enjoyed the place so much that we actually returned the next day.
Somehow I felt there was much more of Surabaya that we could explore more but a couple of days didn’t seem to provide us a sufficient time to do it. While heading to the airport, I knew I’d return to Surabaya on third visit. I just knew I would.
So, after we were done being mesmerized by the wonders of nature at Tumpak Sewu, it was time to go to Bromo, the super magical place that had prompted me to declare Indonesia as the undisputed country for nature wonders when I first visited it 13 years ago.
Traveling from Tumpak Sewu to Bromo had required us to do a few hours of joyride across beautiful villages and every now and then we’d stop to enjoy the view because seriously, some of them were really worth stopping for. The driver even took us across remote areas on bumpy roads – all so that we could have our late lunch at restaurant called Godhong Gedhang.
Well, it might look like such an ordinary place to be eating at, but the restaurant is located right in the middle of a vast paddy field area. We can almost smell the paddy – in fact, they were very much within the reach of our hands even when we were eating. Not only that, the food was marvellous, they really hit right into our taste buds we couldn’t stop talking about how tasty there were all throughout our trip.
We actually stopped a few times – either for food or for the view or both. That was one of the privileges that we or anyone could acquire when travelling on an all-pre-arranged transport.
We arrived at Bromo when the sun was about to set. The hotel room was OK, even though I was expecting a better one. I immediately noticed how Bromo had changed so much since our first visit 13 years ago. Back then, Bromo was very much agricultural with very limited number of hotels. In fact, we actually stayed at the most expensive hotel there was at that time – and yet it was more like a rundown set of chalets. The only best thing about it that I remember was the full view of Mount Bromo right from the hotel room.
Back then, Bromo was very much unheard of. In fact, we only knew about it when we arrived, because the plan was to scale Mount Semeru which was part of the National Park that Mount Bromo was also in. When we were told that Mount Bromo was closed – just how we were told on this one, we decided to scale Mount Bromo as a substitute. That was what we did too last time, so it was more like a repetition, except it was not. Bromo has changed almost totally now. Bromo had become one of top tourist destinations in Indonesia so the whole area was brimming with hotels of all range of prices, from the budget to five-star hotels. The transformation was unbelievable to say the least.
We were picked up from our hotel at about two in the morning – by a jeep of course, which was the signature mode of transport in Bromo – and we later joined a thousand others all going up to Panajakan to watch the world famous sunrise of Bromo. Again, I was a little shocked to find out how big the crowd was. Back then, it was only us – literally.
So I was there when it was still dark, eager to watch the sunrise again – the view that is splattered all over on Indonesian tourism boards and banners. But just when it was about to happen, I had the strongest and sudden call from nature, which was impossible to ignore. In fact, the more I ignored, the stronger the call was to the point that I could no longer hold to it.
It really was a crucial moment for me. I disengaged myself from the crowd and ran the fastest I could to the nearest toilet, which was far from near. And running while trying to hold it was not easy. In fact, I really was so much on the verge of bursting out, and the toilet suddenly seemed so impossible to reach, at least in time. In the state of panicking, I went off the pathway and ran for the nearest bushes that could provide me with a safe shelter from the prying eyes of the crowds. I was lucky that I had a bottle of mineral water with me – a small one but just sufficient to do my business right there in the bush.
To tell the truth, I actually did it twice, running back to the same spot so I actually missed taking picture with the famous view in the background. I did manage to take a glimpse or two of the sunrise – with the mountain of Bromo jotting out among the sea of white clouds and Mount Semeru beaming high not so far in the distance. It was definitely a stunning view to keep a memory of, at least in this aging head of mine. Heh.
When we were done with the sunrise, the jeep took us back the sandy plains of Bromo where we did a little bit of camwhoring and video shooting before joining thousands of people to hike up to the crater of Mount Bromo. Again – I couldn’t help but thinking how the walkway to the crater was almost empty back then and now it is so brimming with people it was almost impossible to manoeuvre my way off them.
The crater was just as I remembered it was back then – with black smokes billowing out from the hole before dispersing into the mountain air, leaving its pungent smell around for the crowds to ‘enjoy’ over – or not. Again, it was almost unbelievable how me and my friend Frank had the mountain all to ourselves back then – and now it was so brimming with people who hiked up for a glimpse or two of the famous crater.
We finished the Bromo Tour before mid-day and had a little bit of lunch at the hotel before checking out and heading back to the final leg of our trip to the East Java – Surabaya!
Out of the three main destinations that we were heading to in my second trip to the East Java, the Tumpak Sewu waterfalls were the place that I was very much looking forward to, simply because I did not go there during my first visit. In fact, I didn’t know the existence of such a place back then so it really was a big miss-out.
So fresh from our climb to Kawah Ijen, it would be another 5 hours drive before we arrived at a hotel near to the waterfalls. Going from one place to another had required long hours of ride, which was why a comfortable vehicle is very much a plus point. I remember during my first trip to East Java when we went full public transport – transiting from one bus to another – to the extent that we even had live chicken at the back of our seats while riding on a local bus from Bondowoso to Kawah Ijen. Those are definitely the days.
The hotel that we stayed in looked more like a modern chalet, from where we could see the beaming Mount Semeru in the far distance. We walked our way from the hotel, right to the waterfalls, which required some hiking adventures. Going down to the waterfall was not the toughest part, apart from the need of a good pair of shoes that you can either rent or buy from the hotel or any of the hawkers along the way. I was told that there are a few entry points to the waterfalls, each has its own trail. We were told that the rights to collect the entrance fees to the waterfalls had been a subject of debate among the few villages that share the borders where the waterfalls are located. Dissatisfaction is rife, which is why the villages had set up their own entry points so that they could get their own share of what is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia.
And I could see why. Looking from a viewing platform that they had set up for visitors to see the spread of waterfalls from a distance, the waterfalls were nothing like any other waterfalls that I had ever seen anywhere else. Plunging off the edge of a wide cliff, with the Mount Semeru can visibly seen towering in the background, it really was a view to die for. As if we were not wowed enough by it all, going down to the waterfalls was another surreal experience. We were right there, at the bottom of the valley surrounded by edges of cliffs and there it was, the roaring Tampuk Sewu waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet from over the wide spread of cliff to the bottom of the valley, providing such a mesmerising nature landscape that is hardly matched by any other place that I had been to before.
And I really thought that was all there was to see at Tampuk Sewu, until we hiked our way back to the hotel on a different route from the first trail that we went to the waterfalls from. The trail had required us to hike along the river, going deeper into the valley, and that was when I found out that was much more to Tumpak Sewu than the waterfalls that we had seen before. In fact, we had come to find out that Tumpak Semu consisted of hundreds if not thousands of waterfalls, all gushing down from the cliffs all along the river valley, even intermingling with each other at some spots, again creating such a natural landscape that is hardly seen anywhere else but at Tumpak Sewu.
Hiking back up was definitely the hardest part. I mean, Tumpak Sewu is the kind of place that serves you with a relatively easy (but slippery) access to all its beauty only to slap your ass with punishment on your way out. We were not yet fully recovered from our hike up to Kawah Ijen, so it was quite a struggle when we had to do another hike.
But seriously, the nature wonders that we came upon on the way back was totally out of this world. The walkways and stairs that we walked on took us across more waterfalls, cascading down the slopes from wherever they were coming from up there, sparkling against the morning sunlight and creating such a magical surrounding.
And that magical surrounding was still very much in our heads when were later on our way off to our next destination – Bromo. We could hardly stop talking about it.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
