Monday, November 10, 2014

Get"Never"Away Trip. Part two



Grace had been one candy heart along the trip. So obvious to see how the trip has really pleased her to the utmost.
She sang while shivering cold when we reached the homestay in Cemara Lawang. She talked to horses, she woke up at 2.30 am only by my pats on her foot and complained not a word on the freezing cold water she had to bathe with. 

Bromo trip aftermath wonders

"Ma, How can my bugger so black now?"  Grace asked when bathing after from Bromo
Anton: I tend to fall from the horse, hard to keep self seat balanced. my butt buns must be asymmetrical.
David: Can i buy the edelweiss bouquet?
Furi: Come on David, you climbed the 250 stairs with me seeing the caldera up there!


Where's the SuNrISe???

"so basically with all the freezing waiting to see the Sunrise, none of us got any proof of witnessing Sunrise in Bromo."
November 7, 2014

and when morning was reaching 6 am, we decided to step down a bit for some light breakfast.
Jaya Banana cafe. Pop Mie and Mie Sedap instant noodle all flavors, orange juice, coffee milk.





Sunday, November 9, 2014

Get"never"away Trip.Part One

selfie time with Furi's new tongsis

Friday, Nov 7, 2014

9 am Furi reached Juanda. A dear sister to Grace, my girl and a dearly loved dream partner of mine.
Furi (www.furiyaniamalia.com) was the second badge of Pengajar Muda alumni at Indonesia Mengajar (www.indonesiamengajar.org), and now a lead engineer in one of the largest Japanese electrical companies residing in Jakarta. Each time she visited us, her testimonies as Pengajar Muda would always awe me and my family, reviving all cells of mine again and again to see the bright days of my nation. And today she came not just to visit us, but also to bring us to her hometown in Probolinggo, visiting what she called as the great wonders of her childhood life.

Anton was not home yet, while waiting for him, my kids went "possessed to be rich" playing monopoly game with Furi, evil laughters of greed were heard everytime someone got a turn to pay fines, debts or rents.


3.30pm we finally, successfully "took off",heading to Bromo Mount and estimated to enjoy a 3 hour trip to reach our homestay provided in Cemara Lawang.

view from our car window when passing the valleys
3 hours were full of rich and cheap chats. From covering the economic, politics, till best snacks issue. Grace slept and woke up 3 times to find herself still in the middle of nowhere. More than 5 times each of my children alarmed "are we there yet" mode.

Dinner was a satisfying one at Tongas Asri Restaurant, Address: Raya Tongas km 84, Probolinggo.
IDR 154,000 (around USD 15) for 6 starving tummies was really a surprisingly tangy deal.

8 pm we reached the homestay in Cemara Lawang and all were quick to sleep, preparing for tomorrow trip to see the sunrise at Bromo.

-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, November 8, 2014.
2.40 am we woke up in freezing cold of 11celcius
nobody wanted to bath or even touched water.
the red Land Cruiser Hard top had been waiting and by 3.20 am off we went.
cold and tough road to the mountaintop


The 4x4 had to stop in the parking area and from that point we had to go by walking or motorbike.

We reached the first viewpointwith hundreds of people had been there before us, facing the sun spot to pop and hands were raising all kinds of androids and smartphones. By glance look, I think Lenovo reigned (hahaha!!peace to Samsung-ers).

say: "Brooomooo"
With those hundreds of people were all mostly tiptoing to capture either with bare eyes or camera lenses, we all got the slim chance to really enjoy whatsoever called as the magnificent Sunrise. It means, as the Sun elegantly rises among the Bromo skyline, we were enjoying the Sun's soft shine and taking pictures with backs of people as background instead!

To be continued..
(Horse-challenge, Black Bugger and the Caldera)