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Having been dropped of in Sanur high street we propositioned a local restauranteur to allow us to use her facility for the 6 hour wait we had before our pick up for the overnight bus to Java and our first stop, Mt Bromo. We were finally picked up at 8:00pm by a driver who didn't speak a word of English. Unsure whether we would make the planned sunrise at Mt Bromo the following morning we hopped on the bus and crossed, fingers and closed our eyes. With a brief stop off for a midnight snack we were back on the bus and heading for the ferry port to take us and the bus across the narrow channel between Java and Bali. Whilst on the ferry we were approached by a very interesting local who gave us a wealth of information for our onwards travels in Java and beyond, even writing some requests in Bahasa that we could pass to our driver to ensure we arrived at the right spot.
We finally arrived at Probolinggo at 5:30am our time but 4:30am Java time. Accosted by a local tour agent who was conveniently located where our bus terminated we were told that we would unfortunately miss the sunrise that morning. We arranged further transport up the mountain as well as a Jeep to take us to the sunrise viewpoint the following morning and a bus back down. Conscious of our previous mistakes we convinced him to take only a deposit before we left which set our minds at rest. Climbing aboard a local bus that picked up people along the route we wound our way up the mountain. The views were again spectacular, very different from anything we had seen before the beauty of Java was evident in the vegetable crops that zigzagged across the steep slopes and created an amazing contrast of natural beauty combined with the obvious hand of man. The manicured gardens and grassed trimmed verges unique to Indonesia completed the picture. Arriving at some very mountain lodge esq. basic accommodation the drop in temperature was obvious and we quickly made for the hot shower and warm clothes before grabbing some nasi goreng (fried rice) in a local cafe. We took a stroll around the hilltop village and marvelled at the exceptional scenery that engulfed the small enclave and caught a distant glimpse of the active volcano that was to be our destination the following morning. With the lack of sleep over the previous 2 days and the knowledge of a 3am start we set to bed and watched one of the knock off DVDs we had acquired in Sanur (13 for the price of 10 and 50p a piece we had all the latest cinematic treats Hollywood had to offer!).
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