Bromo Trip 7 : All Link Posts + Video

Here are all the links from our Bromo Trip :

1.0 - Pre-Planning 01
1.1 - Pre-Planning 02
2.0 - Detailed Costs for 5 days 4 nights
3.0 - Airbnb Hostel in Surabaya : Kamariska Hostel
4.0 - Our Bromo Sunrise : Mount Penanjakan
5.0 - Savannah + Whispering Sands + Bromo Creater
6.0 - Bromo Marathon 2016 : Our 10km Run

We had a really short travel and it wasn't even considered as an exploration because it was so hard to get from one point to another in Surabaya and Bromo - so mostly on car, jeep and van. We hardly go anywhere on foot - so I consider this just as a DIY tour travel and run event. 

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Here is a video compilation Af made from the trip :

Please ignore my hormonal imbalance pimply-red face. 

Af refused to delete my part in the video =.=

ESCAPISM #11 - Mt. Bromo 2016 from Farikarim on Vimeo.

Note :
Our next trip is in next February + March again to Japan, this time we are heading to Osaka + Kyoto. Half of the trip with my family and another half of the trip will be backpacking trip with Af. We will extend longer ! Flight tickets were bought early in last August during the AirAsia promo. Woohoo !

Bromo Trip 6 : Surabaya - Bromo Day 3, The Run

Check-in and Goody bag pick-up (on Saturday after our tour) :

We asked Pak Inem to drop us to Tosari Village because we wanted to check-in and pick up our goody-bag but Pak Inem insisted on waiting. He said that we already paid for the day and it was too far to go back to Baledono Village on foot.

So we went to the Tosari Field where everyone was around, people was setting up stages and booths, it was scheduled for Tengger Art Festival later in the afternoon but we had to cancel to go because Pak Inem wanted to send us back to the hotel and we haven't rested since 12am the previous night. We reached the registration booth, gave our printed copy and they gave us the goody bags consisted of Bromo Marathon t-shirts, a bottle of mineral water, several promo coupons and free lunch coupon for Sunday, everything in a white Bromo Marathon tote-bag.  

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Running Day :

Our running day started as early as 4am in the morning. The night before, we discussed with the innkeeper about our shuttle bus pick-up point. So it was confirmed that the bus will arrive roughly around 5am in front of Intan Homestay not quite far from our hotel. We waited for 4 more other runners and walked together to the pickup point. It was a 5-mins walk.

Tosari Village, where the running event was located is around 5-6km from Baledono Village - where we stayed. So soon after, we arrived to the location. It was still a bit early, the road was to be closed around 6am and our run was scheduled to start at 730am. So we waited awkwardly, pointing to random people - giving them names based on what they most resembled with :D

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Food/breakfast :

We both ate my brother's healthy energy bar consisted of kurma, nuts, oats and honey. It was the most decent stuff to be consumed before a run starts - because it was not too heavy for the stomach and it felt enough. But during half of the run, I did feel super hungry. I took a note on bringing extra energy bar for after run. Anyone interested in buying energy bar, can definitely inform me.

The run :

Here is the rough map of our run that I did not bother to study before the run. Our 10-km run consisted of 50% of road trail and 50% of dirt trail. That means the first 5-km run was quite easy because we were all running down-hill on road trail. The weather was cold, the sun started shining, the view was magnificent - everything about the first 5-km is great. That's like a honeymoon phase.

And right after we arrived at KM5 and reached the checkpoint, things started to get tough. It was almost impossible to run because we were on a stony dirt trail that we needed to hike and it never stopped. There was almost no flat-land all throughout the final 5KM. If people wanted to stop, they need to stepped aside of the road, to in front of people's house road.

This was my longest time taken to finish 10km run. I've done dozen of 10km+ run, so I never thought this would be any different from all my runs and training. But it was, because I never trained for any trail-run + uphill run before. It was also a bit annoying because I run so many runs and I trained so many times for the past 5 years and I get this result =.=

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Mistakes :

• I didn't expect 10km trail run would be tough, but it was. So, padan muka.
• I didn't understand what elevation graph meant, so I never bothered before. Now I understand what it means to run on a mountain trail. Ha.
• I didn't wear any sun-block. The weather was cold all throughout the event so it didn't felt like I was exposed to the sun much. But I did, my skin is peeling since after the run.
• Should have bring another energy bar for post-run because feeling famished while running is a weird feeling.
• Never underestimate a run that you never run in.
• Lack of uphill training. 

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Summary :

The run was fun, challenging and exhausting. I forgot what it felt to feel like this. It is interesting to be running in a such a nice weather with great mountain view. I didn't regret trying out the 10K course at all, imagine if I did register for a half-marathon, on a hilly mountain. =.= 

For anyone who runs and wants challenge. I suggest Bromo Marathon 2017, it was worth my time and money spent! But don't forget to train for uphill and downhill run, because there were almost no flat tracks in Bromo :D

Am I going to enter the run again? 

Probably not soon. If I do run at Bromo again, I make sure I train properly and ready to enter a half-marathon on a Bromo trail run.

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Post-run :

We slept in for a few hours after the run. The muscle pain were a normal pain along the legs, knee and ankle. No injuries noted.

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Bromo Trip 5 : Savannah + Whispering Sands + Bromo Creater

From Mount Penanjakan, Pak Inem brought us to 3 more tour locations in the Bromo National Parks. All places located quite far from one another, so this tour took us several more hours to complete. Most roads were full of dirts and volcanic sands. We were still riding in Pak Inem's old jeep, not talking much. The road was rough, it was like a never-ending bumpy rides. Nothing about the tour was comfortable and relaxing. Other than hopping around, snapping pictures, we can hardly think slow and enjoy the preserve nature in their national park. 

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On our way to Savannah Bromo :

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 Savannah Bromo 

Savannah Bromo is a nice hilly place that look like we were in Switzerland. The area was surrounded by hills, some people even call it Telletubbies Hills because of the resemblance. The weather was just nice, jeeps waiting in the dusty parking lots, tourists all around snapping pictures. 

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Whispering Sands

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Bromo Creater

We already stretched our pockets for this expensive tour for 2, so when we reached Bromo Creater area and realized that we needed to rent for a horse or hike up for several more KM to reach the top - I said no. :D I was so exhausted from the all-nighter and tour and all the non-stop travel, I can't wait to rest. So we only walked halfway to the top, took some pictures and walked back to the jeep.

Horse ride will cost around 80,000 IDR to and fro. If you want to hike, you can. Be ready with a face mask and water.  

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Note :

There are many tour offered in Bromo; on IG/FB, online, offline, in villages around. If you have time to make researches and explore options, please do so. For the 2 of us, 750,000 IDR for a 8hours midnight tour + rent jeep + 4 locations + Goody Bag pickups in Tosari. Not including the Bromo National Park Access Ticket that costed around 220,000 IDR.

So plan well ! If you want to go for a tour, find friends and go in a group, for me personally, it was a little expensive for a short visits to what's offered by the nature. Everything was commercialized, you can barely see the meaning of the tour. It was nice visitation, yes, but not a successful exploration. 

Bromo Trip 4 : Our Bromo Sunrise, Mount Penanjakan

It was a long way up. We started the ride from our hotel at 3am in the morning, we didn't noticed how long it took to arrive at the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park entrance where our tour guide paid for our entrance fee to the ranger. 

We were heading to Mount Penanjakan to hunt for our first morning sunrise. 

Our tour guide *Pak Inem, finally stopped his jeep at a point where no jeep's allowed to go further. In that dark morning, there were so many people arriving, like us, there were also locals selling stuffs, and offer a motorcycle ride to the top *gojek. We walked further more in the dark before someone came to us and offer to sell gloves, scarves and snowcap. I was beginning to turn so cold I-kenot -tahan, and uncomfortable, so Af bought a cheap gloves and a snowcap for him. 

There were many surau and public toilets on our way up, so we stopped several times before finally reaching there. 

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The view-point was actually really-really crowded. People from all over the world were there, waiting in pitch black. Locals selling mat to sit on, offering jackets to rent from, selling hot drinks, anything that can make money. It was really cold, around 5 - 10 degree celsius and I was only wearing 2 shirts and a sweater *and I hate really cold weathers, did I mentioned? So I was uncomfortable and irritated by the extreme cold and packed crowded place. 

A bit disappointed, but I had to play tourist in this trip.  

The first morning ray started around 5am, on the left part of the viewpoint. Everyone stood up and waited for the sun patiently. People started to take photos of the dimmed orange light in dark sky that slowly turned to purple, and pink, and blue, and all the colours that the sun could muster in that 2 hours. See how these beautiful colours changed taken from my old Lumix :

Of course, it was the majestic sun gleaming proudly in the morning rays. 

But there were too many people, crammed together like we were watching a concert played by the nature. Did I enjoy my silent moment of the new day ? Of course, not. I can barely hear myself. I had to slowly slide in, to take nice photos. Af is taller than most locals, so he got no problem with that. While I was always short, as short as most Asian =.=

By the time the sun shone fully, people started to disappear like everything interesting that people has been waiting for the past 2 hours lost it sparks. Just for the nice pictures to keep in their memories, shared in social medias, printed and for stories to tell later.  

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We waited for some time more, taking photos from the outer side of the view point where we can see the highest Mount Semeru and all other littles mountains below it. There are active volcanic reactions all around, so we sometimes see white puffs coming up from the mountain. 

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Our way down, people were having breakfast and little shopping spree buying souvenirs. There were some locals selling pisang goreng and corns alongside of the steps while we were walking down, so that was our breakfast as well. I bought 2 Bromo patches that I wanted to sew on our backpacks, because we reached our first national park + mountain top ! :D

Soon everything turned yellowish and light blue, too bright for everything. We walked down this time, avoiding chatty gojeks and their relentless offers. It was still cold, but not as cold as the past 2 hours that we spent standing up in silent, waiting for the sun.

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We finally met Pak Inem back, he was waiting patiently at the side of the road, squatting next to a small bonfire :D Little heat brought smiles. Our trip continues to the next stops.

Bromo Trip 3 : Airbnb Hostel in Surabaya - Kamariska Hostel

Again like all my previous trip, I make a shared wishlist with Af on nice and affordable places to stay during our Surabaya Trip using Airbnb. I found this nice looking hostel with a really affordable price for our short stay in Surabaya for our first and last day. Our stay in Bromo was not so nice compared to in Surabaya, so I just want to write about this place in particular.

It is located not far from the Juanda Airport so it is easy for us to go to when we first arrive and before we headed to Bromo the next day, and also on the last day when we arrived back from Bromo and our flight is scheduled for the early morning on the next day. We didn't have to rush things.

Note :
You probably should search for a place nearer to the main city of Surabaya if you like to go to malls and bus stations because the hostel is located around 30-40 minutes taxi/Uber ride to the city. Definitely recommend the place if you are choosing for a short stay not far from the airport. I personally like Kamariska Hostel's hospitality and atmosphere, it was also super affordable ♥ 

Kamariska Hostel

Surabaya, East java, Indonesia

Kamariska Hostel consep is London Style, near from international airport juanda surabaya so confortable for a budget travellers for transit. Our facilities are lounge, pantry or public kitchen, din...

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Pro : 

• Near the airport, suitable for people waiting for their next scheduled flight
• Quite affordable, roughly around RM55 for 2 people per night
• New, clean and well-designed London theme hostel
• The upper-level lounge is a nice place to relax and socialize
• Food stalls in front of the hostel
• Indomarket *mini market* just 3-mins from the Hostel
• Hot water, towel, tv, wifi, aircond 
• Nice and helpful innkeeper

Cons :

• Far from the main city
• Not much things to do around the area

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Here are some images I snapped using my iPhone :

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Outside of the hostel

Bromo Trip 2 : Detailed Cost for 5 days 4 nights

I'm back from my short trip last weekend !
There are several drafted posts I finally finished writing over the weekend. It's a bit packed with words and visual - to help people who are planning on future Bromo Marathon get the insights :) Things about money, things on planning and booking, nothing about foods - because I don't like foods much and it's fairly easy to find Halal foods in Surabaya.

Hope these posts will give some benefits to future Bromo runners.

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Day-to-day activities and detailed cost taken in a small notebook :

Day 1 (Friday): Arrival to Juanda Airport

After lunch at the airport, we headed to our hostel for our short-stay. They informed us that we can use Uber to go to the hostel - we were such a noob, so calling an Uber took almost 1/2 hour because we can't find the Uber-guy that was waiting not far from our location pick-point. Calling Uber can't be too obvious, because taxi drivers in Juanda Airport won't be happy about it. But you can also use official taxis, they use meter and it's as affordable as using Uber.

Our Uber costed : 27,000 IDR
Kamariska Hostel : RM 55 per night
Foods of the day : 185,000 + 20,000 + 25,000 IDR
Groceries *indomart* : 65,000 IDR 

We checked in at Kamariska Hostel around 2.00pm, took shower, rested, had dinner, bought some groceries from the mini market, slept really early because we planned on heading to Bromo at 12.00am midnight and stay up the whole night.

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Day 2 (Saturday) : Headed to Bromo

Our day started at 12 midnight, the hotel that we booked in Bromo scheduled for our pickup from Kamariska Hostel in Surabaya to Hotel Huni Raya in Bromo. We have a lot of things planned out for the day, and all train tickets to Malang were sold-out, so we decided to take their offer *even though it was way too expensive*. We had a difficulties in understanding each other, most people we talk to can't understand what we say, haiyooh.

Our pickup costed : 500,000 IDR (Around 2 hours of silent ride in a car)

We arrived around 2 am and our next planned-Bromo-tour that we also signed up for started at 3 am. So after the guy dropped us at a strange cold place that looked like a hotel that has been left behind, and the innkeeper put us in the small surau to rest for awhile, we can't sleep. Everything was too creepy. Right when our tour-guide arrived at 2.50am, we left our bag in the surau and joined him right-away :D

His name is Pak Inem, he repeated so many times, trying to make us remember. We also had difficulties understanding each other. He can't understand me, I can only understand some words that we both use, but most of it were all gibberish. No English, no BM, not even common Indo-language that we usually hear from sinetron. Ha.

• First stop is the Penanjakan (2,770 m) - the viewpoint for our first Bromo sunrise 
• Second stop - Telletubbies hills & Savannah 
• Third stop - Whispering Sands
• Fourth stop - Bromo Creater
• Final stop - Bromo Marathon Check-In and Goody Bag Pickups

Our tour guide of the day (8-hours) + jeep rent : 750,000 IDR
Bromo National Park Access Ticket : 220,000 IDR x 2
Gojek + gloves + snowcap : 50,000 + 10,000 + 25,000 IDR
Toilets (6x) : 12,000 IDR
Bromo patches + fridge magnet : 70,000 IDR
Pisang goreng early in the morning on the mountain : 10,000 IDR
Lunch : 31, 500 IDR
Dinner : 70,000 IDR
Hotel Huni Raya (3 days 2 nights) : 900,000 IDR

*A detailed tour experience will be written in the other post. Click here to read.

The crowd in Mount Penanjakan

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Day 3 (Sunday) : Our Bromo 10-KM Run

Dinner : 40,000 IDR

*A detailed running-event experience will be written in the other post.
Click here to read.

KM 5 - 6

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Day 4 : (Bromo - Surabaya)

The view from Hotel Huni Raya

We also booked for our shuttle through Bromo Marathon event, so during our last day in Bromo - we only had to wait in front of our hotel along with the others. We had a simple breakfast of Milo packets and Koko Krunch that we brought from home, cleaned up the room, packed our bag and checked out. We waited at the lounge lazily, updating our Ig posts and all. 

2 and a half-hour after we had a crazy shuttle bus ride, we arrived at the Juanda Airport again. Our flight was originally scheduled for the next day afternoon, so we were supposed to have more time - but somehow Airasia re-scheduled it to early in the morning at 7.30 am. So we have no extra hours in Surabaya as we planned. 

We didn't manage to find Uber to send us, so I mistakenly picked up unofficial Taxi alongside of the airport. He tried to trick us into paying 70,000 IDR for just a 4km ride. I managed to make him agree to 50,000 IDR - even though it was still double the price of our previous ride. Annoyed but can't argue at people's place lah. 

Unofficial taxi : 50,000 IDR
Dinner : 28,000 IDR
Kebab : 16,000 IDR
Groceries : 241,000 IDR
Kamariska Hostel : RM 55

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Day 5 : (Our Flight Home)

We woke up at 4 am in the morning, the innkeeper already made the booking call to the taxi service to pick us up and send us to the airport at 5 am. By 4.30 am we already cleaned up the room and checked out. We sat in the kitchen hall to wait for the taxi driver. He arrived at 4.50am, so we were both pretty early when we arrived at the airport.

We already checked in, walked through the airport and got nothing much to do until our flight at 840 am, so we bought 2 buns from Kopi O's - like Roti Boy's and also splurge on Starbucks Mocha Frappucino. We also went to the last minute shopping for the souvenirs : I bought a lot of chocolates for my families. 

Official Taxi : 22,000 IDR
Breakfast + Starbucks : 20,000 + 56,000 + 17,000
Souvenirs : 310 + 115 IDR

The flight took almost 2 hours, I was a bit hyper-active due to a lot of caffeine for breakfast. So while Af doze-off, I doodled everything that happened during our trip - one shot. I managed to fill in 6-pages in my sketch book :D 

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Total : 5,385,500 IDR ( RM1,678 ) + RM 1,090 
RM 2,768 for two
Roughly around RM 1,384 per person

Details :
Flights : RM 440 x 2
Transportation + Tour : 2,151,000 IDR
Accommodation : RM 110 + 900,000 IDR
Foods : 355,500 IDR
Groceries + Souvenirs : 979,000 IDR
Bromo Run : 500,000 IDR x 2

Note :
My earliest plan was to use around RM 1,000 for everything in this 5days 4 nights trip. But seeing we can't find cheaper flight than RM 440 per person, we had to extend our budget. The main things we manage to do in this short trip are : touring in Bromo National Park and the Bromo 10km Run. We did nothing in Surabaya because we only spent several hours in the city.

I also noticed that it is cheaper to go in a group of 3-4 people, so share for taxi fares, tour trips and accommodations, compared of going for 2. Anyhow, if you are planning on your next Bromo Marathon, try to find 3 more friends to tag along, you can save a lot :)

Foods can be expensive and hard to find in Bromo if you are not staying at the main village like Tosari *where the event was held and Wonokitri. We stayed in Baledono, so we were both remotely far from others and it was hard to go anywhere. 

Bromo Trip 1.1 : Bromo Marathon 2016, Surabaya - Pre Planning Part 2

This is a scheduled post written starting on early August 2016 :

Things I buy for the run this time :

Running pack - Bought cheap one from Lazada, seeing that I'll rarely use it while running. This time I had to bring one to keep all important items while running : phone, keys, cards, ID and money. The one I bought is the super slim version, because I don't want it to be visible and bulky when I put it on. I just want to keep all the small items along. 

I bought it for only RM 18 with free shipping. No brand.

Pedometer - I'm still using my old iPhone 4s with an extremely weak battery, so it can't no longer record my running time for more than 7km. My fastest and easiest way to replace this is to buy a pedometer like the one people used to wear while running. Just slip it to my tracksuit/running pack and it works like magic ! It records my running distance(km), calories burned and walking steps. It uses the small battery like the one in our watch and it can be used for long - no need to charge it over and over. Tried it twice while running on track-mill and it recorded almost the same distance, just 100 meters difference. I changed the running distance steps with the calculation they provided in the manual. I'm so happy with this purchase. 

I bought it for only RM 16 with free shipping. No brand.

Pain Relief Patch - Last time we went to Japan and walked everyday for more than a week, + almost more than 8 hours a day non-stop. We had a really bad foot sores and aching legs for days when we explored the city because we didn't want to waste the time on resting except during night time. So this time, we will come prepared !

I bought it for only RM 3 - 10 small patches. Cosmopas.

Knee guard - Did I mentioned that my knee got injured after my 1-month of squatting challenge? Well, yes. It hurts to run, it hurts to bend =.= It's been over a month, and it still makes odd cracking sound, all just because of my own stupid challenge. So now I had to wear knee guard to support it and avoid more injury. I think I bought one that is a bit too small for my fat knee and it was really uncomfortable during the first week. But I've been using it for my training and washing it every time as well, so it stretched comfortably a bit.

I bought it for RM 18 - promotional item on the shelves. Lonsdale.

Track suit - Who would have thought that I finally over-worn my tracksuit and it makes holes everywhere :D It is time for a new one that I'll be using over and over again.
So I bought one from Aeon Big for RM 23. No brand.

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For foods : We bought Milo packets, Maggi, and Lexus biscuits. 

I think that's it !

I decided to use my old running shoes in the run and just leave/donate it later afterwards so I don't have to bring it back. I will buy a new one when we come back from the trip. I used my running shoe for over 3 years, and it looks a bit worn-out. It is used for over 600km run + run by now.