The clothes we washed the night before were not completely dry when we packed them in our bags. It would already be stinky by the time we get to Probolinggo, the trip is ten hours long. We couldn’t give them more time under the sun because we needed to be at the travel agent’s stall by 8:50 AM.

Nope, Sandi’s (our Couchsurfing host) mum’s not upset. She’s just worried we’ll be late.
Shervin collecting our clothes from the line.
On the dining table, Sandi’s mom not only served us breakfast, but also gave us food for baon. Fried chicken, noodles (a la pancit bihon), and rice – packed in a plastic container, including spoon and fork! Such a thoughtful mom. We ate quickly and headed to the porch to wait for Sandi to back up the car. Something was wrong though.

Sandi inspecting the engine.
The battery’s dead. Although it was such mystery for Sandi how it happened (he swore he didn’t leave anything turned on), he didn’t much spend time investigating on it because we will be late for our tour ride. I thought we will be hailing a cab down the main road, until Sandi and his mom took out their bikes. It was so cool, not because we still got a free ride, but because we did it the Indonesian way (majority of locals use motorbikes as their primary mode of transport).

Shervin hopped on Sandi’s, and I hopped on mom’s (I called her mom too). There wasn’t much traffic for it was a Sunday. Mom kept asking, ‘Are you nice?”. Which I think means, “Are you alright back there?”.

Awesome Yogyakarta graffiti I took a photo of whilst on the bike!
We got to Jalan Sosrowijayan supposedly on time, but it turned out, the travel agent was pertaining to 8:15 AM not 8:50 AM like he said the day before. Thank goodness there were only two other people who joined the tour – and both patiently waited for us. We hugged our hosts goodbye and got in the van which will be taking us all the way to Cemoro Lawang, the major access point to Gunung (Mt.) Bromo, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia.

Our Indonesia trip thus far. View Yogyakarta-Cemoro Lawang in a larger map
How to get there if you’re not under a tour package? You can take a train or bus to Probolinggo from Yogyakarta and Surabaya. When you’re dropped off the terminal, catch a green colt minibus to Cemoro Lawang (two hours) via Ngadisari.

If you’re coming from Denpasar, take a bus bound for Surabaya, then a train or bus to Probolinggo.

[This blog is part of the South East Asia in Six Weeks series which took place May-June 2009. Price of goods, transportation and so forth may already be different.]

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