IJEN Crater Took My Breath Away

Saying goodbye is never easy, even with people we just met the day before. Bu Supri made us some early breakfast before we left at 4.30 AM. She arranged two motorcycle drivers to get us to the crater, it started the awkward moment when it comes to money. We didn't ask how much we should pay them since Bu Supri said they are her relatives (typical Indonesia manners, we don't talk bout money in order to be polite). At the end of the trip they tried to charge us a huge amount of money, we were a lil bit disappointed, but managed to bargain. We ended up paying a reasonable price tho, but still the disappointment are still there.

It's another freezing ride, long bumpy and tiring when the sun was still hiding, but right after it greeted us good morning, the world is never be such a nice place, fresh morning breeze with jaw dropping misty mountains view, the bumpy road cuts across dense forest, and a hidden waterfall completed our ride. We made several stops and got to Paltuding after 3 hours riding. We started to hike at 8 AM, and reached the summit the next two hours.

The early hike was boring, but when getting closer to the summit the view got better and lots of sulfur miners. Those sulfur miners were not the one I meant with better view, since it's pretty sad thing to see people carrying two big baskets of sulfur on their shoulder that weight from 70 kg to 100 Kg, climb up 200 meters to the crater rim and another kilometer down the mountain, twice a day. Knowing they got relatively low payment for doing such tough job, and exposed to noxious fumes, will irritate you. Knowing that there's nothing you can do to help it but only taking their pictures, will irritate you even more.

Like all pictures of Ijen you saw on travel magazines or your friend's Facebook albums, right after you take the last turn of those 3 km hike, it's like the crater playing peek-a-boo with you, the turquoise caldera will really drop your jaw and blow your mind the first second you see it. It pays off definitely!! We arrived there around 10 AM and not much tourists again, cos most of them hiked way earlier than us. Thick fumes covered the whole crater and we had to struggle to breath there, using wet cloth to cover our nose and mouth,but still it's hard to open your eyes. Just in seconds the whole crater was covered in fumes, but the next minutes the fumes were gone and the turquoise crater emerged again. That's the very moment you'll gasp with awe. It's officially and literally took my breath away.