Alright, it's been a while but here's my updates for my Surabaya trip. So after 5 hours of bumpy ride uphill, we've finally reached our destination. 1st thing we realized when we step out of the van is the freezing cold temperature. Since it's cold and dark, we just checked in, and slept. It wasn't until the next day then only we realize where in the blaze we were.
The resort we stayed in is called Lava Ville, it is situated on a high hill where the 1st thing you see when you walk out of your room is the magnificent view of Bromo Volcanos itself.
If you're expecting a sketch of the view, you'll get to see it in the next post, sorry. Anyway the view is really cool coz the resort is situated closest to the volcano so it's totally awesome. I can't help myself but to take lots and lots of photos with my borrowed DSLR.
That was, until me and my colleague were approached by a local mid-age "horseman" who offers horse rides for about 150,000 rupiah(RM50+) while taking pictures on the horse cost around 70,000 rupiah(RM24+). Actually I would love to take a ride but not until I take my breakfast 1st so I said I'll look for him later. At 1st I thought he'd understand but every 5-10 minutes he will approach me and offers me his service again and again. Which really buzzes me off.
But seriously as much as I would love to ask him to leave me alone for good I understands that Indonesian is not a very wealthy country especially Surabaya and lots of people work as labors for minimum wages.
Don't believe me? Here's a scenario of me buying some gloves on the mountain coz i just simply cant stand the cold with a thick jacket alone, guess how much does it cost? RM3.50!!! Imagine, you're at the middle of nowhere freezing where there's no convenient stores nearby, someone approaches you for something you have to offer, wouldn't you hike up the price like nobody's business!? But no, Rm3.50 for a warm cozy glove, how cheap is that?
I even have the nerve to negotiate with them at first for the pricing and at the end when I converted the cost I realized that I'm bargaining stuffs for a few DIMES cheaper. DIMES, not CENTS. Talk about being a cheapskate :(
Anyway my point is stuffs over there are really cheap and people there are striving hard to earn a living so next time you have a trip there please go easy on them and leave your KIASU attitude back in your country alrite?
Move on to after we had out breakfast and dinner we went to the SANDSEA !!! Whoaaaa--- SANDSEA what the heck is that? Sounds cool huh? It's basically a huge deserted area under the volcano where what left there is sands after years of larva running through it and melted anything living to death. The trip was amazing and nothing like I ever experienced before where all 8 of us took a ride on two JEEPS like real adventurers or something.
The view was great because at one point we reach to a valley where it's covered with yellow brown green grasses surrounded with walls of green hills. We were told by our tour guide that if we come at other season the whole valley would be fresh green color so it will be triple times better than what we're seeing now. I can't imagine how much more awesome it can be.
Along the road we took lots of photos at many different locations because the more we venture deep into the valley the more amazed we are with the new sights. We also visited a huge waterfall and a view of the other side of the valley where they plant corps for harvests but my hand is just too tired to sketch those out :P plus I've never been a really great fan of waterfalls but if you do have a chance to visit there you might wanna think twice before jumping in coz it's really cold in there. Tho lots of ANG MOH did camp there overnight and bath in it :) Care to challenge?
After a day of traveling, hiking, sight seeing and lots of photos taking we were totally exhausted and went back to our chalet for a rest after taking some afternoon tea at the cafeteria. I for one prefer to explore the surroundings around the resort and discovered a nice view behind it.
It gives me a feeling of what Australia or Western countrysides would look like with tall, light brown, hazel colored trees and yellow brown grasses growing along the hills where little bare paths can be seen along the way as a proof that many footsteps have walked through it for ages, all these within the sight of huge mountains where you can see from far far away but yet so clear in front of you, uncovered with clouds or hazed, appearing bare and naked in front of your own eyes. I can't suppress my desires to snap a picture of this view with my heart and pencil onto my sketch book. Though my rusted scenery drawing skills can barely portray even a 10% of the breath-taking sights that imprinted to my memory on that day. Plus it's really getting cold out there so I can only do a really quick sketch and ran back to the cafeteria for a hot warm tea after that. :p
That night we had dinner at around 7pm and went to our assigned bedrooms for more rest because tomorrow we all have to wake up at 4am in the morning to conquer the hills of "Penanjakan". But that's gonna be another story to tell :)
Surabaya Trip Day 2 19 June 2009
The resort we stayed in is called Lava Ville, it is situated on a high hill where the 1st thing you see when you walk out of your room is the magnificent view of Bromo Volcanos itself.
If you're expecting a sketch of the view, you'll get to see it in the next post, sorry. Anyway the view is really cool coz the resort is situated closest to the volcano so it's totally awesome. I can't help myself but to take lots and lots of photos with my borrowed DSLR.
That was, until me and my colleague were approached by a local mid-age "horseman" who offers horse rides for about 150,000 rupiah(RM50+) while taking pictures on the horse cost around 70,000 rupiah(RM24+). Actually I would love to take a ride but not until I take my breakfast 1st so I said I'll look for him later. At 1st I thought he'd understand but every 5-10 minutes he will approach me and offers me his service again and again. Which really buzzes me off.
But seriously as much as I would love to ask him to leave me alone for good I understands that Indonesian is not a very wealthy country especially Surabaya and lots of people work as labors for minimum wages.
Don't believe me? Here's a scenario of me buying some gloves on the mountain coz i just simply cant stand the cold with a thick jacket alone, guess how much does it cost? RM3.50!!! Imagine, you're at the middle of nowhere freezing where there's no convenient stores nearby, someone approaches you for something you have to offer, wouldn't you hike up the price like nobody's business!? But no, Rm3.50 for a warm cozy glove, how cheap is that?
I even have the nerve to negotiate with them at first for the pricing and at the end when I converted the cost I realized that I'm bargaining stuffs for a few DIMES cheaper. DIMES, not CENTS. Talk about being a cheapskate :(
Anyway my point is stuffs over there are really cheap and people there are striving hard to earn a living so next time you have a trip there please go easy on them and leave your KIASU attitude back in your country alrite?
Move on to after we had out breakfast and dinner we went to the SANDSEA !!! Whoaaaa--- SANDSEA what the heck is that? Sounds cool huh? It's basically a huge deserted area under the volcano where what left there is sands after years of larva running through it and melted anything living to death. The trip was amazing and nothing like I ever experienced before where all 8 of us took a ride on two JEEPS like real adventurers or something.
The view was great because at one point we reach to a valley where it's covered with yellow brown green grasses surrounded with walls of green hills. We were told by our tour guide that if we come at other season the whole valley would be fresh green color so it will be triple times better than what we're seeing now. I can't imagine how much more awesome it can be.
Along the road we took lots of photos at many different locations because the more we venture deep into the valley the more amazed we are with the new sights. We also visited a huge waterfall and a view of the other side of the valley where they plant corps for harvests but my hand is just too tired to sketch those out :P plus I've never been a really great fan of waterfalls but if you do have a chance to visit there you might wanna think twice before jumping in coz it's really cold in there. Tho lots of ANG MOH did camp there overnight and bath in it :) Care to challenge?
After a day of traveling, hiking, sight seeing and lots of photos taking we were totally exhausted and went back to our chalet for a rest after taking some afternoon tea at the cafeteria. I for one prefer to explore the surroundings around the resort and discovered a nice view behind it.
It gives me a feeling of what Australia or Western countrysides would look like with tall, light brown, hazel colored trees and yellow brown grasses growing along the hills where little bare paths can be seen along the way as a proof that many footsteps have walked through it for ages, all these within the sight of huge mountains where you can see from far far away but yet so clear in front of you, uncovered with clouds or hazed, appearing bare and naked in front of your own eyes. I can't suppress my desires to snap a picture of this view with my heart and pencil onto my sketch book. Though my rusted scenery drawing skills can barely portray even a 10% of the breath-taking sights that imprinted to my memory on that day. Plus it's really getting cold out there so I can only do a really quick sketch and ran back to the cafeteria for a hot warm tea after that. :p
That night we had dinner at around 7pm and went to our assigned bedrooms for more rest because tomorrow we all have to wake up at 4am in the morning to conquer the hills of "Penanjakan". But that's gonna be another story to tell :)
Surabaya Trip Day 2 19 June 2009
2 comments:
PASS!!
hehe.... :P
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