Mount Ijen
Mount Ijen (3-5 April 2019)
It’s
been more than half year since I went to Banyuwangi. My plane arrived at
Banyuwangi around 7.30 am. At the airport, my guide, Mr. Bastian picked me up.
Before we departed, there was a heavy rain, fortunately it didn’t last for
long. At 8.05 am we began to start our journey. After having breakfast along
the way, we went to the first tourism spot.
1.
Mangrove Dock
This place is a combination of beach and mangrove
forest. There are many monkeys who are looking for food.
The entrance of Mangrove Dock.
The beach is very beautiful, white sand and clear water.
2.
Baluran
This place actually is a national park, all around
are meadows and savannas. There are a lot of monkeys who come for asking food
to the tourists. Also 2 bulls in the distance. Tourists may only walk on the roads or certain areas, can not step on the meadow or savanna.
3.
Mount Ijen
Mount Ijen’s height is 2386 meter above the sea level and very famous
for its blue fire. The track is not hard and the scenery is extraordinary
beautiful. Many local and foreign tourists come here to enjoy the view.
On the first Friday every month, Mount Ijen will
be closed for tourist and the best time to come here is during summer around
June – August. During these months you can see the sunrise, otherwise it won’t
be seen. I came here in April, still rainy season.
The night before going to Mount Ijen, there was a
heavy rain, because of that the ground became harden and not dusty, easier to
hike. I was picked up by my other guide Mr. Ibrul at 12.30 am, and from the place l
stayed to the entrance gate, it takes 30 minutes by motorbike. In here, there is a post on the left side to buy a ticket. You can also hire a guide
here, the price is IDR 200.000 for local.
And the journey began, at 1.05 am we hiked to see
blue fire. Less than 2 hours we arrived at blue fire. The fire is blue due to
the combination of sulfur and geothermal. Around this fire, there are many sulfur
miners, they carry the sulfur to foot of the mountain, and the load can reach
50-70 kg for each person.
The sulfur mining area, full of heavy sulfur gas.
Unfortunately, the sky was still dark, nothing could be seen except the blue fire from a distance. After taking pictures of sulfur
miners, it was still 3.30 am. We had to wait until 5.30 am to take pictures
of mining area and the crater, but we couldn’t stand the cold, so we decided to
continue to the summit. Around 5 am, we reached the summit but the sulfur fog was
too thick, the crater was not visible. After waiting until 6.30 am, the fog was getting thicker and everything turned white, we didn’t wait anymore just
straight down to the entrance.
The sunrise on the summit of Mount Ijen.
Although it's covered with heavy fog, Mount Ijen is still very beautiful.
My super sleepy face, after few days lack of sleepđŸ˜…
It's already 7 am and the fog was still very thick.
4.
Banyuwangi City
After going down from Mount Ijen, I headed to the city of Banyuwangi. I stayed at Eston House, the place is clean and
quiet and also located along the Kepiting Road, but it’s hard to find this
place, I was lost a few times although using google maps. Along Kepiting Road,
there are many people selling food and you can reach them by foot.
Food stall, only sell food at night. Very Cheap and delicious.
Everything are here, rice, chicken, beef, clam, egg, tofu, mushroom, sausage, etc. You choose it and they will grill it for you. (I can eat 15 items alone đŸ˜†)
The next day while traveling around the hotel by
rickshaw, I stopped by several places : Oseng Deles (a Banyuwangi souvernir shop),
Banyuwangi Agro-tourism and several batik shops.
Red Durian from Banyuwangi Agro-tourism, one durian is IDR 250.000, for durian lover, you can try it. In here there are many other plants and we can ask any questions related to plants to the manager.
The meat is very thick.
It's a great write up!
ReplyDeletethank you, hopefully it can help you.
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