We left the Mt. Bromo area in the jeep to take us around the back of Mt. Bromo and the savanna area. Then we were on small country roads, travelling through glorious green fields. The hillsides here were very steep, but every inch seemed to be planted with something, and every villager we passed on the road seemed to be carrying a scythe.
We had several stops on the way to Malang, the first being the Rainbow Waterfall. It was quite a long walk down to the river to find a spectacular waterfall, but no rainbow in the spray zone! Then, a long walk back up, so we stopped at a little shack for a drink and a rest. Afterall, we’d been up since 3 am.
Next, we transferred back into a car and said a welcome goodbye to the jeep. When I had told our guide that I was not looking forward to the drive up the mountain for the sunrise view of Mt. Bromo, he galiantly offered me the front seat in the jeep. That meant that Lawrence had to suffer in the back, but I was just so relieved as I’d have been so sick in the back where one had to sit sideways and where it was even hotter than in the front. Because of all the dust when driving on/near the Sea of Sand, you have to keep the windows closed and the aircon off to get uphill.
We stopped at the Candi Jago, or Jago Temple, which looked completely out of place amongst the current flimsy dwellings nearby. It was built between 1268 and 1280 as a memorial to the 4th Singhasari (or Singosari) King Vishnuvardhara. Singharsari was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in east Java, so although some say this is a Buddhist temple, it does have some Hindu design features. And, the demon’s head shown below is thought to have been originally on the top of the temple.
Finally, we arrived in Malang to stay at the Tugu Malang Hotel. This was a fabulous hotel, with its own display room of antiques from the Javanese Babah Peranakan culture. Each guest room was individually styled and the hotel had many restaurants and event spaces. The main restaurant was celebrating India, so we had some very tasty Indian food for dinner. Sadly, we arrived really too late to explore the hotel and would have loved an extra day here.
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