MT. BROMO | Finding Beauty in Ashes: A Photo Essay
What’s New? On Plans and Routes
September 1, 2016
An Interview on Travel Writing
September 12, 2016
EASTERN JAVA, INDONESIA. As we faced heavenward to admire the constellations that reminded me a lot of a city’s nightscape, we felt the soft arrival of the ashes in our face. This is how we arrived. This is how Mt. Bromo welcomed us.
Outside our bare room, the railings were all covered in ashes. Even the terrace’s tiled floor was no exception. We curled and bundled up inside.
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A dog played with a dead pigeon on an ashen field of leeks. It rained ashes once again. The nase goreng by Mt. Bromo’s viewing deck tasted good. We brought our own thermos and instant black coffee. We bought boiled water from a coffee vendor.
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Coldness crept into the bones. Everyone bundled up. Vegetations died. Or in the verge of dying. Their leaves and weak branches were all pregnant of ashes. Farmers mourned.
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We woke up at three in the morning and walked our way to the sunrise point. The crowd huddled. We climbed up and found a better view. We brought a thermos of coffee and sipped from our clay cups while waiting for the sun to rise.
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Here are moments and memories froze in photographs.
Mt. Bromo from the viewing deck.
A pine tree by the viewing deck.
Colors fought hard against the grayness of the place.
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- Those who walk have muddy shoes.
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- Someone walked around barefoot.
A volcano is a woman. A woman is a volcano.
A store by the viewing deck
Look at the flatlands. A hike to Mt. Bromo itself was not allowed last January 2016.
On our way back to our hostel.
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- The new vendor in town
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- A war correspondent! Haha!
It looks so surreal. Like a setting of Game of Thrones 😀
We climbed up away from the crowd and we got this view.
The sunrise and me. Am not pooping!
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- The rails in front of our room
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- The road to the viewing deck
After a spicy meal in a warung.
2 Comments
These photos are awesome!
Thank you, Karen! Will let Tobias know! Haha!