Part 5: Mount Ijen

I almost died climbing Ijen!!!! arghhh....haha!

It took us around 3hrs to climb Mt Ijen.

Mt Bromo is definitely a more popular tourist attraction than Mt Ijen. Comparatively, you would get to see the jeeps lining up at the foot of the mountains, or horsemen leading horses towards u or even proper basement leading you to the crater..nope..none of these....somehow,we managed to get our driver to join us on our quest to conquer Mt Ijen...keke...

The slopes are really steep. We bumped into some tourist from Surabaya midway up the volcano. Apart from us(the only trekkers), there's a group of sulphur miners hurrying up and down the mountain. While we were there for leisure purposes, these miners were working really hard. Carry loads of approximately 90kg each! We noticed that there's a station, guarded by a foreman(I assumed..), to ensure that the average weight is maintained...by the way, we tried lifting the load but it won't move by a bit...

These were what we were rewarded with at the crater lip....well...the photos ccan't really describe how we felt at that very moment...it's really beautiful! Walking among the clouds, the crater beneath your feet, the scenaries, the cold and strong winds...the feeling is heavenly!!! REALLY!

I would have stayed on longer if it didn't start to rain and if it weren't so cold...

Mount Ijen from afar....(taken in the car, as we move on to our next destination)