Mt Bromo volcano in sunrise

Mt Bromo in sunrise, Java, Indonesia

It was the second morning of my Java weekend trip.I pulled myself out of bed at 3:30am and was ready to see sunrise at Mt. Bromo – not quite yet.Our jeep departed from the local village of Ngadisari, and ventured into the massive Tengger Caldera in complete darkness. I squeezed myself with a few others in the jeep, and kept my eyes wide open.I could barely see anything a few yards away from the jeep.It felt we were in a large desert.

Half an hour mountain climb, we landed at a viewing point right across Mt. Bromo.

Even it was still summer, I wrapped myself with layers of sweaters and jackets, and formed my own unique Bromo fashion almost as funny as Santa Claus. I managed a 30 second exposure to take this fantastic Bromo view in the dawn, where white sulphurous smoke belched from its crater and looked almost like opaque clouds. I spent the next one hour standing in the cold, watching the sun gradually climbing out of horizon and changing the colors of everything I possibly could see.

Undoubtedly, this was one of the few mornings in my life I have ever stayed so awake and fascinated.