Mount Ijen (a story of perseverance)

Hello from Agus, Andrie, My Husband and Me!

Yes, we were on a train!!

We were on our Journey from Surabaya to Banyuwangi (it was early October). We were going to conquer Mount Ijen.

Mount Ijen is located at Banyuwangi, the most east part of Java Island. It's been a long time I didn't travel by train in Indonesia, and actually it was good. The train is not perfectly clean like in Japan, but still acceptable (except the toilet of course).

What i like about travelling with train is you don't have to come super early to check in and no need to wear seat belt. You can bring as many food as you like and have a party on the train without other passenger staring at you... And also you can walk around if you get bored.

The train journey took around 6 hours.

We departed from Surabaya Gubeng Station at 9am. The train ticket cost around 400k IDR for 2 ways (around S$40). You can book your ticket online here. The journey was smooth, the train made a several brief stop at few cities. There's a power socket on the train too, you won't run out of phone battery.But there's no signal on the phone. So still can't play Get Rich T_T.

After 6 hours nap, finally we have reached to our destination. It was 3.30pm

Hello! Oh, please bring your own neck pillow for a better quality sleep on the train.

We already pre-booked a car too. So when we reached, the driver and the rental car already waiting for us. We planned to go straight to the Hotel and get a rest before going to the mountain at mindnight. But before that...

Let us have our first meal!!

First stop is the famous "Ayam Goreng" Blambangan or Fried Chicken Indonesian style. The chicken is already well marinated and deep fried. It was super yummy, but the price is not that cheap for a small town like Banyuwangi. A piece of chicken cost 30k IDR (S$3). But the chicken was huge.

Then we continue our journey to the Hotel. We already pre-booked the hotel too. It's Ijen Resort & Villas. It's the nearest hotel to the mountain. You can also stay at any hotel in Banyuwangi area, but the journey to the mountain will take longer time.

What we didn't know is, the main road to the hotel is a very narrow bumpy road. And of course it took us longer to reach the hotel. But the view was magnificent. We were surrounded by rice paddy field. And if you're lucky, you might spotted naked woman took a bath on a small fountain beside the rice field.

It was sunset too. The sky is very pretty.

pretty landscape

the hotel was full with Caucasian tourists.

The restaurant

Our room

We only booked one room for 4 of us, we just need some space to unload our belongings and the bathroom actually. You see that small bed, we (4 of us) did try to sleep there. I was stuck in the corner with no space to move my feet and my husband keep moving towards me and I keep complaining and all of us break into laughter and we cannot sleep at all. Instead we go to the restaurant to have dinner.

Dinner was Italian! Pasta and Pizza.

The hotel's restaurant food was so-so. But the portion was generous. For those 2 items we shared by 3. The bill came up around 200k IDR (S$20). Then when we got back to our room it was 10+ and we have to changed to go to the mountain.

The journey to the bottom of the mountain took around 30 mins from our Hotel. If you're easily got car sick, confirm you'll vomit.

Before you start your hiking journey, better you go to the toilet first. There's one public toilet with a super long queue.

It was really dark (of course it's midnite) so don't forget to bring a flash light.We also bring a bamboo stick to help us going down the mountain later. It was really cold too. Approximately around 12 degree maybe. Please wear a sufficient jacket. There were a lot of people too.. adults, kids, teenagers, everyone.

You can hire a guide to accompany you, help you take photos and carrying your bag. One guide is enough for one group. We did hire one. The driver introduce him to us. The fee is 150k IDR.

Before you go in, you must pay an entrance ticket 5k IDR/person. Cheap... Then you may proceed to start your journey. It wasn't fun at all. It's really dark, you can't barely see anything and the trail is 45 degree inclining. And to make things worst, it was hazy too. Some of the bushes were on fire. Some part of the mountain were on fire last week before we came. It was really difficult to breath. Some more at night all the plants releasing CO2 (I still remember Biology).

After around 1km, my husband gave up. He cannot catch his breath. He felt really dizzy and almost fainted. His face was super pale. So we rest for a while. But after a while he still cannot continue. We didn't want to slower the journey, because the blue fire will be gone by sunrise. We told them (2 of our friends and the guide) to go ahead and left us. We will continue our self later. We passed our camera to one of our friend. Even if we cannot see the Blue Fire, at least we got the photos. In the end we decided to go back to the parking area and try to find the driver and sleep in the car.

We came back to a small shop or "Warung" . We sat there for around one hour plus. Ordered some hot tea and eat our bread. We couldn't find where is the car, didn't remember the plate number, and there was no signal at all on our phone, so we cannot contact the driver. We end up just sitting at the Warung and do nothing.

End of story...



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After a while, my brain keep processing this:

We spent 6 hours journey on a train, 12 hours for 2 ways. 

Just to waste time sitting in this Warung?!

Like seriously?? 

Oh, this can't be...

And when we're back everyone will ask, "So, how's the Mountain?" and we will answer it, "Oh we didn't made it". That will be the most pathetic trip in my life ever....

No... This can't be happening.......


Then I ask my husband, how he's doing. He said he feel better already. So I convince him why don't we give it a try one more time. We can just walk slowly and take as many stop as we need. And he agreed.

It was around 4am when we started again. The man on the gate told us that sunrise will be at 6am. We still have 2 hours. At least we still can see sunrise from the mountain. But the sun decided to rise at 5am that day. And we still half way to the top of the mountain. Never mind. The scenery was very beautiful like this...

And we continue our journey. Apparently from the "gave up" location it's still a long way to go. The road is 45 degree inclining. It's so hard... Our feet was really tired. Everytime we passed by other people who going down we always ask, "How far is the peak?" And they always give us same answer: "You're almost there, just 500 meters more and the trail will become flat". That gave us more spirit to go on...

But after 500 meters it's still inclining!!! We almost gave up again... We changed our initial goal to reach the top of the mountain to just to meet with our friends and then we go back together.

But in the end we only met them when we're almost reached the top of the mountain. Like 100 meters more.

So 2 of our friends came back on their own, while we accompanied with the Guide continue our journey to the top of the mountain.

And WE MADE IT to the top of the mountain. We conquer Mount Ijen!!! No Blue Fire, nevermind...

Important lesson that we learnt: "At first if you don't succeed, try again!"

Look at us!! Lol

This is the view from the top. The blue fire is located at the smoke area. There...

Tired face but we didn't give up!!!

We didn't managed to see the blue fire. My 2 friends also only see it from a distance. If you want to see the Blue Fire up close, you have to go down for about 1km more. The road is really narrow and steep. My 2 friends only managed to go down half way, and they gave up.

Luckily our guide managed to get the photo of the Blue Fire. Some of them are blurred though.

The Blue Fire

Zoom in

So magical. I feel like I want to throw my ring, just like what Frodo Baggins did. Luckily I didn't see it. Hahaha

The Blue Fire almost gone

This is the view from the top of the mountain.

So beautiful, isn't it?

The way back, go down the mountain is another struggling story... Now we have to go down and declining 45 degree sandy road. It was so difficult to stand still. I did fell on my butt once. It was really hurt... The bamboo stick didn't help much. But it's better to have something to hold on to keep your balance.

Don't laugh.

If you really really have no more energy, you can hire them and being carried like a King. From what I heard it cost 200k IDR/man to carry you. So if there're 4 men carrying you, then you have to pay 800k IDR.

The Ijen Montain actually is a Sulfur Mine. So there're a lot of miner going up and down to bring the Sulfur. Then they will sell it to a company for 1k IDR/kg (S$10 cent). That's a really low price. For 1 trip, normally a miner can carry as much as 60kg worth of Sulfur. And in one day they can make 2 trips. If they're strong enough, then can carry 80-100kg/trip. The price really doesn't justify for their effort and energy.

This is how they do it.

Souvenirs, anyone?

There's also a camp site on the foot of the mountain.

It was around 9am when four of us finally gathered together. We want to go back to our Hotel and take a shower. Our clothes, shoes and jacket all super dirty. And we can finally see the beauty of the hotel... There were no time to sleep at all. We were super tired but we have to packed our thing and check out from the Hotel.

Our train back to Surabaya is still at 9pm. So we still have a lot of time to explore Banyuwangi. Of course we use this chance to Eat!!! This is one of the famous local delicacy of Banyuwangi. "Rujak Soto". It is literally a combination of Rujak Cingur and Soto Daging. The just pour the Soto soup over the Rujak. This one wasn't the best. It was Sunday, so a lot of the Rujak Soto seller are closed.

Then we decided to go to "Tanah Merah" Beach. It takes around 1,5 hours car ride from Banyuwangi. We all so tired, so we just sleep the whole journey.

The beach was really pretty though. It's surrounded by mountains. There's a small island that you can visit with a boat. But we didn't go there. Doesn't look that interesting.

Pretty beach

Before we go to the Train Station, we made our final stop for Dinner. This is my most favourite meal for the entire journey. It's the "Ayam Lombok" or chili chicken. It's a roasted chicken served with a super spicy coconut soup. The taste is super spicy but also very fragrant and savoury and rich in flavour. Really addictive...

It's not located at Banyuwangi. It's at "Genteng", a bit outskirt of the city.

Winner... Winner... Chicken Dinner...

This is the place, in case you're wondering.

On the train back to Surabaya, all of us just dozed up and sleep for the entire journey. We didn't sleep for almost 24 hours. But we were very happy. We did see Sunrise at the Mountain and Sunset at the Beach. Oh, what a wonderful life...

I'm glad for this trip, really an important lesson to learnt and a story to tell... If anyone ask me, do you want to go back to the Mount Ijen for the second time? My answer will be NO. Once in a lifetime is enough. Lol...

Last but not least, special thanx to Andrie and Agus for the companionship.... Looking forward for our next adventure....