A friend of mine, Ian, just blogged about his experience traveling to Mt. Bromo – the well known volcano in East Java. He took some gorgeous pics (the photo above is his, not mine!) and, as always, descriptively conveys what it’s like to be there through well-written posts. I was hoping to go with them on this trip, but failed miserably at planning ahead of time.

The third sign of Java’s vigorous population appeared at the popular scenic overlook where people gather to watch the sunrise over the volcanic bowl which contains Bromo and other volcanic cones. We approached the lookout at five in the morning after driving for an hour across the “Sea of Sand”, the most desolate piece of land I have ever driven across, and inching up some of the steepest chunks of pavement I have ever inched up. Near the summit we were greeted by a sea of people, actually not a sea because a sea spreads out, there is not much spreading on top of a mountain, so it was actually a huge blob of people.