An adventure worth the name "adventure"

Climbing Kawah Ijen, East Java, Indonesia

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL

22.00h Leaving Pemuteran and Bali with guide Ketut to the ferry at Gilimanuk. 

22.45h Embarking the ferry to Java. Enjoying some onboard Indonesian karaoke while being looked at like monkeys in a zoo. 

23.00h (Java time) Arrival at Banyuwangi, Java. Picked up by 4X4. Drive to hotel. 

23.30h Arrival at hotel. Drop off luggage. Wait in lobby to leave to the volcano. 

THURSDAY 16 APRIL

01.00h Leaving for crazy ride up the mountain to the starting point of the trek. 

02.00h Arrival at starting point. Entry to the volcano is closed due to too dangerous toxic gases. We hear we won't be able to go and see the wonderous Blue Fire. Apparently two workers died earlier this week. (Workers take 50kg to 80kg of blocks of sulphur out of the crater to a weighing station down the mountain).

03.00h Gates open anyway, access to Blue Fire is supposedly safe. Start hiking the remaining 3km up the 2799m high volcano. 

04.30h We reach the rim of Ijen and start descending into the crater on a steep and quite hazardous path that the 200 miners who work in this highly toxic area for €4 to €6 a day use twice daily. This is the worst, most backbreaking and dangerous job we've ever seen and it's hard to actually wittness in person things like this still being very much part of our world. (Apparently the sulpher is used mainly for the cosmetic industry).

05.15h The Blue Fire (ignited sulphuric gas) is indeed pretty special. We are able to go quite close to the up to 5m high flames, the biggest ones in the world. 

05.30h The wind suddenly changes direction and blows the sulphuric gases straight in our direction. Although we are wearing masks, breathing becomes almost impossible, we start coughing, our eyes hurt and for a split second we honestly think we're going to die. Everyone down there, 50 people or so, starts to flee up the crater rim again in a somewhat blind panic. We loose each other in the chaos. 

06.15h Reunited up the rim again. Glad to be alive. All of a sudden it becomes light and we see the incredible landscape we're standing in slowly unfolding before our eyes.

06.30h The sun is out and the volcanoes, the gigantic, highly acidic crater lake and the surrounding mountains are very visible and we can't believe what we're seeing. Maybe also because we're feeling a little light in our heads due to the lack of sleep and the physical challenges. 

07.00h After admiring the views for a while and seeing the sun do her magic, we descend again to the basecamp where our driver is waiting for us. 

07.30h Along the way we are being asked several times to pose with some Asian girls ("for my collection"). We never thought of ourselves as models before, but there seems to be a market here. Maybe we should start asking money for this. 

08.00h The drive back down to the hotel, first through lovely rice fields and then the busy streets of Banyuwangi, starts. We're having a hard time staying awake. 

09.00h Check-in at the hotel but we have to wait another 3 hours before the room is ready. Luckily we're offered breakfast and a seat by the pool in the meanwhile. 

12.00h CRASH