Mount Bromo from Mount Penanjakan - Kembara Jawa Timur Part I

A villager carrying grass with Mt Bromo, Mt Semeru & Mt Batuk as background (IR)

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Kembara Jawa Timur Part I - Mount Bromo from Mount Penanjakan
Kembara Jawa Timur Part II - Mount Bromo & Ranupani Village
Kembara Jawa Timur Part III - Bromo from Gardu Pandang & Madakaripura Waterfall
Kembara Jawa Timur Part IV - Kawah Ijen - A mountain of surreal pain and beauty
Kembara Jawa Timur Part V - From Kalianyar Village to Papuma beach
Kembara Jawa Timur Part VI - Human interest around Surabaya

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In early April 2010 I join the Luarbiasa expedition to Jawa Timur. Our main destination is Bromo and also Kawah Ijen. I have always wanted to go to Kawah Ijen since i saw interesting human interest picture taken by a fellow fren Arey.

Our journey started from Surabaya. After landing we being picked up by our loyal yet humble & honest guide, Mas Kaboel aka Aruna Asa. Our first stop is Ibu Nuraini restaurant at Sedati, Surabaya (nearby the airport). My fellow friend had some fond memories of this restaurant since it is among the main pitstop whenever they visit Jawa Timur. The main popular dish in this restaurant is its Rujak Cingur (dish make from cow nose). After booking hotel at a nearby hotel for our stay later, we went straight to Bromo. The journey is quite a long one taking about 6 hours (if not mistaken).

Since we charted a mini bus (it was only 9 of us.. yet we charted this mini bus for comfort) , we need to change the bus midway as the bus cant go further through the steep road. We check in to a posh hotel Cemara Indah Hotel in Cemoro Lawang. It was among the most expensive hotel within the area (300,000 rupiah per room per night) but it is well worth it as it located just beside the crater overlooking Mt Bromo,Mt Semeru and Mt Batuk.

Ibu Nuraini preparing the rujak cingur herself

After arriving, we had only few hours to sleep as we need to start the journey to Mount penanjakan at 3:30 am. Mount Penanjakan is the main view point of Bromo. At 2770m, it provide excellent view of Bromo, Semeru and Batuk. The jeep bring us very near to its view point location. Just need to hike the cement staircase for 15 minutes and you'll reach the view point.

Mount Bromo is a very popular tourist destination in indonesia. The mountain is located witin the Bromo-Semeru-Tengger National Park. Bromo & Semeru is one of several mountain within this park and Tengger is the people tribe that exhibit this land. Some of the main mountain include

-Mount Bromo (2392m)

-Mount Semeru (3676m)

-Mount Batuk (height not sure but similar height to Bromo)

-Mount Penanjakan (2770m) - the main view point of Mt Bromo

Some of the pictures taken while we were in Mount Penanjakan

Mt Bromo, Mt Semeru & Mt Batuk during sunrise from Mt Penanjakan (IR)

Our humble guide, Mas Kaboel pointing to Mt Bromo from Mt Penanjakan during the sunrise

Bromo in B&W

Group photo at Bromo (IR)

After spending few hours at Mount Penanjakan , we proceed to Mount Bromo itself. I'll continue this entry in second part of Bromo.

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Sungai Timun, Linggi - Tasting freshwater lobster & smoked sembilang fish

On the way from my hometown Malacca to KL, we stop by this fisherman jetty at Kampung Sungai Timun, Linggi which is famously known for its freshwater lobster (udang galah). This area were once highlighted in Majalah 3 documentary. Bought half kilo of live udang galah for RM25. My son damn scared when i put the plastic bag of the live lobster beside him.. hehe..

Panorama picture of the river at the Jetty

Apart from freshwater lobster, Sungai Timun is also famous for crocodile sighting and fireflies (kunang-kunang). Its pristine mangrove swamp that fringes the river definitely a perfect habitat for both creatures. The last survey by Perhilitan count the number of crocodile at Sungai Linggi (which Sungai Timun is part of it) at 3000+. The number might has dwindled by now but their number is still significant.

I arrive at this jetty at around 5 PM, take a look around for 15-20 minutes,chat with an elder who is fishing for lobster with his son (got few tips for lobster fishing also.. :D) , before heading back to KL. Planning to revisit this place next time maybe for fireflies sighting and also fishing :D.

After exiting this place, we bought a kilo of smoke sembilang fish by the roadside for RM16. Managed to get around 14 sembilang fish. Judging from its look, my wife said it is keli.. not sembilang.. from its taste i said its not keli.. and finally when we reach my father in law house, he said it is sembilang laut not keli. After being smoked their look seem similar. :D

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Some other link about Sungai Timun

http://kota.pid.net.my/article.cfm?id=12
http://jelajah-xplorer.blogspot.com/2010/02/quest-for-udang-galah-sungai-timun-and.html

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How to reach Sungai Timun

-Easiest way is by from Pedas Plus Highway exit. After exiting Pedas, take left (go towards Pengkalan Durian). At the end of the road (at Pengkalan Durian) you will reach a T junction.Take left towards Linggi. Drive slowly and lookout for the junction to Sungai Timun on your right. There is supposed a large billboard about Jeti Nelayan Sungai Timun. The road towards this jetty is currently under upgrade exercise. After several kilometers you will see the jetty area on your left. 

You can also exit earlier at Simpang Ampat if you are coming from south but the journey through kampung road is much longer (i think it is almost  2x longer than from PEDAS exit).  From Simpang Ampat exit, take 9 o'clock (left) at the round about. At the first four-way intersection, take right. From here you just need to go straight passing through Kampung Brisu, Kampung Lendu, Lubok Cina,Kampung Sungai Jerneh and Kampung Pengkalan Pauh. After Kampung Pengkalan Pauh, look out for the Jetty Nelayan Sungai Timun on your left. Follow the new road for few kilometers and you'll see the jetty are on your left.

Please note that since you using kampung road, there is a lot of sheep, goat and buffalo wandering around by the roadside so becareful.

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Lata Berkoh of National Park - Beautiful Tropical Nature Place

Lata Berkoh

Kuala Tahan at Dusk (IR)

Early this year, under the luarbiasafoto.com umbrella, we went for a short trip 2D1N to Lata Berkoh at National Park, Jerantut, Pahang. The trip intenary include canopy walk.. boating... bbq... short trekking to Lata Berkoh and swimming at the kelah sanctuary..

The main transport along the river is by boat. In this picture is Orang Asli (aborigines) with their boat.

On our first day, we went for the canopy walk. To reach the canopy walk starting point you need to follow the wood stairs for several hundred metres (total elevation is around 50m). A good cardiac exercise :D. I took the opportunity to shoot macro photo along the way. If i remember correctly, at that time i havent shoot macro for almost 7 month already. Macro shooting need a steady hand which you can get after you keep shooting macro. During evening, most of us went for photohunting around Kuala Tahan and shooting either nature subject or landscape scenery with houseboat.. boat.. river.. etc.

Probabily a wolf spider at 5:1 magnification

Lynx spider

At night, we had a big BBG feast. The grilled squid is simply delicious.

On the 2nd day we went to Lata Berkoh and a kelah sanctuary nearby.

Some tree along the way towards Lata Berkoh taken from the boat

Some of the trees picture taken along the way (IR)

Lata Berkoh is one of the beautiful but very accessible waterfall in National Park. You just need ride a boat for about 45 minutes followed by 20 minutes of jungle trekking to reach the waterfall. Along the way through Sungai Tahan, you can see many huge leaning Neram trees forming an archway over the water which is simply wonderful.

Small black heron

Kingfisher

During the journey, the group in front of us managed to capture a photo of Kijang by the riverside. Our boat only manage to shoot few kingfisher along the way.

After reaching the final boat point, we need to trek a bit to the waterfall. The jungle trekking is very easy and not demanding at all . You will walk through walking path along the river bank until you reach the cascade. There is a small area with toilet and facility in between if you want to take a break for a while. Half of the group (our group) keep stopping for picture taking session during the 20 minutes walk to the Lata Berkoh.. so instead of 20 minutes.. it became 30 minutes ++ due to numerous stop by us..hehhehe.. those already in front surely miss all the ke'poyo'an moment.. hehehhe... The destination, Lata Berkoh is more like a big and large river cascade instead of waterfall.

A beautiful leading line of tree roots

After spending around an hour at Lata Berkoh, we went for swimming treat with the malaysian mahseer (kelah). Here you can swim together and feed large size of kelah. You can also observed that some of the big kelah fish has some large scar at their body. Our guide told that it is because of the eagles that try to catch the fish but failed halfway.

The astro satellite belong to the boat restaurant. Because the house boat keep moving , they need to put the astro dish inland.

After that we went back to our chalet, check out and went to our place. Hope to revisit other part of Taman Negara someday.

Old abandoned house at dusk, Kuala Tahan (IR)

Leaves (IR)

Swallow.. taken from the boat restaurant

Nature (IR)

Floating house (IR)

Boat (IR)

Kuala Tahan (IR)

Boat (IR)

Boat panning

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A more detailed itenary wrote by Dr Jamal (in malay)

Day 1 (Saturday)
9:15AM - Dr Jamal, Ali & Andy sampai di Jerantut
10:30AM - Rombongan KL sampai - Abah & family, Emran, Hakeim, Kingmarul, Azli, Firdaus & Zilzal
10:45AM - Khaidir & family sampai
11:00AM - Kami terus memandu ke Kuala Tahan
12:00PM - Sampai ke Aki's Chalet (owner baru Ekoton)
12:45PM - Menaiki 2 bot besar ke Pejabat Perhilitan utk ambil permit.
1:30PM - Sampai di Canopy Walkway (perjalanan ke entrance canopy lebih sukar dari canopy walkway itu sendiri wakakakaa.....50m aje vertical)
2:30PM - Ramai yg sudah selesai menyeberangi 330m canopy walkway...and layan makro sambil turun
3:15PM - Menaiki bot balik ke Kuala Tahan - layan makan tengahari....& then free & easy
4:00PM - Waja & Mat Saiko sampai.
5:00PM - Ada yg shoot makro, skodeng awek orang putih & burung
7:30PM - Nyalakan api utk BBQ
8:00PM - Gotong royong membakar BBQ - melantak sampai tak larat telan
10:00PM - Ada yg layan star trail - tak tengok pulak hasil nya, ada yg borak2


Day 2 (Sunday)
7:00AM - Jemaah taam yg diketuai oleh Azli telah memanaskan nasi goreng & ayam bakar lebihan semalam punya BBQ.....semua layan.
7:15AM - Turun ke restoran sebab nak minum. Makan tadi takde air :D tapi ada yg mengelat....order roti canai pulak walauoun dah makan nasi goreng.
8:15AM - Bertolak ke Lata Berkoh - ada yg dapat shoot rusa & kingfisher - saya dapat shoot Kingmarul aje....hampeh tul.
9:00AM - Sampai ke entrance Lata Berkoh - start trekking sejauh 700m - santai jer
10:00AM - Layan 'slow shutter'.....f18, 1/250s....takyah tripod pun takpe....ish....
11:00AM - slow2 jalan balik ke bot sampai layan makro.
12:00PM - saya, Hakeim, Azli & Abah sampai dulu....& terus naik bot ke Kelah Sanctuary
12:10PM - lain2 sampai...& memulakan acara mandi bersama kelah.... tunggu hasil video Hakeim, OP kita :D
1:00PM - Balik ke Kuala Tahan - layan patin.....ada yg layan nasi goreng pattaya.....& then balik ke hotel.
2:00PM - Mandi....tidur sekejap & check out.

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Going home

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