Our Village Homestay and Mount Bromo, Indonesia

This series of ten posts comes from a three week trip to Indonesia. I traveled to the islands of Java, Bali and Lombok with G-adventures. Along the way, I saw incredible cultural sites, enjoyed delicious foods, met great people, and took in beautiful views. Here’s the story…

From Yogyakarta to Desa Ngadas

We took the train east through Java, from Yogyakarta to Malang. The ride was eight hours filled with napping, Netflix and and reading while enjoying the scenery out the windows. This ride wasn’t as cold as the previous one. On the train we ate instant noodle soups and finished off the rest of my birthday cake from the day before.

In the afternoon, we pulled into the train station in Malang, the “Stasium Malang Kotalama.” From there, we loaded into four jeeps for a two hour drive. We were caught in a downpour as our jeeps curved up the hills into the mountain village of Desa Ngadas. 

Desa Ngadas

Desa Ngadas is a village of 2000 residents comprising 520 families. They are part of the Tengger tribe from the mountainous region of East Java. Their village practices a mix of religions incorperating the beliefs of Hinduism, Islam and Buddism. The air feels chillier with the high altitude; we’re over 2,000 meters above sea level.

G-Adventures and Planaterra

The Planeterra Foundation is G-Adventure’s investment in socially responsible tourism. On each G-Adventure trip, part of your payment funds programs around the world that empower women, create opportunities for youth, conserve cultures and preserve the environment. While traveling with G-adventures, we have the opportunity to support the projects by visiting the locations, spending money locally and learning about diverse people and places.

In Ngadas, the village has been negatively affected by illegal logging. This has led to lower crop yields for subsistence level farmers and caused younger people to leave for urban areas. The Planeterra Foundation is supporting Desa Ngadas by providing better plumbing and sewage infrastructure. The homestays that G-adventures visit provide income for local families and English language opportunities for youth.

Homestays in Desa Ngadas

Our whole group first arrived at the home of Pak Harjo and Ibu Karomah. They welcomed us into their home and we walked back into their living room and kitchen. Pak Harjo shared with us the history of the village and pointed out the harmonious blending of the religions in Desa Ngadas. His family is Muslim but they also have a Hindi offering in the corner of their living room.

When we arrived Ibu Karomah invited us to a delicious home cooked meal. She served white rice, bean sprouts with tofu, potatoes and tempeh, vegetable soup and watermelon for dessert. 

During dinner we met Novita. She’s a teenager from the village and participates in the community development project with Planeterra. She told us more about Ngadas and specifically explained the different shawls that women wear in their region. She explained that her shawl is knotted on the side, over the shoulder indicating that she is single. Married or widowed women knot their shawls in the middle. Then Pak Harjo pointed to his headscarf, and explained that the knot in the back represents modesty and the tail of the tie points upward, to God.

During our stay in Desa Ngadas, our group of travelers separated into several homestays for sleeping. My group of four stayed with Ibu Giyak in a home just around the corner from Pak Harjo. Her family has a beautiful two story home with warm water and comfy beds. They were very welcoming, even though we only shared a few words before bed; ready to get up with my alarm at 1:35 in order to catch the sunrise at Mount Bromo.

Sunrise at Mount Bromo

At 2:00am we set off for the sunrise celebration at Mount Bromo. The jeeps bounced up the mountain and twisted around the switchbacks. By 3:30am we parked, facing downhill on a volcano. We walked up the road and rested at one of the many early morning cafes that serve visitors for the sunrise pilgrimage. I sipped hot kopi hitam, black coffee, and ate fried banana to warm up until the time came to walk the last stretch to the view point. 

For many Indonesians, the sunrise at Mount Bromo is spiritual. For tourists, it’s mostly just a beautiful view. We stood in the freezing darkness for an hour before we saw much movement on the sunrise. Vendors circulated renting blankets and jackets for the chilly air. Many people huddled at the railing and others sat in the amphitheater. That morning there must have been over two hundred visitors on that morning.

We caught a cloudy sunrise, so our view wasn’t as spectacular as other mornings. The peak of the taller mountain in the distance became visible through the passing patches of clouds here and there. Someone flew a drone to capture the view which I found inconsiderate to those of use trying to enjoy the view in real time.

After the sunrise passed, we met our group back at the same early morning cafe. Right at the entrance to the viewpoint, a monkey guarding the entrance startled me. He was taking the offering that had been left at the temple gate, grabbing handfuls of rice between the passing tourists.

Once back at the jeeps, we drove part way down the mountain before stopping to eat a simple breakfast of hard boiled eggs and bread with banana and chocolate spread. The clouds finally lifted and we had a better view of the volcano from there. We could finally see the volcano and the valley below.

Walk to the Crater

First, we drove down into the valley. Here we enjoyed the view and took tons of photos with the group and some jumping and silly pictures. Then, we continued across the valley to the car parking area. Tons of jeeps parked in semi-organized in lines. Near the entrance, there were food stalls and vendors selling cheap face masks and scarves for the dust we would soon encounter.

To get to the crater, we first needed to cross the rest of the valley on foot. The air was dusty and dry. Horses and people kicked up dirt and wind produced dust clouds, twisting and lifting the debris into mini funnel clouds. Now the air was heating up, a change from the early morning chill we experienced on the mountain. Soon we were covered in a mix of sweat and dust.

In the last stretch approaching the crater, we took the concrete stairs that shuffled all the visitors into ascending and descending lines. A few adventurous folks, mostly locals that are here daily, slid down the steep side of the crater on their feet.

The view from the top of the crater, seeing into its depths, was intense. The deep pit of the crater was 800 meters across and sulfuric clouds lifted out of it. We were lucky to be able to visit, as the area was closed last year due to the volcano’s activity.

We were exhausted on the walk back to the parking area. It was only 10:00 am but we had been up for many hours. Everyone was covered in layers of dust from head to toe.

Walking Tour around Desa Ngadas

Novita and Widya, two teenagers studying English, gave us a small tour of their village. This was a part of the Planeterra and G-adventures connection to the community. It gave us an opportunity to learn more about their lives and culture and it allows them to practice their English.

First, the gals showed us the different crops that grow in their area. With the high altitude and steep mountainsides, potatoes and onions grow best. They pointed out a few temples and the town cemetery where people of all religions are laid to rest together.

We popped into the school yard. With it being the end of the cycle, parents had come to school to pick up their children’s report cards. Some kids were beaming with pride while others quietly bowed their heads as their parents looked at their scores. Kids are kids around the world when they get their report cards.

Lastly, our guides took us down a few streets to a small building that held a memorial for the founders of the village. Banana leaf offerings surrounded three coffins. These leaders founded Desa Ngadas in 1774 when a few soldiers were seeking a safe place to hide in the wars between kingdoms.

Today, there are virtually no outsiders in the village. There are no hotels or other examples of outside investment. The area around the village is protected because it is surrounded by a national park. Novita and Widya report there is really no crime in the village because everyone knows each other.

Before leaving Desa Ngadas, we ate one more meal with our homestays. Ibu Giyak prepared a delicious feast of rice, veggie soup, chicken, mashed potato fritters and tempeh. After that we had a bit of downtime to clean up and pack before taking the scenic jeep ride back down to Malang.

Malang Painted Village

We only had one afternoon in Malang so we visited the painted village of Malang, Kampung Warna Warni. The former slum neighborhood transformed into a beautiful tourist hotspot when a paint company donated tons of brightly colored paint to promote their company. Now, the houses, pathways, roofs, doors and bridges are bright yellows, oranges, pinks, purples and blues.

The village has two sections, divided by a small river with a high bridge connecting the two sides. The families decorated the various passageways and stairs with different overhead themes such as brightly colored umbrellas, hats, masks and fake fruits. We walked the labyrinth of alleyways as the families waved and said “Hello” from where they sold small snacks in their entryways, and kids played between the houses.

Here I tried a great new treat, a cup of really sweet sweetcorn. The women started with butter and sweet corn and then she poured sweetened condensed milk over it and covered it with cheese. Delicious.

Next stop, Bali!