Hitchhiking in Indonesia: Surakarta to Mount Bromo
10th of February, 2025.
As I’m still walking outside Surakarta, a car stops and offers me a lift of only some 20 km. I now regret not taking it. I forgot that it’s easier to hitchhike in the middle of the countryside than right outside big cities.
I then struggle until somebody finally offer me a lift to Surabaya, the next big city on the way to Bromo. Three things happened before someone finally took me to Surabaya. One: a man going to Malang (a very good route to arrive near Mount Bromo), who is not a taxi or grab, doesn’t accept to take me for free. Two: a bus driver, of a huge travel bus, tells me I can come with him for free (how sweet!) but I kindly refuse. Three: a random man, parks his car a bit far from me, and walks all the way with 300.000 INR in his hands, and tells me he is not going to Bromo but I can take a bus with that money. I swear that I got tears in my eyes for his genuinely kind attitude. But I kindly refuse, of course.
Adi and Didi stop then. They are going to Surabaya for work. We stop to eat in a small restaurant, where I have some rice with tofu and tempeh. They drop me off a bit far from a highway going to Mount Bromo. I walk a lot to get there and then… nothing! It’s a really shitty highway to hitchhike ad the cars cannot park anywhere. I keep on walking, hopeless, until I am saved by Haries.
All it starts with Haries offering to drop me off some kilometres ahead, as he’s going home. He’s a lawyer and is in his motorbike. As we talk on the way, I am surprised by his lack of Indonesian accent, something quite rare in Indonesia, and Asia in general. We stop in a very nice restaurant to eat something and I have a delicious creamy pesto pasta. Oh, Loki, I missed that! As we talk, and I realize is quite late already, Haries offers for me to stay at his place tonight, and carry on tomorrow. Yay!
Haries is quite a surprise and tells me that he use to have a coffee shop for a while, with a friend for partner. He still has the coffee roaster at his house. We go to see this same friend, at one of his new business, a Chinese noodle stand. We have some drinks in the stand right in front, where a lovely young lady seems quite happy with my presence (her suggestion for my drink, a berries ice tea, is awesome!), and we have some noodles too, which are incredibly tasty! Harie’s friend is also very nice and we chat for a while. Then, suddenly, I rescue Haries from a cute and innocent frog, as he was terrified by it. Laugh.
It’s a real good thing that I came to stay with Haries, as I could take a look in the map and notice a toll gate nearby. Next morning, after a cup of coffee and some crackers, I walk there.
There’s a sign saying I cannot go any further, which sucks! There’s a second toll gate, with a much bigger flux of cars coming from Surakarta, but as I cannot pass this first one here, I cannot reach that one. Damn it! But what to do? Luckily, as I put my backpack down to start hitchhiking here, a car stops.
I was holding my sign already, so Cetoh and Doni could read that I am going to Bromo. They are going to Malang and they are both very nice and kind men. By checking the map they find what’s the best place for me to stand. I’m a bit preoccupied at first, as it’s in the highway, but as it’s on an exit, and the cars have to slow down, plus there’s plenty of space for them to park, it turns out to be a god spot. Only one thing concerns me now: the police. I’m not sure if I am allowed to be here, so I’m hoping someone can pick me up soon.
A small truck stops. I think I would rather going with a regular car, for the speed, but as I’m worried about the cops, I take it. The young driver is going to Probolingo, as I expected, so I can come somewhere around there, but still outside it, so I can easily carry on to Mount Bromo.
At the intersection, as soon as I start walking, a young man in a motorbike stops and offer to take me to the village on the bottom of Mount Bromo, called Cemorolawang. He works in a hotel on the way there, and he show it to me as we pass by. Then, a miracle! He is brilliant! He passes right by the “security boot” for foreigners to pay the entrance fee, and doesn’t stop! I can only hear the “guards” saying: “Bule! Bule!” – which means foreigner, but there’s nothing they can do, as we keep going on. I want to laugh, I am so happy, but I act normal. If you look on google maps, or even on MapsMe, you can see a security boot very near to the free sneaky entrance to the trail which leads to Bromo Caldera. I believe they moved further away, in that spot back on the road, where they believed would be more difficult for foreigners to “cheat”. I did accidentally. Even tough that’s exactly what I wanted to do. Laugh.
10 Years Around the World 