TVidhya
Mount Bromo
This is a sunset view of Mount Bromo and Mount Batok shot from Segara Wedi which means Sea of Sand.
This was an unimagined experience for me. This had not occurred to me even as a peripheral thought, to go THAT close to the volcano. The experience was surreal. I still do not know how I gathered my senses long enough to shoot a few frames. My week-long “adventure” started with my very first session and the surprises never ceased. My friend did tell me the the tour would be rough but I had not anticipated any part of what I experienced from this point on.
To start with, I was told that we would reach the location on bikes. I said “OK”. I was basically “OK” for everything that was proposed for I could not think of any other reaction. So on came a bike which looked like a more rugged version of our very own TVS XL (oh what an underestimation that would turn out to be) and my bike rider who looked just about as strong as our movie hero’s side-kick (and what a humongous, unpardonable error of judgement again!) and thus started our ride up and down the hill road and I was still not prepared for what was to come! After about 7-8 minutes, the road turned around and ahead of me lay the majestic, imposing, humbling Segara Wedi. I asked my rider a little hesitantly “so where are we going?” (or something to that effect given the huge language-induced communication issue that I was facing) and he nonchalantly pointed out to the vast expanse of volcanic sand ahead of us. My jaw dropped. I asked him again “are we going to ride through THAT?” (Or something to that effect again) and he replied “yes”. I was mighty thrilled at the thought of being in that level of proximity to the volcano. I mean, let’s be honest here, how often do you expect to find yourself at the foot of an active volcano which spewed up smoke and lava just a couple of years ago! So I went in my head “I don’t care if I get good photos or not, this experience is sufficient for me for the rest of my life when it comes to volcanoes”.
We started riding into Sewara Wedi and within the first minute, I realised that the real adventure was just beginning. This was no different than riding a bike on beach sand, except that this sand was volcanic and felt softer. For the most part (95% of it) it was dirt biking. I have NEVER done that in my life and nor have I ever fancied myself pillion riding on one such expedition. You see, these are not things that a simple, average photographer and woman like me fancies. I was TOTALLY unprepared for this. I was holding on to the bike and my dear life, tightly. My mind was chanting “Anjaneya Anjaneya Anjaneya” in a parallel process even as the adventure was underway. There were a countless number of occasions where I thought the bike had skidded over and we were both falling down. It was just sand, not much physical damage would have happened but the fear of falling or skidding was making it more difficult. However, I tell you this… I have not seen or come across a stronger man than my rider that day. How he balanced that bike and never once allowed it to get even closer to falling is still a miracle. I asked him many many times (oh! Indonesians love that “many many”) if I shd get down and walk so that he can ride easily and he only said “no no. No problem”. On the way, we witnessed serious dirt bikers (may be racers) go past us, also jeeps. Everything I witnessed and experienced there was a source of wonderment.
After riding for a while, we stopped and started walking, it was VERY difficult to walk on that sand, closer towards the base of the mountains. The massif offered some great foreground. The lava from the previous eruptions had flowed down the massif and caused slight changes to the terrain apparently. After scrambling my way to a spot from where to get a decent composition and finally stopping to take a good look at what was in front of me, I gasped. It hit me, finally. I was standing right at the foot of Mount Bromo, THE MOUNT BROMO. I felt incredibly blessed and filled with immense respect. That felt like the most appropiate reaction. It was not about the photos I would take (or anybody would take for that matter), not about the dirt track biking, not about the thrill, not about the journey to reach there but about that master that was in front of me. To stand in front of that marvel of nature was surreal - Surreal, but nice (like Hugh Grant’s character says in Notting Hill). I am not a writer and nor do I boast of a vocabulary that can do justice to expressing that experience I had there. So, I will just leave it at this - what I felt standing there was an experience beyond words, beyond thoughts. Perhaps, these experiences are what God is made of.
Mount Bromo
This is a sunset view of Mount Bromo and Mount Batok shot from Segara Wedi which means Sea of Sand.
This was an unimagined experience for me. This had not occurred to me even as a peripheral thought, to go THAT close to the volcano. The experience was surreal. I still do not know how I gathered my senses long enough to shoot a few frames. My week-long “adventure” started with my very first session and the surprises never ceased. My friend did tell me the the tour would be rough but I had not anticipated any part of what I experienced from this point on.
To start with, I was told that we would reach the location on bikes. I said “OK”. I was basically “OK” for everything that was proposed for I could not think of any other reaction. So on came a bike which looked like a more rugged version of our very own TVS XL (oh what an underestimation that would turn out to be) and my bike rider who looked just about as strong as our movie hero’s side-kick (and what a humongous, unpardonable error of judgement again!) and thus started our ride up and down the hill road and I was still not prepared for what was to come! After about 7-8 minutes, the road turned around and ahead of me lay the majestic, imposing, humbling Segara Wedi. I asked my rider a little hesitantly “so where are we going?” (or something to that effect given the huge language-induced communication issue that I was facing) and he nonchalantly pointed out to the vast expanse of volcanic sand ahead of us. My jaw dropped. I asked him again “are we going to ride through THAT?” (Or something to that effect again) and he replied “yes”. I was mighty thrilled at the thought of being in that level of proximity to the volcano. I mean, let’s be honest here, how often do you expect to find yourself at the foot of an active volcano which spewed up smoke and lava just a couple of years ago! So I went in my head “I don’t care if I get good photos or not, this experience is sufficient for me for the rest of my life when it comes to volcanoes”.
We started riding into Sewara Wedi and within the first minute, I realised that the real adventure was just beginning. This was no different than riding a bike on beach sand, except that this sand was volcanic and felt softer. For the most part (95% of it) it was dirt biking. I have NEVER done that in my life and nor have I ever fancied myself pillion riding on one such expedition. You see, these are not things that a simple, average photographer and woman like me fancies. I was TOTALLY unprepared for this. I was holding on to the bike and my dear life, tightly. My mind was chanting “Anjaneya Anjaneya Anjaneya” in a parallel process even as the adventure was underway. There were a countless number of occasions where I thought the bike had skidded over and we were both falling down. It was just sand, not much physical damage would have happened but the fear of falling or skidding was making it more difficult. However, I tell you this… I have not seen or come across a stronger man than my rider that day. How he balanced that bike and never once allowed it to get even closer to falling is still a miracle. I asked him many many times (oh! Indonesians love that “many many”) if I shd get down and walk so that he can ride easily and he only said “no no. No problem”. On the way, we witnessed serious dirt bikers (may be racers) go past us, also jeeps. Everything I witnessed and experienced there was a source of wonderment.
After riding for a while, we stopped and started walking, it was VERY difficult to walk on that sand, closer towards the base of the mountains. The massif offered some great foreground. The lava from the previous eruptions had flowed down the massif and caused slight changes to the terrain apparently. After scrambling my way to a spot from where to get a decent composition and finally stopping to take a good look at what was in front of me, I gasped. It hit me, finally. I was standing right at the foot of Mount Bromo, THE MOUNT BROMO. I felt incredibly blessed and filled with immense respect. That felt like the most appropiate reaction. It was not about the photos I would take (or anybody would take for that matter), not about the dirt track biking, not about the thrill, not about the journey to reach there but about that master that was in front of me. To stand in front of that marvel of nature was surreal - Surreal, but nice (like Hugh Grant’s character says in Notting Hill). I am not a writer and nor do I boast of a vocabulary that can do justice to expressing that experience I had there. So, I will just leave it at this - what I felt standing there was an experience beyond words, beyond thoughts. Perhaps, these experiences are what God is made of.