The writer and his friends wanted to visit the famous Mount Bromo in Indonesia, but also see its lesser-known surrounding towns. They encountered charming cafes, stunning views and fresh farm produce undiscovered by tourists.
Recently, my friends and I decided to take a trip to Mount Bromo. The active volcano in East Java is a popular tourist destination, attracting about half a million visitors every year.
But we also wanted our trip to feel off the beaten path, somehow.
So we crafted a plan that made Bromo just one of several stops in an itinerary that also featured the lesser-known towns of Malang and Batu.
For many foreign travellers, visits to Mount Bromo follow a typical itinerary: Wake before dawn. Drive up for sunrise. Watch the first light appear. Peer into the crater. Then return to Malang, before moving on to Mount Ijen and Tumpak Sewu waterfall.
It is a route that appears repeatedly in travel recommendations and across social media, one designed to maximise sightseeing and tick as many destinations off the bucket list as possible.
But as my friends and I discovered, there were plenty of reasons to linger in Malang and its next-door neighbour Batu.
WHERE WE STAYED
Many visitors stay at hotels in Malang for their visit to Mount Bromo. It makes logistical sense, particularly for those travelling as part of a fixed tour package. In such cases, they are typically picked up from their hotel at around 11pm or midnight, to head into the national park in time for the popular sunrise viewing.
We chose to stay closer to Bromo instead, in a regency called Tosari, so we could leave our hotel at around 3am rather than spend the whole night on a bumpy jeep to the volcano.
Being closer also meant that after sunrise, we could take our time before making our way back to the hotel.
That extra time made a surprising difference.
Bromo's sunrise viewpoint is often crowded, but the crowd gradually thins as people move on to the next stops on their itinerary. We stayed a little longer, watching the light slowly reveal the sculptural ridges of the mountains.
Eventually, we perched on a cliffside, sipping hot tea and taking our time to compose beautiful photos and simply take in the fresh air and surreal views, with hardly anyone else around us.
That decision to slow down carried through the rest of our time in the national park. At several other stops within the park, the crowds had already moved on by the time we arrived.
It made for great photographs, of course, but that was almost secondary. Having the time to wait and simply be there changed how we experienced Bromo as a whole. The landscape felt larger when there was no one around, and there were moments when we were reminded just how small we were against the mountains.
Once Mount Bromo was checked off, rather than leaving for our next destination immediately, we decided to spend another night in the area.
The following morning, as we made our way to our next destination, the landscape looked completely different. Fog drifted through the pine trees, while the roads passed through fields of cabbage and carrots. Farmers were working among the vegetable plots, and the mountains appeared and disappeared as the mist moved through.
It was a much quieter side of the area that would have been easy to miss if we had left immediately after visiting the national park.
TAKING OUR TIME IN MALANG AND BATU
After a couple of days surrounded by surreal landscapes, we were happy to be back in the city, now surrounded by convenience and cafes.
For the rest of our trip, we stayed at a mountain resort in Batu, where temperatures dropped to around 10 degrees in the evenings. Over the next few days, we made forays into the Batu city centre and explored neighbouring Malang.
Malang and Batu are well known resort towns among locals, celebrated for their cooler climate, fresh produce and a mix of Chinese, Indonesian and Dutch influences that can still be seen in their food and architecture.
Perhaps that is why the cafes here felt familiar and comfortable. Aromatic coffee, friendly service, open air seating and views across the city made it easy to linger over a drink.
Among the trendy and design-forward cafes we visited in Malang, we were wowed by the high-quality pours at Kinji Coffee and Alura Coffee 2.0, where a cafe latte or matcha latte that could rival the best in Singapore cost only around S$2.
In Batu, we especially loved Concrete, where we had lunch while enjoying sweeping views of the city.
One thing we were looking forward to in this city portion of our trip was a foot massage. But the massage ended up being just a minor highlight.
Right next door to the spa was Ayam Goreng Tenes, one of Malang's most beloved fried chicken spots. We went over for some food after our massages, and alongside the chicken, their tempeh mendoan, a regional specialty, stood out: freshly fried tempeh coated in a light, crisp batter.
Post-massage tempeh was hardly something we had planned for, but it became one of those surprisingly delightful moments that stayed with us.
The dry season, particularly July and August, is a good time to visit Bromo and the surrounding areas. With less cloud cover, there is a greater chance of catching the sunrise, although temperatures can be considerably colder.
These same dry, cool conditions are favourable for local strawberries too. We came across large, sweet ones in Batu, along with other produce such as oranges and bananas, which made for easy snacks between meals and for breakfast.
One evening, we followed another local recommendation and went out for STMJ, a local specialty drink made with warm fresh milk, egg, honey and ginger. (The letters STMJ stand for these same ingredients in Bahasa Indonesia).
The setting was about as simple as it gets, with tables filled by locals and a few people even in their pajamas.
Again, it was not an experience we had planned before the trip. But sitting there late at night, drinking something warm after a long day, gave us a small glimpse into everyday life in Batu.
CHOOSING THE SMALLER WATERFALL
On one of the mornings, we took a walk from our resort to Coban Rondo, a considerably smaller waterfall than the more renowned Tumpak Sewu. Our little waterfall was tucked away in protected forest at the foothills of Mount Welirang.
As it was a weekday morning, we had the place almost entirely to ourselves.
There was no dramatic arrival or sense that we had reached one of the region's must-see sights. We simply walked through the green surroundings, listened to the water and lingered for a while.
In some ways, that simplicity was precisely what made it memorable.
Looking back, the places we had planned most carefully were not necessarily the ones we talked about most afterwards.
We kept coming back to the simpler moments: the tea at Bromo, the fog passing through cabbage fields, warm ginger milk at night, or the unexpectedly sweet strawberries.
The bigger sights gave us plenty to look forward to, but the smaller discoveries gave the trip its character and best memories.