Wandering Fractal

Mount Bromo on the left and mount Batok in the front. They are all contained inside the huge caldera of  the ancient Tengger volcano. Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on east Java offer an astonishing view over volcanoes. There you can hike a sea of black sand, peak at the mouth of an active volcano and experience life in a mountain village. When I was there most people rushed the visit in one day. They went before sunrise to a view point, crossed the sea of sand, got to the rim of the Bromo and finally left around 9 to 10 am. I would advise to go to the village of Cemoro Lawang by yourself and stay there 2 nights. This will give you plenty of time to enjoy the place and avoid the crowd. Everybody rush to the Bromo between 7 to 9 am, so if you go latter in the morning it will be less crowded. What I did was: Wake up at 3am to leave the village of Cemoro Lawang and start hiking to the King Kong viewpoint. You just need a torchlight and warm clothes. To go there you fir...

Miner reaching the rim of the crater with baskets full of sulfur. The Ijen volcano is famous for being the last place where the sulfur is mined manually inside a volcano. Workers climb the Ijen and then go down the crater to collect chunks of solidified sulfur then have to carry back up to 90 Kg on their shoulders. They do this while being enveloped by toxic fumes. No need to say that it's a dangerous and painful work, but the pay is worth the risk for them. Our guide explained that the Indonesian government is now helping the miners learn English in order to become guides, a less dangerous and better payed job. Along with the miners, the Ijen sees tourists attracted by its turquoise lac and blue flames. The hike to the rim of the crater is an easy 1-2 hours walk. If you want to go down the crater you will need a gas mask, a head torchlight and a guide. Other guides will try to stop you if you try to go down without a local guide. While the first part is easy the path do...

Geyser in Te Puia. Rotorua is a city in a highly volcanic area. The first thing you will notice when arriving is that the whole city smell like rotten eggs. Volcanic water and fumes comes out from everywhere. I visited the Te Puia, a park run by the Maori of the nearby village. It mixes geysers and bubbling mud with a presentation of Maori culture. Another place to visit is the redwoods forest. More than a 100 years ago the government decided to plant various tree species to determine which one would grow better on New Zealand soil. The best species would be used for timber exportation. The redwoods forest is now a great day hike place. While walking on its trails you will encounter a huge mix of trees, from native ones to the Californians sequoia. Volcanic mudd in Te Puia. Small volcanic pond in the city. Volcanic spring in the Redwoods forest. The sulfur in the water keep the dead branches from degrading and gives the water this beautiful blue color. R...