Day 4 plan
After having breakfast, we will visit Kelud Mountain. In Kelud you can see the new dome that exists from the crater. Then, we will visit Penataran temple, the biggest complex of Hindus Temple in East Java. After visiting Penataran Temple we will visit The Grave and Museum of Soekarano, Indonesia first president. Then, we continue to drive to Malang.
Overnight : REGENT’S PARK HOTEL
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Call time was at 8am. As promised our guide brought us to the presidential suite where Sukarno always stays at in that particular hotel. It was a huge room and it cost 3million per night. After Rachel’s photo shoot with her newly found boyfriend (lol) we then drove to Sukarno’s tomb and museum.

suite

wall paintings i liked

Surprisingly, people, in groups, there still pray for him.It shows how much people there loves him. He passed away at 69.

We then drove to Penataran Temple, the largest Hindu temple in East Java. It has Ganesha,(elephant) God of Education, as its main statue. It was said that this temple was built under two kingdoms, Majapahit and Kendiri, for two and a half century which could be evident in the inscriptions and the rocks used during constructions. Majapahit kindom made use of black lava stones while Kendiri used red rocks.

Ganesha

Next stop was Mt.Kelud, We had to drive for an hour to reach it. Its an active volcano which erupted multiple times and most recently in 2007. In the early days, this Mountain was said to be the area’s highest peak, but now, not anymore after its multiple eruption. It was a beautiful view especially the boulders surrounding the crater. There was a better viewpoint, 1000 stair steps away from where we were, but due to time constraint, we didn’t climb it.

We had lunch at one of the restaurants at the base of the mountain which sells coffee Luwak. We got a chance to try this famous coffee and I’ve to say it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. Maybe my disappointment was due to the fact that I was a bit disgusted drinking it, knowing that it came from a Civet cat’s ass.

Another 2-3 hours and we reached Coban Rondo, a waterfall. There was a sad legend about this waterfall as our guide narrated it to us. However, I thought maybe it would be better if I could share the said story in a more detailed way, thus I just googled it and this is what I found;
“Legend Coban Rondo
The origin of Coban Rondo from the bridal couple who had just married. Bride named Dewi Anjarwati of Mount Kawi is married to Raden Baren Kusuma from Mount Anjasmoro. After the marriage reaching the age of 36 days (Selapan) Dewi Anjarwati invites her husband to visit the Mount Anjasmoro.
But Dewi Anjarwati parents forbid the bride because they insisted on new selapan. But they went out with all the risks no matter what happens on the trip. While on a trip, both of them surprised with the presence of Joko Lelono unclear origin. Joko seems enamored with the beauty of Dewi Anjarwati and tried to capture it.
Fights can not be avoided, to which Punokawan who following Raden Baren ordered that Dewi Anjarwati be hidden in a place where there Coban (waterfalls), fights take place exciting and ultimately the same fall. So Dewi Anjarwati became widow or rondo. Since when the accident, the waterfall where Dewi Anjarwati waited her husband named Coban Rondo.” – http://www.jawaindah.com/index.php/2011/02/coban-rondo-waterfall/

Ass-painstakingly, we spent another 2 hours seated waiting to reach main Malang. Malang was divided into two by another city, Batu, a city inside Malang City (Malang-Batu-Malang). We reached our accommodation for the night. (http://hotelregentspark.com/) an accommodation that we’d only be staying at for 6hours because the call time the next day’s 1:30am! (Bromo, here I come)

We had an overly priced bakso bakar for dinner at Bakso Bakar Pak Man. It was interesting because noodles were placed inside a cabinet and customers could take as many as they want in one bowl.

To end the night, we decided to buy 50% off cakes and hang out a little bit at the hotel’s restaurant. A band was playing that night and Yani forcefully made me jam with them. To calm me, I had one bottle of Bintang Beer! Yes. I had one bottle!=) I sang Mencintaimu and How do I live.