This morning we got up at 1.30am to board a couple of little old land cruisers to take us to a viewing point in the ancient caldera we spent the night onto to see the sun rise. This was a 2 hour journey down into the caldera and across the vast floor first through sedge and bracken and then black sand until we reached the other side and climbed up to 2700 metres to the viewing point. We could see the lights of Malang below in the distance as we waited and had our first breakfast of coffee and fried banana. At 4.30 we made our way to the front of the viewing platform and waited for the sky to lighten. Soon a pinkyness emerged but only for clout to roll in to obscure the sun. When the cloud passed we looked out onto the world below and also the active mount Bromo below us belching out steam. Before the sun got too high we drove back down into the caldera to walk to the volcano and climb up to the top. A 30 min walk upon black sand avoiding the horse poo up to where a steep 245 steps lead you right onto the rim. As you would expect there is little health and safety here and one false step could see you disappear into the maelstrom below. Locals actually sacrifice live animals here once a year as there is a hindu temple at the foot. There are many offerings left there and one person had a small chicken ready but we descended before he did what he was going to do. At the foot of the stairs we chose to ride a horse back to the car park because we could,only about 4 US$ and a lot of fun. It was then time to have a second breakfast under some trees with a lovely view back into the caldera.A short drive up the side of the old volcano and we were back in our village where we had a walking tour. We saw the hindu temple,a shrine to the three people who helped create the village 225 years ago clearing the jungle,the mosque and the primary school where interacted with the kids. However what was most interesting was the village spiritual area,a special garden where all faiths celebrate ancient rituals that bind them to this particular village in the mountains. After another village lunch it was off back down the mountains to malang for the evening,our last in java as tomorrow we fly to Bali. It may be the next island but it is culturally different.