Back down at the "Sand Sea" of Mount Bromo, it was now sunny and getting hotter by the minute. Jeeps arriving and departing filled with tourists, and men on horseback offering rides to the steps of Mount Bromo. They follow you to the steps if you walk, probably hoping you'll collapse along the route from the altitude. Your choice - ride or take the 45-minute walk across the black/grey sands. We chose to walk and it's easy going across the sand..., followed by a not easy-going walk uphill for 15-30 minutes until you reach the bottom of the 246 steps to the top. Tourists walked across the sand much faster than we did, but took lots of stops to photograph Mount Bromo, different from every angle and the changing light, people coming and going, avoiding horses and horsemen who persist until you actually reach the steps, and doing our best to keep an eye out for horse shit. The main sight is, of course, smoking, bubbling Mount Bromo and whenever the wind changed direction you could smell that sulphur.
Once you leave the flat portion of the sand, the going becomes tougher and narrower on the uphill section of hardened lava flow. Horses behind and in front of you, with riders and without, constant stops to move out of the way and let them pass.
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