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One bright day, fed up of all those rosy tinted stories my gym buddies make of travelling abroad to all those fairy tale destinations, I decided a story is long overdue. So, when my gym instructor told me of a plan for a trek in Java - Mount Bromo and all, I jumped at it like a kid jumping at the sight of candy. As the day dawned, I took a flight and it was from then on, it was a flight of imagination as group travel can be. The headlines of the trip get created at the embarkation point which is where the new destination begins to make itself known. The flight to Kuala Lumpur had a different type of people than the flight to Surabaya. As the flight was about to land me and a few foreigners were being handed over passports and customs forms for our Surabayan co-passengers. At Surabaya we met a cheerful man Agus Kurniawan who was to be our guide for much of the trip. The small towns of Java island resembled my home town Ernakulam in Cochin city, India with the difference that the people looked different. Hot and humid all the way.Couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of a real volcano. The day after we arrived we went off on a trek to Semeru. As we started the trek, we were greeted by Javanese teenagers greeting us with 'Semangat !!' (or Spirit that we did need in abundant measure) . After a bit of the trek it started raining unexpectedly. Lords of the volcano - do not turn off the burner yet! It slowed down the trek and made it tougher - a 2 hours trek drenched and soaked took us 5 hours in retrospect. Someway up the mountain, as I clambered up a rain shed I met some Javanese youngsters who were probably seeing for the first time, a funny looking foreigner of unexplained nationality and a weird comical handle bar moustache that even comedians and villains are loath to use. Chatted up with them and took instant liking for two people - Agung and Dian. I followed them as we clambered up the hill towards the base camp. With the ground slippery, it was as tough as it could be. We stayed at a dormitory shed used by porters and waited it out and shared food. This is where I met again the rest of the people I came with for the trek. We shared and exchanged food had some banter till we could move again. After a few hours, we went on to the base camp by when it was almost late evening , set up camps and retired for the night. The next day it was time for us to return home and take leave of the amazing friends I made and with whom I am still in touch. Vive La Indonesia.