One of the worst things that could happen is when you’re traveling and your destination is suddenly raining. But instead of the weather stopping me from having fun, it’s my rule to always try to enjoy whatever happens.

Just like last week when I finally got the chance to check out Mt. Kelud, which had its big eruption a few years ago.

I recall, I was in 9th grade and even from my home, I could see its lava flowing down its hill. But only last week, I got the chance to see its mountain and the surrounding area up close. This mountain is also located in three different cities that you can access either through Kediri, Malang or Blitar. A lot of hikers went to this mountain through the Blitar and Kediri route. But through Kediri, there’s also an accessible path that is reachable by car and even a minibus.

My family and I went through the access which passed the coffee fields, pineapple farm and a tropical lush jungle full of lively wildlife. It took about 30 minutes from the center of Kediri to reach this area. This area apparently opens from 7 to 15:30 and unfortunately, when we got there, it was already closed. We ended up not paying any entrance fee to enter the area.

When we got there, I saw only a few warung open and a few families chit-chatting inside these small food establishments. Though I was pretty bummed that I couldn't get closer to the crater, I was walking just a few meters away from a place they call Mt. Sumbing. It certainly does ring a bell but they’re actually from central Java, so I was just weirded out that they have the same name.

The rain was pouring down quite heavily and while I was only with my cap, my mom was with an umbrella. It didn't stop me from taking pictures and walking around despite knowing that, it’s not what I wanted from a picture. It’s completely misty and you could barely see anything. Funny thing happened too as it was extremely windy, my mom was almost carried away by the wind and her umbrella was flipped upside down.

I saw a sign that was the gate to an uphill area that basically mentioned the opening hours. Apparently, if you want to reach the top and to the crater you have to pay 40000 for locals and 50000 for foreigners. It’s just again, unfortunate that nobody was also offering me their service due to the rain and the heavy wind.

In the end, I was only exploring the spots I could reach and was taking pictures around. Technically, you can reach the uphill by walking and as well as your own motorbike. I saw a family was doing that and though others stopped them, they went ahead. It was when we eventually decided to go back home as I was also almost soaking wet.

While exploring around the area, we were also offered pineapples. We didn’t buy them because they were too expensive. When we were about to enter the area, we saw a bundle of pineapples for 0.99 cents. So instead of buying from that expensive truck, we went to the small stalls, a few kms outside the area to get the pineapple.

Speaking of pineapple, I remember when Hive account@coolmidwestguy talked about pineapple and hey, here it is!, pineapple farms and how they grow. They do not grow on trees, that’s for certain 😉. Some of them make me want to pluck it out but apparently, you have to be cautious when doing so and unlike coffee, they might have an owner haha.

The seller also sell this bitter bean. They are pretty good but you'd smell so bad after eating it.

As soon as we reached the city center after getting down from the mountain, we also tried local delicacies called ‘ Sate 02’

For some reason, Indonesian has this code word for meat other than cow’s and chicken. To name a few, there’s B1 for dog meat, B2 for pork, and 02 which stands for land snail. I happen to love 02 and locals said they name it that way because in gambling 02 is the number for snails.

These land snails are cooked by various spices which then put on a skewer and would be reheated by grilling them. They are then served with peanut sauce mixed with sweet soy sauce, shallots, spicy paste and a lime to garnish it.

The meat is chewy and it has a savory flavorful taste. Other than satay, they are also cooked fried and they make good crisps. It has been a while since I had them so I was just happy to try this again. The last time I ate something similar was in Laos but it was the freshwater snail.

If you ever visit East-Java, these are the options that you can also choose to check out other than Ijen blue crater and various diving spots all around the province. That's all for my adventure this time. See you in my next one soon!