During long weekend holiday in Feb 2018, some of my elementary school friend met in Surabaya, they were from different city, Jakarta, Semarang and Kediri. On their last day in Surabaya, I asked them to go to Madura, visiting one of the tourism place there. I really would like to visit the place, unfortunately I didn't dare to drive alone as I heard some people would force us to give them money illegally.
Lucky my friends agreed to the plan, there were 13 of us including 1 driver with 2 cars departed to Madura through the popular new bridge, Suramadu, which was connected to Madura island from Surabaya with 5.438 m length and 30 width. It's divided for car and motor cycle at the edge of the bridge. It cost IDR 30.000 for car to pass by the bridge, the good scenery is the middle of the bridge with its 140 m twin tower strengthen with orange cabling as the foundation. Unfortunately we were not allowed to stop in the middle of the bridge to take picture. Some policemen always patrol around the area to ensure nobody stopped there. One of our friend who sat at the front could take a good picture & video, while I sat at the back could get from the rear windows.
Actually we would like to visit two places, Bukit Jeddih and Arosbaya. As we departed too late, we didn't have enough time to visit both places, so we decided to go directly to Arosbaya and dropped Bukit Jeddih. We heard that late afternoon at Bukit Jeddih, would be more people asking for money, it's not safe. The direction to Arosbaya quite easy to follow, but nearer to the location we had to pass by small road among the people's home. Only one car could go through, so the resident and some people there would ask for money to arrange the traffic. They use walkie talkie to communicate, so the car could go smoothly while they stopped another car from the other direction.
Arriving at the area, one of my friend and I rushed to find the toilet first before exploring the place. It cost IDR 2000/person for pee, the toilets were quite clean, anyway there was no tissue. From the parking lot we already could see the beautiful limestone, the parking fee was IDR 20.000/car, while entering the place cost IDR 5.000/person. The location is near to the religious tourism place of Bangkalan's Kings cemetery called "Air Mata Ibu". If you go by bus, you have to stop there, then continuing walking to the limestone.
The scenery was amazing, although it's very hot. The blue sky and colorful limestone which formed beautiful sculptures made us amazed and kept taking many pictures. It's a former limestone mine, the worker didn't realize that they created beautiful sculptures. Some green trees was available protected us from the shining sun in the middle of the day. I left my bag in the car, as our driver said it's safer to keep it in the car. I only brought some small amount of money in my pocket, cap and umbrella.
As we went to toilet first, we left behind our group, they already took some pictures together. The limestone as our background picture was quite high, carving with beautiful color under the sunshine. A circle hole made it like a frame created a beautiful combination. We missed it, so I took some pictures alone, the group had moved to another side. Some of our friends also took picture one by one.
A boy was around us, he suggested me to take a panorama picture to capture bigger view. Even he didn't mind taking my picture with one of my friend using my iPhone. I trusted him, I gave him my iPhone, and he helped to take some pictures. The results were excellent, he could capture the scenery well with us inside. Our group was already at different side, I told him that we had to go together with them, but on the way, he kept showing us the good angle. We climbed on some limestone to get better picture while he shoot.
Join with our group, our friend's husband was kind enough to take our picture one by one. His Samsung 8 could take better picture than my iPhone 6, so he preferred to use his smartphone. The color and picture is sharper comparing to mine. After taking some pictures under the shades, we continued walking toward some sculptures. There were 2 boys accompanying us. Our group also divided into 2 groups as the 1st group preferred to take picture fast avoiding the hot. I was joining the second group, who likes to take more pictures to record the nature beauty.
Some people were waiting for visitors at certain location, if anyone went there to take picture, they would ask them to pay. We didn't went there, just taking picture in front of the area, which had like a tall gate with beautiful carving. The boy took our picture using vertical panorama feature. Although the people kept teasing the boy, he ignored it, he focused to take our picture. The younger boy accompanied our 1st group, while Abdul the oldest was accompanying us. We were glad having Abdul, he's very helpful and talented. After around half an hour in the location, I felt thirsty, lucky there was a small hut selling water and snack, I bought 3 mineral waters (600 ml) cost IDR 3000/bottle.
In the middle of the area, we met our friend from 1st group going back to the parking lot, they said that we had to rush unless the Jakarta team would miss the plane. They have visited the cave, while we were still on the way to go there. We rushed, walking fast to the cave, we didn't want to miss it as we had taken quite a long journey from Surabaya. In the cave was colder than outside, some carving created holes which enabled sun shone through it illuminated the cave.
Abdul helped us to take some pictures and showed some good angle and position for getting the best picture. We also took some silhouette photo at the cave entrance. Outside the entrance we met with a group making pre-wed photos, the location was nice. Asking for their permission for us to take group picture there, lucky they had finished their photo session. I could not imagine how hot the couple felt with their complete wedding costumes and make up, as I had got wet although I wore casual clothes. At the end of the journey, Abdul took a beautiful panorama of us. He's very kind, he didn't ask for money, we were very satisfied with his service, so my friend didn't mind at all giving him tips.
Reaching the entrance we saw our friend from 1st group drinking ice fresh coconut in the small hut, the seller also sold fruit called "Kedondong", some of them already peeled. It tasted sweet, so my friends bought some of them to bring home. I still would like to take some pictures, my friend's husband was kind enough to help taking my picture at the entrance from his seat in the hut. I also saw beautiful scenery behind the parking lot, so I walked alone there to take some pictures while waiting for my friends taking break.
I felt starving as it's already 15:00 o'clock and we hadn't got any lunch, so we stopped by at a restaurant to have lunch. After full our driver brought us to a Madura batik shop to buy souvenirs. Although I didn't plan to buy any batik, I could not resist the temptation with many options and prices, so I bought 3 of them, while my friends bought much more than me. It's an original handmade batik, and it cost cheaper than in the shop in Surabaya.
I'm very satisfied with the trip, although I was not in good condition, got a very bad flu, but I insisted to go. I didn't regret it, I could get many good pictures, and also some batik. You should visit Arosbaya if you like scenery, prepare for hat or umbrella to protect from the sunshine, please wear a thin clothes as it's quite hot. It takes around 1.5 hours from Surabaya.
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