Third time lucky, and exhausted by yet another pre-dawn rise, I was finally walking along the crater rim of a volcano. I'm beginning to realise that all volcanoes are unique, each having a character all of its own. Kawah Ijen sits there quietly puffing out a large sulphur cloud from one of its vents, which usually obscures the beautiful turquoise lake sitting in the crater. The lake bubbles when volcanic activity increases.

The sulphur cloud was quite big on the day I visited, and there were plenty of other low-lying clouds too, so there would be no spectacular dawn photograph of this one. But climbing up there with the sulphur miners made this a unique experience. Every day these men battle through the stinking cloud to bring back 70kg of yellow sulphur bricks (brimstone) on each trip. Since the price of sulphur is quite low, they make around $10 a day for their troubles.

I was very tempted to stay for an extra day or two on the Ijen Plateau. In the far east of Java, with no less than three volcanoes, and surrounded by coffee plantations and well-kept villages, this is beautiful countryside. But independent travel is difficult, so with a choice of one minibus ride to the Bali ferry terminal compared to four local buses on terrible roads (if you are lucky), I took the easy option and stayed with my tour organizers. I had claimed the back seat of the minibus already, which is great for catching up on missed sleep!

Posted from Lovina, Bali on 3rd May 2011.