testmeat photoblog

i had the makings of a system when it came to travelling up to mount merapi in the hope of seeing lava flowing out. i have a weather app i use for astrophotography to see if the sky will be clear, there is also a livestream where you can see the real time conditions at the volcano. i'd also use my own eyes to assess the conditions overhead. the issue with all of these checks is that it takes an hour to reach the viewpoint for the volcano, which is enough time and distance for conditions to change. one thursday evening in september the checks were all looking good, so i set off on the scooter with a pair of chinese girls who'd heard me wax lyrical about the volcano for the previous few days. it was only my second time riding a scooter with two passengers on the back, and you really notice the difference trying to navigate out of tight alleyways, or so my wobbly start demonstrated. i became more comfortable as the journey continued, and i was grateful that the late hours meant that the traffic was light. we arrived around 11pm to be greeted by a wall of dark clouds which would remain for over two hours. our blindness was punctuated every now and then with a low growling sound off in the distance, which enouraged us to keep on waiting. our patience eventually paid off as the clouds dispersed and the lava shone through. we ended up staying until 3:30am when it began to get misty again, but by the time we returned to town we were feeling inspired so we decided to stay up for the sunrise. on the otherside of town there's a small hill called bukit bintang, and judging by the remains of food and drink it must be a popular place to stay up late and watch the sunset. when we arrived around 6am however it was completely deserted and the perfect place to end the night and begin the day as the morning mist floated through the lush javan landscape

you can actually just about make out mount merapi fading into the clouds above, here's another misty photo pointing a bit more eastwards, there are a few more on my instagram post