If you think your current job sucks? Think again. These guys carry 60-80kg of sulphur for about 4km up & down the mountain track and some of them did it TWICE DAILY! It is definately one of the world’s worst job.

The starting point. 3km to go

the trail

I had the opportunity to witness myself how the guys did their daily work. After the outstanding Mount Bromo, we preceded our journey towards Bondowoso, where the magnificent Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater) is waiting for us nearby. We had to gone through an awful road condition before we arrived at our lodging place, Catimore Homestay. It was not the best place to stay but the location not far from Ijen made it a good choice for travelers.

After a good night sleep, we make our way to Ijen’s guard post and started hiking through the trails at about 6.00am.

the checkpoint. the house up left is the canteen

miners weighing their product of the day

After half an hour, we reached the midway point where there were a shop selling food & drinks. It is also the point where the miners weigh their sulphur in order to know how much they will be earning for the day.

breathtaking scenary along the way

The earlier part of the hike was steep but the last part was gentler. The breathtaking view along the way helps to cure the tiredness due to the hike.

superb view of the crater

another great view

Upon reaching the top, we were approached by one of the workers who offered to take us down to the crater. Actually visitors are not allowed down there, but people don’t seem to care much about the sign. A lot of visitors are climb down to the mine & lake area. We too decided to take the risk as we would not want to miss the opportunity to see how the sulphurs are mined down there.

going down the miners route

The journey down the crater requires us to go down some steep steps along the rocky areas. We went down the same route as the miners. The guide help us in giving directions on where we need to step and also give way to the miners who are carrying the sulphur.

Padil & Poey with the sulphur smoke behind them

As we get closer to the smoke area, we put on the mask that we bought earlier. It is to prevent direct breathing of the sulphur smoke which was said able to caused lung problems or some other health related disease

Miner checking on the condition

Got some sulphur in his hand and walks towards the baskets

Sulphur was then put into the basket and passed to these guys

After a while, we reached the mine area. We saw several pipes smoking out furiously as the miners shovel out the sulphur.  The sulphur was later put into the basket and the collector’s began to carry it up the crater and down through the mountains.

Watch the video below to get a better view of our trip down the crater area. Video taken by Padil.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFtQSUxlDE&w=500&h=333]

Padil in the mine area

The smoke from the pipes were steadily going upwards but at one point the wind direction changed and the place where we were standing are full with yellow smoke. During the panic situation, we had to move away from the area as the yellow smoke was choking us. The condition lasted about few minutes before the wind change and it became normal again.

Me at the highly acidic crater lake

the hard part.. getting back up

After that, we proceeded to the highly acidic lake area to snap a few shots and moved our way to the hard part, getting back up the crater. We straightly made our way down the mountain after that.

Alongside the guys – Poey, Padil & Anang

Along the way I can’t stop thinking how the heck did these guys survive after being in this kind of situation every day?