Tumpang is a busy market town at the eastern edge of the Malang plain, in the heart of East Java, and for most visitors it is the place where the road to Mount Bromo begins. The town is where the highway from Malang squeezes through a bottleneck of shops, stalls and minibuses, and where the jeeps wait that take travellers up to the volcanoes. Behind it, the Tengger mountains rise in blue ridges, with the smoking cone of Semeru, the highest peak on Java, hovering above on a clear day.
Though it is easy to pass through quickly, the area has deep roots. In the thirteenth century this was the heartland of the Singhasari kingdom, one of the great Javanese empires before Majapahit, and temple ruins from that age still stand near Tumpang. Candi Jago, a stepped temple with carved reliefs, tells stories from Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and Candi Kidal, a few kilometres away, is a slender, elegant tower with a carving of Garuda, the mythical bird. Both are quiet places, often with nobody else there, and they give a quick glimpse of the long history behind the volcanic scenery.
Riding here is an exercise in Javanese traffic. The road from Malang, about fourteen kilometres away, is crowded with trucks, buses, angkot minibuses and scooters, with little regard for lanes, and the speed is slow. The roads into the highlands are narrower and steeper, but the surface is mostly good, and the air cools as you climb through villages, vegetable fields and pine forests. Early morning is the best time to start, to reach the highlands before the mist and afternoon rain, and the dry season, from May to October, is easier. Cold air at altitude means a jacket is essential for the early start.
The countryside around Tumpang is fertile, thanks to the volcanic soil, and it is covered in plots of cabbage, potatoes, onions and apples, tended by farmers in conical hats. Malang itself is known for its apples, tempeh chips and cooler climate, a favourite hill city of Dutch colonial times, with a handsome old centre.
Fuel is easy to find. Malang, with a population of well over seven hundred thousand, has stations everywhere, and Tumpang itself has several. Warungs along the main street serve soto, a spicy soup, and bakso, meatball soup, with sweet tea and coffee. Fill up in town before heading to the highlands, where stations are sparse.