Live Your Best Lives
I am Yifei, the product manager of
China-TravelNote's "South Asia & Islands"
Scuba divers and island travel enthusiasts are
backpackers who often appear in Southeast Asian countries.
In May, I traveled to Indonesia, known as the Land of Volcanoes. Standing on the summit of Mount Ijen, observing the blazing blue flames up close, I couldn't help but think of a film I once saw called "Volcano Love."
This volcano documentary, filmed by French volcanologists Katia and Maurice, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2023.
In this film, the couple who "dance with death" traveled through more than 150 volcanoes, using images to record the earth's most fiery pulse.
As Morris knelt before the erupting crater, feeling the pulse of the earth with his body heat, I suddenly remembered myself, swept along by a sandstorm on the ridge of Mount Bromo.
Those tears choked by sulfurous fumes, those skin scalded by scorching ash, all found their explanation in the film: we are all chasing a kind of crazy romance.
Katia's words, "Volcanoes are the heartbeat of the Earth," brought every volcano I climbed in the dark to life.
I remember at Yizhen Volcano, the gas mask the guide handed me reeked of sulfur from the previous climber. At that moment, I suddenly understood the tacit understanding between Katia and her husband in the movie when they exchanged protective goggles—the secret code of volcano enthusiasts, always hidden in these choking, burning, and slightly dangerous details.
The scene in the movie where volcanic ash fell on the camera like snowflakes reminded me of the village at the foot of Mount Bromo.
The chicken marinated in volcanic ash by the locals carries the aroma of life deep in the earth, just like the villagers living near the volcano in Katia's lens. Their wisdom in coexisting with the volcano is more moving than any geological report.
From Bromo, Indonesia's "fairyland,"
to Nyiragongo in Congo ,
every volcano is a poem written by the Earth.
Some are as fiery as magma, while others are as quiet as volcanic lakes.
Feel the pulse of the Earth up close.
This is the most un-Earthlike place on Earth.
I've also compiled the top 10 active volcanoes in the world
and invite tourists to embark on a volcanic journey
and experience the afterglow of Katia and Morris's faith.
Located in eastern Java, at an altitude of 2,393 meters, the landscape resembles the surface of the moon: within the vast Dengger crater, a 10-kilometer-wide "sand sea" stretches, with three active volcanic cones rising from it, Bromo being the most active.
Standing on the edge of the "sand sea" in the early morning, the sun first illuminates Semeru in the distance, then slowly sweeps across Bromo's smoking crater. The scene is like transporting the surface of the moon to Java.
Every year, the people of Dengger hold the "Kasodo" festival, throwing offerings into the crater to pray for rain during the dry season. The volcanic ash generously gives them fertility in return, allowing lush onion fields to bloom every year in the barren sea of sand.
🔻Recommended route:
Depart from Shanghai or Surabaya | 10-12 days
Indonesia's Three-Island Cruise | Volcanoes, Blue Flames, Islands, Pink Beaches, and Dragon Island
￥ 13980 Starting from 123 people have registered Sign up nowEtna is Europe's highest and most active volcano, with an altitude of over 3,300 meters, and was still erupting last month.
At night, lava flows down the black slopes like a crimson river, and the crater spews sulfurous clouds that drift to the market in Catania, making tomatoes sweeter.
The ancient Greeks used it as a natural workshop, and modern people produce the minerally and spicy Etna red wine on the slopes where the lava has cooled.
As a mysterious landmark on Indonesia's Flores Island, this volcano is most famous not for its eruption, but for the three volcanic lakes on the top of the mountain: Old Man Lake (Tiwu Ata Mbupu), Youth Lake (Tiwu Nuwa Muri), and Ghost Lake (Tiwu Ata Polo).
These three volcanic lakes are like a palette of colors formed by rainwater, minerals and underground gases: dark green last year, they may turn into milky white or dark red this year.
Locals believe that the souls of the deceased reside in lakes of different colors according to their age, making the crater a cemetery without tombstones. The volcano itself has fallen asleep, with only the sulfur-scented wind reminding visitors that they are not standing in paradise, but on the living, breathing Earth.
🔻Recommended route:
Komodo Island Departure | 7 Days 6 Nights
Undiscovering the hidden gems of Flores, Indonesia | Unlocking hidden gems beyond Komodo
￥ 11280 Starting from 18 people Registered Register nowThis is the second highest active volcano in Indonesia (3,726 meters), located in the central part of Lombok. Hiking to Mount Rinjani will take you through dense tropical rainforest, open grassland and barren volcanic rock areas.
When you stand on the top of the mountain, you can see the surging sea of clouds in the crater and the occasional sapphire-like volcanic lake. You can also see the natural wonders of large volcanoes nesting small volcanoes. The stunning scenery and the joy of conquest will surely make you, who love the outdoors, unforgettable.
🔻Recommended route:
Depart from Lombok | 5 days and 4 nights
Indonesia's Mount Rinjani: A Hiking Guide to the World's Top Ten Volcanoes
Starting from ￥6580 187 people have signed up Sign up nowSakurajima isn't an island, but a neighbor in Kagoshima Bay that refuses to leave. Every day, volcanic ash falls like fine snow into every corner of the city. In the evening, the East Crater suddenly erupts with a plume of rose-colored smoke, softening the city's neon lights.
Residents have long been accustomed to sleeping with volcanoes. They mix volcanic ash into cement to build embankments, and also mix it into soap, facial masks, and even ramen, claiming that it can supplement calcium.
At Iceland's southwestern tip, the Reykjavák peninsula resembles a fragment of Earth's crust torn apart by Thor's unintended hand. The Fagradalsfjörður volcano, which debuted in 2021, suddenly erupted 12 times in a row, completely tearing apart the ice sheet and shocking geologists.
There are no sharp cones here, only slowly expanding shield volcanoes, which add a few centimeters of new territory to Iceland every year.
🔻Recommended route:
Departing from Shanghai | 9 days and 6 nights
Iceland Speedrun: Under the Aurora, Break into the Winter Wilderness
Starting from ￥39800 37 people have signed up Sign up nowThe Azores, on Vanuatu's Tanna Island, is the world's most accessible active volcano. As night falls, the crater transforms into a circular furnace, and the lava tinkles like molten iron, sending up sparks.
In the village at the foot of the mountain, people bake bread with hot volcanic soil, and children use lava bombs as natural fireworks. There are no cable cars or guardrails here, only the humid, salty air and the drum-like sound of the eruption, like a primitive rock scene on Earth.
🔻Recommended route:
Departing from Hong Kong | 9 days and 6 nights
God's Fireworks: Vanuatu and Fiji | Visa-Free Pacific Island Trip
Starting from ￥32800 36 people have registered Register nowMut means "fog" in Russian, and indeed, it is often shrouded in fog, hidden deep within the Kamchatka Peninsula. It doesn't like to be bustling, and its eruptions are silent, spreading only black ash into the surrounding tundra.
Brown bears woke along the warm slopes of the volcano, and hot springs bubbled up from its base. There were more bears than people, and more hot springs than roads. Camping at night in the crater, the ground was warm enough to soften the soles of shoes, while the temperature outside was below zero.
🔻Recommended route:
Departing from Shanghai | 9 days and 8 nights
Wild Kamchatka: Russian Far East Expedition (9 Days) | Searching for Earth's First Pristine Earth
￥ Pre-registration starts from RMB 134 people have registered Register nowKilauea is located in a national park on the Big Island of Hawaii. The crater parking lot is about 500 meters from the lava lake. In 2018, lava destroyed 700 houses.
Visitors can hear the crackling of lava as they walk along the wooden plank road to the edge. At night, the mountain pass glows red, like a steel furnace in the distance.
The Nyagongo crater in eastern Congo (Kinshasa) has a 1.2-kilometer-diameter crater and a lava lake that churns year-round. In 2002, its lava lake suddenly poured into Goma. Today, the one-kilometer-diameter lava lake still churns at the summit, like a pot of perpetually bubbling lead.
This place attracts a large number of hikers every year, crossing the equatorial rainforest and the hot volcanic ash slopes, just to stand at the edge of the crater for ten minutes and feel the most primitive anger of the earth.
*Donggo (Kinshasa) is currently in political turmoil, so it is temporarily unavailable. Please stay tuned.
After seeing so many volcanoes,
which one left the most profound impression on you?
Or are there any hidden gems
not mentioned in this article?
Feel free to leave a comment at the end of the article to recommend them!
