Archive for the ‘Indonesia’ Category

Day 344. 95km. Kenaman – Siburan

Posted: April 14, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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This morning I took my bike by the hand, and walked him down the aisle. I could almost hear the wedding march in the background. We have experienced so much together, it is time we tied the knot.

Going down the aisle

Going down the aisle

Across the border into Malaysia and, yet again, it feels so different. More people are driving cars, the roads are better, it feels more English. The ice tea comes with milk. We took the back road to Kuching, and slogged our way up and down through the steep and beautiful landscape. The mountains rise almost vertically from the road, dense with trees and forest foliage. The crickets and cicadas chirp in the background. We find ourselves sleeping in a town hall 30km from Kuching, the capital of Sarawak province.

Steep road

Steep road

Day 343. 108km. Ngabang – Kenaman

Posted: April 13, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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Our mosquito net is erected next to the altar of the church in the depths of Borneo. The anchoring point of the net is the heavy altar bible holding down the attached string at one corner. The chocolate-bar sized bugs are zooming around the bright halogen lights with a low drone, bouncing off the walls and then the roof, above the line of pews retreating to the back of the church. Outside the cicadas and crickets are the backdrop to this old Christian missionary place.

Anchor point for the tent

Anchor point for the tent

Today the road was easy, and we took it easy, stopping for extended breaks talking and talking. We talked about the cigarette billboards everywhere promising everything to the young – sophistication, boldness, the flavour of a new generation, asking if they dare. Smoking is part of the Javanese culture and part of their identity. It also used to be part of life in Europe – but no more. Advertisements like these were banned in Australia 40 years ago and now almost noone smokes there. I think Indonesia will keep its smoking culture for a while to come.

U bold

U bold

Tomorrow we return to country number 29 – Malaysia.

Day 342. 87km. Senakin – Ngabang

Posted: April 12, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia, Uncategorized
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‘Is there jungle there?’ he asked pointing to the centre of Australia on the map.
A big space with nothing on the map must be jungle.
‘No.’
‘Is there snow?’
‘No. It is hot, and there is nothing.’
I showed some photos of the centre of Australia. No. The centre of Australia is definitely not Borneo.

The heart of the palm

The heart of the palm

We were shown the jungle out the back of the house. It was fascinating – and so rich with food and fascinating plants – most of which I had never seen before. A kind of jelly fruit – a bit like duku. An orange deformed shape that tasted like apricot. A red sphere that, when cracked open, was a lolly to be sucked but not eaten. Another green sphere which tasted like nothing and was hollow on the inside. All this was in the back yard next to the paddy fields. The family chopped off a heart of the palm for us, and the mother prepared it while we swam in the river flowing past.

Squishy fruit

Squishy fruit

Unknown fruit

Unknown fruit

Before leaving the village, we had another movie star photo shoot. Clement walked down the road to the place for the photo like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn.

The pied piper of Hamlyn

The pied piper of Hamlyn

Today we took a long-cut through the hills, past lots of little villages. It was beautiful and very rural. What a beautiful, huge tropical island.

The country road

The country road

We had a nice evening stop with 3 girls Clement met when he was last here, and are sleeping in a huge, empty house. Really cool.

Day 341. 126km. Pontianak – Senakin

Posted: April 11, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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‘Do you want to try dog?’
We were whisked away on a motorbike to the neighbour’s house. Sitting on the floor circling a metal bowl in the dimly lit room was the family.
‘Please sit.’
He took a piece of bone from the top – a paw.
‘This is foot of dog,’ he informed, grinning from ear to ear.
‘What was the dog’s name?’ I asked.
‘Om.’

Signing the guitar with the family

Signing the guitar with the family

This is the Borneo of my childhood dreaming. We are staying with friends Clement met a week ago in a village in the hills – Dayak people. We approached the village in the dying light and drizzle. We marvelled at the beauty of the road as it wound its way between rice fields with a backdrop of a forested mountain with clouds rising from the side like steam from a hot road. After an amazing dinner, we are shown a tool used in hunting to blow a poisoned dart at the prey. Made of bone, it is carved in the form of a dragon. I held this long tool in my hand. One hundred years ago this very tool was used in the dense forest in Borneo. These people were cannibals in the past, we were told. And they ate all animals – pythons, squirrels, mouse deers.

The whole village came and looked on as we were given t-shirts with images of the traditional shield and sword. We were then asked to sign school bags, t-shirts and other things like we were film stars. The girls giggled with excitement as they had photos taken with us with the photo of the pope watching over us from the photo on the wall. This is a Christian village – converted by the Dutch missionaries in the far past. One after the other, and then in groups, we were photoed with everyone in all possible configurations.

The lovely Dayak family

The lovely Dayak family

Clement and I are once more a team.
‘Hello Mister!’ I cried out as I saw him waiting for me in the restaurant at the turnoff. A big hug, and then hours of recounting all our experiences since we parted ways. It’s great to see him again.
The road north from Pontianak along the coast was flat, boring and industrial. From the turnoff, the road passed into the hills. We were entering the real Borneo. Then, out of nowhere, the rain started, and it poured.

Tomorrow I will take some photos of this landscape. The rain prevented me from doing that today.

Day 340. 114km. Nganjuk – Surabaya

Posted: April 6, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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Every Thursday morning in year 8 at school I felt the dread rising to choke me – my woodwork class. The wooden pencil case I made had holes so big the pencils fell through. My dread is similar in fixing my bike, and today I watched as my bike was dismantled for a flight to Pontinak in Borneo. Will I be able to put it together again?

Dismantling the bike

Dismantling the bike

My plans of going to Borneo are now concrete – a flight to Pontinak in Kalimantan where I will meet Clement to cycle to Kuching in Malaysia. There, we will meet Will, who I cycled with in Tajikistan. This will be a side-trip of a couple of months on two islands in Indonesia I dreamed about when I was a kid – Borneo and Sulawesi. But, first, the bike needs to survive the flight. It now sits, dismantled, in a box. I did a bike maintenance course before embarking on this trip – still, the fear of this technical reassembly exercise is present. ☺

Thanks Cak and all his friends in and on the way to Surabaya. Amazing hospitality and help by everyone! And very interesting conversations. You have made my last days in Java (this time) great!

Day 339. 56km. Madiun – Nganjuk

Posted: April 4, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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I think I’ve overdone it. Today I was knackered even though I slept in, celebrated a premature 30000km, and cycled slowly on a flat road. It’s called overtraining, and the only solution is to sleep – so sleep I will. I’ve checked in to a hotel with airconditioning, and I’m going to bed. ☺

Me and Patmo

Me and Patmo

Nearly 30000km

Nearly 30000km

Day 338. 110km. Solo – Madiun

Posted: April 3, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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At the end of a pub-crawl the participants cannot walk, crawl out of the last pub and somehow make it home in the dark. The same is true for a volcano crawl, especially when the last road climbs to 2000m. I got cramp, walked up the last 400m and whizzed down the last 50km. I arrived well and truly in the dark.

Exhausted

Exhausted

Before leaving, I didn’t check on how far Madiun was, nor how high the volcano pass was. I had a leisurely breakfast with my new biking friends in Solo. It was great to meet them. I wish them all the best with their plans to improve Solo as a cycling city.

Cycling friends in Solo

Cycling friends in Solo

I had a date in Madiun this evening – with a lovely warmshowers host that Clement stayed with. Actually, my host Ammia later told me that she couldn’t be there, but had booked and paid for a hotel for me, and arranged lots of friends to meet up with me. I had to be there.

After a lot of climbing, I stopped for lunch, and looked at just how high this mountain was. I was at 800m altitude, and the pass was 2000m. The last 12km climbed 1200m. Ouch!

Note to others doing this pass – don’t take the old road (called the alternative road). It is much much steeper.

View of the much less steep new road from my vantage point on the old road

View of the much less steep new road from my vantage point on the old road

If I didn’t have my date in Madiun, I would have stopped, and finished the pass tomorrow. While walking up the mountain, realising that I was going to have to cycle down in the dark, I decided to accept any lift that I might have been offered to the top. I had cramp, and couldn’t cycle. I was hot and bothered and just wanted to get there. Many cars passed with their windows down, giving me the thumbs up.
‘How are you, mister?’
‘Tired!’
That got a chuckle.
No lift was offered, and I was not at the point of actively asking for one yet. I kept on going, and at 17.15 was at the top. I have no pictures of the views – there were none. Everything was in cloud the whole way.

I made it down the windy dangerous bit before dark, and then zoomed down the straight downhill roads all the way to Madiun. When I arrived I felt a great sense of achievement. 2000m and 110km in one day. I’m glad noone offered me a lift!

Thanks to Ammia, my warmshowers host, and all her friends in Madiun for a lovely evening. I enjoyed today!

Day 337. 81km. Borobudur – Solo

Posted: April 2, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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In Australia the pub-crawl is an integral part of student life, going (and finally crawling) from pub to pub in an evening of drinking at a multitude of venues. In Java, a volcano crawl is the act of scaling (or crawling) volcano after volcano in a tour of join the dots. Today was volcano pair number two.

Merapi

Merapi

Today’s volcano pair – Merapi and Merbabu – were much more pleasant than the last pair. The road was a small road with quite a bit of roadworks, which meant there was little traffic. Cycling up the steep road, I was fascinated by the cloudscape above. Bright sun turned to dark clouds within minutes, and then back to bright sun. The volcanoes disappeared behind a cloak of cloud, only to reemerge an hour later. I passed small villages of ‘Hello misters,’ and rice fields. This is the way volcano crawls are meant to be.

On the way down

On the way down

The view below

The view below

I spent the evening with the lovely people from Kota Kita – an NGO in Solo with a focus on improving life in the city through policy change and community empowerment and participation. I also said hi to the cycling community who have lots of plans in the pipeline for this month.

The Solo cycling community

The Solo cycling community

Merapi

Merapi

Day 336. 71km. Dalangan – Borobudur

Posted: March 31, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia, Uncategorized
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Sitting on the stone surface of the temple, I looked out over the tropical fields with the steep, forested mountains as a backdrop, and tried to imagine how it must have looked over 1000 years ago when the temple was built.
‘Photo, mister.’
I failed.

Borobodur temple

Borobodur temple

It must have been in dense tropical forest, teething with life. The buzzing of insects, the calls of birds flying overhead, the smothering humid heat. The temple was for communication with the god – a mother earth and giver of sustainance. It must have been peaceful.
Cycling along a road I respond ‘Hello Mister,’ and cycle on. Sitting in a meditative pose on the temple – stationary – a ‘hello Mister’ is followed by a ‘photo, mister’, and then smiling for the camera, flanked by a stranger on either side. Today all that attention got to me. I jumped down from my perch to the level below to escape. Another time, I just said ‘Saya mau sendiri. Foto tidak bisa.’ – ‘I want to be alone. You can’t take a photo of me.’ Thankfully it started to rain, and I could take in the moment in peace.

The longer I cycle alone, the more I realise I like being alone. There is nothing better than pedalling along a quiet road in the mountains, or along the beach – just me and nature. I hope this trip is not making me unsuitable for a ‘normal’ life. I do want to return to one at the end of the trip.

Selfie

Selfie

My climb between the volcanoes was a bit of a fizzer. I took some photos of them on the way, but, when I reached the top of the pass, they promptly disappeared into cloud. A panoramic view was not to be had.

Sumbing

Sumbing

Sindoro

Sindoro

Thanks Raditya from Warmshowers Indonesia for dropping by in the evening. It was good to catch even though I am not cycling through Yogyakarta!

Day 335. 90km. Kebumen – Dalangan

Posted: March 30, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
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I am glad I have left the main roads. Yesterday I had small roads along the beach, and today small roads in the mountains. This means a lot of climbing, but it’s peaceful and beautiful in the forest and rice fields. I’m staying with a lovely family between two volcanoes. I hope to see the volcanoes tomorrow – there’s too much rain and cloud to see anything at the moment.

Rice

Rice

The rain came at the best moments today – just after I stopped for a break. At one of my breaks I was invited into a house to see the mother cooking sweets for sale at the local market.

The cook

The cook

Tomorrow between the volcanoes and then to Borobudur.

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