Posts Tagged ‘Borobudur’

Day 337. 81km. Borobudur – Solo

Posted: April 2, 2016 in Cycling, Indonesia
Tags: , , , , ,
6

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
Tags: , , , ,
6

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!