Monthly Archives: October 2014

Misc, Photos, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Angry Little Joe and Captain Hook

Today my Galaxy S4 Active ‘died’ … it was working in the morning on the ferry, and I could upload all my delayed posts, once G3 internet connection was available on Sumbawa. The phone went into ‘black’ mode somehow during the day, and now does not restart anymore.
Research says, it must be sent to, e.g. JTAG Brick Repair Service, or have it replaced. Until I get a replacement (I probably need to buy one and resolve the warranty issue, once I am home) I can’t provide live updates from the road. :(

Tomorrow is a 192km day, with a 4:30 wake up. I have to pack and get ready for some rest …

I used up all my energy to get the phone back to work, with no success, thus I will not be able to post any news of a very exciting cycling day on Sumbawa. We’ll have a 6 hour ferry ride to Flores the day after tomorrow, which hopefully allows me to work on my backlog of updates and photos, via my PC … sorry folks …

DSC_5524Me, and my ‘Angry Bird – Little Joe’, which accompanied me today as a successor of late ‘Sponge Bob’

Later ‘Captain Hook’ arrived at camp to take revenge on the 2 ‘French Bandits’ which kidnapped the nice German guy two nights before in Senggigi. However, the 2 cowards must have heard about their destiny in advance and disappeared from the island minutes before Hook’s arrival. The search for revenge continues …

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Misc, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Leaving Lombok to Sumbawa

It was a short but beautiful visit to Lombok. The island totally different compared to busy Sumatra, Java and Bali. I am already on the ferry, approaching Sumbawa, island #5, to cycle through in only 2, but very long riding days.

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Almost there …

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Misc, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania, Volcanoes & Temples

4:30am prayers

It is 4:30am in Northern Lombok. A long and restful sleep is over. I didn’t count, but it was way over 100 ‘Allah is Great’ in as many different tunes, before the message in the prayer changed and at 5am eventually faded away before the 2nd round of praises fired off shortly after and continued forever.

Don’t tell my fellow riders: The prayer system here is like a jukebox; enter a coin, dial a number to make your selection and enjoy. (100 rupias/min)
#1 praise Allah
#2 praise God
#3 play Bob Marley
Unfortunately I didn’t wear my glasses, so I accidentally picked a 100000 Rupia bill instead of 1000 IRP and missed the #3 but the #1 … it is still playing at 7:04.

In a fortnight only we will completely miss the mosques and speakers, once we leave Indonesia and its friendly and hospital people to conquer Australia. Will the kangaroos step in to entertain us? Will we hear a bouncing ‘bling – bling – bling’ sound  when they hop around our tents in the nights?

I’ll will definitely miss the hospitality of the Indonesian people …

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Only 15mins before my programmed alarm sets off. Having an early shower.

Misc, Photos, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Wedding No.???

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Stopped for another community festival on Lombok. Traditional Lombok drum music and more facebook friends  …

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Misc, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Leaving Lombok to Sumbawa

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It was a short but beautiful visit to Lombok. The island totally different compared to busy Sumatra, Java and Bali. I am already on the ferry, approaching Sumbawa, island #5, to cycle through in only 2, but very long riding days.

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Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Stage Details

Stage 38: Lombok

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Senggigi to  Maroak
Date: 04-10-2014 Time:

05:02 h

 Σ Time: 217:22 h
Distance: 108 km Σ km: 4337 km Temp: 10/36 °C
Up: 1168 m Σ Up: 53506 m Down: 1159 m
Calories: 2073 kcal Σ kcal: 102269 kcal  
Conditions: All day along the north coast. Very scenic

The coastal road is very scenic. A thousand hidden beaches, all different awake in the morning sun. The evening rain the day before had washed away the dust and all plants where shining even more colorful than before. I was riding ‘sweep’ with Andreas. Only 108km today, thus a relaxed day, at least for me. We did a short offroad trip to the steep cliffs. Passing through a village I heard real good drum music. I stopped and pulled over to the other side of the street and was immediately invited to join the ‘party’. A family was celebrating something, I could not find out what exactly, but the whole village was obviously invited. Vegetables and meat was cooking in large kettles and open fires and men and women were busy preparing more food. Soon Andreas found me and we both spent about half an hour to listen to the drumming and have kopi (coffee) and small talks. 40km into the day and already 3 hours passed. Time to make some speed and cover the remaining distance to lunch. After lunch the colorful ride continued. Red chili was being dried on foils along the road. The final 10 km to camp I took an alternate route that was displayed on my Garmin. Instead of staying on the main road I decided to make a left turn through the village and follow a secondary road along the coast. This road soon turned into a bad dirt and gravel road, but through a very scenic urban area. Some local ‘boys’ on there motorcycles wanted to convince me, that the road does not lead me to where I want, but I insisted to believe my Garmin map and continued through fertile fields, banana plantations and lava rock terraces. Buffalos, cows and goats were already in the stables or still grassing on the fields. Women were returning from work carrying tools and goods on their head, before I arrived in our  basic camp with amazing good food. While we had dinner, to men were busy to rewire the electric installation to get our rooms electrified.

 

stage-38Lombok: Ferry Port to Senggigi

Photos, Rest Day, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Rain + Rain

First rain after 6 week of burning sun. Today, just after returning from my scuba diving trip, a heavy downpour set in. It washed away the dust of the past months from roads and plants. The island will probably look much different tomorrow, when sun rises again.

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It will be a very scenic stage, all day along the coast. Hidden beaches, white sand and palm trees for miles.

Misc, Photos, Rest Day, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Kidnapped

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At 1am there was a ‘Tsunami Alarm’ and 2 members of the ‘French Legionaires’ evacuated Stirling and me from our room and pulled us into the Senggigi nightlife.

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There is more to report, but local authorities were closely watching us and … [censored] … ;)

update:
7:08am. I wished I had 3 hours more sleep before I got up for my scuba diving trip …

Photos, Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Trans-Oceania

Leaving Bali for Lombok

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It was a short, but wonderful cycling episode on Bali. Now I am already on the ferry to island no.4, Lombok, a 4 hours cruise from here.

Leaving behind the lovely rice terraces of Ubud and heading into new adventures on an islamd I haven’t been before..

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Sections, Spice Island Hopping, Stage Details, Trans-Oceania

Stage 37: Bali / Lombok

Ubud to  Senggigi (Lombok)
Date: 02-10-2014 Time:

02:56 h

 Σ Time: 194:20 h
Distance: 70 km Σ km: 4229 km Temp: 10/36 °C
Up: 300 m Σ Up: 52038 m Down: 454 m
Calories: 1363 kcal Σ kcal: 100196 kcal  
Conditions: Easy cycling. Short stage to the ferry port, and an easy continuation on Lombok, along the coast. Roads are good, narrow but still divided by a line.

I was asked to ‘sweep’ the group onto the ferry, this day, to allow the TdA staff to organize the ferry boarding of the vans. I am usually anyhow at the tail of the cycling group or behind the sweep, after my first photo stop, thus it didn’t make a difference to me.

It was less than 20 km  from Ubud to the port. A nice downhill leaving the rice terraces behind. A few more temples and lots of big statues were seaming the roads. Ferry boarding was quick and easy and the ride to Lombok not too long. On arrival in Lombok   the ‘Hello Mister’ and friendly faces were back again, compared to Bali, where we were hardly recognized. It wasn’t long that I saw a mosque on the other bank of a river, so I decided leave the main road and cross over a bridge. I local man was immediately alerted, indicating to me in voice and gestures that I was taking a wrong turn. ‘Tida apapa’ (no worries) I replied, “I only take a photo and will be back on the right track” and he was happy to see me return after a few minutes. That must also have been the time when the van and the afternoon sweep passed me. Shortly after I heard drum music from a near village. I quickly turned around into a dirt road and saw that boys were using any kind of plastic canisters as instruments. So I got closer and stopped, getting my camera and GoPro ready. The boys stopped their playing and came towards me, as usual. Big smiles, photo session and a few words later I had them perform their drumming for me. The girls here are more shy, they ran away and hide, when I stop. Maybe I should shave again to look less scary. A had a third stop at a plastic recycling facility. Yes, it is not a joke, they do some recycling. Women are sorting the bottles from big sacks by color, then they are carried over to a mill, being washed and shreddered. The fine grained granulate is said to be shipped to Australia – probably to make fleece shirts or alike. I arrived at the hotel in Senggigi as last. Showered, walked into sunset and had an Italian dinner  in a nice beach restaurant. On my way home I decided to check out scuba diving opportunities for the rest day in Senggigi. I was lucky that a PADI dive shop in town was still open, so I was able to charter a dive boat to the Gili islands for the next morning. Before I returned tired to my room. My sleep was short, because of my French friends, who came at 1am to wake me up and drag me into the Senggigi nightlife.

 

stage-37.1Bali: Ubud to Ferry Port

stage-37.2Lombok: Ferry Port to Senggigi