Today I was stopped by two girls who followed me on their motor scooter for quite a while. When they passed me the first time, they gave me a bright smile and a ‘Hello Mister’ and headed away, to soon slow down and let me pass again. I could hear them giggle. Next thing I noticed them approaching me again from the back, staying behind for a while, before they passed and slowed down again. This repeated several times, until they finally stopped behind the next corner and waited for me, waving me to stop, too, which I did.
Then I heard ‘Oh my God’, ‘Oh my God’ and ‘Photo’. Several OMGs later, the smiling faces were ‘iPhoned’ for a happy girl and a happier ‘Alter Sack’.
A fast marathon warm-up in the morning. The 42 km flat out of town would have been a treat, if the air wouldn’t be so polluted from the early morning commute.
It was easy rolling on the first 40 km. Thereafter it became more rural, hilly and the road sometimes a bit broken. The landscape did not change much until we turned back to the coast. Rice fields and palm trees build the scene. Lunch at a police station with a school next to it. This guaranteed spectators and entertainment. After lunch temperatures increased to reach upper 30th.
Today I was stopped by two girls on a motor scooter. They followed me quite a while, then passed, fall back again, passed until finally stopped next to the road and signaled me to stop, too – which I did. The first word of the girl was ‘OMG, I want a photo with you’. So I had a road side photo session and many more “OMG’s” …
I have started to publish the first set of photos taken during the initial two weeks of the Sumatra Sutra section. A Thumbnail view is available that let’s you browse the photos individually and self paced or a slideshow mode, with a 5 seconds delay between each picture.
You can find them under the Photo Tab or via the Tag Cloud andslideshow tag. I’ll add more to the respective sections …
The rolling hills continued. Ups and downs all day long. Again a very hot day. Enough opportunities to stop and refresh.
Somehow the ride felt harder than yesterday. This could be due to the facts, that it was the 6th long riding day in a row, there was no warm-up, as the rollers started immediately after camp and the cooler morning temperatures were soon gone by the hot sun rising into a clear sky. Today we cruised along the coastline most of the day. Only a few short deviations into the fields of rubber trees and again palm oil plantations. Empty and fully loaded trucks we passing us all day long. Still, most of the drivers are very careful, when passing us. Only a few maniacs couldn’t wait a few seconds for a safe passage and squeezed themselves through the traffic. Lunch was setup nicely at the beach, and fresh coconuts were served, which let me forget that there were again no mangoes … unfortunately, it is not the right season for my favorite fruit.
The black-red-golden banners vanished today, because we left West Sumatra. Bengkulu is the name of South-West Sumatra province, we entered today and also the name of the province capital city. The Splash Hotel in Bengkulu is great, with the well deserved comfort after a tough week of cycling.
