Indonesia Volcano Run day 6

We're ready leave but we're still waiting for Shane. Tom says he was in the phone, so Charlie is getting ready to ask reception to call his room, but he finally turns up.

We are well stocked up on fluids but can already feel the heat of the day. 

The first stop is another temple complex, of which the Prambanan temple is the largest one. 

We spend about an hour here, a significant portion posing for pictures at the request of various people and many school kids there. 

There must be thousands of school kids there on organized day trips, each class having its own colorful t-shirt. 

Turns out that many are from East Java and I mention that we are heading there later this week. On exiting the carpark, Rob fumbles to find his parking ticket at the barrier thus holding everyone up. Like a true gent, he manoeuvres his bike out of the way while the rest of us pass.

At our rest stop, I refill with caffeine and electrolytes. The Kit-Kat latte is a novelty for me, but it's become a favourite. 

The heat is the strongest we've felt and we're all sweating buckets. It's so hot even Steve is drinking 'sweaty water' (Pocari sweat). Before we leave, Charlie tips over his bike and breaks the right hand mirror.

We are riding on a main road interspersed with many, many traffic lights. We make good progress between the red lights, but when the lights are red we line up and have to wait for up to two minutes before they turn green. It's really frustrating jumping from light to light and then weaving our way through the traffic in between stops. And it seems to go on forever, and is becoming all a bit tedious. It feels like we're stuck in one large city - in fact we've travelled from Yogyakarta, to Klaten, to Surakarta, but developments have grown around the main road connecting them, hence the big city feel. I still enjoy it though, as any form of two wheel travel with an engine underneath me gives me a kick.

Rob is a new member of our star studded cast; this is his first trip with us. He's only been riding for about five years, which is a relatively short time compared to the rest of us. Despite his relative inexperience on two wheels, the powered variety at least, he displays remarkable maturity for a relatively new rider, not getting too exuberant in stretching both the laws of physics and the Indonesian highway code. However I speak too soon as he nearly runs into the back of my bike when I stop to let two kids cross the road in front of me. His excuse was that he was boogieing to the music being pumped out by the concert sized speakers next to the road. The music was next-level loud when I rode past, and that's despite wearing a helmet and ear plugs.

 

At the next stop, Christopher's broken his bike again and it refuses to switch off even when the key is removed. Our quick pitstop turns into an extended break and many choose to have lunch at the restaurant next door where the lamb kebabs were reported as being very good.  We're all baked, and the AC in the shop is welcome relief, but we sit outside in the shade to chill, even if not to be chilled.

Bike fixed and we're back on the road.

Then it's more main road, but fewer traffic lights. More enjoyable. Eventually we turn off on to back roads and end up climbing into the hills to do mini loop of the Pabongan area.

We stop for a refreshment break at the Canni Sukuh temple. Shane is accosted by someone very kee! to take pictures of him using Shane's camera, which he then asks Shane to unlock. He fiddles with the controls like a pro but Shane is happy with the results and gives the guy some change.

We climb up to the top of the temple, where there's a man deep in meditation, crossed legs, in lotus pose, with incense sticks burning.

At the side of the complex there are a few block carved figures. One resembles the Pilot in the Alien film series.

Then continuing our loop we pass a very intensively cultivated area full of small fields growing various crops.

Our last stop is the Jumog Waterfall, which we climb about 200m to see.  We discover there is actually water falling!

The area is inundated by monkeys and so we cannot leave anything on the bikes. They snatch things (especially food) from people's hands and are a general menace. They are just like humans in that sense.

Then we close the loop and reach our digs for the night, the luxurious Anaya Azana hotel. 

It has a very Arabic feel and we think it serves the parents visiting the children at the Al Azhar International Islamic boarding school opposite the hotel.

A relatively short ride to day of around 130km, but it seemed to take a long time. It was also very hot so we took many fluid breaks.