Indonesia Volcano Run day 7

Ok, I hold my hands up and admit it was me. I'm that one who delayed our departure today. 

After a good night's sleep, a very brief breakfast, and the treat of seeing a burqa'd wife chasing her husband in running shoes...

...my wallet decided to hide somewhere in my luggage. Not wanting to leave the hotel with 1% chance that I had misplaced it somewhere in the room, I had to almost completely unpack checking pockets (several times) in the process. After finally finding it buried in my running gear, I then had to repack. By now it was 7:03 and I was late for the off. A knock on the door and Charlie is checking that I'm ok. Of course the elevator does it's 'calling all stops' to the ground floor, which delayed us further, but I finally reach the others who are standing around waiting for me and I do the walk of shame... Then it's full on as we leave, only about ten minutes late.

A fuel stop and we're set for the long day. It's Sunday, and like the world over, people are out leisurely enjoying the day. Sunday drivers, and Sunday riders. The flow is slower than the manic weekday traffic, but we are able to blast through it. We think we're going at a fast pace, but there's always a local wearing their trackday flip-flops who will overtake you nonchalantly. 

First liquid pitstop of many and the heat is rising as we drop into the valley floor, after having started the day with a climb to around 1900m. That climb and drop was fun, as all twisty mountain roads are. Motorcyclists live for twisty roads, and mountains are usually where they are at. When doing rides myself, I will always look for such roads. But now on the flat, the road is less interesting. Traffic, of course, so we duck and dive as we go, making progress. 

It's 10am and already super hot. At 11, it feels like it's mid-afternoon. Another pitstop, more fluid, Pocari Sweat is now our preferred beverage. I'm on my second Kit Kat latte of the day. 

Before leaving our pitstops I routinely soak my arms and the buff around my neck to provide some cooling once underway. Standing on the pegs helps too. The effect lasts for 30mins or so, by which time your own sweat will have kicked in.

I see a road sign pointing to Alun-Alun. Apparently this is a large, central, open lawn square common to villages, towns and cities in Indonesia. 

We continue at valley floor level, stopping for lunch at a roadside cafe, where soup and rice provide sustainance and salt.

The group is briefly separated at a level crossing, the barriers catching the tail enders. While waiting for them to catch up, I stop and take some photos of the many people fishing in the canal running alongside the road.

Just upstream of this area, the water is thick layered in waste, mainly plastic bottles by the looks of it. Typical, but sad to see.

We pass through what looks like a military town of sorts. In the centre of a roundabout there's some kind of monument. A few people are gathered including a group of scooter riders.

The road becomes more twisty and the traffic more dense. Normally this would be a very enjoyable road, but it's hard work with all the traffic; you need to stay very focused. The approaching coaches demand special attention as they swing around the bends, taking up our lane as well as theirs in the process. 

Eventually we depart from the main road and start climbing uphill again. We stop briefly and drink freshly prepared coconut water, watching the server chop and slice them with a large, very sharp, chopping knife. It's reassuring to see that he still has all his fingers.

Climbing again, there's not much traffic now so we have the road almost to ourselves bar a few locals on scooters. Those don't seem as fast as usual and we pass them easily on the straights or in bends where we can see through the corner. 

It's getting dark now, but there's a lovely sunset before we say goodbye to its warming glow for the evening. 

We climb to over 2000m, where's it's decidedly cooler, before descending slightly to arrive at our hotel for the night. 

Delicious food, and there's a pool and karaoke room! But alas there won't be time to enjoy these luxurious as it's a 03:30am start tomorrow as we are aiming to say hello to the sun again as it rises over Mount Bromo, an active volcano that only a few days ago, spewed a 500m high plume of lava.

About 290km ridden today.

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.

Indonesia Volcano Run day 5

Leaving at 730 from our hotel in Dieng, but before that, the first challenge is to find breakfast. Like me, Steve assumed it would be served in the restaurant where we had dinner, but no, it's on the ground floor. Except that it isn't, it's the level below that. But we find it eventually! 

Riding down to Wonosobo, I'm following a lady riding a meals on wheels scooter. It's literally a mobile kitchen on the back of her scooter, complete with stool and sauce bottles, she even has menu pictures on the sides.

Then there's a scooter with GS sized panniers sticking out either side. It's being ridden two-up and they sail past us, zipping through the traffic and around corners like Marc Marquez. There are quite of few of the same design transporting goods on the road. They look very practical.

At the first stop opposite a lumber yard, Charlie entertains a group of girls eating at the next table. Once again they want pictures with the group.

Next stop is the Chicken Church (Bukit Rhema), which actually turns out to be a dove: the universal symbol of peace. But it really does look more like a chicken and it's probably better from a marketing perspective anyway, who wants to visit a dove church? (And btw, where is Arthur?) 

Our guide has  a hard accent to understand, but we get the gist, and visit all the floors. There's some interesting artwork on the walls inside. 

On the crown of the chicken, sorry, dove, is an observation deck, from which you can see the other aim of our ride today, the Borobudur temple complex. 

A deaf attendant at the top, makes some artistic videos with our cameras.

A short ride away is the Borobudur temple complex, where we are required to swap our boots for provided slippers. This is to reduce the damage to the UNESCO heritage site that is the Buddhist complex

It was rebuilt in the 1980's with UNESCO funds, and involved the removal and reassembly of a million stones, each labelled and catalogued with the help of IBM.

We wander around the site with our guide, Rohan, who tells us the history of the main temple. The image below represents bad karma... 

Rohan played football on the grounds as a kid and enjoys meeting the tourists that now visit. 

After a hot tour, it's lunch and time to relax in the shade a little. I wander around, and see a scooter service while you wait 

Back on the road and it's a short ride to the hotel in Yogyakarta, except that's not where we end up at. It's a big city and apparently someone has expressed an interest to see a market, so that's where we go before the hotel. We are told to we should "chill" before the truck arrives. But tempers are frayed, making that difficult.

There's a bit of confusion about whether someone actually asked for this and perhaps it would be better to go to the hotel first then visit the market. We decide to split the group, one group stays, to walk the market, the other goes directly to the hotel. 

Seems reasonable, but the issue is that the driver of the truck, which is carrying our luggage, will stay with the bikes while we explore the market. But this means that the group going to the hotel will be without their luggage until we return. We do a quick sweep of the market. Steve is not impressed, but nonetheless tries to take a few photos while there, but says there isn't enough light.

Outside there's a line of people queuing. They are poor people who are getting a free meal. It's Friday, the Muslim holy day, and a group of university students are serving the food. 

Now we go to the hotel, as a group of five led by Miller. The pools awaits.

Dinner in the hotel is lovely. Best flavours so far, I reckon. 

Then after dinner we head to Miller's favourite bar, Till Drop. A few of us heard him say it as Tear Drop. They chat, I wander, and manage to find what I think are bananas. We'll find out in the morning.

Only xx km today. But felt longer with all that time walking in the sun. Quite draining.

Indonesia - Zen and the Art of Riding

Riding through the intense traffic here in Yogyakarta, the biggest city in central Java, you need to be 100% focussed with no mental distractions. You're in the flow, senses heightened, looking ahead for the slightest movement suggesting an intersection with your own trajectory; listening subconsciously to the exhaust noises that approach from behind and to the sides. You can react and toot your horn if necessary, or you can just keep it on your radar and monitor the potential disturbance to your flow. Nine times out of ten, the incoming will alter their course, Indonesians are amazingly adept in their roads skills, but you might not think so at first.

The saying goes, loud exhausts saves lives, and here they like 'em loud, really loud. Nearly open pipes, or very limited muffling is common. They're so loud that they reverberate inside your helmet as they pass, more annoying than alerting.

While meditation aims to clear your mind, riding here does that, and then promptly fills it with new chaos! Any problems you thought you had in the real world go clean out of your head - so in a way you could call it meditation of sorts. It's therapy with a capital T, and it's what I enjoy; it's my mental medicine.

Indonesia Volcano Run Day 4

The trek to the breakfast, was just that and I also had to climb over the fence to the restaurant as I didn't have the key with me.  As if that wasn't annoying enough, I discovered that the hotel had begun to fill the pool with warm spring water, which we could have enjoyed this morning had we known.  First world problems in a developing country... 

Before starting off at 7:30, Charlie does a promotional video at the request of the hotel, saying that people will enjoy their stay here.  They probably will during the high season, when the pool is filled and the hot water is working... 

Mounting up, and we are on our way.  I feel like Penny from TBBT as my check engine light is on, and yet I don't care. The mechanic reset that once already, it was the oxygen sensor, no big deal and won't damage the engine, and it still runs well.

We're in the mountains but not that high, yet it is cooler.  My riding gear is still slightly damp, but it will dry off quickly once the temperature rises - it does and I'm dry, but then I'm wet, because I'm now sweating! We've dropped in altitude, so the temperature has risen, and also the sun is up so it's also warming up as well. The terrain is flatter once we clear the twisty roads down from the resort.  Still some nice views across the rolling hills. They farm really neatly here, rows of crops in the relatively small fields.

We briefly follow a truck loaded up with ladies, stacked neatly, obviously off to the market to be sold!

We've seen similar trucks carrying logs and cattle, so it's slightly strange to see this load.

The wind picks up and the trees and bushes sway - prelude to the storm perhaps?  But no, we're lucky.  In the medium distance there's a large cone shape mountain typical of a volcano; dormant for many years. I can't quite find the right place to take a photo as there are bushes, trees, and terrain in the way, so no picture. There's always something in the way, if it's not trees it's wires, telephone poles, houses, water storage tanks. In the end I am just resigned to the fact that the pictures won't be optimal.  You could find a better angle, but riding along, I just find what I think will be a good vantage point an get my camera out an snap.  At best I might roll back a small distance, or move slightly forward, but only get off in exceptional cases. Hence the roadside pictures could be better, but I'm sure you get the idea.

At the next stop there's a group of girls from the shop who want their pictures with us.  They pout and pose, so I do too. It's hard work pouting for so long, how do models and celebrities have so much stamina; they must do intense training. Several cameras were used, there must be a good shot in there somewhere.

I swap bikes with Steve, he's on a CFMoto 450MT, a bike that has had very good reviews. Chinese made, it has taken the market by storm.  I feels like a big bike compared to my Versys 250, but in reality 450cc is small for an adventure bike. It's a decent bike, and I can see why it's popular, especially for the price.  But I find the throttle too snatchy, which really spoils it.  I was also expecting the suspension to be more compliant, although it is very comfortable, but it feels heavy when manoeuvring at low speed.  It also has a higher saddle than the Versys too, which contributed to my tip-over a short while later.  I stopped behind Steve, who then set off again, but I found myself dabbing my left foot into thin air as the roadside was further away than expected and I could not hold it upright. Over I go, and I needed Shane's help to lift it.  It's only 180kg or so, but feels heavier, with all the accessories it's carrying.  Fortunately no damage, just a few bits of grass lodged into varies parts of the bike.

We stop for petrol which is next to a school.  The kids are waving and shouting as us.  

We seem to be something of celebrities and they giggle and laugh with joy when we take their photos.  

It's great to see the boys and girls engaging with us, perhaps we are celebrities after all.  Must be all the pouting training!

On the road again, I'm following a lady on a scooter, who I notice is doing what I call a 'Rossi Dangle' of her left leg into and around left hand bends.  It's a MotoGP technique made popular by Valentino Rossi, and you see scooter delivery drivers and hooligans aping that move on bends and roundabouts all around the world.  And here we have a lady doing it, which is pretty cool.  Ladies ride scooters like second nature here, and they start from an early age.  Why there are no Indonesian MotoGP riders, I don't know. Perhaps there are local championships, there are certainly some decent riders here.

Later on, on the outskirts of a small town, we see a wreck of a Lamborghini by the side of the road. Looks like it has been there for quite some time, I wished I'd taken a photo, so random to see in the middle of Indonesia.

Although we've seen plenty of mosques on this trip, today I've decided to take pictures of a few.  Every settlement, from small village, to town, to major city, has one or more mosques of various sizes, often in close proximity to each other. The variety of designs and colours is amazing, and they are all completely different.  I must be driving Charlie mad with my constant stopping, but he even points one out to me down a side street. It's fun catching up with the group afterwards. 

Later I see a shop selling the metal domes that adorn many of the smaller mosques.

The area we are now riding through seems to be particular rich in variety.  It's an agricultural region and we pass fields and orchards of cultivated crops. The lines of neatly shaped earth must take immense effort to maintain, but we see there are armies of workers doing that.  In fact, with the terracing, there's very little unused land that is not cultivated. Even winding our way down a steep set of bends, the land in between the curves has small rows of plastic cultivation sheets, which from above at first glance look like rows of coffins lined up side by side. 

But one hopes that the plastic is biodegradable, as there is tons of the stuff being used. 

We visit the Arjuna Temple complex. These are remains of temples from around 800AD.

And then a lake that changes colour; today is 'pukey' green. It smells vaguely of sulphur, but the lone duck doesn't seem to mind.  

Rob and I recreate another jumping for joy scene.

Then we visit something altogether more interesting, a bubbling pool of smelly muddy water, steam rising from it and the being caught by the wind.  

Sulphurous again, but this time a much stronger smell.  This place is Kawah Sikidang, the Indonesian equivalent to the geyser park in Yellowstone National Park in the US. There are smaller steaming vents all around.

But the pool is the where most of the action is occurring. The bubbles that form drift across one end of the pool, looking almost alive.

We passed a large and long silver metal pipe on the way here, and we guess that this area must be generating heat energy that is used elsewhere.

Exiting the hot springs site is something of a challenge as you have to walk through a never ending serpentine of tourist stalls selling everything from fridge magnets to snacks, from fruit to potatoes, who knows when you might run short of potatoes in the middle of a tourist visit! Row after row of stalls; and just when you think you have reached the end, there are more.  It's worse even than IKEA as each stall is selling the same stuff!  We joke that you could be trapped for days here, and that's why they're selling so much food. There aren't many tourists and it must be so demoralising sitting here for hours with little to no customers.

Short ride to the hotel. Seems quite posh, we park the bikes and later I hang my washing out to dry on the bike. Whatever will the neighbours say? Some get massages to relax their aching muscles; it's extremely inexpensive here compared to Europe.

Christopher and I go for a tough 5km run with some very steep inclines, which we are forced to partly walk. 

About 160km today, not counting the run...