Tag Archives: lost credit card

Day 141 – Flight mode

In a sudden turn of events, we found ourselves in the same Dunkin’ Donuts outlet having the same breakfast as two days ago. Although this time, I was on the phone sorting out a new credit card (forgot mine at the ATM and the bank did not find it). Glad I am still with an NZ bank, everything is so dead easy.

The remaining distance to the harbour in Tanjungbalai is about 190 km. After a bit of a painful slog through the suburbs of Medan, we hit the overland route down the coast. It seems to be a general issue in Indonesia that traffic is worst in a ring around the city proper. Inside, there are dual lane thoroughfares and arterial roads. But further out, urban growth meets underfunded communities and single lane overland highways get swallowed by urban sprawls, leading to an utter collapse at times.

It once again took almost all day to get there. With just riding and a short lunch break, we arrived in Tanjungbalai at 2 pm. The ride was uneventful but also a bit typical for the last two month. We were either going 100 km/h with little traffic through palm plantations and fields, or breaking as hard as we could to avoid interchangeably overloaded Chinese trucks going 30 km/h or oncoming traffic overtaking on our side (preferably buses). We both started fantasizing about Malaysian motorways.

Nina’s comment: The sheer amount of attempts to kill us on this road were staggering. Cars get stuck behind slow vehicles and if they see only a motorbike coming towards them, they will pull out to overtake while flashing their lights at you, communicating “I am committed to overtaking. If you don’t want to die, better get off the road”. It doesn’t matter to them that Rocinante is as wide as a car…

Flo joined into the frenzy

Flo joined into the frenzy

In town, I went with the GPS coordinates provided by Dean in a thread on Horizons Unlimited. The harbour is in the filthiest area I have seen in my life up to this point. The stench of rotting fish and feces hung over it and it evoked images from Gangs of New York. Overall, Tanjungbalai is probably the rattiest place we have been to, yet. It pretty much never seems to see any bule. Wherever we stopped, people started begging. We could not wait to get out.

The ferry terminal was closed, but we contacted Mr Ade, a local agent / fixer familiar with getting motorbikes through and sorted out the carnet de passage while we were waiting. When Ade did arrive, he was a bit miffed that we had done so on our own and explained there is nothing more to do today. Meet-up at the port would be tomorrow 9 am. He then insisted on getting us to a hotel – tired and exhausted we followed him on a wild ride through town.

Our bike being returned to a sparkly self. It cost us $4 to get it done

Our bike being returned to a sparkly self. It cost us $4 to get it done

The suggested place looked derelict, but we were too knackered. In hindsight, we should have trusted our instincts there. So we checked in to the overpriced dungeon of filth and started our daily routine. After my shower I went to find a place to wash the bike to prepare it for a potential day on deck of a boat. There was one place just across the street – when Rocinate came back, we almost did not recognize her. All sparkly and shiny 🙂

When I was back, Nina casually asked me what all the sand in the bed was about. I got a bad feeling and sure enough moments later I found the first bedbug running from my probing. It was not sand but thousands of bedbug eggs littering the bed. Needless to say, we ran. The landlady tried to move us to another room, which looked even worse, but we were out of there.

Rocinante sleeping in the hallway of our hotel

Rocinante sleeping in the hallway of our hotel

The next hotel was moldy and overpriced as well, but at least free of creepy crawlies living in the mattress, so exhausted as we were we stayed. We even could park our bike inside the hall in front of our room.

With another hour wasted, we only wanted some food and then get to bed to be ready for tomorrow. Just two doors down we found a yard with a bunch of obviously Chinese-run businesses and were warmly invited to have a seat. One of the patrons spoke English very well and we got talking. A cook was called and we got offered some fruit while we were waiting. It was an interesting conversation with a glimpse on the perspective of the many Chinese immigrants in Indonesia. The food was great, but a little decadent. I had fresh giant prawns and a chicken dish, Nina had a deep fried tofu hot plate. So good.

The day ended with a frustrating phone call by the agent and his niece translating for him. The price negotiations were frustratingly one sided. This is currently the only known route for overland bikers and the parties involved know they are sitting on a monopoly. The final price was 40% higher than what the last traveler paid, but it was a take it or leave it offer …

Day 140 – Jingle Bells in Bukit Lawang

The recommendation from our guides was to get up early to increase or chances to see Orangutans. When we got downstairs, a macaque jumped away, having stolen something from the kitchen. Despite being watchful, we didn’t see any more apes or monkeys.

Giving it pieces of banana

Giving it pieces of banana

Until we had banana pancakes for breakfast. Then, a “funky monkey” (I don’t actually know what kind of monkey it was) appeared to join in the breakfast. We fed it a bit and took pictures but I refrained from touching it.

After breakfast, we went on a walk through the garden. It is quite steep and full of fruit trees just for the apes and monkeys. Suria pointed to many a tree and said “never had fruit from this one, the monkeys get there first”. Well, it’s the whole point of the garden to give the apes a variety of things to pick from. We sat down on a giant “jungle umbrella” leaf and waited for over an hour but no Orangutans appeared. It was a long shot to begin with.

It was very peaceful, though, to look at the wall of green on the other side of the river and hear some of the birds call.

It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

Back at the lodge, we packed our things. Rafting back to Bukit Lawang was scheduled for 11am and the inner tubes were already being tied together. Down in the main area, we now had the company of four “funky monkeys” who were waiting on an opportunity to get into the kitchen. Most likely to steal more food.

Our full backpacks were put into double plastic bags which then were tied down very tightly so the whole thing looked very secure. Our shoes were in the pack as well this time so we would just have one set of wet clothes in the end and a whole bag full of dry clothes still with the motorcycle. And off we went!

Our rafting trip was accompanied by Suria who sat in front to steer and look out for dangers. Then us two on the middle tube, feet and legs hanging over the rim and Merah in the back, also with a staff for steering. Ikbal hopped on the left side of our tube and double-functioned as a human shield: Whenever we got close to rocks, he would use his feet to push us away from them, so the tubes never actually hit a rock.

The guys transported some of the empty equipment back so we had an empty gas bottle hanging from the back tube as well. You could hear the “clonk” sometimes when it hit something.

...hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

…hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

Rafting was fun. The three guys had so much fun that it felt a bit like they were doing it for themselves which was great. They were laughing and singing a song that had the melody of Jingle bells but lyrics saying something about watching monkeys in Bukit Lawang while they were getting soaked, smashed and bruised. Their good mood never left them. The river has some decent rapids where Flo and I got pretty thoroughly soaked but it also has parts where the bed is wide and the water level thus shallow. The “jungle taxi” faced quite some “traffic jams” when the guys had to jump off and drag us back into deeper water.

Seeing the hiking path from the river, it definitely made more sense to take this route back. Soon we were close to the village again. Suria had told us about a flood just over a week ago but the damage was only really comprehensible if you see it from the river. Whole concrete flood walls had been torn down, bridges and bits of buildings were still lying in the river and had to be navigated while parts of buildings were still standing on the verge of collapsing or falling into the river. Guest houses with half a room open to the river because the other half had been torn away; guest houses with doors leading straight into the river because the veranda had been taken. Seeing this massive destruction, we could understand how the only boat ferrying visitors across to the Orangutan feeding station might have been lost in the flood and why this is a fact the guides are reluctant to share. Now, maybe more than ever, the money tourists bring in is needed. With 75% of tourists coming exclusively to see Orangutans, it is a hard hit that the boat is gone and hasn’t been replaced yet.

We stopped at a pile of rubble over which we could climb out of the river. All our things had made it in one piece and dry while we had made it in one piece and soaking wet. Out of the water, Flo commented very silently that this rafting could have gone bad quite easily with concrete and steel cables in the water but we both chose not to think about it for long. We did have three human shields as bad as it sounds…

Ikbal and his custom-made trike

Ikbal and his custom-made trike

For the next hour, we were occupied with getting back on the road. Changed into a set of dry clothes, packed all our luggage again so it could be strapped onto the bike, had a snack of deep fried tofu, tempe, potato and bananas as dessert and left towards Tanjungbalai, the harbour from which we want to ship out of Indonesia.

The first kilometres were a much easier ride than on Sunday as all the day trippers were missing but coming close to Medan, everything ground to a hold. I guess this might be what a rush hour looks like in a city that doesn’t have the infrastructure of Jakarta. The going was very slow and time (aka daylight) was starting to run out on us. So we pulled up on the side, decided on a backpacker in Medan and clawed our way there.

The room was more expensive than we wanted and right at a very busy street but Flo was knackered and we needed to stop. At least wifi was available. We then realized that Flo had lost his credit card two days ago. When we were in Medan last, he must have left it in the ATM when he withdrew money for the Orangutan watching. Being only 4km away from the bank where we must have lost the credit card, we put it on the agenda for tomorrow to go there and ask if anyone had found it.

Day 110 – Indiana Jones and the temple of the holy spring

Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

We had an oddball of a day today. After a good night’s sleep and an incredibly tasty breakfast at Cafe Smorgas, we left Sanur in direction of Ubud. This was our planned lunch stop and then we wanted to continue around the east coast and sleep in Amed. Thus the plan.

It took us ages to get out of Sanur. Traffic wasn’t too bad but we stopped ever 10 meters to check on an ATM and a supermarket. Every single ATM we tried would limit the amount you can withdraw to $150 which seems so little if you keep in mind that we pay a $6 fee for every withdrawal. To round off this slow start, it was about 40 degrees at 11am already.

Failing at getting out money and sweating quite profoundly, we made it to the Big trees chocolate factory that I had read about only to find it closed on a Saturday. *meh* Guess we have to come back on a non-weekend day. So we turned around two corners and tried the next ATM before looking for a lunch place. It was 12.30 by this point.

Chocolate factory made out of bamboo...we'll be back!

Chocolate factory made out of bamboo…we’ll be back!

Flo went inside, did some things, talked to the staff and then poked his head outside again. “Take off the gear, we will be here for a while. The ATM just swallowed my card.” Oh fun. The ATM had a mechanical defect with the card slot and was unable to return it…so it just kept it. Talking to the company was rather painful as they insisted that the card either was destroyed already or would be destroyed when they found it. Flo managed to get to the point where they will look for his card on Monday and then inform him to pick it up.

Leaving without Flo’s credit card felt odd but we still have about 5 credit cards left so will still be able to get to our money. Now looking urgently for food, we found the next odd thing: Warungs on this stretch of Bali’s roads are strictly non-vegetarian. We tried three warungs, I said my helpful sentences to convey my vegetarian request and they all waved me away with “tidak sayur, all beef/pork”. That’s new. We finally found a very cheap roadside place that could offer me rice, an omelette and a corn fritter. Starving, we took the greasy offer.

Close-up of a bridge guardian

Close-up of a bridge guardian

Ubud was only a couple of kilometers further and full of tourists. Which helped us as we found the much sought after ATM with a higher limit. However, it also made Flo itch to get away again. Stopping at a square with a row of shops and cafes, he at least agreed to check in the lonely planet what one should do in Ubud. One of the suggested sights was an “Indiana Jones style temple in a forest full of monkeys”. That was a sight that had to be seen.

Driving through the streets full of shops and tourists, I spotted a lot of things I would have liked to check out. Flo still hated the sight. Coming close to the temple, the amount of monkeys wandering around increased. It cost a bit of an entrance fee to get into the area but the whole thing was quite amazing once you managed to get away from the worst crowds. There were monkeys in

Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

abundance, also willing to jump on you if you held up food which we didn’t as we’re not big fans of overly friendly monkeys. The statues, temple parts and walkways were awesome for an afternoon stroll and we felt very much like in an Indiana Jones set. Again, a tele might have been nice but these monkeys let you get close anyway.

It was getting late for my taste and I also still wanted to check out the tourists shops so I convinced Flo to stay the night in Ubud. We found a lovely, big room for a very reasonable price tugged away behind a temple. Flo even got Rocinante in the little pathway at the back so it could be behind a gate at night.

For dinner, we found a vegetarian warung (also a novelty for me) before I went on my evening stroll through the shops.