Category Archives: Indonesia

Day 113 – Jalan-Jalan

Jalan-jalan in bahasa indonesia means to walk or to go for a walk. In this case, to wander around without a concrete destination.

I had a terrible night due to being bitten by mosquitoes many, many times. Around 5am, I briefly considered to stay awake but managed some more sleep with episodes of startled awakening when I could hear the stupid things at my ear.

Breakfast made it better (Flo thinks I had a bad night because I was hangry) and we even got Balinese cake to try, courtesy of our lovely hosts. It was basically a small plate filled with sweet things including black rice pudding which many places offer.

Our first view of the caldera (including a bird)

Our first view of the caldera (including a bird)

We took our time this morning; Flo to get his credit card out of bank custody (YAY!) and I to catch up with the blog. Check out time was noon which enabled us to have a nice lazy start into the day. We then rode to Danau Batur which is a caldera lake. Basically, the landscape forms a crater with a 700meter “mountain” in the middle and a lake next to it on one side. It is supposedly a big tourist attraction, which is why I wasn’t especially keen to go. Flo continued by telling me about aggressive hawkers there and the monopoly one group has over tours up on the mountain…and I was more than sceptical after yesterday’s experience.

Already the road there was at least 10km of tourist shop next to tourist shop selling all the bric-a-bracs you could ever want. Or not.

My helmet also likes the view from the warung

My helmet also likes the view from the warung

Getting there, I had to revise my pre-made opinion: It is a beautiful spot. From up top on the rim of the caldera, you have a lovely view. Many restaurants line this street, all with the view as their main selling point. But we decided for a warung to save our wallets a bit. The lady in the warung was very nice, opening all the windows so we could enjoy the same view after all. Flo even instagram’d it…which is reserved for the most beautiful spots.

After lunch we decided to head down to the lake. The road led through an old lava flow field from 1969. The black rocks were pretty…the hawkers not so much. Reading that the hot springs “are the only ones in Bali with healing powers”, we finally turned around. Though not until Flo got pissy with a guy trying to sell us the hot springs or a bed for the night. Coming back up the road, Flo stopped for a couple of nice shots with Rocinante and the mountain; just to be swarmed before I could even take a single picture. They graciously gave us some space…but not enough that I could use my camera without zoom. *grin*

Nice windy road through lush forest. We even had a bit of rain

Nice windy road through lush forest. We even had a bit of rain

From here, the plan was to head to the north coast of Bali. It was a very nice afternoon for riding, almost a little too cool up in the mountains with heavy clouds above and through lush forest. Having had such a bad night, I was really tired so Flo looked for accommodation along our route. The closest one was about three kilometres from the main road through an impoverished looking village into a narrow driveway. We nearly missed it because the sign was so tiny. However, the name was “Villa Manuk” in the village of Manuksesa and Flo already told me to not get too excited as we might not be able to afford the “villa”. How right he was.

Testing the pool. Result: Well worth it!

Testing the pool. Result: Well worth it!

The villa turned out to be a three star hotel with only four rooms, all costing much more than we wanted to pay. But we got super lucky and were offered a room with 50% discount as it is low season and no customer was around. With the 50% discount, it was still the most expensive room yet but too good an offer to not take it. Flo had checked out the place and called it “a gem”.

That’s pretty much how it turned out to be. Once we accepted the offer, we were led to the dining area by the spring-fed pool without any chlorine in it to wait until staff had prepared our room. To make the wait less long, we got a complimentary welcome fruit juice while fresh flowers were cut for our porch. You’d think the service might be less awesome if you get a 50% discount but not here. We were pampered all the way around.

After dropping our luggage in our now ready room, we jumped into the pool. Staff rushed out to prepare two sun beds for us including two pool towels so we wouldn’t have to use our shower towels.

The location is great. From our room, as well as from the pool actually, you look out towards the mountains clad in rain forest. It only got prettier when the sun set.

 

 

Day 112 – Temple scam

A far away glance of Mount Agung

A far away glance of Mount Agung

Our bungalow was nice for the night but got rather hot in the morning. No one could be found when we wanted to order breakfast…which Flo took with a fir of hangryness. So we packed up, ready to leave. By the time we had put everything on the bike, the lady was there and we even got our breakfast.

So we ride to Pura Besakih, known as the “mother temple”, sitting halfway up one of the high mountains. Being 1000m above sea level gives you great views. The road there was quite enjoyable. As soon as it started to go up, we were stopped though: Tickets needed to be bought. It was 15k per person and a random 5000 for the bike. Okay.

Continue reading →

Day 111 – Cruising

Taking aim ...

Taking aim …

I was surprised when we did our daily bookkeeping to learn that we only traveled 48 km today. Feels like more. Never the less, it was a good day. Not mind blowing, but enjoyable and entertaining.

It started alright with a good breakfast – which says something. Breakfast is often included in the room prices, but at 175k per night for two, the money has to be saved somewhere. So breakfast, in westernized establishments is usually either a pancake or two slices of whiter than white toast, plus tea or coffee. Since many locals prefer nasi goreng or rice cake, the pancakes are usually of dubious quality. Not this time though! The pancakes were excellent, we got fresh fruit to go with them. For a bit of colour, as our host said 🙂 – what a great start of the day. Continue reading →

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.

Day 109 – Deja vú

In a sudden turn of events I found myself waiting again. In the same ridiculous waiting room from hell, with no phone, no book and only official notifications around to read. I have read them all, yesterday. So I stared at the soulless walls and the soulless service representatives. Waiting … hoping. Tell you what, it worked! At least we hope it did – the application is launched, payed for and officially received, including our passports. As far as we can tell, everything was filled out correctly and we meet the criteria of permanent residency for New Zealand. Now all we need is confirmation from the embassy and our passports back in Java with the right sticker in it.

Thanks for a good time!

Thanks for a good time!

Earlier this day we caught up with Santosh when he was having breakfast thinking this would be our time to say goodbye for good. It was again great to meet up with him – only improved by the kick ass morning smoothies we got shouted. We collected more tips for our continued journey , including on for potentially after visa hell.

So released from the clutches of bureaucracy, we set out to have a look at Pandawa Beach. And what a bizarre experience it was. The beach at the southern end of the southern peninsula has only very recently been developed. Or say, they have started development. The infrastructure is ready, but the massive resorts are currently only outlines of leveled dirt behind the beach. A road has been cut into the cliff down to the beach, and while they were at it, enormous niches with statues depicting characters from the Mahabharata were set up along it. Down at the beach is an enormous car park and a row of maybe 50 warungs along the promenade. That is it.

I must admit, I am puzzled by what the appeal of the beach for these girls is

I must admit, I am puzzled by what the appeal of the beach for these girls is

That is probably also the reason, why the beach is currently mostly visited by Indonesian domestic tourists (One family we talked to was on a grueling 4 day trip from Jakarta). They were carted here by the busload. The handful of bule (foreigners) looked appropriately out of place.

Everything is sorted out at the beach, for a small fee. Deckchair and umbrella? 30k rupiah! Drink? Whatever you want! Boat hire, sure! Need to pee? No problem, 2000 rupiah! We ended up staying for an hours or so. Enough to have a swim. The mood was spoiled a bit when a bunch of university students from Java started filming us – for bragging rights I assume.

Statues in Bali are often "dressed", even on public buildings

Statues in Bali are often “dressed”, even on public buildings

After the beach, we headed west along the coast to find a place, but nothing really got us hooked. Plus Nina was craving some city life. So at 5 pm, we found ourselves back in Sanur. One thing has changed: Since it was so touristy here, we were able to book a room online for a very good price, $23 NZ. The Abian Boga Guest House even had a pool! The water was cool, to boot!

We were even happier when we found a laundry nearby that would do our washing over night. It was sourly needed. With all things set, we texted Santosh one more time. He had to work next morning, but in the end we arranged for one more dinner. He brought his lovely friend Lisa. We discussed where to go and it turned out that our hotel had a good restaurant as well.

We sat down to great food and had more great conversation. The biggest surprise came when Lisa asked if there would be Balinese dancing that night, and the answer was yes! So completely unexpectedly, we got to see our first two dances before dinner.  Balinese dancing really is something special – hard to describe but fascinating to watch.

Thank you to Santosh and Lisa for the lovely evening!

Day 108 – Visa matters

Coming to Bali meant two things: It is going to be more touristy and we will have to sort out some of our visas. Most importantly our NZ visa as there is a visa application center on Bali and immigration NZ had let us know via phone that we can apply there.

this is the "sandwich" Nina is talking about. Chocolate cookies for bread ...

this is the “sandwich” Nina is talking about. Chocolate cookies for bread …

Packing our things, we drove down to Sanur. There is a German consulate here which we visited first. Just to make sure we don’t need any temporary papers for the time our passports will be sent to New Zealand. Nah, all good, we don’t need anything but a receipt from the application center. Is there a chance that we could get a second passport, you know, to apply for a Pakistani visa? No, absolutely not, this is just for business people. *le sigh*

Rocking up at the consulate on our bike, had given us a lot of attention from the security people who recognized the license plate and gave us many thumbs up. When we left again, there was a guy waiting for us. He had seen the bike and wanted to talk to use as he himself owns an Africa Twin. Thus we met Santosh, an Indian ex-pat living on Bali and currently house-sitting for friends in the same street that the consulate was on.

To facilitate our conversation, we hopped into Café Smorgås where Flo had juice but I had the most delicious ice cream sandwich…maybe ever. 🙂

Extra lane for motorcycles.

Extra lane for motorcycles.

Despite wanting to talk to a fellow motorbike traveller, I got itchy as the visa application center was still on for today. So we made dinner plans with Santosh and left for Benoa Square which houses the center. There is a toll road leading around Denpasar rather than through it. It costs 4500 Indonesian rupiahs for a motorcycle which is about 50 cents and cuts out a fair bit of traffic. And the best thing: Motorcycles get their own separate lane away from the cars and trucks.

Applying for our visa was not as straight forward as we hoped it to be. First of all, the application center had no means of checking if we are eligible for the visa we wanted so wouldn’t hand out the form despite us knowing even the number of the form we needed. Instead, we had to email them. This email then got forwarded to the NZ embassy in Jakarta. Then we waited on their reply to be able to actually apply. We would have loved to just get in contact with the embassy in Jakarta but they have no public website or email address so this was not an option. We had to go through the application center.

the whole road is on stilts over the shallow lagoon

the whole road is on stilts over the shallow lagoon

In the end, we got the right form, filled it out, stapled our passport pictures to it and then waited. And waited. And waited. The computer system was down (which we had been told before) but apart from having to pay in cash (which we were told), there was actually no way to put our application through (which we hadn’t been told). Instead of communicating any of the problems to us, we sat around from 1.30pm until 5pm with an increasingly frantic member of staff who kept trying to put our application through every 10min.

In the end we had to leave without applying and the advice to come back tomorrow. All this waiting made me nearly insane but Flo kept his cool.

Hindu symbolism everywhere. Here, a roundabout

Hindu symbolism everywhere. Here, a roundabout

Back in Sanur, Santosh helped us find a room for our budget and then showed us around town a bit on the way to dinner. The room was in a sweet Balinese style homestay, and our room was all carvings and decorations. Later in town, I even managed to buy postcards.

Dinner was lovely in a warung makan that gave us our first taste of Java. It was well frequented by locals and you get great value for our money. Afterwards, we took the “scenic” route back which led along the waterfront and stopped for one more rounds of drinks at fancy place. Santosh was great company, and we talked about traveling, life in Indonesia and his own plans for a really cool trip.

 

Day 107 – Deflated

Actually quite fed up, we left Kuta to head to the ferry in Lembar that would take us over to Bali. Although we left early, we were covered in sweat already. I was still wishing for a pocket waterfall…when we had the following conversation:

“Nina, are all the bags still secured?” – *me checking all of them* “Yeah, all good.” – “Are you wiggling around?” – “Me? Not particularly.” – “Are you sitting further back than usually?” – “Eh, noooo?” *repositioning myself* “Is something wrong?” – “The bike is running weirdly.” – “Stop and have a look?” – “Yeah….”

Rocinante being professionally propped up on a center stand *cough*

Rocinante being professionally propped up on a center stand *cough*

Turns out we had a flat rear tire. Yay. Made me like Lombok even more in right that instant. Poor island being judged so harshly. But, actually, we were super lucky: Flo had pulled up right behind a workshop. It took him about one millisecond to consider to get out his tools and start getting the tire out or pay someone $4 and get it done for him. Guess what we ended up doing. 🙂

Despite not having all the Honda-approved tools, the workshop guy had the tire off in no time at all. Maybe enough time for Flo to finish half of his “es campur” (mixed Indonesian ice cream) that we were offered while waiting. Since we couldn’t see anything sticking in the tire, the tube must have a puncture. And we were still carrying the heavy duty inner tube that we got in Darwin despite thinking of ditching it for a million times already. Workshop guy cracked up laughing that we had a spare tube but it made his job even easier. He just changed out the tube and put the tire right back on. Flo had a look

Off came the tire and it took almost no time

Off came the tire and it took almost no time

for the puncture on the tube but couldn’t see anything. The valve was actually broken, letting air out which led to our flat tire. Which is much harder to repair than a hole in the tube. Suddenly we were glad to have carried that stupid tube for so long.

It cost all of 30.000 Indonesian rupiah and we were back on track. This time we prepared for the ferry even better, buying take away food before getting to the terminal. Everything doubles in price for the ferry.

Luckily, sleeping was possible...

Luckily, sleeping was possible…

Tickets for us and the bike were about $17. The ferry looked tiny (and slightly untrustworthy as it had rammed something in its past) but it wasn’t very full either. We managed the four hours to Bali alright, laying around and sleeping for most of it. I was very happy to sleep as the 30mins I was awake made me seasick again. Lombok was covered in rain clouds and the sea was on the choppy side.

Arriving in Bali at 4pm or 4.30pm, I was through with this day. So we went to a guest house right in the ferry port town. Which turned out to be a lovely little spot. We were already relieved to see the volcanic mountains and the rain forest that comes with it, but now architecture is different as well. None of the islands so far are resembling Bali in the architecture. And our guest house, despite being on the cheap side, is a little gem. Which also offers the fastest internet connection we had so far.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit like holidays here so went out and had dessert after dinner as well: apple crumble with ice cream. It was authentic and good but I kinda forgot that it will be hot….*face palm*. Flo, smartly, decided for an “Arak attack” instead.

Day 106 – Tourism

No, this is not a holiday. We are travelers. A clarification that I had to use more than once in the last week. The point becomes infinitely harder to make as soon as we get off the bike and base ourselves somewhere. And twice over, if that base is in an area “developed for tourism”.

No, no, no! I don't want to buy anything!!!

No, no, no! I don’t want to buy anything!!!

By why is that so important to me? Well, for starters, because we do not have the money that tourists have, nor their naivete for that matter.  No, I don’t want your overpriced trinkets, no massages, please stop hollering. I know how western food tastes like and have my own transport. But worst of all, it destroys most access on a personal level. All interactions of a tourist with the host environment are business transactions. This is the opposite of the genuine human element that we are looking for.

Is this our own fault? Are we not looking hard enough or looking in the wrong places? Maybe. For now our first lesson is to be weary of any place with a “great break”. For some reason, surfer beaches are filthy, westernized places of dread for us. Cheap booze, dirty sleeps and modified scooters with surfboards, ridden by shirtless “dudes”. Definitively not our scene.

So much like Tropico, I was looking for my cursor

So much like Tropico, I was looking for my cursor

So after all this sermon, you might be surprised that we stayed another night in Kuta Lombok. Well, it was too hot and our motivation was at rock bottom. We stayed close to the fan and Wifi and mostly did nothing much. One thing was sure though, we were through with Lombok’s south coast.

Around lunch time, enough energy was gathered to head out for one excursion to a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. We did even manage to pack beach gear for an eventual afternoon at one of the “gems” promised by the same. Well, the restaurant was closed for renovations. At least there was another one right next door – although it was also in the “tourist” price range, about 2-3x more expensive than local food. The view was good though and we decided to risk it. The food was OK, we liked the chilly cheese popper and we got an instagram out of it that looked like a HD rendering of Tropico III.

not for us ...

not for us …

I’ll keep the “beach” experience brief. A filthy beach surrounded by scorched wasteland soon to be developed into a cheap faceless resorts. Currently only interesting for surfers. We fled.

As we were cruising back (very slowly, as we chose to ride without gear and stick to 30km/h) relieving clouds rolled in. And actually coalesced into proper rain clouds. Which later on would even lead to actual rain. Wohoo … still far less than would be normal for this time of the year though, thanks to El Niño.

And thus concluded our day. We loved the higher regions, the green and the serenity of Gunung Rinjani but we were bitterly disappointed by the savanna and the tourist of the south. Tomorrow, we will leave for Bali. There is a promise of lush green, but also of millions of tourists waiting for us. Will we be able to find some more of what we are looking for there?

Day 105 – From rain forest back into savannah

Nice view for breakfast

Nice view for breakfast

Tete batu was even cool in the morning. But we decided to just see one waterfall before heading off to Kuta. Maybe we could have a beach day after all.

Driving up the rather washed-out road, we stopped at the house of a local with whom we had spoken yesterday. He pointed us in the right direction for the Air Terjun and we walked the last 200m there by ourselves. The place was way smaller than the waterfalls we had seen so far but it was still a lovely little place. One of the small falls produced a rainbow where the water hit the rocks and the locals had made a dam by the two biggest falls to retain the water. The thus created pool was deep enough to wash in.

All handcrafted organic rice here ...

All handcrafted organic rice here …

Coming back up we asked for a short guided tour and were taken through the village and along the rice fields for a good while. The sun was burning down again…I was really wishing for a pocket waterfall by this time so I could refresh myself whenever I wanted…

The tour ended with a walk through the aptly-named “monkey forest” where we saw many black and grey monkeys, some of them even carrying babies. Pictures are not nearly as impressive as we still don’t own a tele.

After this, we just packed the bike with the luggage we had left at our guest house (and realizing it was on the “monkey forest street”) and left the lovely town of Tete batu, full of nice people and great roadside “nanas” (pineapple).

As soon as we came further south, the landscape returned to the very dry savannah we have seen for so long now. I simply found it too hot to ride which made me grumpy which lead to a misunderstanding with Flo. We discussed things over food which helped and continued to Kuta, one of the beach towns in south Lombok. Unfortunately, neither Flo nor I took a particular liking to the town so instead of relaxing, I got properly homesick. I haven’t been homesick in a while and I guess exhaustion also played its part.

To compensate, we (against better judgement) tried pizza again for dinner and were only mildly disappointed with the average one we got.

Day 104 – “Global Culture”

When Ted Simon was on his second trip, certain events unfolded durng that September of 2001 that would even impact a traveler, roaming the world on his motorbike. I remember reading about his experience of the events – how simultaneous connected and utterly removed he felt.

As we move about and explore Lombok, events have unfolded in the last week that may have an impact that has the power to break through and even touch us, here, a world removed. In the last week, Daesh has carried out thee terrorist attacks against foreign nations involved in the conflict in Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan. And as always, civilians have paid the price. 46 died in Beirut, 220 on a plane in Egypt and now over 120 in Paris. Through being online for the blog every day, but also just because of who we are and how we live we can’t escape but be touched by these events.

Yet it all is so strange, so far removed and so utterly saddening. Our filter bubble on Facebook shields us a bit from the hatred and the vitriol and the 20th century nationalism that seems to be the inevitable result of such events, but we know it’s out there. Yet here we are, in the (democratic) country with the largest Muslim population in the world. We hear the muezzins’ calls every day. We eat, we talk, we smile and laugh with the people. We see them react and share the sadness. All sense seems to escape. We will do as feels right: continue on, watch, learn and prepare to come home and spread the world.

Today, as we were walking back to our accommodation from buying a beautiful fresh pineapple in town, Nina got side-lined. Three giggling girls obviously on their way to some kind of sport practice have waited on us to get a “selfie”. They were delighted when I offered to take the picture (clearly the woman was the attraction here). More giggles, honest thanks and smiles and we walked on with a great experience as they got to it sharing the picture on Facebook. … Oh, and they were all wearing the hijab.

We have escaped the “bule” or tourist circus in Senggigi and the traffic and heat of Mataram. Instead, we have arrived at the foot of the mountain once more. The heat is tolerable here, we are surrounded by immaculate rice terraces and gardens. All the noises are water flowing, frogs quacking and the occasional scooter passing by our guest house. Tetebatu is just the place we need to recover from our first encounter with a touristically developed area.

Nina’s input: Those girls were so cute! We passed them on our way down into the village and on the way back, they “ambushed” me with a request for a picture. I just wish we had our own camera with us. Flo took a “selfie” of the bunch of girls and me, cracking up laughing because I was about 50cm taller than them, while I cracked up laughing at Flo, holding out a mobile phone covered in “Hello Kitty” stickers.