Category Archives: Motorcycle

Day 114 – The Leberwurst Connection

It was almost a sin not to have taken a photo of our marvelous breakfast. Then again, some things should be enjoyed uninterrupted. We decided to go all in with the level of the accommodation and have breakfast there. It was excellent: Freshly toasted home made bread, local made jams, fresh fruit salad, scrambled egg and fresh juice. It was so delicious! We even had briefly considered staying another night, but after that breakfast we were thoroughly luxuried out.

View back north where we came from

View back north where we came from

We took our time and were back on the road by 11 am. By chance of our starting position, our GPS chose a beautiful back road back up the mountain towards our first goal. The three lakes looked cool on the map and as expected delivered on beautiful roads and moderate amounts of tourists.

We briefly dipped down to the lakes themselves, but found little to hold us for longer. The first one was the most touristy and after realizing that we stopped in front of another temple. Half way out of our gear we did a 180° and were back on the road in no time. The second lake was quieter and had the first campground we found in Indonesia on its shores. It was too early to think of camping and the warung had no food – so after a quick drink with lake view we headed for the ridge road over the last two lakes.

at lunch, great spot

at lunch, great spot

Coming in we saw that the ridge road had plenty of eateries with a view, so that is where we were heading for. The road held true with all levels of eateries. We ended up stopping at a top end warung run by a french expat. He had the trees on the lake side cleared and put up tables across the street so that guest could eat with a view. I had a chat with the owner, who it turned out had been travelling quite a bit in his day.

I still did not make it all the way back to our table after that. As happened in New Zealand, a couple on vacation from Germany noticed the German licence plate on Rocinante and we got talking some more. Alexandra and Patrick seemed definitively to be on the nicer end of tourists we encounter. Just earlier that day we had another weird run in with Germans that re-affirmed our dislike for “touristy” areas. We got asked the same disinterested questions and then got ignored while answering because they had to purchase ridiculously overpriced rubbish from hawkers. Anyway, we gave a business card to Alexandra and Patrick when they left and soon after headed out ourselves.

german welcome for a german bike

german welcome for a german bike

The last itinerary for the day before finding a place to stay. Back in Dili, we got an address from fellow German traveller Hubert – go and say hi to Richard at his place in Lovina. Aptly named “Deutsches Eck” (German corner) we were in for a rough culture shock. Richard has build himself a good life here, with a family and a good little hotel. As we were ready to head out again to find a place to stay (the rooms here are a bit too pricey for us) Richard offered us to stay on the bale bengong (A 3x3m raised platform with a roof for shade that is out front most houses for chilling during the day). We got a mosquito net and there were even blinds, all for an unbeatable fee for the night. When he threw in the promise of “Leberwurst” and sour dough bread, we could not refuse, could we?

So we stuck around for the night, chatted to Richard’s sons, other guests and German expats that came by and gathered further contacts along what we dubbed the “Leberwurst Connection” – a row of German expats along our further path through Indonesia. Speaking German again and even seeing German dishes on the menu was cool and supremely weird at the same time. Definitively something we will need to process a bit once back on the road.

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 102 – Mehs and Yays

Google is wrong! Well, maybe not in general, but regarding the geolocation of Dalam Loka, a historic sultan’s palace.

Build in the 19th century for the Sultan in Sumbawa

Build in the 19th century for the Sultan in Sumbawa

But in order: We managed to do as we set out to and pack up early enough to get on the road before the heat is too unbearable. Nina wanted to see the weaving of traditional cloth, called ikat by the lonely planet, first hand. We have seen woman dying cloth and weaving in mountain villages on Flores, but did not stop to take photos or have a chat. Going into more and more developed parts of Indonesia, this felt like one of the last good chances to do so. But alas, the geolocation demons struck again. The directions in the lonely planet were sketchy at best, the open street maps has the village mentioned in the wrong place and it was Friday early morning in an Islamic part of the country. We did not even find the right village in the end, but the round trip on beautiful back roads through lush green rice paddies was worth it none the less.

With that first failure under our belt, we decided to give the sultan’s palace a go. Google said it is 20 km south in the mountains. It was also a point of interest on the OSM map, so we let the GPS guide the way. Turned out we ended up back in Sumbawa Besar after all – within walking distance of our hotel …

The palace was a nice photo-op but not much more, and we decided that it was time to head east for good. When we came upon the fork in the road, leading either south to some more Sumbawa surfer beaches or east to the ferry to Lombok, the discussion was a short one. Although we met amazing people, we never really warmed to Sumbawa and we went towards the ferry. We are here to enjoy ourselves after all.

nice place for a ferry port ...

nice place for a ferry port …

The ferry was quick, painless and reasonably cheap. The sea was roughest of all ferry rides so far though and poor Rocinante got a good spray of salt water on the way. Well, at least it was quick this time.

On Lombok, the route was pretty clear: North, up the mountain where it is nice and cool. And green, oh such sweet green. I can honestly say, I am over savannahs. Too dry, too hot. And gosh, Lombok delivered. Lush, green rainforest enveloping the beautiful, winding road. Vistas, monkeys. Our spirits sored. Nina got fresh strawberries in a mountain valley!  Although, we got more than a little homesick for New Zealand at this point.

The accommodation was good, much better than what we got for that price so far, and the climate really suited us. We booked a guide for tomorrow for a half day track through the surroundings and two waterfalls nearby, since Gundung Rinjani (the big volcano on Lombok) was still closed for all climbers due to its recent activity.

Day 94 – Trans Flores

Today was the first time we had rice for breakfast; rice, spicy vegetables and an egg to be precise. Our accommodation included breakfast but what happened was that we got a voucher and were sent into the warung next door for it. They were slightly surprised about the early customers.

In an attempt to make it a bit more breakfast-y, we ordered tea and coffee to go with it but, honestly, it didn’t improve it.

A good way to start the day

A good way to start the day

On the way out of Ende, the road lead along the coast with beautiful black beaches that we admired profoundly. The surf breaking against the black rocks and then going up the black sand would have justified a lot more pictures than we took but we were just starting the day and didn’t want to stop too often.

Soon, the road began to lead away from the coast, into the hills and then mountains. We had entered the city of Bajawa as a way-point today. On the way, a volcano appeared on the horizon, still sending small plumes of smoke out into the atmosphere. It was a majestic sight. Flores has many volcanoes and we had been to the crater lakes of Kelimutu just yesterday but an actual volcano with smoke is an amazing thing.

May not look like much, but good food!

May not look like much, but good food!

Getting hungry, we started to look out for a warung makan at the roadside and spotted one before we reached Bajawa. It was quite crowded but as soon as we entered, a group of school girls left and thus made space for us. Stretching the little bahasa we know now and with the help of the google translate app, we were able to order for me and Flo chose a fish dish. The food was incredibly yummy, probably the best warung food we had so far. The rice and tofu came with gado gado, a local green vegetable salad and an extra bowl with soup. The soup was a vegetable broth with chives and roasted garlic but really quite spicy. Still too spicy for me to be honest but so delicious that I kept eating it despite coughing and a runny nose. Similarly, the tofu came with a sambal olek that was just a touch too hot but way too yummy to be ignored. Even Flo struggled with the hotness of the sambal and he eats way hotter than I do. So we had our meal with occasionally blowing our nose; however, we enjoyed it immensely.

As soon as we finished eating, some of the local people eating here started asking questions: Where we come from, where we are going and then, the conversation took a different turn. Instead of shifting to motorcycle talk, Primus and another gentlemen were interested in our motives for such a journey. We ended up comparing the family life of Germans and Indonesians over Flo’s local coffee. This was probably the first in-depth conversation we had with local Indonesians as they spoke English very well and if something remained unclear, google could translate it into Bahasa for us.

This is one of the reasons why I write so much about food in my daily updates. We eat in the local places, getting off our bike and taking off the helmets, having time for interactions with people that goes beyond a wave or a smile to someone at the roadside. During meals, we actually meet locals. So far, the language barrier was a big problems but the lunch conversation was simply great.

More like home: Clouds, water and ferns in the bush

More like home: Clouds, water and ferns in the bush

Back on the road, we felt energized from the encounter. Also, since it was still in the middle of the day, we skipped going into Bajawa and headed straight for Ruteng. Now the road really headed for the mountains and we were reminded of NZ a lot with all those windy roads going up and down the mountainsides, crossing over into valley after valley and taking pass after pass. Flo was pretty much in motorcycle heaven and there aren’t even many villages around to disturb the driving flow. The landscape varied between mountain tops and lush green rain forest with occasional rice patties. All of it was beautiful to behold.

I, once more, had the advantage of being able to look around, greet a lot of folks in the villages and wave to all the children at the road side. There were some heart-warming moments for us including a group of schoolkids singing a song while playing and then all waving to us and a couple of kids on the road with home-made sledges that used wheels so it would go downhill on the road. I really wish I could have taken a picture of them playing but we passed them without me even having the camera on me. Stopping and going back would have ruined the scene as they would have flocked to the spacemen with the big bike then instead of playing. Oh well…you just cannot have everything. 🙂

Individually packed cups of drinking water ... hate!

Individually packed cups of drinking water … hate!

Arriving in Ruteng, we were looking for a convent that the Lonely Planet suggested as accommodation. As always, cities are chaotic and crowded and we couldn’t find it even by going around the block. So we thought, drawing from our experience yesterday, that we try the police station again. Indeed, right after I said the words “Di mana kongregasi?”, he first pointed in a direction and then personally escorted us there on his police motorbike.

The convent turned out to be luxurious for our standards. The rooms are big, there are real showers with hot water, giving you a western standard for your $30 a night. It might be a bit pricey for us but after a long day on the bike, we took the luxus with gratitude. The guy at the reception was very surprised that we didn’t come from Bajawa or Labuanbajo but all the way from Ende and in a record time to boot.

Day 93 – Mon-three-versary!

cool fruit

cool fruit

What a day this was! It started golden already, waking up as the fishermen returned with their morning catch. The surf was still there, the view was too and the hills gave us shade from the sun long enough to get all our gear packed before the sun hits the beach. As promised our breakfast was waiting for us at Blasius’ place at 7 am. Dried banana baked in a dough mantle that looked a bit like croissants, tea and “kopi” to go with them. I love the local coffee, by the way. A lot like greek coffee, the ground and sugar are all mixed together and served unfiltered. To round it off we got offered sawo. The green fruit is eaten like a fig, broken apart and the inside that tastes a bit like sour banana with the texture of ripe pear is then nibbled out. The fruit was good, but it left a bizarre gum-like residue on the lips, like sap.

Very welcoming.

Very welcoming.

After breakfast Blasius took us and his middle son with him to his parents’ house to introduce us. We had a lovely welcome there, another round of coffee and a round of family photos. When Blasius told us that his dad is growing cocoa, amongst other things, I asked him if he had ever tried the cocoa (knowing that a lot of producers don’t know how the end product, chocolate, tastes like). He was a bit confused, nodded and wandered off. He came back with two fresh ripe cocoa pods, opened one and took a segment with bean in his mouth. We did the same and started munching away, chewing the bitter bean … when he spit the cleaned bean right back out! Turns out that one can eat the sweet sour fruity skin of the bean, which is quite good. The bean is disgusting of course, until dried, roasted and mixed with heaps of sugar …

After the visit it was time to leave and I asked what we owed for the dinner and breakfast and he said whatever we were ok to give. Ah, what a terrible burden! I gave 100k rupiah, and he seemed genuinely happy with this. After a sec, I added another 50k (all together $17.50 NZ). We did not have to pay for accommodation and the food was excellent, plus the kindness we received!

On our way down we saw 15 calmly crossing the road. Magical!

On our way down we saw 15 calmly crossing the road. Magical!

The road to Moni and on up Kelimutu was a beautiful mountain road. We had to stop for 15 minutes at a work site, but it was only a couple of turns and we could move to the shade to sit it out. The Trans-Flores Highway is great, reminding me a lot of NZ roads (although a tad less repaired). After a brief lunch in Moni, we headed up the volcano(es). From the car park it is only a 1.5 km walk to the viewing platforms. It is all about the three candela lakes here, each one a different colour and all visible from a single point. On the way we spotted macaques, shy as they should be, on the track. Wohoo, wild monkeys!

Up top we met Lili and Sebastian, a couple of French backpackers. We had a good chat and were able to fully NZ-geek-out when Lili told us about her working holiday visa and her soon to start NZ year 🙂

satisfyingly green

satisfyingly green

The road down from here to Ende leads through a super narrow valley, beautiful rice fields or rivers at the bottom of them and overall a riding highlight on this trip so far. One of these roads that deserve a youtube GoPro clip. The only downside was another road closure for half an hour and two work sites with muddy roads, but nothing too wild. When the road opened again, we got spilled through the work site in a frantic rush of motorcycles and down and out towards dusky Ende. Once there, a wrong turn got us into a police station, and after we got swarmed by officers we got a final escort through the one-way jungle to our guesthouse.

Day 92 – Surprise at Koka Beach

We took our time this morning. The original plan was to stay two days at Lena house to get a bit of a rest from the ferry but since we had arrived here yesterday at 8am and didn’t do anything except for resting and eating, we felt good enough to travel on. The idea still was to have a short day though.

Getting ready to leave. She Ye took a picture of us because we just have so few with both of us

Getting ready to leave. She Ye took a picture of us because we just have so few with both of us

Breakfast with pancake and fruit salad was very yummy. She Ye also had breakfast so we had lovely company. Talking to other travelers is always good fun. Matt appeared quite a while later. Both of them warmly recommended Koka Beach where they had just been. So we put it on the agenda to check it out, at least.

It was warm, very warm at 11.30am when we left. And almost lunch time again. The next bigger city was Maumere so we planned to have lunch there. When we got there, nothing really took our fancy while I remembered a recommendation for a restaurant in Paga. According to the GPS, Paga was a mere 20km onwards so we decided to give Restaurant Laryss a try. It was astonishingly hard to find, in the end. We passed it on the first try, met a bunch of schoolkids ad had troubled turning around but found it on the second try. The sign had fallen down and nothing was advertising it as anything else but a regular looking place anymore…

Lunch at Restaurant Laryss

Lunch at Restaurant Laryss

The owner spoke English and a bit of German which Flo used to get a recommendation for food. Thus, he ended up with squid (very yummy according to him).

From Paga, it was only a short ride to Koka Beach. Off the main road, you take a small track down to the beach, maybe two kilometres. We were greeted by a guy with a machete at his side and a twelve year old shadowing him. He spoke English quite well and let us know that he is volunteering as “beach keeper” for Koka Beach: He gets a dollar from every visitor but for that money, he looks after the beach, clears it of rubbish and has a strike rule that no motorbikes are allowed right on the beach. He wasn’t kidding. The beach looked amazing! Funny story at the side: Our motorbike and our trip reminded him of another traveller who had stayed at Koka Beach. Turns out that Hubert, the German traveller we met in Dili, had stayed here for a couple of days.

A local named Blasius runs a little warung, shop and ‘guest house’ for Koka Beach. Right at the beach, a couple of tiny huts have been built out of bamboo which can be rented for $3 dollars a night so you can either stay in one of those or camp with your own tent. Some shaded benches and deck chairs for day visitors or use at the beach complete the set. All of them are also made out of bamboo.

Surprise attack during the selfie shot =P

Surprise attack during the selfie shot =P

We decided to stay for a night in a lovely hut. Since we didn’t have a mosquito net, we used just our inner tent in the hut. It was almost like living in a hobbit hole right at the beach. =P

Dinner was prepared by Blasius’ wife for 6 o’clock. It was lovely, delicious and way too much food. Two grilled fish were dished up for Flo while I got egg fritters, spinach and a delicious tomato-chili-salad that was just a notch too hot for me but which I ate anyway. Blasius joined us for dinner, well at least our dinner conversation, and we talked in English, a bit of Bahasa and a lot of gestures. Afterwards, we were treated to tea and coffee (local coffee, brewed like Greek ones) and an invitation to visit Blasius’ parents in the morning after breakfast.

It was dark early so we listened to an audiobook and took some photos in the dark before actually going to sleep.

Day 89 – Western Timor

Cheers and all the best to you!

Cheers and all the best to you!

After a somewhat creative breakfast at our hotel in Kefa (egg on toast with jam), we were ready to hit the road one more time on Timor. While we were loading up the bike, we were approached by a young Indonesian who turned out to be Stef Ndun from the island of Rote. He seems to have a knack for collecting overlanders in Kefa  and is aspiring to join us on the road one day. I wish him all the best and would hope that he manages to get out there himself one day. It is about time that we see more travelers of non-European decent.

The road was good to excellent for most of the way and traffic was very light until mid-morning. Because we want to try and catch the ferry to Flores on Sunday, we decide against major detours and headed pretty much directly to Kupang. Around 11 am, coming down from another lovely mountain town on a limestone cliff (Soe), it started getting seriously hot. It is the end of the dry and everything is brown, heating up fast and there is little shade most of the way.

Lovely place, great food

Lovely place, great food

At 1 pm we have made it to a recommended Hotel in Kupang, desperate to get out of our gear and get some food into us. Once again we failed with regards to our spending discipline, going for a double with AC over a twin with a fan for $5 NZ more. Somehow it is harder to keep strong if everything is so comparatively cheap anyway.

On the other hand, cost for food really have plummeted. For lunch we went to a warung recommended by the Lonely Planet guide and spend 42000 IDR, or about $4.50 NZ for the two of us including drinks.

The afternoon was spend hogging the hotel WiFi – all in style with some afternoon tea free of charge. We have really been craving some youtube lately and got our fix. Needs must.

Our night market pick

Dinner was another great experience: We went to our first night market. These kinds of open air temporary food courts are popular all across south east Asia. The local version had loads and loads of fish, barbecued to order over eucalyptus wood fires. For some reason, I felt more like satay skewers myself today, also barbecued to order and utterly delicious. After some small sardine found its unfortunate way into Nina’s dish, she luckily found consolation in the desserts provided by another cart.