Tag Archives: rest day

Day 14 – Finally some rest

Having travelled for almost two weeks straight without any rest day, we were really craving a bit of doing nothing. Even when we spent two nights at the same camp ground (which happened twice so far), we still explored cities on those days. One can hardly call those “days off”, especially for Flo who usually carries Number 3 in the carrier backpack.

So today, was going to be a day of sweet nothingness. Of lazy lounging on the camp ground and of idle wandering towards the pool. We had exactly the right camp ground for this. And we had picked a good day for it as well: Not only was it Sunday (cough) but it was Election Day in Spain and we wanted to get out of any of the shenanigans that might come with it. It was a lovely sunny day to boot.

So we woke up to a sunrise over olive trees while camping underneath one. Between 9 and 11 our camp ground provide breakfast and it was divine. Nothing special but it came made for us, no work involved. Also breakfast is the best meal of the day. 🙂

“Doing nothing” turned into “slowly doing some chores” which included washing and drying our big pile of dirty laundry. Then we had the usual lunch with bread, cheese and the ton of ham and sausage that Flo had bought yesterday. An afternoon nap marked the time between lunch and the pool.

Number 3 was very keen on getting into the pool. His mind changed after he had his legs in the very refreshing water. Instead, he played a bit with the water jets while we took turns going for a short and rather hectic swim.

Flo prepared a lovely, mushroom risotto for dinner with a local sherry as the secret ingredient. Cordoba is in the sherry triangle of Spain apparently. Since the recipe only uses one glass, we had almost a whole bottle of sherry left…Flo can only drink so much. So he traded with our neighbours and was gifted with a glass of their sweeter sherry in return, which even I kinda liked.

Number 3’s bedtime had to be pushed to 30 minutes to an hour later than usual after yesterday’s disaster of trying to get a baby to sleep in a hot tent while the sun is still shining. On it. Just to be clear. Now, at about 8pm, dusk had already begun and Number 3 had no qualms with going to bed.

It left enough time to get a cold drink from the bar and sit quietly under an old olive tree for a while, watching the world turn pink, purple and blue. A generally great rest day was had. 🙂

  • Good morning olive trees
  • and good morning to you, blossoming old olive tree.
  • free entertainment in form of the lot barrierers
  • looking a lot more traveling vagabonde with a weeks worth of washing out
  • too much work, nap time
  • wanna play ball?
  • that is just about enough cold water
  • better to play with the round thing once more
  • technically we started here …
  • … and travelled all the way to the other side. With a bit of a break in between, maybe
  • looks good, but the little one learned his lesson around hot things about a minite from here
  • coulourful pastoral landscape all around

Day 303 – Need more energy

Day 3 of relaxing. We briefly thought that today might be the day we get up and see some of the surrounding area but right after breakfast, we decided against it…yeah, nah…

So delicious, all of it

So delicious, all of it

So we had another day of charging our own batteries, snoozing in the tent, jumping in the pool and I finished my book which I started on our first rest day. 🙂 It just felt great to do nothing.

In the evening, we decided to go out for really good food in a restaurant that is slightly more pricey than what we usually go for. Flo was particularly hungry as he had skipped lunch. It took some searching to find it (google maps was asked once) but once we sat down, everything was great. Flo even found good beer which is a big thing after going through Oman and Iran where you just can’t buy alcohol.

Cappadocia, we are really grateful that you decided to be sunny and warm for days because we really needed this rest. Thank you.

Day 302 – Stats 111 Iran

Another extremely relaxed day at the campground. We went out for dinner, but that was it. So without further ado, another bit of trip data.

Country data #11: Iran

Full screen version of the map

  • 6141 km in total (5845 km of GPS tracked)
  • 22 travel days, 27 days total
  • $23.48 Average cost per night (15x room, 10x camping and 2x invitation)
  • 297.19l of standard fuel for $ 132.04 (4.84 l / 100km)
  • ~$11.13 for food eating out some times, 3x invitations
  • ~$1,600 in total.

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 301 – Stats 110 Oman

Oh, pleasant rest. For the first time in about 40 days, we deliberately do … nothing. That is, no traveling, no sight seeing. Just sleep, good food and a little bit of blogging as an when the mood strikes us. We did close out the day with tea and snack with the only other guests, a very cool couple from Iran. Thus, finally, there is some space to do another stats post.  

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Country data #10: Oman

Full screen version of the map

  • 4008 km in total (3908 km of GPS tracked)
  • 12 travel days, 27 days total
  • $9.69 Average cost per night (4x room, 8x camping and 15x invitation)
  • 250.25l of standard fuel for $ 143.43 (6.5 l / 100km – all Arabia)
  • ~$14.01 for food every day, eating out on the road, invitations while resting
  • ~$910 in total.

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 197 – Gaining energy levels

deflated in bed in our spartan little cabin.

deflated in bed in our spartan little cabin.

Waking up, Flo felt like having a cold coming on. Given that we had booked our 10 hour elephant experience for tomorrow, I wanted him to rest in bed rather than visit a waterfall. Said waterfall had turned into a tourist attraction anyway with the zipline company advertising a spectacular line over the waterfall. That might have been fun but was too expensive for us with US$70 per person.

So instead, we had a very slow day at the Happy Elephant Bungalows. Flo spent most of it in bed, as requested, while I sat on the terrace/dining area in the afternoon to enjoy a breeze and some jungle views. I also tried the hammock in front of our own bungalow but while it was only at an ok comfort level, I got insect bites all over my back and so abandoned it again pretty soon.

We literally only went out for lunch which seemed to be very exhausting for Flo already and had an underwhelming dinner at our guest house before going to bed early.

Day 167 – Learning about electronics

We had a very simple (read: not good) breakfast in the Red Inn Heritage hostel and then retreated back to our room. Since we had been told quite clearly yesterday that we weren’t really wanted here, we just used the wifi to update the blog before packing. Through agoda, we booked into the hostel around the corner to have our night sorted before starting any work on the bike.

Flo's lunch: The daily special

Flo’s lunch: The daily special

At 11am, Flo managed to speak to Jonathan on the phone and he agreed to have a look at Rocinante after lunch. He would even seek us out in our new accommodation. Having set up this meeting, we moved all our stuff into the Guest Inn Muntri and went out for a quick lunch at a Chinese place. Flo ordered the daily special which turned out to be something that looked slightly like a seared sausage. It apparently didn’t taste too bad. I went for the more conservative option of rice and vegetables. However, the vegetables arrived with prawns and I was just surrendering to a lunch of plain rice when the waitress realized that I didn’t touch my food, asked if prawns were okay and when I shook my head, took it away and replaced it with pure vegetables. Win!

"Under the hood"...undergoing surgery

“Under the hood”…undergoing surgery

After lunch, we sat outside the hostel, briefly waiting for Jonathan. He arrived pretty soon after and went right to work on Rocinante’s electronics. The ECM (Engine control module) was checked thoroughly without showing any cracks or dents. So Jonathan concluded that the connection had to be bad. This part of the motorcycle is similar to a computer and here is what I gathered happened to our bike: The different metal connections sit in place for years, making the bike run smoothly. Every bit of the surface that isn’t used, oxidized with time. After the square hit, the connections shifted slightly so that now, oxidation was sitting on oxidation, weakening the connection having the effect of a loose connection…one time it works, the other it won’t.

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

So the solution seemed to be unplugging and re-plugging everything for a couple of times so that oxidation would be scrapped off, allowing the connection to go back to normal. It worked! After the treatment, Rocinante started reliably again and Flo learned something about the electronics’ side of the bike. Mechanically, he is well versed by now.

Jonathan is a very busy man so he declined our offer of a coffee as “thank you” for his help but me being very, very relieved and Flo feeling off today meant that we declared this day as a rest day and went back to relaxing instead of sight-seeing.

While blogging in the communal area of the guest house, we met Josy and Peter, two German backpackers (https://fuckitwereleaving.wordpress.com) who travel South-east Asia now, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are still to come later in the year. This gave us more than enough in common to fuel conversation so we made it a date to have dinner together on the night food market.

...with chocolate cake...

…with chocolate cake…

Before this though, I dragged Flo into the Purrfect Cat Cafe; a cafe that serves coffee and cake but also has a room with up to eight cats that you can pat. I had tried to get us in around 3pm but was turned away because the cafe was already full on a Sunday afternoon. She recommended to come back at a later time  maybe after 6pm. So we went back there.

I liked the cake and tea but was slightly disappointed about the cats: They were clearly peopled out for today. Most of them were up on a cupboard where no one could reach them while one was sleeping on the window sill, not caring if it was patted or not. A second one hopped down for the cupboard later on but went to a chair and even turned its back on Flo when he approached. This cat would also endure patting without looking too happy about it.

So dinner it was. Flo and I went for dumplings on the night market this time. I thought that the spinach and pumpkin ones were vegetarian before being told that they contain prawns so I got stuck with a plate of all sweet dumplings. Guess it could have gone worse.

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 91 – A question of style

We got of when it was still mostly dark!

We got of when it was still mostly dark!

The boat was early! We were mentally prepared for a lot, but not really for arriving at 5:30 am, ahead of schedule. Never mind, we got a moderate level of sleep out of this night and were ready to embark onto Flores in the first light of day. After a last brief interlude – before everyone could leave, an ambulance backed onto the ferry and the coffin got heaved into it by the assembled crowd. With a long salute of the ship, the ambulance rode off into dawn, and we close behind.

View over the bay at early morning

View over the bay at early morning

I have read about a series of guest houses 100 km to the east offering beach views and much needed tranquility and not too much in terms of sights on our way there. The road offered gorgeous views and was in good repair. That allowed us to arrive at our destination still early in the day at 8:30 am. The first place we went to, Lena House, had a bungalow at the beach available. Tired and exhausted we were more than happy to call it a day and booked ourselves in.

While the room was prepared, we got into a conversation with Andy, a globetrotter character originally from the UK, and his lovely partner from Java, where they currently reside. As we were talking, we discovered that we had an interesting thing in common. A while back I would have been surprised, but NZ and traveling really made us accept that small world encounters are more common than one would think. So it turned out that both of us have hosted Chris Schlatter, a motorcycle traveller from Switzerland, and his partner Francesca at different points of their trip.

Has been alive quite recent

Has been alive quite recent

After a lot of lounging and relaxing, we decided to follow a recommendation by them to have dinner at the guesthouse next door. As it turns out they would eventually join us, and later on we were joined by She Ye and Matt. The dinner turned out to be … exciting. No meat was available in the kitchen, so Andy set out on a quest to find us something nice to share. Nina was sorted, with an eggplant curry using the only remaining eggplants. When Andy came back, there was more than one raised eyebrow. He bought meat all right. In his hand on the bike was a feathered, white and very much alive chicken! Turns out he got the directions to the chicken farm and not to any sort of butcher. Well, the bird met its timely end right there behind the kitchen and we got a great shared dinner out of it. We washed it down with some home distilled arak, a sort of palm tree spirit.