Some Random Images

An ominous evening on the amazing Lake Toba. 

These buses are the kings of the road. The more BLING the better.

This shop was the dirtiest in the world. It also had AWESOME donuts.

Just a reminder how EPIC the mountains were.

How we felt after the hill "please can I sit in the shade and enjoy a cool drink..don't make me cycle again"

The rewards

Gear and a bit about food and drink

Gear and a bit about food and drink


GEAR

After a month of traveling the conclusion on gear is that it all worked well luckily we had no major problems/mechanicals during the trip.  (the first post that covers 'gear')

Things can always be improved and next time I’d make a few changes, these being:

• Riding single speed is ok but changing the wheel around in the 34degree heat was hard.  Next time, I’d install a three-speed hub gear on the rear.This gives you some flexibility but doesn't give potential for mechanicals that gears open you up to.   The bikes really get battered!
• Take less stuff. We were travelling light but you can always go lighter (eg. I didn’t need a fleece and I’d review tools I packed).
• The handlebar bag was great as it had loads of pockets. Pockets are good for ordering stuff.
•  Nancy’s cycling SPD sandals were great, versatile and gave her some awesome tan lines.
•  Long sleeve white jerseys are great for riding in the sun.
• Take a few extra cycling caps. They tend to go walkabout and would make good gifts.
• Learn more Indonesian.  My 6-months studing beforehand were invaluable.

FOOD


I should also mention the food, as it was amazing.  It is a pity that a lot of people go to Indonesia and only eat at hostels as the food around the place is simply amazing, if not fucking spicy.  We ate amazing fresh fish, drank fresh topical fruit juices and sipped strong coffee with donuts.  One thing for certain, with the exception of when we rode of the volcano, we were never very far from excellent food, friendly people and cheap drinks.

road was varied and interesting. this was BBQ corn with sticky hot chili sauce!

Food stops are everywhere. sometimes not the prettiest but this one had awesome fresh donuts!

Pocari Sweat - the drink of champions.

Katembe - Bukit Lawang

Katembe – Barastagi (day 1)

We rode to Takingon, which was 40kms, and then unsuccessfully tired every ATM in town to some money, which was pretty dull at the time.  We then jumped on a bus to Barastagi, what we didn’t realize that the driver of the bus had aspirations of formula 1 and that his beaten up 1980s people mover was his training vehicle.  We got to Barastagi in pretty good time.

At the time Barastagi felt like the high point of civilisation.  We had a few beers and some nice BBQ chicken / fish with some fellow travellers.  One traveler was born in 1990, which was a tad worrying.

Barastagi – Bukit Lawang (day 2)

This was a rerun of the first day but backward.  We  knew what to expect but also didn’t know how hard it would be.  I argued that it was all downhill (well most of it).

We were wary but it turned out to be great.  We walked most of the way down the very rocky parts and then rolled down the rest.  It was quiet and very pleasant indeed.  After we’d finished the descent we felt like we’d discovered the road and a small part of Indonesia our ourselves.

A quiet road all to ourselves

Once we hit the flats again it was hot.  At first we were moving along at a serious 30km average but then the 50kms and heat got the better of us (well me).  We had to fall into numerous road side stores for cool drinks, I seriously bonked and ate all the sugar I could find then a pig-rooting goat jumped in front of me, Nancy then ran into the back of me and skidded along the road.  Luckily the entire village was there to help! 

We made it to Bukit Lawang at 5 and were tired and very happy to be finished.  If you ever stay in Bukit Lawang stay at Green Hill guest house. Andrea, the host, will make the experience in an area plague by rogue guides so much more enjoyable and interesting. http://www.greenhill-bukitlawang.com/.  I’d also recommend walking up the river with a tube and floating down – very pleasant and you get to see the same jungle that they trek through.

View from greenhill guesthouse

jungle trekking.

I hate the jungle.  I hate jungle trekking even more.  I could make a whole list of reasons why the jungle isn’t a great place  (bugs, heat, guides, ups, downs, leaches, bugs, stings, sweat, tree-roots to name a few) but I won’t.   Nancy thought up a good analogy, trekking in a jungle feels like being in a shopping mall.  You come out stressed and tired; you have collected a heap of stuff you don’t want need (in the case of the jungle mostly bites); there is too much stuff going on which causes sensory overload and at first you enjoy it but by the time you leave you never go back; and,  you always seem to go back.

Apart from my dislike of the jungle and that is pretty much where Katembe is, Katembe was a nice place but very quiet and not much to do.  So, if you dislike the jungle, and couldn’t really care less about seeing so-called ‘wild’ orangutans, stay away from there.  I’m not afraid to say that I prefer David Attenborough, a zoo or watching pets in the back garden any day of the week.

I prefer seeing life from the road.

Just too much stuff going on

You trek for three hrs to the hot springs and then when you get there the local school turn up via the road that also leads to the same place.

Takingon to Katembe

The map said 64km but it soon became evident that a 1 was omitted and distance was actually 164km…This was a little disconcerting at the time.

The ride out of Takingon was over a large mountain and was one of the most scenic parts of the trip. The valley was pretty unpleasant due to the amount of smog sitting in the valley (the process of inversion means that pollution remains in valleys).  Climbing up into the jungle provided welcome relief. It was very quiet, cool and peaceful riding.  We past the odd herd of water buffalo and enjoyed the sounds of gibbons.  This climb turned out to be a highlight of the trip.

Towards the start of the climb you can see pollution sitting in the valleys.

The higher we went the more peaceful and dramatic it was.

After the climb we descended for 30kms through some of the oddest landscape we’d encountered in Indo.  There were no people, pine trees, and the landscape resembled southern Spain or the moon.  The heat and onset of some hard climbs meant we lasted for another hour or so and, after 100kms, decided to wait for the local bus. 

When the bus arrived it was full but there was more than enough space for us to sit on the top of the bus (rather precariously) …. after about 30minutes of being baked in the sun and hanging on for dear life we moved to spare space within for the remaining 9 hours.

ps. HELLO MISTER!! HELLO MISTER!!!

Everywhere we went there was always a chorus of HELLO MISTER!!  I started to refer to it as if people were raising the alarm…  While waiting for the bus, we watched the local racehorses being transported home along the same road and it was then we understood that yelling ‘HELLO MISTER’ was not limited to us big-white-folk. As the horses  trucked past the level of excitement reached fever-pitch as everyone yelled KUDA KUDA KUDA KUDA (horse in Indonesian).   We joined in had lots of laughs!

pps. BEING SICK

 I should say something about this inevitability.  On the bus to Katembe I got very sick with a stomach bug and felt sick most of the way.   It wasn’t good.  The stomach bug remained for the next few days and once I felt better but transferred it to Nancy...  Most times it was pretty easy to have some pills and ride through an upset stomach but this was the worst and most intense bug we got and meant that we had to delay leaving Katembe.  

A picture of being sick is not needed but here is a handsome goat instead.

Banda Aceh to Takingon

We caught a bus to Bireun to avoid the main roads and also 300kms of unneeded flat roads.  This was a good idea as the roads looked busy, hot, pretty flat and same-same.

We stayed the night in the mosquito invested Bireun and rode out at 6am hoping to beat the heat and make the highlands.

We managed to do this.  We cycling up, and up, and up, and then up. The roads were quiet, the people nice and the scenery pleasant.  We also saw some thomas-leaf monkeys which are not evil like their cousins.  The first major climb of the day was pretty impressive, through someone in Indonesia decided to build the biggest road in the world going up the hill.  The result was rather impressive...

A eager engineer in Indo making a big road (Nancy included in photo for scale)

The day was pretty much licked, through what we didn't realise was to go into Takingon you have to climb over the lip of a mountain and drop down to the lake.  This was quite hard work, we climbed for 10kms after 100kms, riding with a lot of traffic going past. It was quite difficult but then we were rewarded with a 7km descent into the town.

Takingon is an interesting town, very similar to danau toba but there were no 'white' tourists and it is a bit more industrial.  It is still amazing scenically, and the hotel that we stayed in was this amazing indonesian villla that was built for royalty in the 80's but since no-one has visited or done any maintenance.  We were afforded the most luxiourous surrounds we've had on the trip overlooking the late for a few days.  very nice indeed, though the lack of people made it feel a bit like the hotel in the shining...

Lake Takingon at dawn (marked on the map as 'Place of Scenic beauty'.

Takingon in the evening.  Busy, dirty, scenic, amazing and very Indonesian!

Habis (finished)

It has been a few days before posting as we went into deepest darkest Aceh.  I also haven't been able to upload photos and this blog relies on them rather than my drivel.  It is now our last day in Sumatra before we head to KL therefore

WE ARE DONE RIDING!  the bikes are going into their boxes

1050kms in total and we  are both wrecked.  I will update this blog with pictures and tales of riding through the centre of Sumatra when we get to KL.  It was truly amazing.