Biking In Bali

After 9 months of travelling and everything going our way, it was innevitable that we would be restricted from following the original plan to the end. We wanted to continue eastwards in Indonesia to Sulawesi and the island of Komodo to see the present dinosaurs, the Komodo dragons. Unfortunately, because of the distance, alloted time available and the terrible boat services in Indonesia, we had no choice but to return to Jakarta for a flight to Tarakan in the province of Kalimanta (Borneo Indonesia). From there we would head north and cross back into Malaysian territory.

We regrouped with Leive in Ubud (Bali) and Aurore from Belgium also joined us there. We planned to hire some bikes for two days and see the less touristy northern parts of Bali. First things first for me and Maj was to drive a bike down to Bali's airport past Kuta and book our flight tickets, since we couldn't do it over the internet. The tickets ended up being a lot cheaper buying them direct, and we scheduled to fly out on the 3rd of July. That gave us a 5 day window left in Indonesia.

It felt great getting some motorbikes out again, especially some reliable ones. We drove for around 4 hours into the mountain terrain of Bali heading for a small hill side village called Munduk. The views were superb. High altitude lakes shrouded in mist that faded away into really dense forests. At times it was hard to differntiate the tree tops from the clouds because of their whiteness.

We luckily stumbled across a guesth-house that offered us 100,000 Rupiah for 1 night for all four of us. That probably doesn't mean much to you, but let me tell you it was a bargain. The price also included free breakfast, which was a Balinese style cake. Some weird concoction of banana cooked in egg and sprinkled with coconut shavings. Gotta admit it was pretty tasty. The view from our rooms balcony was a great place to eat the brekky, a long stretch of foresty jungle that merged in the distance with the sea. That was where we decided to head next.

The roads were in great condition but they were very windy. At least it kept us focused at all times. As we descended down to sea level you could feel the mountain cool leaving, and the heat of the day starting its attack. It was gonna be a hot one. As we drove the stretch of the northern coastline we passed a few touristy spots with nice hotels, diving opportunities etc. Instead of hanging around here we made back for the mountains, climbing an equaling twisty road as the one we came down earlier. This time we got to pass the hills parallel to Mt. Brato which was again an incredible sight. We stopped a few times for camera breaks before continuing on to a Hindu temple on our route back to Ubud.

The temple here had a pool with small fountains pouring fresh spring water that was supposedly blessed into it. I got invloved with the blessing and had to sarong myself up and enter the freezing water to get my head wet under the fountains. Another experience that I don't think is available in the Sheffield peace gardens.

We had to wait out a small downpour of rain before making the 10km journey back to Ubud. We never got to see Komodo, but we did learn a load of rude phrases in French and Dutch. Who needs dragons?

Stooma klootzak!!! Sil vous plais.

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Indonesia to Malaysia - In addition, the rest of our days spent in indonesia we're long and stressfull. From Ubud we had an 11 hour bus ride to Surabaya, where it took a long time and some help from locals on motorbikes to finally find a cheap joint that wasn't full. The next trip for us was to get back to Jakarta for our flight to Tarakan in Borneo, but everything, trains and buses were completly full also. Even the buisness class tickets. We were looking at our only other option to fly to Jakarta, but we tried a different train station 1st and low n behold they had some buisness class seats remaining. The seats were far from what your picturing as buisness class, with cockaroaches running the place and mozzys getting their munch on, it was a pretty restless 12 hour journey. We hung around Jakarta for a few hours burning time by eating and using the net, and we even bumped into Herman again! Our Jakarta tour guide. He was in the exact same place we met him last time, thought he said he works for a travel agent? My arse, lol.

After reaching the airport and checking in, we sneaked into a business lounge (now your picturing correctly) that was really cozy and full of businessmen. We made use of the wi-fi and free coffee and the comfy chairs. I even helped myself to a plate from the buffet too. Hustling.

Because the bloody border crossing was closed on Sundays we had the privilege of spending a full day in Tarakan on the Indonesian side of Borneo. We took the day to update this god damn blog (Were enjoying it really) and go on our own individual jogs. I got mad lost, and had a little following like Forest Gump through a coast side village with a boardwalk winding between all the houses. It was fun. Later on I spent half an hour in a dedicated gaming cafe where the geeks were playing a shoot em up. 1st game I got powned (gay gamer talk), but in the next game I fucked em all up good and proper. Top ranking player......PAP!

Bali Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5886773011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/