Indonesia (3000km)

Tropical rainforests, heat and humidity, incredibly interested locals, kindness beyond belief, ridiculous traffic, beautiful beaches, humongous hills, ancient temples, wonderful waterfalls, fab food and an intense amount of staring. This pretty much sums up Indonesia. 

overall synopsis

I will happily admit that Indonesia is by far the most overwhelmed I have felt whilst cycle touring. Most likely down to a few reasons:

1. It was the first country I had cycled in outside of Europe and Australasia.

2. I didn't speak the language whereas on my other trips in NZ, Europe and Australia I could speak to everyone.

3. I was an oddity in the landscape, and being a woman cycling on her own generated a fair amount of attention. Most of which I was keen to avoid.

4. It’s incredibly overpopulated (especially Java) making wild camping difficult.

5. It was crazy hot and humid, and incredibly hilly.

6. Lastly I had done no research.

Having said all of this, it was a truly eye opening experience and the people were incredibly welcoming. To the point that sometimes I was slightly in awe of the kindness of strangers. Team that with dense and wild rainforest scenery, rewarding hill climbs and a sense resilience that can only be carved out of being outside your comfort zone; it ended up being a place that is truly etched in my memory.

The beginning (bali and lombok)

Arriving in Bali fresh from a packrafting trip in New Zealand, my first thoughts were 'Oh God the traffic is mental'. So keen to get back to nature again I cycled towards Padang Bai, where I could catch a local ferry to Lombok. And I am really glad I did, Lombok was fab, highlights included:

•  Beautiful beaches for snorkelling and swimming.

• An awesome trek up Mt Rinjani, it was quite difficult to get the park rangers to let me in without a guide but eventually, after a little payment, we got there.

• A challenging hill climb on the bike, up to Sembalun.

mOUNT RINJANI(3726m)

As I had all the gear I decided to hike the Rinjani trek without a tour guide, I had met a couple of guys who were also keen to go solo.  Equipped with a load of camping gear and food, it took 3 days to walk from Sembalun to Senaru. The first day was walking to the 'base camp' of the foot of the mountain, roughly 3000m. Then during the early hours we woke, walked to the top for sunrise and wandered down to camp by the lake. The third day was spent walking back up from the lake to the ridgeline and then down into Senaru to find a place to sleep. 

STAYING IN SEMBALUN

Coming from the south it was a 1600m climb from the main road to the town of Sembalun, which was incredibly steep and it was raining! I ended up pushing the bike for the final 2-3km, during which a lorry pulled up next to me and a young guy 'Abu' got out. He told me when I reached the town I could stay with him and his family and gave me directions to his house. The reason this story is included is that these interactions were typical during my 2 months in Indonesia. I stayed with Abu, his wife and his daughter for 3 nights all together. 

THE MIDDLE (JAVA)

After another week cycling and spending time in Bali it was time to reach the main island of Java. I knew nothing about Java, other than I was excited to get there as Bali had felt quite touristy. I wanted to see the local side of Indonesia.

In hindsight it would have been a good idea to do some research. Then it wouldn't have come as a surprise that Java is the most populated island in the world and incredibly hilly. I spent just over 2 weeks cycling across Java, and about half way through I will admit that I did have a little cry. The crowding, traffic and not being able to communicate effectively all got a bit much and I was due on my period. I had a bad few days in which I came off my bike and cut my thigh and knee, my phone was stolen and finally my pannier rack broke (plastic string fixed this).

Having said this there were some pretty amazing parts to these couple of weeks. Such as seeing Tumpak Sewu waterfall, exploring the ruins of temples in Yogykarta, cycling up to the Dieng Plateau at 2000m and meeting with cycling groups through warm showers. At the end of the day I think the ride through Java made me a lot physically stronger as well as mentally. 

The end (sumatra)

After around 1900km of cycling I made it to Sumatra, via a ferry from Cilegon to Bakuheni. I had been looking forward to Sumatra and it didn't disappoint. The road leading to Bandar Lampung was fairly busy but then it was much quieter roads towards and along the west coast of the island. 

It was still incredibly hilly, some days along the coast started and ended at sea level but with 2000 metres of ascent/descent in between.  Overall though the scenery was a big improvement from Java. Now there was wild rainforest and long sandy beaches, with little villages and towns dotted between instead of huge cities and paddy fields. My accomodation was a mixture of warm showers hosts, couch surfing, small hotels and police stations. I mainly ate out on the street, it being cheaper and tastier to get street food than to cook my own using my stove. 

After 8 days of cycling I reached the coastal town of Bengkulu. Knowing I only had about a week left on my visa I headed inland, wanting to try and reach the coastal town of Kuala Tungkal. My aim was to reach Singapore, I knew that boats from Kuala Tungkal left for Batam and then I could switch to a boat to Singapore, but I had little idea of how often they ran. In hindsight I was taking a bit of a gamble turning up in the town and hoping to get to there.

In Kuala Tungkal I stayed with Endra, and his family, Endra was friends with a previous host I had stayed with who put us in touch. It turned out that a boat went daily from Kuala Tungkal to Batam and left in the morning. It was an interesting boat journey. The first day I attempted to get to Batam ,4 out of 5 of the boats engines broke down and we had to turn back, meaning another day in Kuala Tungkal. The next day was much more successful (lucky really as it was the last day on my visa) and only 2 out of 5 engines broke down, meaning we made it to Batam slightly later than expected (10 hours). I was then able to quickly transfer to a boat to Singapore and I made it within my visa restrictions.