Indonesia, Java - The Small City Town Of Singaraja

What dry season? The island has been raining for days now and I can't stand it. Not because I mind the rain, I don't. However, cycling through narrow wet roads with a weighted bike, up and down hills against SUV drivers who insist on playing chicken with my life (cars drifting into my lane to pass slower traffic in theirs) sucks.

Sorry to those following me on Strava; I have not kept the app going since I am keeping my mobile device inconveniently located yet dry. On a map, we've ridden about 100 km from Amed on the East to the North tip of the Island.

We're spending the night in Singaraja. Not a welcoming town, the whole place looked like it was staged to shoot an X-Files monster of the week episode. Didn't even want to take my camera out, and neither did Chris. Got here at twilight last night, and its just as shady here in the morning.

Pic: Dinner at the local's market tends to be better food. No deviation here, our home made soup was fantastic! And a free breakfast from our Hotel? I could maybe get used to this City if I were the fellow to carry a gun.

Indonesia, Java - Climbing Active Volcanoes At Midnight

No other way to put it; the title says it all. How'd we do it you ask?

As we spun our wheels in Banyuwangi, Ardy showing us the underground tourist scene and all, we learned about a cycling tour called the Tour de Ijen. We had just missed the event since the tour goes down in December...but the newly paved road was still accessible! That, by any means, did not make the ride up to Ijen any less difficult. The mountain range is a mere 2883 km above sea level. So what. What makes the climb truly difficult, really challenging, is to make the ascension in so short a distance. From Banyuwangi to base camp of the Ijen crater is only about 40 km. The ride is steep enough to wipe me out and make this cyclist push his transportation up to the next semi flat plain. We left our bikes in the rented room after dinner and a bit of world political chatter, waited for three AM, then climbed the rest of the crater and into the sulfur ridden volcano.

That's right, sulfur. Fresh from Mother Nature. That's the molting red stuff you see. And the pools of it that would burn your hand down to the bone. Sulfur is also pungent in the smoke blown into our face at a moments notice, and the fresh chunks of yellowy toxin carried up and down by the village porters. Back breaking work for pennies on the dollar. Literally. See below for Chris and Steve's attempt to lift the cargo in a set position onto their shoulders. I say attempt because no one could, including myself. It was a scene straight out of The Sword In the Stone.

You can see the amazing view from the top of the creator, and why we left so early to catch the sunrise.

The Ijen descent, mind you, wasn't any more fun or any less difficult. When you're dealing with such sharp angles on the road, labour is inevitable and concentration invaluable.

Ok, it was fun.

Back home and oh so much more in awe of fantastic mountain ranges, I packed my bags along with Steve and Chris. Tomorrow and the next day would be at least 100 km days fully loaded.

-A

Indonesia, Java - A Most Productive Day

Ever have one of these? A day that you look back on and feel deservingly proud of all the things accomplished in the sixteen hours you've been awake? Today was that day for Chris and I.

Today:

1. Rode out early and caught the island hopper ferry to Java.

2. Found a decent place to eat lunch that not only was kind enough to let us hang our wet clothes on their laundry lines (the owners live above their restaurant), they also have the particular distinction for making the best one dollar smoothies on the road thus far.

3. We found our first cyclist traveler!! More like he found us. As we navigated the city of Banyuwangi, I heard a man catching up behind us, trying to get our attention. Normally, this means a local man on a scooter trying to sell off his home made rum or asking us if we have a place to stay the night. So, mildly annoyed, we ignored the unrequested attention. Oh brother, how shocked I was to find another tourer on the road with us - and so early in our travels. His name is Stephen, a Scottish man who has been on his bike for just over a year now. We exchanged info and plan to traverse Java together, as long as we can. Really nice guy with the advice of a cycling sage.

4. We also hooked up with our second couch surfer contact, Ardy. Free room and company, couch surfing is the way to travel. Although only twenty, Ardy has invited us in and proved a great city guide as well as an excellent partner to practice translations with. He's even picking up a little if my Spanish. Not to mention is also a published journalist in the Banyuwangi Times. This kid is sharp; someone get him a semester abroad at UCB.

5. Took a loooong walk through the City streets; trying out almost every food and fruit stand. I was hopping for a bike shop, but no dice.

6. We bought a needle and threat. I mended a small rip at the pinky of my left glove, Chris has a tear on his camera bag.

7. We bought a (cheap) cell phone! Still working out the configurations, I hope to turn the phone into a mobile internet hot spot. Look at this thing, can you remember when cell phones had antennas?!?!

8. Ate our first real dinner at a real authentic Indonesian dugout. How authentic? Sit on the floor, delicious fish on the bone including head, spicier than Satan grandfather's back country home made hot sauce, and, when it began to rain, the power went out. In a good way. No one actually paid it any mind other than the owner who automatically brought a candle to our table. The rain forced the people to stay inside and many small conversations jumped across tables as time went on waiting for the rain to stop, and many laughs were had.