1/8/2012 The Day Before the Tour Began
Bike ride with Debo. East / South. Solo out and up. Slow incline the whole way out. Got off main road on street lined with rambutan trees, looped around, stopped at rice fields beautiful view of Mt. Lawu, the huge volcano near Solo. A fella on motorbike packed with durian and ace rambutan stops. Providence. We were longing for rambutan. Got 5 kg. Durian was a special prize, got 2, ate one there. Lady with Jambu* stopped, Debo got one bitter green (papaya leaves) and one sweet amber (beras kencur). The way back was way fun all down hill. Wheee! Stopped at a music stall, got some dangdut, longgam CDs**. Took a back-way through kampung jalans (village roads), then got dates! Oh yeah, first since leaving California! Bike ride lasted longer than expected 6am-noon. Around 40km. Debo helped me out big time with packing my belongings and last minute errands. She’ll be keeping my stuff while I’m gone, thanks Deborah!
*Jambu – traditional Javanese drinks for health and vitality.
** Dangdut, Longgam – styles of popular music in Java, like Country and Classic Rock in America.
1/9/2012 First Day. Solo to Eromoko.
Up at 6am. Had to do final touches on packing, cleaning. Said goodbye to my boarding house owner Pak Sumarsam and Istri dia, paid rent to Bu Kur. On the road at 7am. Sukoharjo at 8am. Took the main roads due to later start time. Went faster than anticipated. Front rack screw broke in Wonogiri city, right outside of a metal working shop. Good timing! Saudara helped me out. Got a papaya, then continued. Road got way beautiful as it became steeper went next to a huge lake. I feared rain, but pictured the rain starting just as I arrived at Midiyanto’s house in Eromoko, which is exactly what happened. (Midiyanto is my gamelan teacher at UC Berkeley in America. Originally from Central Java, he returns when not teaching). Got there around 11:30. I figure it was 3 hours 40 mins riding for 54 km. Roughly 13 km/hr average. Plenty of hills, beautiful road with butterflies. Chilled at Midi’s, had gamelan rehearsal at night with local players.
1/10-12/2012 Hanging Out in Eromoko with Fellow Bule
Big hike up through corn and rice towards mountain. Met many people along the way. Saw reservoir, big tree, corn/bean/cassava inter-planting between corn paddies. Took a nap. Looked for durian. Played gamelan. Midiyanto and family are gracious hosts.
1/13/2012 Naik Sepeda ke Pacitan
Friday the 13th! Daaaaaaang some of those hills were steep. Had to walk a couple… then tighten the brakes before going down 3rd Steet (in Laguna, CA) 50 times [or for those of you familiar with San Francisco and not Laguna, it was like the steepest section of Franklin St. 35 times]! Jumped in the ocean. Indo surfers nggak mau make friends with body-surfing me. Met warung (restaurant) owner couple. Super nice. Let me rest there. Many warungs in Java have places to lay down. Got some sleep in the day. Then they offered to let me sleep there for the night. Taught me some bahasa Jawa words. They were way cool. Rainy night, got a little wet due to leaky roof, but not too bad – tidak apa apa.
1/14 Pacitan to Desa Sumberjo
Endless steep hills and beautiful sights. The roads in the South of East Java go straight up mountains instead of doing switch-backs. in Lorok stopped at a closed warung to rest and wait out some rain. Chatted with Bu (Mrs) she hooked me up with some tea and biscuits and met a pancak silat (Indonesian martial arts) teacher. These people were way cool. Stopped again by rain overlooking huge power plant in an otherwise beautiful bay. Set out for Panggul but was foiled by steep hills and rain. Stopped at warung and chatted with the dude there about sleeping at a mosque or the military post but he said I could stay at Rumah Kepala Desa (village chief’s house) more comfortably. Then on Pak (Mr) Lora’s porch I was intercepted by Hendrieck, a 28-year-old geography teacher. Am so grateful for all the help I received along the way. The people here have been overwhelmingly warm and welcoming. Recorded some frog sounds at night and then a call to prayer, which was really loud at 3:45 AM. Wow!
1/15 Long Day, Brah.
5:40am-8:30am Sumberjo to Panggul
10-12:30 Bus ride Panggul to Trenggalek
12:30-3:45 Trenggalek to Tulungagung.
Headed up a steep hill with awesome views to Panggul, which was harder/ further/ longer than I thought, then down into valley. On the way back up was tired and stopped. Talked with folks there gave me idea to catch bus to flatter lands to the North. Based on the topographical color codes on my map, ahead was higher mountains than I’ve climbed yet so I took their advice. Planned my route with a truck driver going to North coast. Which I originally planned to avoid killah hills. Now I’m on a mini bus driving on bumpy damaged roads. Bike is on the roof. Dude tried to charge me 100,000Rp but I was like “nggak mas, terlalu mahal” paid 50,000. Two hours on a bus, then bike again Trenggalek to Tulungagung. Stopped and enjoyed some es tebu – sugar cane juice. Rained the last 10 km, wore my rain cape. Staying at a hotel 65,000Rp luxury time! No need to worry about finding a place to stay and talk to people. Just rest alone, ahhhh.
1/16
Turns out I had enough energy to wash some clothes last night. I think I have too many clothes. Could do without like 3 of the shirts I have (which I later gave away to new friends). Tulungagung means “ big water source”. There were several big rivers flowing through the city center. The hotel I stayed at was near a huge masjid (mosque) and some official government office. I let myself sleep in because I had a long day yesterday. Got going at 8:45am. Headed towards Kediri to the North. Bought two hands of bananas, they were big. Stopped at multiple Es Tebu spots. It was such a deal in this region! 1,000 for a glass, 5,000 to fill up 1.5 liter bottle (in Solo its usually 2,500 per glass). There are many cane fields which explains why. Saw many durian and rambutan sellers, the rambutan looked good, a deeper red than I’ve seen before. Went on an alternate route off the main road which turned out to be very nice. Chatted with a 40yo dude for about 20 minutes as we headed North. He has two kids and he’s on his way to Kediri to buy them gloves. Later I stopped at a warnet (internet café) at 11am for two hours to rest and skip the hottest part of the day. Turned out to be super cheap and super slow so I didn’t upload the video blog I just made, but checked some emails. Then I was in Kediri, but not the center of town. Then I went on a smaller road North which curved NW, so I took a gang (alley/small road) E, which turned into a rocky road through rice fields where people were packing up for the day, then got smooth again. It started raining, I hesitated on where to stop, had many choices of warungs with people hanging out. Eventually stopped and met a fellow 3 years older than I who took me to the rumah kepala desa where I will sleep tonight. Got a mandi in and my own room (a guest room)! Very nice here. Kepala desa and his wife are super kind and showed me some stuff going on here at their house: elementary education, books, crafts, pictures of all the weddings in the village. Its like a big community space at the front of their house. Raising ducks and rabbits out back. Lotsa fruit trees and vegetables too.
1/17
Fixed my broken spoke in the AM, on the road by 6:45. Back roads North to Kertosono, then on the main “national” road East. It was not very pleasant but seemed quicker. With less interesting things to see and inhaling smoke from trucks and motorcycles. Saw a couple bigger cities, and was missing the villages and forest. Met an Indonesia bike trip enthusiast, who stopped when he saw me. Also the people looked different. Happy to be making good time. Took a break at 11, drank some tebu then went to a warnet and spaced out til 2:30, when my new friend Roni called me. Speaking Indonesian on the phone next to a busy street wasn’t happening but luckily there was someone to help us out. Roni came and picked me up from Mojokerto, took me back to stay with him Jomber. We talked about prices here vs. America and he showed me pictures from his bike trips, cool! Being in a city doesn’t really feel good. I’m excited to make it to the coast tomorrow. Roni has ideas about places for me to stay, at universities like he has done on his bike trips. Maybe I will follow but maybe I will try kepala desas too. It seems mellower.
1/18
stayed near Probolinggo 40,000 hotel. Saw gnarly accident.
1/19 Paiton
After Probolinggo the road got nicer, with the majority of the truck and bus traffic going a different route on their way to Bali. Slept in pretty good. Caught in the rain talked with a guy who worked as a truck driver for the largest power plant in Asia, passed it by, was raining went to a warung, met a young hip fella with a place to stay, then stayed and talked with a couple dudes and some kids. A dude gave me a ride offered me a place to stay, but it was kinda leaky in his house. His friend was going one town West where the first place was offered. I ate with both dudes, then stayed in this really cool traditional village. Muslim folks. The dude my age was married and living with his parents. Everyone in the village was stoked on my presence. It was pretty there. The father offered to have me stay for one month if I want. Bathed in the river. These people lived simply but seemed happy and secure.
1/20 Paiton to Arjasa
Going East along the coast, no more es tebu, shucks! Stopped just to chill at a fruit stand – a new fruit to me – like coconut but different. 3 sections of a less-slimy-but-similar-to-jackfruit textured pods filled with water. Chatted with the two gals working there and a dude hanging. Dude left, 30yo Madurese gal came and said she liked me and would I go with them to the night market. I hadn’t biked very far, but this was a nice offer, so I rested and learned some bahasa Madura, then the father of one of the gals came and it was time to close the stand and would I please come and stay at his house. Ok! It was a big deal for all the villagers “bule masuk kampung” and there was a parade of little kids following and watching as we toured the village. The village was all ethnic Madurese people (Madura is the Island to the North East off Java, there are many people living in Java, and bahasa Madura is widely used in North East Java). The father was kinda trippin’ on his place wasn’t nice enough and they were poor, but it was a nice enough place and they were gracious hosts. I went with Bapak (father) and Denis (fruit stand gal) to his hangout wedangan (hot drinks and oily food) with other Bapaks. Ate some jagung goreng on the house. Then we walked to the night market: Denis, daughter, Mother, neighbor’s kids. There were rides and gambling games for shampoo, sweet drinks, and cigarettes. I bought daughter a brooch for her birka and an icy drink without milk which was weird and really sweet. When I was finished I looked around for a place to dispose the trash, but Mother grabbed it and tossed it on the ground, which is customary, but something I can’t feel comfortable doing, so I picked it up and placed it next to a bunch of other trash to the side of the walkway. I wore a borrowed night-sarong which is sick and I totally want a nice Muslim one with the purple stripe at the bottom.
1/21
Rode with a road biker from Situbundo a ways into Bromo national Park, but he eventually lost me in the hills. Re-entered civilization, stuck in rain for a bit. Chatted with a shop owner. Made it to the ferry to Bali! On board met a Muslim ethnic Bugis Balinese guy, his family originally from Sulawesi but already a long time in Bali. Lived in Negara, offered me a place to stay in his 479 year old traditional Bugis house – so even though it was out of the way, I took him up on his offer. 30km on the South coast. I was super happy to have made it to Bali, stopped and got a durian, didn’t even have to bargain, it was delicious, the seller lady was cool. No bule in sight this day. The kids living in the Muslim kampung (collectively governed neighborhood within a city) were very curious and very shy. They spoke not Balinese but a variation of Malay close to bahasa Indonesia. The fellow spoke pretty good English and that’s a first since Eromoko.
