Preface.
I went on a two-month trip from my current city of Solo (officially: Surakarta), Central Java across five islands in Indonesia: East Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Sumba by bicycle, during the rainy season. I was looking for adventure and to experience some of the endless cultural diversity in Indonesia, while traveling in a way that is fun, healthy, and easy on the environment. I let go of my previous eating habit (fruitarian plus tender leafy greens), in order to be able to receive what people offered me when they welcomed me into their homes, but kept it low fat / high carb rice-n-veggies vegan, which is easy to do in Indonesia. You just need to know how to say “I don’t want meat, eggs, milk, fish, skin, liver, intestine, head. And please go easy on the oil and salt.” (Saya tidak mau daging, telor, susu, ikan, kulit, hati, perut, kepala. Tolong pake hanya sedikit minyak dan garam). Before the trip began I had no idea how many new friends I would make. When the trip started it was more of a sporting event, but as time went on, and my language skills improved, the mission changed first to generally a cultural experience, then specifically to ethnomusicologically-song-preservationally-badical-radness. I collected recordings of traditional musics in three sections of Sumba (both gong music used for funerals and other animist rituals; and folk songs on stringed instruments). I hope to do some analysis of the music and present that on this blog later, but first I will slowly unveil the tour starting at the beginning. Luckily I kept a fairly consistent dairy on the tour, so I can give y’all an idea of what I was thinking at the end of each day on my travels.
Yes, I'm back and safe in Central Java now.
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