Indonesia, Java - Volcanoes, Temples and Lung Cancer

I have arrived in Java, the island is known for it temples, volcanoes, civet (cat shit) coffee and its namesake saying that makes hipsters feel all warm and fuzzy, "I'm gonna go to Starbucks and get me some java."  The island is wonderful, exciting, and due to bad drivers and traffic, occasionally tiresome and dangerous.  

The ferry crossing from Sumatra to Java was both cheap ($10 for the bike and I) and uneventful.  Unlike Sumatra where the amazing riding through the jungles, rice fields, and past white sand beaches are at the center of its charm, Java has more to offer in terms of both historical and natural wonders, AND of course all the jungles, rice fields. and beaches too.  Apparently. the surfing is quite good in southern Java, as four Aussies in van and surfboards piled high on the roof swore by the local waves. 

The stand out must see items are the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan (pics 2 and 3), and the active volcanoes to include Tangkuban Perahu and Ijen (pics 1 and 5), among 60 others.  The City of Jogjakarta (which has at least 4 different spellings, and has everyone confused to the point Google has reserved a different spelling for each of the Blogger, Google Maps and Chrome platforms) is  a nice extended stay location that serves as a jumping off location for the temples listed above.  Java, like Sumatra, is very inexpensive.  As a financial comparison the whole world can understand, a Big Mac with large fries and large dink costs about $3.10, a large multi topping pizza is about $2.75, and Snickers Bar is about 60 cents.  Local meals like Idomie, Nasi Goreng, etc, can be had for about $1.33 and a 2,500 sf (240 sm), upscale house, near the beach, is about 45,000 USD, or to put in practical terms, about the same as a new mid-priced car in the USA (don't salivate at the idea, foreigners can not own property in Indonesia). To put it in more surprising terms, due to import taxes, a BMW R1200GS base model is $47,000 in Indonesia, or more expensive than the above mentioned house.  Typical parking fees are 2,000 rupiah or 14 cents.  The temples and historical attractions can be expensive by local standards, $20 to $50 for foreigners, or a couple of dollars for locals.  

One More Thing: While riding down the island you can see some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet, the rural areas are just amazing.  The huge concern, for me anyway, is that the air quality in Java is both surprising and alarming.  As the trip progressed, I noticed my jacket, pants and helmet turning sooty alarmingly fast (I had washed them the day before I left I Malaysia). The soot was so bad that when I stopped for lunch I would have to clean my face with soap and water to remove the black crud that had accumulated.  On a normal day, I would have to stop every couple of hours to clean my glasses just so I could again see clearly.  I did a short three-hour ride one day, stopped at a restaurant, took a napkin and rubbed it down my neck and I was in pure disgust with what I saw (see below).  I am by no means an environmental activist on a crusade for clean air, but this is beyond alarming.  The problem is obvious, the trucks and buses belch black smoke with every shift they make. When a bus leaves a traffic light they belch so much soot on the riders behind them that it looks like a scene from a LoonyToons cartoon form the 1970s.    Indonesia, in my opinion, really needs to address this situation if they want to keep the paradise with which they have been blessed. In the meantime, if you plan on riding in this part of the world, ScotchGuard your clothes...and lungs

Leg Distance:  877 mi (1,414 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 41,475 mi (66,895 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

Indonesia - Sumatra, Rice Fields, the Equator, and a Rapid Dismount

This leg was a very long one. Sumatra is an interesting island with lots of jungle and rice fields, thousands of switchbacks, very thin roads, no urban planning, and very little support for a weary traveler. All this makes for a fun yet grueling ride. 

The roads are two lanes (one in either direction), about three meters wide a piece (normal is 4 meters), no shoulders, and the developed areas are built right up to the road side.  Due to very little tourism or foreign activity at all. there are few hotels or restaurants.  For this reason, and since the riding in the jungle and rice fields was fantastic, I decided to push through Sumatra with long days of riding, very little rest and and not much more.  I rode from Lake Toba to south end of the island  (1,255 miles), in about five 10 to 12 hour days.  I had the opportunity to pass over the equator for the second time this trip, the first being in Ecuador back in 2016. The rain was strong on the last day of riding, which when in the the hotter areas of the world, is a welcome occurrence.  Near the end of the fourth day, on the south end of Sumatra, I took a downhill switchback a little bit to fast, when combined with the rain, and a large dose of human error, I ended up overshooting the turn and both Greta and I tumbled into the jungle.  The road was empty, but in short order a truck drier and crew came along, stopped, and helped extradite Greta from the jungle.  It took three of us, but we got her on her feet, and in one crank the engine roared back to life.  Both her and I were unhurt, but had mud and grass in our cracks that did not need to have mud or grass in them.  

Bizarre Observance:  In Sumatra these is an astonishing lack of traffic lights and not a single stop sign that I personally came across.  Traffic can get very bad and intersections can be a challenge.  To take up the slack, the locals have taken to directing the traffic for tips.  It seemed like a good idea at first, but once you realize that they are untrained, each have their own unique hand signals, and nobody really pays much attention to them, you are left with some short guy that can barely been seen, usually without a vest, flapping his arms around in a nonsensical manner.  Then the kids have started trying to get in on the act and they stand on the side of the roads waving their arms around, with even less clarity than the adults. I have to assume a large number of these people have been hit and severely injured or killed.    

Leg Distance:  1,244 mi (2,006 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 40,598 mi (65,481 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

Indonesia - The Crossing, A Trip Home and Jurassic Park

On the road again.  The crossing from Malaysia to Indonesia was both expensive and questionable.  It was expensive ($435) because there is only one-way to the get the motorcycle across, so I had to play monopoly rates.  It was questionable as the bike had to be lashed to the roof of a small passenger ferry.  The bike was loaded (by me)via a ramp, and unloaded via a movable passenger staircase and 10 dock hands.  I really thought Greta was going into the drink during loading or unloading. or just plain fall off the roof of the ferry during the four-hour crossing.  That fact that there were storms and rough seas just made things worse.  The bike made the crossing with no major issues, just a layer of salt that was deposited on Greta from the waves crashing up and over the roof of the ferry.  

It was almost dark by time Greta and I made it through Indonesian Customs.  The closest hotel was 30 miles away (45 km), and I headed off in the dark on my one-hour plus trip. The roads in Indonesia are challenging to say the least and outright dangerous in some areas.  Traffic is aggressive and motorcycles are nothing more than an obstacle that needs to be pushed out of the way in the minds of many an Indonesian driver.  The roads are just a lane and a half thick, of variable quality, and unlit.  As such, my first ride in Indonesia had me concerned that the Country was going to be an unwelcome chore, like how I found India.  My fears were soon put to rest.  The next day I headed out into central Indonesia and wow, what a beautiful place.  In a single day I passed one-thousand foot tall waterfalls and huge lush green valleys, I felt like I was in a scene right out of Jurassic Park...with bad drivers...thin roads...and no dinosaurs. I think I am going to like Indonesia.  

After two years of being on the road I made my first trip back to the USA.  The trip was primarily to pay taxes, renew my drivers licence and renew the registration on the motorcycle. I have to admit, I was not that excited to go back.  The only thing I did for fun was take out my other motorcycle for a trip to the beach, the Ace Cafe, and that was about it. 

Leg Distance:  137 mi (220 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 38,813 mi (63,455 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia