Closing the Indonesia Book + Link to all pictures

So we continued our gypsy cyclist lifestyle and charged north to Danau Toba, which is the largest volcanic lake in the world. This gigantic crater lake is 60 miles long by 15 miles wide and contains an island the size of Singapore. Undoubedtly the tourist who used to be many in number and full in pocket have chose to go elsewhere with their vacation time. Add a ton of 'resorts' to the decreased demand and you've got the ideal situation for some tired cyclers looking to pay nothing for a eutopic and relaxing paradise. It was just what the doctor ordered....Charlie and I awoke at 7 am the next morning like two kids who were wiping sleep from their eyes when all of a sudden they realize that it's Christmas morning and sprint downstairs to bask in the glory of their new presents....

I probably hadn't teeter tottered in 15 years....

After giving our legs (and buns) a much needed break and doing absolutely nothing for 2 days, we headed northeast towards Medan with a brief layover in Berastagi. We also joined traveling efforts with a really cool Dutch couple that we met in Toba. As we set out on bicycles from Berastagi towards Medan, our Dutch traveling companions took the same route via bus. Normally we get smoked (both figuratively and physically) by buses but this day was one full of steep grades all downhill. It was amazing, we would pass our friends in the bus on a downhill stretch then the bus would overtake us on a straight stretch. Our friends counted 5 of these leapfrogs until the straight stretch became longer and they zoomed past us. It was one of the funnest (and easiest) days of riding we've had thus far. We averaged 25 km/h for 3 hours.

So after arriving in Medan, we met up with our Dutch comrades and traveled north to Bukit Lawang. Bukit Lawang is unique in that it is one of only two places in the world that contains wild orangutans. So we took a trek through the jungle.....

Our guide informed us that we probably had a 70% chance of actually catching a glimpse of our wild red headed cousin. So as we hiked through the exotically lush jungle, we caught a vague resemblance of a red dot in the trees. And with a little persuasion by some yellow snacks, it took a break from it's hectic life of lounging in the trees and came a little closer.....

After we stared in amazement, people snapping shots like the paparazzi, we walked back to where our guide was mischeviously hanging back. Then out of nowhere, walking nonchelant up the trail, a mother oranguatan with a child hanging from her teat appeared. She walked right up to me, put her arm over my shoulder and pulled herself into a cuddle position. It was unexpected (to say the least) and amazing. It was almost as if I was the mother, holding the mother who was holding the baby

And here's one of the baby

So after our excursion, we returned to Medan, said our goodbyes to Indonesia and grabbed a ferry to Panang, Malaysia where we relaxed for a few days before catching a 20 hour train ride back to Bangkok. We've cycled some 700 km (430 miles) through Sumatra, which was kind of like the appetizer before the feast. We're currently laying over in Bangkok, about to join forces with Spencer and Breckan to head up north.

I also uploaded all of my Sumatra pics to my photobucket account. Here's a link:http://s191.photobucket.com/albums/z93/lineker119/Bicycle%20-%20Sumatra/?albumview=grid

Crash

So here's a picture I forgot to post of Charlie and I hitch hiking with the gigantic box through Singapore's customs. This is where we got scanned by the x-ray and the customs people thought we were trying to sneak into their country....
So Charlie and I hit the road from Pekanbaru and stayed the night in Bangkinang (where I wrote the last posting from). then started cranking the next morning around 10 am east towards Lake Maninjou. We cycled some 30 km super strong, through tons of people throwing 'Hey Mister' left and right and 'How are you?' lingering around every corner, it's at this point that we realize that this whole attention thing could get old real fast, we charged and then the heat started taking its toll. I looked at my Sunto watch and it read 105 degrees F off my wrist. I couldn't seem to maintain a satisfactory level of hydration and I felt myself getting the cold sweats (almost like someone who feels super warm during the late stages of hypothermia). It was kind of scary...I pushed a little further, looking for some shade but without success I just stopped on the side of the road and drinched myself with water and pulled out some nutella (which had liquified in the furnace of the day). I literally drank the hazlenut cocoa gooness for some extra energy and pushed on....to find Charlie just over the next hill in the first shade in almost 10 km. Welcome to Sumatra! We learned our second lesson in cycle touring: Never leave on a cycle tour without a topo map. (Kind of common sense but a lesson learned the hard way)

However we found some relief in the form of a minibus that carried us through the brutal mountains and the scorching heat into the fertile and lush terrain of west sumatra. The change was like night and day...brutal dry desert-like terrain into lush tropical jungle.

So we stayed the night in Payakumbuh and pushed on to Lake Maninjou the next day, super excited to our old hot desert life and welcomed our new moist shady life of cycle tourers. Lake Maninjou is a beautiful crater lake just barely south of the equator that boasts 44 hairpin turns through a beautiful setting overlooking the lake. And it was everybit as awesome as it was hyped up to be.....most definitely the most beautiful stretch of road I've ever cycled! We dodged monkeys in the road, tried to avoid local buses zooming around each hairpin turn. It was quite the picturesque setting....check Charlie out:

Here's another beautiful shot of Charlie that I can't seem to upload. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30635912&l=971d5&id=64201834


So we stayed the night in Lake Maninjou which was like our own personal paradise. It was at this point that we realized that we must be carrying waaay too much extra gear. We could feel every ounce during our climbs. So we purged our gear and literally started shedding anything that was remotely iffy. We started asking questions like, 'Why are we hauling a pharmacy across Asia?' We ended up with a huge pile of unwanted gear that the hotel guests gladly took off our hands. We loaded our bikes back up and could immediately feel the difference. Off we went to Bukittinggi.....


We wandered around Bukittinggi looking for malaria medecine, a seamstress, soap, t.p., and a barber (as my hair had become a shaggy mess that left a sour taste in my mouth after the near heat stroke incident). So we went to the barber and after a discussion with Charlie...I ended up doing something that, anyone who knows me, would have never in a million years guessed I would have done.....yup. Even I couldn't believe I did it! The next morning I even shaved my face....I feel like an alien to myself. I keep doing a double take when I catch myself in the mirror. That's really me!


That night I learned the third lesson in cycle touring: Never sleep near a mosque without an IPOD right next to you. I was abruptly awoken at 5 am by crazy repetitive prayer chants that resembled a aboriginal bipolar man stuck in a cave for eternity (not to diss on the muslim religion). It was never ending and broadcasted from loudspeakers that appeared to be 15 feet from our window (and my IPOD was burried in my bags).

So the next day we awoke with a new cycling philosophy...trying to get in most of our cycling before the sun gets the opportunity to pin us into submission. So we awoke at 6 (after the freaking mosque alarm clock) and were cycling by 6:30. We logged 77 km before noon. We were stoked....we cross the equator (check out my new look...it feels awesome). Here's some pictures.....


So we're currently in Payabungan (about 200 km south of Lake Toba). I'm feeling stronger by the day, the soreness in my legs and my butt is starting to subside. My thighs and butt are going to be like steel.....and I counted 25 'Hello Mister' in 15 minutes this morning. It's starting to get old....until the entire school comes running towards you to wave and give high fives (then we're quite ok with it).

And Away We Go...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I've been going nonstop ever since my plane landed in Thailand (almost 7 weeks ago!). Just writing that makes me realize how much time has flown by. So my first 2.5 weeks were spent in Ton Sai, a beach town near Krabi that boasts world class rock climbing and a super relaxed backpacker scene. That was awesome (see my earlier blog for a link to pictures).

Then we headed back to Bangkok where Nicole and I were to begin our epic adventures together. We had such a good time together, so much that we both walked away with the 'best vacation ever' title to be imprinted on our photo album. We ran back down to Ton Sai (Thailand) where we climbed for a few more days, then crossed the peninsula east to the island of Ko Pha Ngan where we explored waterfalls, discovered our own private beach and personal paradise of Hat Khuat Beach, surreal. Then we caught a flight to Luang Prabang, Laos where we went on an elephant trek, took a Laotion cooking class, played in a heavenly blue waterfall and fell in love with a super lazy city. Then caught a train to Vang Vieng, Laos. This place totally took the cake (at least my slice of it). We rented bikes for about $1 USD/day and after some persuasion they threw in some well needed umbrellas for sun shade. We rode to the blue lagoon and cave where we found some of the bluest water I've ever seen and our own personal swimming hole (here's an appetizer until I can upload all of them (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023279&id=64201834&l=afc62). From there, we caught the public bus down to Vientiane, Laos and zipped down to Singapore, where we strategically booked a room in the heart of the Singapore's red light district (actually we ended up there by total chance that the cheapest hotel online happened to be there....thanks cheaphotels.com). It was actually rather depressingly comical....this RLD didn't exactly have the girls behind glass. The first night we pulled up, it was raining and the street was lined with umbrellas spaced about 10 feet apart. In addition, all of the streets all run parallel and each street represents a different ethnicity. We think our street was mandarin Chinese.

Then came the bicycle preparation. We tracked down the bicycle shop that brought us to Singapore in the first place, T.R. Bikes (We Pimp Your Ride). I bought my bicycle from these guys, who turned out to be some of the coolest guys on the planet. So I got a first glance at my chariot, all that stood between Charlie and I pedaling into the abiss was Charlie's bike, which was shipped all the way from Alaska. So as it turns out, his bicycle was waiting for us to pick up at what would be the Singapore equivalent to the Customs Area at any of our international ports (if that helps out at all :)). So Charlie and I knowing darn well that his bicycle box, filled with all of his gear (bicycle, tent, sleeping bag, clothes, etc) was much too large to fit inside a taxi (a. he had his bicycle box custom made, b. only people with clearance were allowed inside the gate). So we went through about a 4 hour process of paying tax on his bicycle, receiving the appropriate permits, clearing his box then getting the freaking fork lift drivers to get his box. We finally got the box and decided that he would simply assemble his bicycle and ride it back to the hostel (some 20 km away) and I would just grab public transport back. Well....we changed our mind after getting freaked out about customs agents peeved at us opening the box, so we were stuck with one gigantic box, which neither of us could plausibly carry to the front of the gate and no transport to take us there. So we flagged down some random truck drivers, who at first looked at us like we were completely retarded then obliged to help us out. So Charlie and I rode in the back of what appeared to be a truck full of sacks of grain through customs. Then spent another 20 minutes in front of the customs gate asking/harassing large enough trucks until one super nice man agreed to give us a ride back to the bike shops area for a few extra sings. (See pictures below). It was a pretty epic day....but all the pieces of the bicycle puzzle has aligned and we were ready to start cycling.

So let the bicycle journey begin!

Charlie, Nicole and I spent the last night sorting gear, packing our bags and preparing for our departure from Singapore. It was at this point that I realized a very important lesson in bicycle touring; always pick a hotel room closest to the ground floor because bicycles don't exactly fit on elevators (at least not asian elevators). I know, you might be saying, 'that seems pretty logical'......well, it wasn't at the time. We were on the 6th floor...

The next morning, we hit the road through the outskirts of Singapore's Red Light District and directly into town where Charlie and I 'popped our cherry' and delicately weaved (wove?) through Singapore traffic (which is on the left side of the road). We were so amped to be riding that we flew into town. We arrived at the harbor front center and bought ourselves two one way tickets to Pekanbaru, Sumatra (Indonesia). We loaded our bicycles onto the ferry and embarked on what is to be an absolutely epic journey....

1 hour later, we arrived in Sekupung (Batam) and jumped another ferry to Selat Panjang. We exited the boat and it was immediately apparent that we were the most interesting and peculiar things to ever grace this tiny island. We literally stopped traffic, everyone surrounded us as if they had never seen anyone like us before and immediately wanted to either shake our hands, take their picture with us, or just sit down and chat with us (which was interesting because the only English phrases that most people knew was: 'Hey Mister!' and 'How are you?'). One person actually spoke semi-coherent english and we were informed that 'farrangs' (foreigners) havent landed on that island in over 5 years. It was pretty incredible....then we saw this huge, ancient, wooden, barely alive, blue boat limp into the port. It seriously reminded me of what I would envision an old slave boat harboring hundreds of slaves, with each person receiving a tiny cubby hole for sleeping space and a small circle approximately the diameter of one's head above their bed for looking out the window. We exchanged smiles with tons of people, who at this point had each poked their heads out of their personal 'windows' in amazement at our mere existance. It wasn't until a few minutes later that someone came by, looked at our boat tickets and pointed to that ancient gigantic blue vessel. We were stoked...riding this asian titantic some 10 hours with no other foreigners. It was awesome; a tile bed, no blankets, no one to speak english with except Charlie and nonstop Indonesian movies including what resembled to be the three stooges indonesian style (see pictures below).

So we arrived in Pekanbaru after some rough sleep on the coolest boat to grace the planet. We got off the boat and started pedaling towards town (as we still didn't have a map of Sumatra). And once again, we stopped all traffic. It was like we were war heroes returning from the front lines of a battle won in the favor of Sumatra. People were bombarding us on motor bikes, kids were flocking from their yards...all to yell 'Hey Mister! 'How are you?'. Then once we waved and said, 'fine, How are you?', they would begin smiling and laughing like we just told the funniest joke in the world. If this is any indication of how this trip is going to be, we're in for a serious adventure. So I'd call this first day a success, although my saddle is still in the process of breaking in, so my butt is super sore. Our plan is to ride to West Sumatra to Bukittingi and Lake Maniju (sp?) and then up towards Medan where we'll catch a ferry to Georgetown, Malasia. Then boogie to Bangkok, where we'll hook up with Spencer and Breckan and continue the journey through Laos and beyond.