The cycling adventures of Lynne and Boy Wonder: April 2018

11th April 2018
Tree in Lodge Hostel, Singapore
32c and humid

It's interesting how plans can change, especially when you don't have onward tickets to worry about. The only date in the diary is Teleri and Todd's wedding, 31st August, in Sydney. Don't worry, it's in the diary and we won't forget. Seriously though, not having deadlines and responsibilities while travelling can lead to a total meltdown in the whole scheduling process. Just yesterday a woman at the hostel discovered she'd missed her flight to Bali because she hadn't checked the time properly. But first, a quick catch up on what we have been up to since leaving Sumatra.

We took the bus from Bukittinggi to Dumai and we're glad we did. Palm oil plantations as far as the eye could see, plus a roller coaster of a road which, at times, was so narrow it would have been dangerous to cycle. Some spectacular mountainous scenery along the way, so it wasn't all bad. Returning to Melaka and eating thali was a welcome change from fried noodles or rice. The three day cycle to Singapore was uneventful, we got to see even MORE palm oil plantations and I got to squirm around on my increasingly uncomfortable saddle before making the decision that I HAD to get a new saddle in Singapore. There was no more 'tinkering' with the height, the angle or the bracket that had broken, and trying to straighten the twisted 'nose' hadn't worked either. It was 'do or die'.

The crossing into Singapore was easy and before we knew it we were in safe, secure, dependable, efficient and sparkly new Singapore. Dave took Maps.me at its word and followed the cycle route which, at first, seemed like a good idea but we soon found ourselves leaving the Park Connectors and on mountain bike trails, which with a loaded touring bike, believe me, are no fun. It took HOURS to get from Jahore Bahru to our hostel when it should have taken no time at all. We later discovered that we weren't the only cyclists to have fallen for the Maps.me trap, so that made us feel slightly less stupid.

After Sumatra we were both feeling in desperate need of a 'holiday'. It had been a difficult 5 weeks with both of us being ill (not at the same time which extends the 'down' time significantly) plus all the other difficulties mentioned in my previous post. We had also, at that time, been travelling for 9 months and were both feeling the need for a break from the bikes. So somewhere between Bukittinggi and Melaka we decided to ditch the bikes in Singapore and fly to Bali for a couple of weeks. Luckily, the lovely Tree in Lodge hostel were good enough to let us store our bikes and panniers (we literally had one carry on bag) in Singapore so it was easy enough. I just want to say at this point, the SK and Jung (spelling?) the guys running Tree in Lodge Hostel have been amazing. This is a wonderful hostel, especially for cyclists, they have looked after us (and the other 10 cyclists that we have met here) SO well, we can't thank them enough. If you're heading to Singapore, this is the ONLY place to stay.

We flew to Denpasar with Scoot (Singaporean budget airline) having done virtually no research except for how to get from the airport to Legian where we had booked our first few nights' accommodation. We had spent several months in Indonesia 30 years ago but seeing as our recollections of Bali were scant to say the least, we didn't think it was any use at all. Getting around Bali is not easy, even if it is a small island compared to Java and Sumatra, we found out why early on in the trip.

There is only one public bus company Kurakura (tortoise in Bahasa, that tells you something) and it's not permitted to operate from the airport. There is only one taxi company with a licence and wo-betide any other company who try to muscle in on that business. The taxi company with the licence is NOT the taxi company with the great reputation, that is Blue Bird. So, on arrival you have to have your wits about you and know what the prices are. That in itself is difficult, because nobody really wants you to know the 'real' price. We discovered the price should be between 55,000 and 80,000 Rps. Ask at the official taxi desk (which is where all the tourists are herded towards) and they will try and charge you as much as they can get away with. Our first quote was 250,000, we walked away and eventually (while walking away) negotiated 100,000, still over the odds but not too bad. The gnashing of teeth started right there.

Friends we had met in KL were also in Bali and had been staying in Sideman (pronounced Sid-a-man) and it looked so lovely up there on the eastern side of Mt Agung, in amongst the rice terraces, that we decided we would like to spend a few quiet nights up there also. Transportation to and from Sideman, for the reasons stated above, is not easy. The reputable Blue Bird doesn't go that far (30km), the public bus company only serves the densely populated south and therefore doesn't go there either. It looked like the only way to get there was by hiring a car and driver for the day at a cost of 400,000 or 500,000 rps. We found that very difficult to justify when the accommodation was costing less than 200,000 per night. So after much deliberation and gnashing of teeth, we cancelled the Sideman accommodation and went north to Ubud. At least we could take a bus to Ubud, but it was when we arrived there we realised the extent of the 'taxi mafia' problem in Bali. Not only are Uber, Grab and any other online booking service not permitted, there are stories of 'outsiders' being beaten or their cars being vandalised. The streets of Ubud are lined with individuals offering taxi services, but there are no taxi companies. It's a big problem for tourists like us and it occured to me that the government could easily do something about this but they clearly choose not to.

Once we got over the logistical nightmare we settled down to enjoying our break. Legian and Kuta are great places if you need to shop, and for the first few days we needed to do just that. Legian is the slightly quieter end of a very VERY long beach that eventually leads into Kuta and while shopping was on the agenda initially it didn't take very long for that novelty to wear off. We chose accommodation based on two criteria, it must have an outside seating area (either a balcony or access to a terrace) and a fridge. If it had a pool as well that was a bonus (two did). The choice is extensive, for less than £10 a night we fulfilled our criteria, AND had a fabulous breakfast included but you can pay less or you can push the boat out and book one of the resorts overlooking the beach, or go really exclusive and rent a fabulous villa In the hills where it's a little cooler.
The heat had ramped up significantly, or so it seemed, so day long excursions anywhere were immediately cut to half, and eventually we managed 3 hours at a time. We slept A LOT, ate western-style food (again, the novelty wore off fairly quickly) and drank beer and cocktails, we socialised with the 'Canadians', a lovely group of people all travelling together and so glad to have met them in KL and have caught up with them in Bali. We walked and walked but found ourselves dipping into malls to cool off as the temperatures seemed hotter than ever.

The highlights were the walks we took in the rice paddies in Ubud, such a beautiful place, really calming and hardly any tourists. It was in Ubud we were most reminded of when we were in Bali all those years ago when we were invited to a wedding and teeth-filing ceremony (quite often done at the same time) I still have the photographs somewhere. I remember the young couple very well, they were physically very slight, as a lot of Balinese are, in full traditional dress and they looked TERRIFIED. I wasn't sure if it was the wedding or the teeth-filing that was terrifying them. In those days Ubud was a large village it's now a huge, sprawling town with far too much traffic, just like the rest of Bali, particularly the south. Ubud is still a very special place and you can get away from the tourist trap shops and restaurants fairly easily, just turn down an alley way, or head to the rice paddies and you'll find a local artist, a yoga studio or a potter.

Eventually we found ourselves back in Singapore, fully rested and ready for the next part of our adventure, Java, (returning to) Bali and Lombok. Unfortunately for Java we met the lovely Michel and his wife who after an evening's chat persuaded us that cycling in Java wasn't actually a good idea. A couple in their 60s they are experienced cycle tourers, who have travelled in many difficult places, had given up on Java because they felt it was very dangerous. If I'm perfectly honest we were both looking for an excuse to look at other options, after 5 months in South East Asia we were feeling a little SEAd out. So while Dave was at the dentist having his filling replaced I got to thinking about ALL our options and did a bit of brainstorming with the help of Mr Google. The result (although these things are never THAT straightforward, in fact it took a whole day of BOTH of us with the aid of 2 phones, a laptop and a lot of 'what ifs' being thrown around) was a flight to Japan. Our intention was to go to Japan AFTER Australia, but why not now?

Since booking the flight to Osaka we have changed our route several times based on a meeting with Gerald (who had recently toured in Japan) and consultation with weather maps. Japan is actually quite big (should have worked that out before we booked the flight) and we really want to tour around Hokkaido (in the far north, lots of bears, yikes) but the weather is still cool. So, we have decided to head straight for South Korea (weather's lovely now) and then fly from Seoul (we think we can get a cheap flight for approx £140, for both of us and the bikes) to Sapporo in Hokkaido. By that time, the weather should be perfect.

Our first problem is getting out of Osaka airport with 2 boxed bikes, 4 panniers and 2 extra bags, into Osaka itself. We're hoping the baggage forwarding companies will take pity on us and not turn us away (recent accounts are they don't take bicycles any longer, but if you label the boxes with 'bike parts' we might get away with it). The other approach is to act dumb 'Johnny Foreigners' who know no better and hope that all the stories we have heard about wonderful customer service and the inability to offend are correct. Wish us luck!

Laters

PS we have flights to Australia booked now, 8th August, to the Gold Coast, then a mere 900 kms cycle to Sydney!

Link to Facebook photos coming soon!