Lombok to Bali

After a few weeks of riding across some of Indonesia’s most spectacular islands and hiking up many of the volcanos I came across I was more than happy to spend a few days relaxing in the beach side town of Senggigi on the island of Lombok. It wasn’t long before I started getting itchy feet though and after a few days out of the saddle I jumped on the bike to explore the temples, waterfalls and forests throughout the island. I noticed a strange noise on the bike as I returned to the hotel and after a quick inspection noticed that the rear brake pads had almost completely worn. I must admit I was more than a little stressed, up until this point I hadn’t seen one mechanic in Indonesia that looked like they could work on a BMW or even know where to begin ordering parts for that matter. I had heard there was a new BMW dealership in Bali, I had no idea what to expect but I found their website, sent them an email and was pleasantly surprised to get a reply within minutes saying they had the correct brake pads in stock.

The R1200 GS has a semi integrated front and rear brake and I didn’t want to risk any damage to the brake disc so I decided to remove the caliper completely and cable tie it to the rear foot peg, not the safest solution but it got me to the ferry terminal, across to Bali and to the BMW dealership. Upon arrival, any concern that I had about the dealership quickly disappeared, it was one of the nicest I had seen, the only thing more impressive than the selection of bikes in the showroom was the huge array of brand new GS’s in the workshop. After a quick chat to the guys in the parts department I was introduced to the mechanics, who to my amazement set time aside to fix the bike straight away along with showing me a few maintenance tips. I was completely won over by these guys, this was the best service I had received from a bike shop but it was about to get even better. Duncan the shop owner had heard that I was travelling through and took the time to swing past to say hi, after a long chat he organised a tour guide and mechanic by the name of Kadex to do some off road rides around Bali on the GS and also invited me to a trail ride on the weekend with some local off road riders, I even got to borrow a 449 Husky!!!

It turned out that Kadex was a local legend, he was a great off road rider, a BMW and Husqvarna mechanic, had been to the BMW training facility in Germany and was a qualified GS tour guide. We were both on R120 GSA’s and headed out to Serangen National Park, a small island just south of Bali, we were also accompanied by some local dirt bike riders, a few of whom were even riding off road scooters. It was one of the best afternoons of riding I’ve done on the Beemer, the track took us over single track, fire trails, beaches and a few water crossings, it goes without saying we had the big bikes sideways as much as possible.  We stopped halfway at a popular surf beach to have a bite to eat at a local warung restaurant and watched the surfers as the sun went down. The ride home was fantastic, we did a lap of a long levy bank with the headlights on, racing all the way and once again sliding the bikes around every corner and getting a little air over every bump we could. We finished the days riding with a roadside coconut juice, I couldn’t think of a better way to end such a great day of riding.

I was impressed by the afternoon of riding on the GS’s but I was about to have my mind blown away on the weekend by the trail ride that Duncan had planned. Kadex and I rode to Duncan’s house where we met up with over a dozen riders on Husqvarna’s and Sherco’s, I hadn’t ridden a dirt bike for a few years but it all came back very quickly and I was loving throwing the light bike around. We headed out through a mixture of backstreets and dirt roads until we were well into the forests of Bali, I had no idea that this small island had such great riding to offer. We rode through dry riverbeds, up technical climbs, long stretches of beach and best of all a section through what I think was a quarry that resembled a lunar landscape and allowed some excellent side by side racing. Not only was the riding amazing but the scenery was spectacular, we’d finish a climb and overlook a volcano or end a forest single track and stare out across vast valleys covered in rice fields. We rode all day and didn’t get back until dark, we rode across Bali and back and only occasionally stopped for a bite to eat, fuel top up or bike maintenance, I must admit I was sore but I couldn’t enough, I would off kept riding well into the night if I could.

I had no Idea that Bali offered such amazing riding, it certainly rated as one of the best places I had ridden a motorbike, best of all though was the motorcycle community I had met while I was here. From the riders on the trails who were all very supportive and enthusiastic about meeting a new rider to the guys at the BMW dealership who took the time to make sure that myself and my bike were looked after. Many thanks to Duncan for your generosity and Kadex for your time and help, it just proves that it’s the people that make a place great.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Sumbawa and Mount Rinjani (Lombok)

I was quite thankful that it was a simple process to catch a ferry from the island of Flores to the island of Sambawa. I jumped on at the Labuan Bajo terminal and 6 hours later I was riding the bike off the ferry at the Sape terminal, with not even the slightest hassle. I had been told that Sambawa was quite conservative and that it was a scenic island with a great road system but it offered little in the way of tourism, with that in mind I decided to head straight from Sape to Pantai Lakey, a world renowned surf beach. Pantai Lakey was full of surfers from all over the world and quite a large percentage were Aussies, many stay for a few months at a time to take advantage of the cheap lifestyle and the consistently good waves. I arrived in Lakey in time for New Years Eve and it was a great place to be celebrating, there was a strange mix of surfers and a huge amount of locals that swarmed there for the celebrations, with a few of the beach front hotels playing louder and louder music in competition with their neighbouring establishments. I had met a rider by the name of Rohan when I was in Darwin, he was riding to England on a Yamaha Tenere and I was lucky to of caught up with him for New Years in Pantai Lakey. We spent a few days hanging out at the beach and then rode together for the trip across Sambawa.

 Rather than follow the highway all the way we did a detour to ride around the base of Mount Tambora, its eruption in April 10^th 1815 has the reputation of being the largest volcanic explosion in human history and the resulting ash cloud caused what was known as “the year without summer” throughout Europe and North America in 1816. The detour was worthwhile, it took us on a road that felt like real adventure riding, it had a mixture of muddy mountain passes, smooth winding asphalt, creek crossings and off road sections, the scenery was spectacular, with the imposing mount Tambora always looming to our left. We spent the night at a modest guest house at the base of the mountain and headed off the next morning to see if we could make the ferry terminal for Lombok. We completed our loop of Tambora and jumped back on the highway, there was a vast difference between the two roads and all of a sudden we were zooming along on a smooth, winding coastal road all the way to the terminal at Poto Tano. Our dream run of riding continued as there was a ferry ready to go at the terminal, within 30 minutes of arriving in town we were on the ferry heading to the island of Lombok. It was a short trip between islands and in under 2 hours we were disembarking at Labuan Lombok with a few hours of daylight to go. We deciding to try and get to the base of mount Rinjani, where we planned a 3 day hike to the summit, the road was once again mind blowing, the steep ascent had one sharp bend after another and threaded its way between two mountains with one scenic vista followed by the next.

Mount Rinjani was on my list of must do’s in Indonesia, I was a little concerned that the hiking season may have ended due the rainy season but upon arriving we were told that the mountain was still open for 5 days…. Perfect!!! I had initially wanted to take my own gear and just hire a guide however the guide company insisted that we take a porter to look after our equipment while we did the summit. The hike was challenging but really enjoyable, the porters took care of the food but I took all my other gear so I was happy that I wasn’t doing it too easy like most of the other hikers and the porter was happy because he didn’t have to carry too much. We set the tents up at what they called base camp, which was a very windy ridgeline, it was very fortunate that the rain only started after the tents were set up but once it came it poured down steadily. I was loving the food that the porter cooked, I was given large portions of Mie Goreng and Gado Gado, it was absolutely delicious, much better than the usual 2 minute noodles and oats that I take on a hiking trip.

Man or Mouse:  I finished my dinner on the first night and left the plate with left over chicken bones in my tent, I also left the tent zip slightly open planning to take the dish over to the guide’s tent when the rain died down. I must have dozed off and woke up to a rustling next to my head, I looked over and saw the silhouette of what I thought was a large rat in the tent with me. I quickly sat upright and grabbed my torch, trying to locate the intruder. Once I had him in the torch beam I realised that it was more likely a very large hopping mouse than a rat but in the small confines of a 2 man tent one seemed as bad as the other. It seemed as though an epic battle may brew between myself and the savage beast, he was as keen to get out of the tent as I was to get him out, I just didn’t want to get rabies from a rodent bite in the process. We managed to circle each other in the tiny tent for a good 5 minutes before I finally ushered him out the tent, I think it was a win/win, I threw the bones outside for him to nibble on and I managed to get through the whole situation without screaming like a girl.

 

I was quite thankful that it was a simple process to catch a ferry from the island of Flores to the island of Sambawa. I jumped on at the Labuan Bajo terminal and 6 hours later I was riding the bike off the ferry at the Sape terminal, with not even the slightest hassle. I had been told that Sambawa was quite conservative and that it was a scenic island with a great road system but it offered little in the way of tourism, with that in mind I decided to head straight from Sape to Pantai Lakey, a world renowned surf beach. Pantai Lakey was full of surfers from all over the world and quite a large percentage were Aussies, many stay for a few months at a time to take advantage of the cheap lifestyle and the consistently good waves. I arrived in Lakey in time for New Years Eve and it was a great place to be celebrating, there was a strange mix of surfers and a huge amount of locals that swarmed there for the celebrations, with a few of the beach front hotels playing louder and louder music in competition with their neighbouring establishments. I had met a rider by the name of Rohan when I was in Darwin, he was riding to England on a Yamaha Tenere and I was lucky to of caught up with him for New Years in Pantai Lakey. We spent a few days hanging out at the beach and then rode together for the trip across Sambawa.

 Rather than follow the highway all the way we did a detour to ride around the base of Mount Tambora, its eruption in April 10^th 1815 has the reputation of being the largest volcanic explosion in human history and the resulting ash cloud caused what was known as “the year without summer” throughout Europe and North America in 1816. The detour was worthwhile, it took us on a road that felt like real adventure riding, it had a mixture of muddy mountain passes, smooth winding asphalt, creek crossings and off road sections, the scenery was spectacular, with the imposing mount Tambora always looming to our left. We spent the night at a modest guest house at the base of the mountain and headed off the next morning to see if we could make the ferry terminal for Lombok. We completed our loop of Tambora and jumped back on the highway, there was a vast difference between the two roads and all of a sudden we were zooming along on a smooth, winding coastal road all the way to the terminal at Poto Tano. Our dream run of riding continued as there was a ferry ready to go at the terminal, within 30 minutes of arriving in town we were on the ferry heading to the island of Lombok. It was a short trip between islands and in under 2 hours we were disembarking at Labuan Lombok with a few hours of daylight to go. We deciding to try and get to the base of mount Rinjani, where we planned a 3 day hike to the summit, the road was once again mind blowing, the steep ascent had one sharp bend after another and threaded its way between two mountains with one scenic vista followed by the next.

Mount Rinjani was on my list of must do’s in Indonesia, I was a little concerned that the hiking season may have ended due the rainy season but upon arriving we were told that the mountain was still open for 5 days…. Perfect!!! I had initially wanted to take my own gear and just hire a guide however the guide company insisted that we take a porter to look after our equipment while we did the summit. The hike was challenging but really enjoyable, the porters took care of the food but I took all my other gear so I was happy that I wasn’t doing it too easy like most of the other hikers and the porter was happy because he didn’t have to carry too much. We set the tents up at what they called base camp, which was a very windy ridgeline, it was very fortunate that the rain only started after the tents were set up but once it came it poured down steadily. I was loving the food that the porter cooked, I was given large portions of Mie Goreng and Gado Gado, it was absolutely delicious, much better than the usual 2 minute noodles and oats that I take on a hiking trip.

Man or Mouse:  I finished my dinner on the first night and left the plate with left over chicken bones in my tent, I also left the tent zip slightly open planning to take the dish over to the guide’s tent when the rain died down. I must have dozed off and woke up to a rustling next to my head, I looked over and saw the silhouette of what I thought was a large rat in the tent with me. I quickly sat upright and grabbed my torch, trying to locate the intruder. Once I had him in the torch beam I realised that it was more likely a very large hopping mouse than a rat but in the small confines of a 2 man tent one seemed as bad as the other. It seemed as though an epic battle may brew between myself and the savage beast, he was as keen to get out of the tent as I was to get him out, I just didn’t want to get rabies from a rodent bite in the process. We managed to circle each other in the tiny tent for a good 5 minutes before I finally ushered him out the tent, I think it was a win/win, I threw the bones outside for him to nibble on and I managed to get through the whole situation without screaming like a girl.

I woke up 2am to reach the summit for sunrise, I was quite surprised at how steep and slippery the track was to the top, it was also ridiculously cold, lucky I had my goose down puffer jacket with me. I managed to beat the guide to the summit, which pleased my competitive side and enjoyed the view over the volcano crater from 3700 metres. I’m pretty sure to make up for being beaten up the hill my young guide decided to teach me a lesson on how to get down the mountain fast, we ended up running down the steep shaly mountain ridge, racing each other and flying past people on the way, it was bloody good fun but he well and truly beat me down. That afternoon we did a second walk to the crater lake and hot springs before heading back down the mountain the next morning. Rinjani certainly lived up to its reputation, it was a magical 3 days and 2 nights but I was looking forward to reaching the tourist town of Senggigi for a well earned massage

 

 

Flores, Moni to Labuan Bajo

With the East of Flores behind me I slowly made my to the West coast of the island, from Moni I rode to the town of Ende, I was lucky to be passing through the harbour city during market day, the markets were full of colour and people lining the street in a hive of activity. Negotiating what seemed to be a maze of one way streets was quite the challenge however it gave me the chance to explore the market place and meet some of the locals, the city seems to be surrounded by volcanoes and the ride out of town along the beach offered some spectacular views. I was becoming quite peckish and I stumbled along a small street café as I climbed into the mountains, the views from their outside eating area took me totally by surprise, it was a 180 degree panorama of the bay and its islands. I continued on through the hills until I reached the beachside town of Riung, which boasted 17 islands and promised some world class snorkelling.

I was lucky to bump into a tour operator that told me about the Tamri guesthouse, which was run by the nicest local guy and his family and only charged Rupiah 90,000 per night with food included, this was 3 times less than the other hotels in town and the accommodation was just as good. I arrived in Riung feeling a little under the weather and had planned to snorkel the next day, unfortunately I got progressively sicker until the whole night was spent either running to the toilet or moaning in pain in my bed. With zero sleep from the night before I cancelled the island cruise and spent the day recovering in bed, I declined the offers from my host to see a doctor deciding to rely on a handful of gastrostop and some stomacheze. It’s generally the case that you miss home the most when your ill and this was no exception, it was 2 days until Christmas and all I wanted from Santa was a solid bowel movement …… perhaps even a hot shower and some Banana Boat 50+ sunscreen, as sunblock was hard to find in Indonesia and often cost more than a night’s accommodation. After a day of misery I felt well enough to rebook my island cruise and spent the day soaking up some sun on white beaches and snorkelling amongst some magnificent coral reef, the gastrostop was working well although a few emergency pit stops were still required.

One thing I noticed on the beaches of Riung’s islands was the sheer amount of rubbish that is lying around everywhere, it’s not only limited to Riung, it seems to be the same at most tourist attractions I’ve visited so far. The sad thing is that it seems to be the locals that are the ones doing all the littering, I’ve watched tour guides finish a bottle of water and simply throw it on the path as they’ve kept on walking. I was relaxing on the beach while my tour guide cooked a freshly caught fish for lunch when 2 families arrived on a different boat. It was great that they had made the trip from Jakarta to Flores to see the natural beauty that this island has to offer, I was shocked that when they left they simply threw their water bottles and a used nappy on the beach with absolutely no regard for preserving the area for the future.

I’d spent 3 days recovering in Riung and was getting itchy feet so I got back on the bike and headed for Bajawa, I was still feeling a little worse for wear and road condition was some of the worst I had seen Flores, I was a bit wobbly on the bike but it was great to be moving again. I was quite motivated to get to Bajawa as it was Christmas eve and I hadn’t had WIFI for a while so I was keen to call my family for Chrissy. I managed to make all the calls and send all the messages that I needed to so I went and explored the traditional village of Bena and its surrounding hot springs. The little village showcased some of the locals doing traditional ikat weaving but for some reason it kept reminding me of the Gaul village from the Astrix and Obelix comics, I half expected the chief to be arguing with a fish monger over the quality of his fish, like in the comic books.

Bajawa is predominantly Roman Catholic so it was a nice atmosphere on Christmas morning, I wasn’t getting any presents though so I decided to spend the day riding and tackled the hilly stretch of road to Labuan Bajo. I was warned that the stretch of road would be wet but I wasn’t expecting the downpour that I was in for. The road between Bajawa and Ruteng had more switchbacks than I had ever seen, combined with the steep downhills and pouring rain meant that the road soon became dangerously slippery. More than once the bike lost traction around a corner forcing me to straighten up, only managing to stop the bike a few centimeters from a sheer cliff and wondering if anyone would even realise if I had gone over the edge. The Beemer has Automatic Stability Control which usually works fantastically, the problem was that the water rushing along the road from uphill was covering the road with dirt and debris forcing me to turn it off at times. With no end to the rain in sight I decided to push on, albeit very conservatively and kept riding to Ruteng. Ruteng is famous for being the home of “the Flores Hobbit”, 7 remains of adult skeletons the size of a 3 y/o child were found in a cave in 2003 and date back to only 12,000 years ago. Apparently there isn’t much to see in the cave and the weather was only getting worse so I decided to push on, checking out the very impressive terraced rice fields in the Ruteng area on the way.

A few Km of flat road along with a break in the rain just outside of Ruteng was a welcome sight, I gave the throttle a twist and picked up a little speed, unfortunately it was short lived and the winding roads and rain soon reappeared. These are usually the type of roads that you would go out of your way to ride but in the huge downpour of rain they were turned into a wet and slippery twisting mess that was both mentally and physically draining to ride. I was very relieved when I finally reached Labuan Bajo with no incident, the afternoon was late and I grabbed the first hotel I could find for a very solid night’s sleep.

Labuan Bajo is the gate way to Komodo national park so I spent 5 days exploring the city and its surrounds. The area offers some of the worlds best diving, the currents were crazy but it meant that I got to do some really good drift dives and see a few Manta Rays along the way, some of the wall dives were exceptional too, they were like diving in an aquarium with all the best sea life thrown in. I was very excited about seeing the famous Komodo Dragons so a trip to Rinca island was also on the cards, once again I was totally blown away, we hiked the island and saw plenty of the HUGE lizards, along with some monkeys and buffalo, both of with are apparently a food source for the Dragons. Labuan Bajo is nestled in a beautiful harbour, filled with wooden boats and ships used for dive charters and liveaboards, it reminded me of something out of Pirates of the Caribbean, It wouldn’t of surprised me if the Black Pearl sailed around one of the many islands. I also spent a day checking out some of the waterfalls and caves that are dotted in the hills around the city. The limestone cave called Batu Cremin was my favourite, not only was it spectacular but they let me go without a guide, lucky I had a good torch because I soon found myself alone crawling through one tight cave after another until it opened into a large chamber filled with bats. I spent plenty of time alone there feeling like quite the adventurer but I was pretty happy to hear the voices and lights of a tour group eventually crawling their way into the cave.

Flores delivered everything I expected and much, much more, this has to be one of the world’s most beautiful islands and no doubt will eventually be overrun with tourists. I couldn’t think of a nicer surrounding to travel through on motorbike and the people have been exceptionally friendly, now it’s time to catch a ferry and see what the island of Sumbawa has to offer.

 

Flores, Larantuka to Moni

I was told that the ferry from Kupang to Larantuka would take 16 -18 hours, thankfully it was only a 13 hour trip and the seas were reasonably calm, the highlight was when they were topping the ferry up with fuel and I counted 4 people smoking within a few meters. I had the option of travelling on the upstairs seated section, however I chose to roll my sleeping mat out on the floor of the cargo area and sleep next to the bike, there were plenty of others doing the same thing next to their vehicles.  I was able to get a good 8 hours sleep and no doubt would have got a few more if I hadn’t consumed a pack of Kopiko extra shot coffee lollies at the start of the voyage. I rolled off the Ferry at 6am without any dramas and set out to start exploring Larantuka. The natural beauty of Flores blew me away immediately, it’s covered in thick rainforest and surrounded by picture perfect beaches overlooking tropical islands and somehow the view just kept getting better around every corner I passed.

 After a short stay in Larantuka I made my way to the city of Maumere, Once gain the road was a motorcyclists dream, one turn just rolled into the next and the scenery was spectacular, I enjoyed the ride so much I had to remind myself to slow down to enjoy the view. I stayed at a lovely place just out of town called sunset cottages, they were traditional bamboo huts with an ensuite, right on the beach with a million dollar view and only cost 90,000 Rupiah (approximately $9. AU) per night. The Owner Henderikus and his family were really friendly, the view over the beach was amazing, they cooked some delicious Indonesian food and he was also kind enough to organise a bottle of Aruk for me to drink on the beach. The main attraction in the area was mount Egon, an active volcano that vented gas and had a small coloured lake in its crater. The 2 hour hike to the top was reasonably hard but somehow my young Indonesian guide was able to spend the whole trip talking nonstop about girls and bikes. The view from the top of the crater was amazing, this was the first volcano I had seen and it was on a list of 11 volcanos in Indonesia on the highest alert level, I was suitably impressed. There were some hot springs on the way down, which was a great way to relax and wind down, especially since the cottages I was staying in didn’t have hot water. My guide Marlino was really into bikes and offered to take me to the local motocross championships, he explained that most of the guys raced slightly modified 2 stroke scooters, which I definitely had to see. This was like no racing I’d seen before, the track was located in a storm water channel in the center of town and was totally lined with people to the point where the police had to close off the block to allow for the masses of people watching. As promised there were some very basic bikes, a few guys rode newer motocross bikes but the biggest cheers from the crowd and myself went to those that raced the underpowered backyard modified scooters.

After a few days relaxing at sunset cottages it was time to head to the islands number one tourist attraction, Mount Kelimutu, near the town of Moni. As always the ride there was great, I arrived in the afternoon and organised some accommodation at the Bintang Lodge. As the name suggests there was a bit of a party atmosphere, having stayed at some very quiet places over the last week it was good to share travelling stories with the other guests over a beer, while the manager Billy did a great job of covering Bob Marely songs. Even though it meant getting up at 4am to see the sunrise, Mount Kelimutu and its 3 lakes lived up to their hype, the views were amazing and I think I racked up about 100 selfies. I spent the whole morning taking photos of the craters and checking out the monkey’s that would come out hoping to get a free feed from the tourists. I had a great couple of days at Moni, there were some other nice sights too see such as waterfalls and swimming holes, the locals were a great bunch and I was lucky to of met some genuinely nice travelers while I was there.

Indonesian Border to Kupang

I had heard a few horror stories about overland border crossings with your own vehicle so I approached the East Timor/ Indonesian border with a little trepidation. I had organised my Indonesian visa at their embassy in Dili so my main concern was the motorcycle paper work. To my surprise it all went quite smoothly, I had to give customs a bit of a hand filling out my Carnet but we got there in the end, I can only speak a few words of the local languages so I just went through grinning at everyone, maybe they just felt sorry for me thinking I was a simple, smiling fool on a big bike. The guys at Indonesian customs welcomed me into their office, they were really interested in the bike and my travels, the process would of taken 10 minutes but I asked the customs guys for a photo in front of the bike and all of a sudden they all grabbed their sunglasses and cameras and we spent the next 20 minutes posing for photos with the Beemer, plenty of laughs all round. I was soon on my way again, with the customs lads telling me if I had any hassles at all to pass on their details and they’d make sure they would sort it out.

There were some noticeable differences once I had crossed the border, the first of which was the excellent condition of the roads and the signage that made navigation much easier. Although village life seemed very similar in both countries the villages were much more closely interspersed in West Timor, one village would end and another would start without me even realising. The cities and major towns had a much livelier feel to them, they were certainly more densely populated than Dili and seemed to be much more colourful and vibrant.

The first major town I came across was Atambua, needless to say I got lost almost immediately, after riding aimlessly through the town and passing the same group of police hanging out at the side of a roundabout 3 times I thought it might be wise to ask for directions. The cops were another shining example of Indonesian hospitality, once they found out I was heading to Kefamenanu they soon assigned 2 cadets on motorcycle to escort me to the right road and once I convinced the officer in charge that him taking my bike for a spin was a bad idea I was off with my police escort. I needed petrol so we took a detour to a service station where we jumped a queue of about 30 vehicles, I was pretty embarrassed but nobody seemed to mind, they just ushered me through and checked out the bike, VIP treatment at its finest. We reached the road to “Kefa” and with many thanks on my behalf I bid my escort goodbye.

I stayed in a hotel in the town of Soe, very happy about the much more affordable cost of travelling and accommodation in Indonesia compared to Timor Leste. The East half of West Timor seems to have an eclectic mix of languages and I was quite surprised that the hotel clerk couldn’t speak Bahassa Indonesian, this certainly was no help in my continuous struggle of communication. The Road from Soe to Kupang was fantastic, the road wound its way from village to village with street vendors lining the roads, I stopped along the way to sample some of the local street food, which was delicious, unfortunately the 110 km stretch to Kupang finished all too soon.

I had planned to stay in Kupang for just one day and was in luck because the ferry for Larantuka, Flores left the next morning, I went to check out Crystal Cave, a local underground swimming hole and bumped into some locals who spoke English, as always in Indo the bike was a great conversation starter and I was soon invited home for a meal by  a guy called Umbu. Once again the hospitality blew me away, I was soon drinking Aruk (palm wine) and chewing on Betel nut with Umbu’s dad who helped me learn a few simple phrases in Bahassa. It goes to show that it is often the people you meet that make the place what it is, I decided to postpone the Ferry trip to Flores and spend an extra 3 days in Kupang. As with most Indonesian guys, Umbu had a keen interest in bikes so he kindly acted as a bit of a tour guide for me for the next few days, which meant that I got to experience some really interesting local places, people and food. My bike was covered in mud so he took me to a local bike wash and set some kids to work cleaning the big girl, once they got over the shock of the job at hand they had a ball, jostling for position to get a chance to do a little cleaning. At one stage there were seven of them washing the bike at once, they were having a ball and although I had to rely on Umbu to translate I had an entertaining time watching them. They certainly took pride in their work, when they were done it was the cleanest the bike had been for a long time, I paid triple the usual price and it was still dirt cheap. The local kids in Kupang are absolutely hilarious, I’d pass them riding or bump into groups of them when I visited the local waterfalls and caves, it was always guaranteed that I would be followed by yells of “Mister, Mister, Mister”. They were a mischievous bunch and were pretty happy with the fact that a westerner was doing the rock jumps into the water with them, they were easily encouraged to do crazier stunts, especially when I brought the camera or go pro out.

The longer I stayed in Kupang the more I was enjoying it, the city seemed to come to life at night with people and vehicles filling the streets, busy night markets offering freshly cooked street food, neon everywhere and of course the local minibuses decorated in bright colours, loudly playing bass thumping music. I asked Umbu about a guy that rode through a red light and he replied with “Ray, its Sunday man, the police don’t book you on Sunday, that’s why nobody is wearing a helmet”. This was like music to my ears, for the rest of the day the helmet was left at home and I was cruising around in just shorts, thongs and singlet, I passed the local police headquarters and zoomed by an officer on his motorbike, the only response I received was a friendly wave, I was loving it. I’d end up at Umbu’s place at some point every afternoon to chat with his family and friends, on my final evening in Kupang I was even invited to a large family gathering for a visiting relative from the Philippines. I was in a house full of people and only 2 of them could speak English, it didn’t matter though, there was plenty of laughing and I was fed until I couldn’t eat anymore. I spent much of the night chatting to Umbu’s Aunt Teresa in very broken English, this seemed to entertain most of the people at the party with many of them laughing until tears streamed down there cheeks at her attempts at conversation in English. To my surprise Umbu’s mother gave me a locally made scarf as a gift when I left that evening, there were plenty of warm goodbyes and of course a few photos taken on the Beemer.

I left for the ferry terminal the next morning to leave for Larantuka on the island of Flores. Umba hung around for the 3 hour wait and managed to get me a local price for my ferry ticket, he also translated all the announcements that came over the loudspeaker, this made life much easier for me. I was eventually directed on to the ferry and with only an hour delay to the departure time I was on my way to Flores.