On the River

Was up at 5:30 for our morning cruise down the river. It cools off quite a bit at night here so mornings has a suggestion of a chill. By noon it will be sweltering and merely thinking will bring on a sweat. There were Kingfishers fishing, lots of egrets and some hornbills and of course macaques, proboscis monkeys plus one Orangutan and baby.

Orangs are solitary apes. Offspring stay with their mother till about six years old learning the ropes. The males need a range of about 1.2 square kilometres and the the female about 800 square metres. Our lodge happens to be in an 800 sq km range of one female and child. She put in an appearance just as we were starting the morning boardwalk walk with our guide. She made a day nest - they do this two or three times a day and then settle if it's to hot or too rainy.

After lunch naturalist Suhali gave an Orangutan Talk and got us learned up on one our closest genetic relatives. Apparently the appearance of the round face with big cheeks on males is hormonally triggered. If a a single male has his 1.2 sq km all to himself then he'll develop the cheeks. If a younger male challenges a cheeky male and wins, the winner gets cheeks and the loser deflates. In captivity, or near captivity, the orangs will pull their hair out. This was initially though to be an indicator of stress but it is now thought just to be smart. At places like Sepilock, at night the apes aren't experiencing the cool of the jungle. They were getting overheated living in or near the concrete buildings so, off with the hair. Also, sInce they are getting fed, their arm hair was not needed to troll for termites.

I caught the mother and child swinging away to there next stop later as I was sitting out on a viewing platform. Their strength is astounding!

The naturalist had kindly set up a telescope when the pair settled in a high tree in view of the lodge.

At four pm we headed out on an afternoon cruise to look for snakes. We found a couple curled up in a tree then suddenly it was monkey town and everyone forgot about the snakes except me as the boat had pulled in under the tree and the the snake was over me.  Then the boat hit the tree while manoeuvring closer to the monkeys, then it hit it again making me very nervous. Oh, they're not poisonous says the driver waa-aay at the back. Really, they *look* like pit vipers says I...fortunately the current repositioned the boat and I was able to tell this tail.

A rope bridge was set up over this tributary of the Kinabatangan river and the troop of macaques availed themselves of the service. The rope was mainly for the Orangutans as they do not swim and this would increase their limited range through the reserve. No one has seen them use it yet but the macaques are opportunists.

Proboscis monkeys were settling in for the night...

A pair of rhinoceros hornbills  - the biggest of several types of this unusual avian - flew overhead on our way back to dinner. Hornbills have horn shaped curves on their bills - inverted ones. It's a pretty distinct profile. When they nest they find a hollow in a tree or an abandoned woodpecker nest for the mother to burrow in before laying her eggs. After she is settled, she and her mate "mud" over the opening with poop, fruit and mud leaving a small opening for the male to pass food through. After the chicks are hatched and are big enough they all bust out. During the interment, the female cleans house and passes poop, etc. though the opening. 

Just as we were approaching the lodge there was a troop of silver langurs with one adult albino - very rare!

Time to look for tarsiers in the dark....

Sukau Rainforest Lodge

American author Agnes Keith and husband Harry lived in Sabah (North Borneo) for 18 years while Harry served as the chief conservator of Forests. Three of those years were spent in Japanese P.o.w. Camps. It was her writing based on her Borneo experiences that led to her fame.

The Keith house is high on a hill overlooking Sandakan. The nice breeze made the stinking hot climb up the stairs worth it. The house was destroyed during WWII. What stands here today is their rebuild which, by 1990's, had been abandoned and had fallen into a state of disrepair. According to a large poster at the door,  "Squatters moved in, drug addicts, gays (!) and ladies of the night were known to have regular rendezvous here." Well, one of those things is not like the other! :-P  They have done a nice restoration. There's beatiful hardwood floors, high ceilings and lots of windows to allow for cross breezes. Agnes didn't fit in with the colonials here and got to know the locals instead - much more interesting writing material! I have to hunt down the movie that was made in the 50's based on Three Came Home - stars Claudette Colbert.

Next door the ever popular eatery in every former British holding, the English Tea Garden.

A quick visit to the central market for leech socks, spaghetti bolognaise at chichi land hotel and then a two hour speed boat ride to Sakau Rainforest Lodge on the Kinabatangan river, which the National Geographic has designated  as one of the world's most unique lodges. There are only 20 rooms, each named after a famous researcher. David Attenborough has stayed here so there's a room named for him - I have to read up on my room's namesake...Dr. Dionysius 

Enroute we spotted some proboscis monkeys and even more on our late afternoon cruise along with monitor lizards, orang mother and child, cheeky macaques, killer wasps in a killer nest, and colourful kingfishers. After passing the wasp nest we heard several blood curdling screams. Turning around you could see a lot of commotion in another tour boat and then, more screams. I thought the worst of course - our guide had just finished telling us how the sting could kill you within  eight hours. The boat seemed to have the situation in hand and later when they passed us I *think* that had the same number of people...

Lodge is nice and woodsie - everything in common areas is open air. Rooms are enclosed with private bath and ceiling fans. The gift shop is air conditioned and has an ice cream freezer. Mmmm... Dinner was fine - seasoned for white people though with no really good complimentary hot sauce in sight. There was Tabasco and a blandish Malay ketchup. Dinner is open air down at the water - rainforest river banks as far as the eye can see. Walkways were lined with kerosene lamps - great Myst-like atmosphere.

Even though we are close to the monster red full moon the sky is dark - haze from Sumatra forest burn off is blotting out the celestial bodies both day and night. Primary rainforest is being destroyed and replanted with the oil palm monoculture that isn't particularly suited to the land that is being cleared. A quick buck for some is destroying an irreplaceable rich, bio diverse environment.

Our night cruise yielded mostly birds - an owl, a pair of water hens, colourful kingfishers. At one point we headed down and extremely narrow channel and all I could think of was the pit vipers hanging out in the trees from the night before! Will check my knapsack carefully before bed!!!

In Rehab

The proboscis monkey at first glance seems to be a science experiment gone wrong where someone has spliced Jimmy Durante's DNA with that of a koala bear. After you get used to the big schnauz they actually look kind of cute. Very pretty reddish fur with salt and pepper arms and legs.

Only the alpha male has the big proboscis - the bachelor males have smaller ones and the females have cute upturned pointy ones. No one is sure what purpose it serves but it's used to puff up and posture with when the alpha is challenged by a young monkey looking for luv from one othe alpha's off-limits females.The babies have very dark heads and blue faces until a few months old. They look strikingly like a Dr. Seuss "Who," from Whoville.

The Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary was set up by a sympathetic Chinese oil palm plantation owner who found the monkeys pilfering his workers' breakfast during a particularity bad drought. Land was set aside as a reserve and a visitors centre with walkways and feeding platforms were built. There are two feedings a day in two different locations. I'm told that the cucumber and pancake (no sugar added - this would kill the good bacteria in their gut) they get is just "extra" and that they can for the most part survive on what the land offers. Their main food is mangrove leaves. These are poisonous but the monkeys have a complex stomach system - similar to a camel - that can handle the digestion slowly. The result, especially in the alpha males, is a big pot belly from gas. The can also regurgitate and have leftovers! When the food was placed on the first platform the bachelors immediately ran over and started gorging. Alpha male sauntered over sat down and the young guys just backed right off and timidly grabbed their food when the big guy turned his head.

Mangroves are being displaced by plantations for all that palm oil that goes into packaged food. Without mangroves there can be no proboscis monkeys. I like places like this where the people are in the "cage" and the animals have free range. There are no fences per say but the the edge of the protected mangrove keeps them from wandering.

At the second feeding site there were four army dudes in camo fatigues with AK47 type machine guns. My guide told me that they are at all the tourists sites now. These guys were smiling and laughing and taking each other pics with the the cheeky silver langur monkeys that showed up at feeding. Adults are silvery black, babies are golden!

Currently the canadian government is advising against travel to east Sabah but I decided to come because precisely because the military is out and about. Tourism is a serious year round business here so I'm confident in their caution. I decided the not to do diving though on this side as the travel agent I was using was not doing bookings at the resort I was most interested in. Best to listen to the locals.

After a lunch stop we headed to Sepilock Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre for the afternoon feeding. This place has been around since the late 50's. They take in orphans and injured Orangutans, love them, nurture them, wean then and release them. That is if/when they are ready to be independent. Was thrilled to have one just walk by on the walkway railing nonchalantly just as we got to the "Junior Outdoor Playground." I feel a real kinship to the ginger ape!

At the afternoon feeding it was the macaques who stole the show. The orangs cruised in all mellow and relaxed and hung out for a bit munching slowly on bananas and cantaloupe. Three of them huddled closely together and turned their backs on the masses of photographers as if in council. Then the Macaques all snuck in and carefully snatched and grabbed the the outward lying fruit and then worked their way in. The orangs didn't give them the time of day even when one especially brave youth stuck his hand in between the two biggest and seemed to pull three bananas out of their butts!

The Rainforest Forest Discovery Centre down the road was our next stop. By the way this was not supposed to be a private tour but since its shoulder season and I'm solo I somehow ended up with a guide and driver and a van of my own. I have a female guide  (surprised) with very sharp eyes (not surprised.) On our canopy walk she spotted a freaky woodpecker and two types of hornbills for me. Hornbills are prehistoric looking.

Ended the day with a steamy night walk back at Sepilock. Rehab. Saw creepy things by flashlight. Spiders, angle headed razor back lizard thingy, pit vipers big and small, a frog that said "what", a red headed kingfisher and giant red flying squirrels.

Awesome day!

Sandakan

Once again was a bit surprised at the star level of the hotel - have a swank room on the 22nd floor with a nice view down the coast. Seems it's tallest building in town.

Spent the morning in KK looking for a budget pair of "Adidas kampong" shoes which are the favoured footwear of plantation workers here. They are monolithic rubber lace ups with cleats and are rumoured to be superior to any fancy hiking shoes out there for the simple reason that you can rinse them off and towel them dry after a rainforest walk. Found a pair for 10.50 MYR or about $3.20 CAD - think I'll save my fancy hiking shoes for a drier trip.  Now I have to find a pair of leech socks...

At 400,000 (including sprawl) Sandakan turns out to be a bit bigger than I expected. Like KK it's a jumping off point for bigger and better things - diving and wildlife viewing to be exact. I'm visiting some sanctuaries over the next couple of days then on to a series of three rainforest lodges. The town itself doesn't hold much interest at first glance but it was the home of writer Agnes Keith, author of The Land Below the Wind and author as well of a memoir of her interment in a Japanese p.o.w. camp in wwII. Will try and get the the Keith's house, now a museum, before I leave.

Turns out that this hotel is the anchor for a large inward looking shopping mall and car park, yet it is right on the ocean. The mall is reminiscent of Gerard Square and is only partially occupied. There were children's amusements and an archery range on the 5th level. People were out in droves all dressed up - men and boys wore colourful two piece outfits. Turns out it is Hari Raya Haj today, last day of the annual Haj, as in pilgrimage to Mecca. People in the mall seemed to be celebrating by riding the escalator up to the 5th floor and then back down again. Seriously, I watched them for about 20 minutes.

At the Japanese restaurant on the ground floor of the mall I made the waitress laugh by ordering with an Indonesian-Japanese mix of "boleh saya minta gyoza ramen to California roll seto o kudasai." Hee!

Back at the hotel I noticed that the hotel infinity pool  had an unfortunate exit stair enclosure grafted on to it....

...and an interesting dress code:

Churro

This mornings breakfast: eggs, multigrain toast, tomato, pancakes with chestnut butter and mango purée, dim sum mystery rolls, beef rendang with sambal and, the best churro ever!

The Tide Has Turned

The tide has turned and swept me from the gritty backpacker world into chi-chi heaven. Its the 1st night of the Borneo portion of my trip that I had intended to do with awesome Peg but she had to cancel for health reasons. Sad about the cancel, sadder about the reason. I am going to try and channel her awesomeness in her absence!

I was practically dripping wet with salt water when I showed up at the Hyatt which is one star higher than previously booked. I had left my bags and some laundry to be done at the backpackers this morning after checkout - I picked it up, rearranged things and left a bag of biking gear in storage there. I'll have one more night at Step-in lodge before I head to Singapore. Anyhow I still had a bag-o-wet-neoprene and my scrubba-come-dry-bag dangling from my arm in the Hyatt lobby and was wearing my flashy floral mountain bike shorts and flip flops (thongs if you are Aussie) so I decided to pretend I was an eccentric rich person and just barrel my way through with a smile. I was thinking of Miranda Hart as the lobby staff greeted me as "hello sir" - such fun!

The lobby has enough mahogany, teak and marble to choke an army of sea horses. After we ascertained that I was not a man, I got my room card and grabbed my bag so I wouldn't have to tip the dudes on the door. I may not be a sir but I can pick up a heavy bag and carry it...as far as the elevator. 

Nice to stretch out on a comfy bed in a soft robe but it was hard work looking at stuff under water and I was hungry. As it happens Chilli Vanilla  was just one short block away!

I had a glass of white wine and a creamy chicken and broccoli pasta then was enticed by the "Hungarian meter" desert. A chocolate coated 1/2 log with a light cake and custard centre. Perfect with an espresso!

Today was another great dive day as I've come to expect. First dive brought us down to where a turtle was feeding and getting cleaned...

...then three more appeared. We saw the usual suspects along with some mackerel and squid feeding. I stared down another cuttlefish at the okay-coral and felt the earth move with another distant reef dynamiting.

The final dive was a shallow slow search for the elusive octopus. All I found was this...

...but we picked up a current around the reef and drifted the last 15 minutes and just took in the the cornucopia of colour. Beauteous way to end my time here.

My dive operator was fab - well organized, professional and personable. Such warmth and hospitality from a groups of young guys who love where they live and what they do. My instructor Strike was shaking his head in response to the Middle East conflicts in the headlines and said, what's the point? just come and dive, relax and enjoy nature!

Works for me ;-)

Full fathom five my octopus lies...

Another day, another dive adventure. My guides this far have been names Strike, Cindy (a guy) and today Kerry. My ears have been equalizing just fine so far - perhaps because we use a back roll entry I don't have time to think about it.

After my first dive day I decided to check out the Chinese establishments on Gaya street for dinner at the recommendation of a fellow diver. I was early and the street was fairly dead. I decided on a semi crowded place with tables on the sidewalk devoid of white people. Immediately a group of staff gathered at the condiment table in distress as I smiled and gestured for a menu. The guy who drew the short straw to deal with the weird white woman (or was it a man?) came over in a sweat.

We only serve pork.

Can I have a menu?

All we have is pork.

Do I order inside?

Only pork.

Do I order from you?

I take your order but only pork, everything pork, ribs, intestines, meatballs, ears, all pork.

Okay, I'll take the pork!

He recommended meatballs which sounded innocuous enough and brought over a small bowl of them along with rice, tofu and a bowl of broth and then a big platter of dark greens with a hint of sweet soy and peanut. It looked huge but I had no trouble devouring it. It was quite nice especially the greens which didn't set my mouth on fire as in Sulawesi. The broth was a bit bitter so gave it a miss - turned out to be the house speciality. 

As I ate it got really busy. More sidewalk tables were set up. Cars blocked the road as large parties waited for a table to clear. People lined the sidewalk and a durian vendor set up his wares on the street in front hoping to catch departing patrons.

Turned out I had dined at Yu Kee Bak Kuh Teh (meat bone tea) which is one of the favoured places for this style of slow cooking pork in a complex mix of herbs and spices. About $4 for the food and 1$ for the beer. Definitely worth a try if in KK.

Tonight it's western fare with a twist at Mad Ben Cafe. Once again my initial plans were waylaid - the salted beef burritos won over the spaghetti bolognaise. Not sure what the twist was but it tasted great - kind of a sweet coleslaw wrapped up with the beef + lettuce and some seasoned fries. I'm famished from floating - go figure!

Today was windy and overcast so vis was pretty low but still lots to see and fantastic colours - photos don't capture the richness without light$ and filter$ so my monochromatic moray eels wills have to do!

One particularly noteworthy moment was when a loud sharp crack sounded - I imagined a cannonball blasting through the water behind me. When we surfaced my dive buddy Matt, another Aussie, said he though it was an anchor dropping right behind him. Kerry the dive guide said it was dynamite - FCUK! He said  the perps could be up to 15 km away (thank goodness!) we were technically diving outside the reserve so they were only breaking one law. Dynamite fishing is a quick way to make a buck and a quick way to destroy the marine environment. Easy to scoop up stunned fish and hard to catch those blasting the bejesus out of the reef. Was very surprised they were doing it in the middle of the day so close to a major city.

Glad for the presence of the dive boat. Due to the reef we don't anchor. In Australia and New Caledonia permanent morning anchors were placed for boats to tie off on but this is not permitted here. We back roll off the boat and descend without a line then as we start our 3 minute safety stop on ascent, the dive master deploys an inflatable safety "sausage" inflated from his regulator so the boat can approach. After we are visible on the surface the boat comes in closer for the the pickup. Since the boat is hovering in the general vicinity the whole time there isn't any danger of the idiot blasters coming too close.

Fish list included baby blue spotted ray, frog fish with Mick Jagger lips, snake eels, grouper,  mackerel, surgeon fish, parrot fish, box fish, and a glass shrimp "manicure." They have sunk some tires to form artificial habitats. In one pyramid of tires live a colony of glass shrimp (ooo la mer!) these little dudes will come out and explore your figs her tips and check the crevices along your cuticles. It was kind of Gulliver meets Lilliputian Aliens...

Tomorrow, maybe an octopus. This is my new mantra. :-D

Kota Kinabalu

 On my way to dinner tonight I got waylaid by a Hungarian restaurant. Never expected that in Borneo but the chilli chocolate red wine braised beef called out to me and I answered a resounding "yes! I said "yes" again to house specialty long drink and am sitting here enjoying a Chilli Vanilla (vodka, vanilla, lime, chilli) under the disapproving, I imagine, stare of the "House of Islam" shop across the street.

I left Indonesia early in the a.m. on Saturday and parted ways with 1/2 my cycle mates the night before, the other 1/2 at the Makassar airport. Sulawesi is truly a special place. Although "western style" service and punctuality are lacking they have set the bar for consideration, hospitality and friendliness - this is the 40th country I've visited so that may stand for something. In the Makassar airport when I got my morning muffin all over myself this nice lady whipped out a package of tissues for me and cleared a space for me to sit down. I was able to ask where she was going and tell her where I was from in Indonesian and then asked "anda bisa besara bahasa engris? Are you able to speak English? She said "a little" which turned out to be a lot. She was on her way to visit family in Surabaya, was a law professor in Makassar, had been to the Netherlands for training course for 3 months and spoke "a little" Dutch (probably a lot!) and loved Amsterdam. We pulled out our respective electronic gadgets and shared pics. So now she is going to go to the Togian islands and I'm going to Komodo national park! We shook hands when her flight was called and I knew by now to touch my heart with my right hand. This made her beam. I'm always amazed at how small gestures can make such a big difference. What a lovely farewell to a lovely place.

1500 km later....Minutes after leaving the KK (Kota Kinabalu) airport I felt firmly back in the modern world - nary a motor scooter in sight, no cows, no goats, no chickens, no garbage. One way streets rule here which means that cars rule. No one lined the streets to greet me! Here I'm just another tourist instead of a special guest :-( not that people are unfriendly they are just caught up with themselves and their stuff much as we are at home. 

I managed to make the guy working the desk at my guesthouse laugh and now we are BFF's. My few words of Indonesian (which is virtually the same as Malay) have astonished people here even more than in Indonesia. But it seems to make them speak English louder. My initial plan was to land in KK and head out out to Mount Kinabalu for a serious summit hike but the earthquake earlier this year put an end to that. The trail is closed till December. Instead I decided to spend 4 days diving. Just 15 minutes from the main jetty is Tunku Abdul Rahman national park, aka T.A.R., which is a collection of 5 islands + marine reserve. The more desirable dive spots in Sabah are off the eastern coast - Sipadan, Lankayan, Mataking etc. these spots are also the favored hunting ground of a Filipino extremist group. As recently as May of this year they brazenly kidnapped some locals from a restaurant just out side the city of Sandakan for ransom. Even though the dive resorts are protected by the military I opted for 4 days of "muck diving" rather than 2 days in an area that the canada foreign office advises against traveling to. And no regrets. It's shoulder season here and the dive company I booked with mainly does beginner training. As such I get my own personal dive guide while the kids are in class. Visibility is crap BUT the colour and variety of fish and corral is amazing. Doesn't make for great photos but what the hey? Today we saw lots of blue spotted Rays, an imperial lobster, sea horses, a turtle! Lots of box fish, mackerel, lion fish, stone fish, cuttlefish and many, many small colourful fishies. 

I get picked up at my guesthouse and dropped off at the jetty then it's a boat to the main island where the dive shop has its clubhouse c/w showers and w.c. Equipment and (yummy) lunch is included. After 3 dives I get delivered back to the mainland and then back to my guesthouse. Works out to about $35/dive - excellent price.

Weather has been dry except for a 20 minute downpour early this morning and a downpour right now. My guest house is basic, clean and comfortable. Breakfast is included. I decide to splurge  and get a private room (it has a shared shower + WC) - at $20/night it's another bargain.

Rain isn't letting up so I hope my waiter can find a plastic bag for my iPad. When he came to clear my dishes which I had wiped clean with bread and fries,  I said with as straight face "saya tidak suka ini" - I don't like this - he went white and looked confused. The sauce was the best ever. Smooth lite chocolate with a hint of sweetness and with no bitterness - better than any mole dish I've had any where! A smile gave me away and he giggled with relief. He provided a plastic bag for my iPad just at a break in the rain...

...tomorrow maybe I'll see an octopus!

Cycle Day 11 : Salodik to Luwuk

I was a little sad starting this morning. It was our last day but as we hit the 20 km mark my foot fell asleep and since my butt has been numb for the past two days the sadness passed. We has guests riding with us today. Six fresh faced young men who could have been anywhere from 16 to 35 under the leadership of a local cycle shop owner and cycling enthusiast named interestingly enough, Wimpy.

But first breakfast. Last night's Ibu made a return performance this morning with yummy turmeric rice, hard boiled egg (or was that last night?) and a spicy tuna dish which went nicely with the rice. Watermelon melon and papaya cooled it all down. I have to admit that I'm not going to miss the powdered coffee.

It was mostly downhill this morning with some short sharp hills thrown in just to let us know where we were. 

After a little stop by a creek to cool off it was into big city traffic or at least it seemed like a big city at a population of 54,000 after being in the countryside. It was stinking hot and crowded. Wimpy had driven his group plus bikes up in a truck so I ended up following that truck through to the lunch stops but only mike and the guest riders followed suit. 

The rest trickled in over time but Bev, Chris and Louise had vanished. Various cyclist and Ucok left in pursuit and eventually they were located at the airport since that's where someone said the hotel was. We were all sipping cold young coconut water with tender flesh while this was going on. Needless the say, they were not amused but it did seem to be an authentic Indonesian type experience!

Ox tale soup and rice accompanied the cool drinks a light lunch but I'll need to temper my food intake now that the tough part is over. We said goodbyes to our local riders after lunch. They have a lovely custom here where you shake hand and touch your right hand to your heart. The younger person also bows or bends over and these kids were bending pretty low for me! I was able to say thanks and safe journey in Indonesian though which got some giggles.

The last 18 km wound through town along the ocean the it was time to turn off and head to the hotel which was, guess what? Up one of the steepest hills on the entire trip!! Thanks for that Colin! ;-)

We pretty much all walked it. Alex did the ride to gauge the steepness for "next time." There were cool drinks in the lobby, soft beds and hot water in the rooms. I could have been anywhere in the world once that door closed on that 5 star room. I did appreciate the hot shower but the bed wasn't that much more comfortable than other more modest places we stayed at.

Before dinner Bev and Chris booked a car and driver to go back into town for a walkabout. Luwuk is called the Hong Kong of Sulawesi probably due to it port. The shopping streets seemed to have everything fabric, jewelry, hardware supplies, stationary, appliance, guns! Yes, guns. These were in a shop that sold guitars and badminton rackets.

There were garbage bin cleverly made of repurposed tires.

In one shop selling vacuum cleaners I think this young woman who could have been anywhere between 14 and 30 came over and started chatting in English. When I said I was from Canada she got all dreamy eyed and said "oh, from Canada? Do you know Justin Beiber?" When I said yes I think she thought I meant personally. She then declared her love for him repeatedly and expressed her desire to marry him then she asked if she could have my watch. She seemed to want it as much as Justin Beiber. But Justin and I both disappointed her - Oh, Canada!  :-(

Here's some jauntily displayed barbed wire - laid out as if by a bower bird. I wonder if this artistic display enticed any female barbed wire purchasers.

These cool looking dudes were raving their motors looking all tough and then giggled like children when I took their pic.

Was disappointed that they were all out of Dung-Dung!

Dinner back at the hotel was tasty but as with the other western style resorts a little on the light side. Yummy satay chicken with rice plus a soup. Banana smoothies but no desert fruit. Insignificant complaints in an otherwise stellar experience!

800 kilometres, 11 days, 2 numb feet and 1 happy camper :-D

Distance: 39.16 km

Time: 2:26

Average speed: 16:04 km/hr

Maximum speed: 41:17

Elevation: -300 +/- meters

Cycle day 10 : Bunta to Salodik

Road closures had us up at 4:45 this morning for a quick breakfast of curried chicken, lots of white rice and sliced pieces of sesame seed brittle (!) The night was quiet so I think the perhaps upstairs ladies were all rumour. It was a straight run of 42 km without break to the construction gate. I managed it in 2:06 which wasn't too bad - largely due to the cooler temps with our early start.

I have to say that I'm impressed with the roads on our trip. A good 80% were asphalt and much of that brand new, the rest was either rough-ish or under construction. Drivers, as I said, were very considerate. In over 900 km i saw only one bent guard rail that suggested an accident and too, no road kill in sight apart from a few snakes. This is no small feat given the free range cats, dogs, goats and chickens. A couple unique hazards that you did have to watch out for though we're (illegal?) 1/4" water lines that were poorly recessed across roads plus plank bridges with boards running parallel to the direction of travel for vehicle wheel that had gaps wide enough to trap a bicycle wheel.

This morning's construction wasn't too bad. We had our morning tea at a 1940's wooden bridge and then spent some time at the village market where a Houdini type magic show was underway...the speaker was so grating I didn't stick around to see if the trussed dude sewn into a burlap bag disengaged himself. While taking tomato pics some ladies came over to me and at first started touching my white arms, then they went for the white legs - about 8 of them came running over to rub my legs and laugh and yammer at each other probably along the lines of "wow, this is weird" which is pretty much what I was thinking!

I managed to disengage myself and was bike bound to our lunch another 20 km down the road. More of the same roads as the previous two days ocean on the left, mountains on right, palms all around with enough dips and rises to keep it interesting. 

Lunch was at a lovely ocean front place with some fish corrals with some pretty blue tipped fish in one area, turtles in another and some wrasses in a third. This was another establishment with a clove operation in the back room. The production ladies were only too happy to have their picture taken and then it was their turn to get selfies me. No shyness about it!

By end of lunch the morning clouds had cleared and the sun was searing. I lasted another 20 or so kilometres and had to call it quits. Was happy to do the last 20 km in the air conditioned van rather than heat stroke out. The last hill turned out to be brutal in terms of grade, sun and wind. Alex said that he underestimated today's ride and that it was the toughest day of the trip.

Couples and Reyna & I settled into the upstairs rooms at a warung (a family run restaurant) while the solo men camped out at an unused training centre with mattresses on ant filled floors. We definitely got the better deal. We also had another guest staying in the sixth room - a very skinny, friendly guy with no shirt on and jumbo sized underwear that came out the top of his pants and up to his armpits - I actually hadn't noticed but the others filled me in. We gleaned that he was from Surabaya, or at least liked saying "Surabaya" over and over. He also kept repeating "tiga, tiga, simbilan, dua, dua" or 33922. Perhaps a zip code in Florida? We'll never know.

Dinner was catered down the road at the training centre next to the guys digs, set up in an auditorium. The ibu (polite term for addressing women) is on the verge of opening a new restaurant and based on the dinner we had she should do well. There was a note worthy soup with rice noodles and bits of chicken, veg and some aromatic herb reminiscent of the Burmese mohinga but with a chicken bases broth instead of a curried fish broth. Lovely and warming at our cool elevation of 500 meters :-)

Distance: 96.86 km

Time: 4:43

Average speed: 18.43 km/hr

Maximum speed: 40.95

Elevation: 475 +/- meters

Cycle Day 9 : Ampana to Bunta

It was a lovely sunrise on a mirror like ocean this morning as we slid past pearl farms. Road closures necesisated another early start in order to get through on the appointed lunch hour. Another stingy breakfast awaited us at 5:30 - certainly not sufficient for a day of cycling. I've gotten used to the local spicing and not this watered-down-cater-to-the-westerners fare. But then again I imagine that they don't get too many crazy cyclists out hear!

A few fisherfolk were out and one scary looking military ship with a helicopter on deck. Apparently there is a big yacht regatta this weekend that draws boats from all over the South Pacific hence the "security."

The wind picked up as we cleared the islands making it a bumpy 1 1/2 ride back to mainland where Acok (ah-chock') was waiting with some real energy generating goodies. A tidbit that at first glance looked like a Nanaimo bar was my favourite - it had a pressed rice base with a sago layer, and was topped with grated coconut. Fully charged on rice and fruit goodies we hit the road around 8:45 just as the heat of the day was gearing up. The road terrain along the coast is not unlike what I'm used to on my Toronto trail rides so my only (monumental) challenge now is the intense sun. This and my low range of high gears limited my pace but no worries with so much lovely scenery and lovely people to take in.

Our ride was coined the pimple ride due to a dead flatline for the bulk of the trip with one sharp 200 meter rise right in the centre. Another spicy fish and rice lunch fuelled our passage through the construction mess on the pimple. The soil is very sandy here causing a good portion of the way to be walked thus making the Aussie term push-bike more understandable. Several fresh road cuts look rather unstable with lose rocks and sand rolling down - a good portion of one road cut had actually slid down into the ocean and they had just cut it back some more enough to expose the required road width.  The road base is a bit suspect - no way endurable asphalt can be laid down on this sand. Very glad it's not rainy season.  

Clear of the sand and dust it was flat roads with the ocean on the left, mountains on the right and coconut palms all around. Today in addition to all the "hellos" one lady shouted out out "I love you!" So of course I shouted back "I love you too!"

Our accommodation was in a lively little pit stop of a village named Bunta I'm thinking that the gas station down the road attracts all the trucks outside or, more likely, the (unconfirmed) rumour that "ladies of the evening" operate on the second floor. Classy joint!

Dinner featured lots of meat + rice + more meat. + gargantuan jars of what we call shrimp crackers at home. One dish was a pulled pork (beef?) done in a coconut/jackfruit sauce - quite possibly the best dish of the trip.

After dinner Colin invited us to join him as he had to make meal arrangements with the hotel owner who lived down the road at his other business, the local supermarket. I tagged along since I was in need of soap...not since India '85 have I seen so much skin whitener! The only thing I could find was a bath and body lotion specifically for pregnant women that didn't have the bleachers stuff in it. And also, I bought an ice cream!

Out back of the shop our proprietor had a number of side businesses going, coco beans and cloves were drying, nutmeg was dried and shaved, some gum coconut by product used in paint making was drying, all were being bagged and readied to ship to Surabaya. Cloves, I believe we're going for 90,000 rupiah a kilo or about $9 CAD. I think we pay about 10 times that at home which means someone who didn't grow collect and dry the stuff made a crap load of money.

Distance: 92.42 km

Time: 5:08

Average speed: 18.0 km/hr 

Maximum speed: 40.09

Elevation: 625 +/- meters