Down the hill - Sembalun

The first real downhill of the trip! Indonesia as a country exists upon the 'Ring of Fire' - the tectonic boarder of the most volcanic section of the world. Most of our riding before Sembalun has been coastal so it was great to run some 1200m of downhill to enjoy the views of this spectacular island.

The pictures generally speak for themselves. We'd taken some back roads to gain a better view of what this place was like. The mountainous townships flowing off the back of Sembalun prosper as much the same as Sembalun itself. Many rice fields take much of the spring and rain water to grow their crop from levelled terraces layered down the valley. People here were incredibly friendly, where we'd often stopped with due to my failing sense of direction.

I'd noticed an effect on the land where rice fields had made their migration moving up the hill. Lower regions suffered from a lack of water, where closer to the bottom, rice fields had resorted to agricultural farming instead. I'll also make a point that some of the best mosques we had seen from this trip came from these regions, all presented in their bright vibrant colours.

Once arriving at the port passing Lombok, Lombok, Tim and I made our way onto the ferry which brought us to the island of Sumbawa. It was a fantastic evening on the bike which we'd polished off with 25km night riding to our homestay in the Alas to spend the night.Læs mere