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Indonesia / Malaysia

April - June 2024
Timbo and I's bike packing 3 month mission through Indonesia / Malaysia. Read more
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  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 1

    Bali - Day One

    April 4 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Tim and I woke in our apartment to an early realisation of being without plans. The day before, we'd booked the accommodation in Changgu following the recommendation of a traveller we'd met briefly in Queenstown Airport. We found the room was quite basic, but we realised it had everything we needed while we were in town.

    Changgu itself is a fantastic suburb - boarding roughly west of Denpasar, it persists with an interesting mix of poverty and wealth throughout. Fancy guesthouses and temples border beside rice fields in most almost all sections of the suburb. Even in the most established parts of Changgu, this persists.

    After breakfast, we set out for the day. Tim suggested we should go hire some mopeds (scooters). This was a brilliant choice! After a quick lap, getting our bearings on the bikes, we headed our bikes North hoping to see something interesting.

    In all ways, this is the best way to explore Bali. No plans, no idea, and just see what you'll see. To summarise what we did over the rest of the day would make for full essay - it was unreal!

    The road out of Changgu travels up the valley towards lake Danau Beratan, located near the top of the island's volcanic crater. Driving up the roads was a journey that felt like you were being taken back in time! Temples are absolutely littered through these region; even around the rural sections.

    Some exploring as highlight was viewing a black buddhist temple past the lake. We were provided with a short blessing performed by the local monk. Finally, we finished the day with some Bintang's before bed.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 2

    Bali - Day two

    April 5 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Uluwatu, South of Denpasar. Many beautiful beaches.

    Most of Denpasar feels to suffer as class of poverty below tourists. For us Westeners, we come in with see, explore and party with essentially infinite money, out pricing the locals, Today was a day outside of this. Uluwatu and the South Coast felt largely well off, due strongly to the fact of popularity of the region amongst mostly Australians and that of other nation's.

    Many temples of the region were well maintained. Many found use of black and white clay as opposed to the common shades of brown found amongst inner suburbs of Denpasar. During this day, I've begun to see the patterns amongst creatures symbolised by Balinese's Hindu religion. The gargoyles, fat buddas (men and women) and demonic trolls held guarding their staffs. To me, this all began to tell their stories towards their different aspects of faith. In almost every suburb of Denpasar (excluding Kuta) temples and towers like these are to be found everywhere.

    On the way back, and after constantly becoming lost for the later part of the day, Tim and I travelled through the suburbs of Kuta and Denpasar. These are beautiful parts of the city, with much in the way of development and shows of wealth. One shopping mall sense even had a rollercoaster on the roof. Some things here literally don't make sense!

    Ending the day, Tim and I linked up with the Okere Falls crew! - Nicole, Justin, Tom and Natalie who treated us to a rave down at Finn's Bar. It was great to let loose after what had been some full days of travel.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 3

    Bali - Day three

    April 6 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Tim and I had allocated a night to party of which we'd planned to be hungover for the next day. For then, we'd only left tasks of small admin - retrieving the bikes out storage, getting lost around the city, laying on the beaches of Kuta and final bike maintenance before we were due to set off the following day. Once preparations were complete, a final visit to the coffee house was made before collecting some rest ahead of our first day on the bikes.Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 4

    First day riding - Bali to Lombok

    April 7 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We'd woke to the sound of prayer. It was four in the morning and we hadn't been without the sound of prayer since arriving off the ferry the night before. Lembar, a small port town on the south west coast of the island of Lombok, is home to a strongly faithed Islamic community which had come as a large culture shock to Tim and I the night before.

    We had rode past few mosques on our way to our accommodation. The first had a wallless, pillared architecture making it easy to view the hundreds of people gathered for ceremony. Men and women performed rituals in prayer of their gods, mothers of infants tended to their young ones and children ran freely around the grounds. Stray cats also presented themselves amongst the distinct lack of vegetation in the area.

    We had found mosques in the region install large loud speaker systems which broadcasts their prayers across town. All mosques perform their broadcasts at the same time, but recite will often different prayers. This came across as competition amongst the mosques wherever you are based across town. By the time you've enjoyed the tranquility in between prayer sessions, you'll be reminded soon enough that you are in foreign which does not belong to you.

    The day before had been a great first day for us on the bike. Denpasar, Bali is a highly congested city with chaotic traffic. We'd decided on a route which goes through the city centre which had turned out to be fine due to the pace of traffic and self awareness drivers persist on these roads. In many ways, it was a fantastic way to explore more of the city different to that of the pace explored with moped scooters.

    We'd found accomodation with a lovely local couple who'd offered us the option between $5 and $20 a night for rooms available with or without AC. The motel was very basic, provided with simple Islamic architecture. The next morning we set off for the south coast aiming to catch up with mates for a few days in Kuta, Lombok.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 11

    Compass Divers - Gili Trawangan

    April 14 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    In Gili Trawangan, Tim and I spent three days with the team from Compass Divers completing our SSI Open Water Certification. We had a blast, which such a good crew and an awesome time in the water!

    On the first day before our dive, I'd mentioned off-hand to Tim how cool it would be if we were to see some turtles during some point of the course. An hour later, we had come back from our first dive which encountered five turtles.

    I considered to be an incredibly special experience. For me, it's been a turning point of the trip. I had been mindful of the fact I'd intended the trip to be bike packing orientated where we had steered off in order of exploring places both Tim and I would be happy for. I got much more out of the diving than I expected (much more than five turtles) which has kept me mindful towards smelling the roses, if you will.

    A little bit on the history of Gili Trawangan marine life: the Gili Islands have a history of dynamite fishing in the area, which too it's effect has destroyed much of the pristine coral from the region. The Gili's also suffer from the effect of climate change. Coral will bleach on extended periods of increases in ocean water temperature which can occur with just 1.5 degrees difference. In the time we were about I suspect coral was bleaching, although I couldn't tell between that and the dynamited coral about.

    A massive thanks to the crew at Compass Divers. For all your professionalism and good vibes! Rozzie, Samsal, Ebing, OG - you guys are all incredible guides. Thank you to Jon, Eka and Titi for helping us with our needs and being the best. Also a special thanks to those that we spent our time with on and off the water - Luis and Liza in particular.

    For a tourism outfit, you guys treated us like we weren't just any tourists. We had such an epic time hanging out with all of you. Thank you once again and we hope to see you out on the water another time.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 12

    Gili Trawangan

    April 15 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Off the coast North West Coast of Lombok, there is the popular set of islands well amongst tourists as the Gili Islands. The furtherest and largest island, Gili Trawangan is by far the greatest spectacle to the western eye. The island caters to a far greater level of tourism than it's neighbouring islands, Gili Meno and Gili Air, and is the place to be for scuba diving, reef snorkelling and some time for partying.

    Tim and I were both motivated to visit Gili Trawangan for our interest in completing our SCUBA SSI Open Water Certification, which can be obtained at a cheaper rate comparative to international prices. We were both interested in observing the wildlife underwater with a bit of partying to go on the side. In the end, we ended up extending our here to be based for a total of five days.

    I've spent at least a few hours on the course of this trip collecting my thoughts on this region and our experience here. Instead, I think it's better to let these photos speak for themselves. My time spent in Gili Trawangan is somewhere I very much enjoyed, but was not without it's dilemmas.

    For diving, I'd recommend this place to anyone. Compass Divers do a very good job at what they do.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 15

    People

    April 18 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    People are just beautiful here! Meet Ouli and Abdull from Malaka, Lombok. Ouli has been our generous host for our night's stay and Abdull makes the best fried banana pancakes on the island 🏝️

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 15

    The road to Sembalun

    April 18 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    The north costal road following the top of Lombok Island. Tim's suggestion involved taking the road up to Sembleong which involved 1200m of elevation gain which we tackled over two days. This turned out to the be right choice for the trip, but not without it's consequences.

    In the late part of the day, we appeal to a local man who was able to get a lift to the beginning of the Sembalun which we were very grateful for. We paid the driver $250K and tipped the local $50K in what was the late part of the evening when we arrived. This skipped about 350m of elevation for us. A great, but hard day on the bike!    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 16

    Up the hill - Sembalun

    April 19 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    With a late start, Tim and I made out of bed all the way to the bar to order ourselves a fresh round of pancakes and honey. The bike packing itself didn't start till much later, of which we were to make our way out the valley towards the head of the pass, taking us towards the port township of Lombok, Lombok.

    Sembalun is an incredibly beautiful area, something aspiring towards that of the Himalayas. The valley, filled extensively with rice fields is formed in something of an outer crater to the local Rinjani Volcano. The mountainous community seems to be well off, through a reliance on the crater springs which provide continued sources of water as well as local tourism for Mt Rinjani guided walks.

    My photos here will not do the valley justice. It was hard riding up the valley with 450m of climbing towards the peak of the day. I had decided to ride with my camera off my body for most of the ride and had forgotten to take photos once we'd made the top of the valley.

    Well worth the torment! Sembalun has been a real highlight of the trip.    Read more

  • TravelerIndonesia / Malaysia
    Day 16

    Down the hill - Sembalun

    April 19 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    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.    Read more

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