East Java – Simply cycling around

Slambur > Sidoharjo (68km, 4h)

My target is to reach Borobudur which is a famous temple in the Yogyakarta region and the first point of interest when I started doing some research online back in Australia. so after I had to turn around Ngliman mount I can now head mainly west to that point. The landscape is not too flat, not too hilly, perfect to enjoy some good downhill and fast flat roads :-) The view varies as well and I’ve been crossing some rivers too. Indonesian people are still very kind and I’ve been invited again to spend the night with one of them. They don’t want me to use my hammock apparently :-)

Kediri > Samblur (90km, 4h10)

Hello :-) It has been a week since I haven’t uploaded this website. I did not find the opportunity to do it because I don’t like showing off my electronics devices when I meet people or stop along the way. Indonesia is not the richest country and my bike is special enough. One good thing, I did not forget to take pictures to remember each of these unique days :-) So let’s start the story of this week! In fact, I’ve stayed at Maria’s place one entire week. I did not expect that at all but the feeling was good so I took the time. This morning, I’m on the road again. Thank you Maria so much for your kind welcome! I had good time and a good rest :-)
My time in Indonesia being quite limited, I will have to find the way to be faster to get to Dumai before the 17th of August. My actual plan is to cycle to Yogyakarta and then catch a train to Merak from where I will catch a ferry to Sumatra. Then I will improvise. This morning I left around 7:30am and stopped at a local supermarket to recharge my internet. The staff helped me to managed that on my mobile as it’s a serie of text message to send to get there. My internet was finally topped up after 10 minutes :-) Then one of the staff asked for a photo and her co-workers wanted one as well with their own mobile. Then we took a group photo and another one outside with the bike (We started doing pictures inside) and finally I wanted my one too :-). At 8:15am I was back on the road. I’m not going to go very far at this pace haha.

Kediri, visit of an old church with Maria and Rza

I’ve been staying with Maria a week one and decided yesterday that I will continue cycling tomorrow. Today is my last day in Kediri and we went together visiting an old Catholic church. Normally I would not take any pictures because I feel uncomfortable about religion but this place is different from what we have in France. Actually I did not take any pictures of the church itself, only the surrounding.

Kediri, visiting artisanal market with Maria and Rza

Late this afternoon Maria suggested to go to artisanal market. Good I like this :-) We took a taxi and went through the city. When we arrived to the place I thought I was confused. This looked more like a supermarket to me than an artisanal one. I might miss understood what she said. So Maria didi some shopping and we came back in the taxi, the driver has waited for us! Finally we arrived later to the place on the picture, the real artisanal market :-) Maria’s friends joined us and then we get in their car. The car was small and we were 6 hahaa. Two on the front, four at the back, yes this is not France haha. Five minutes later we stopped in a warung to have dinner. The food was great. Obviouly, Maria and her friends know all the hidden warung in town :-) We finally hoped back in the car and came back home.

Kediri > Pigri (return, by car)

This morning Maria suggested to go to the beach. She asked me if I wanted to go with her family or stay here, haha. Why would I stay here alone? She trust me too much already :-) The thing I did not realised is the fact that Kediri is 80km away from the sea and considering the Indonesian traffic it’s far away. All together we went to the beach today. From right to left: Yon, Asri, Maria, Ethan, Irene, Yuni and me. Maria’s son, Abraham, stayed at home playing video games.

Ngijo > Kediri (97km, 5h20)

Today is not as tough as yesterday. I’ve spent maybe 40min on a hill this morning and all the rest of the trip was mainly downhill. For lunch I’ve stopped in a rest area which was next to a lake. The warung was specialised in prawns so the meal was a bit more expensive than usual. Then I had a nap of two hours in my hammock next to a river. It was fantastic :-) Finally I made my way to Pare where I’ve stopped for dinner and expected to find a place to sleep around. But I got lucky again! I met Maria and her family and they invited me to stay in her house for the night. How lucky is that :-) Let’s discover this day right now :-)

Ngadisari > Bromo > Ngijo (59km, 5h10)

Really tough day today. The last one like this was when I was in New Zealand doing the Heaphy Track. I had to walk with my bike during a good 10km, onto sand, rocks and steep hills. I’ve finally reached the summit at 2722m (from what said the GPS). I was very happy to be there because of the view first, and secondly because I knew I would do some downhill for the rest of the day which is very cool :-).