No photos at the moment, but here is the tour so far. Flew to Singapore on May 4th. Two nights there, one to recover and one to sort some details of the next stage. Caught boat to Batam Island (only 45 min from Singapore) early morning but missed connecting ferry to Sumatran mainland so cycled 15km or so to find a hotel & spent the day and night there. Cycled back to wharfe with a very early start and caught ferry (6hrs) to mainland followed by bus (about 4 hours o n dreadful roads) to Pekanbaru. Had 2 nights here to recover and get more supplies - we travelled very light, then started cycling.
Day 1 60km early start in rain, folowed by hot finish late morning to Bankinang.
Day 2 128 km over a mountain range - sea level to 500m via a 900m pass and a 14km steep ascent. Downhill finish in the rain to Payakumbuh.
Day 3 14km (yes 14km - what do you expect after yesterday) to Harau valley for a relaxing day in abeautiful spot with lots of waterfalls
Day 4 day off - in theory - end up taking an English class at a local school - long story!
Day 5 49km to Bukkittingi
Day 6 52 km round trip to see Rafllesia Arnoldii, the worlds largest flower
Day 7 30km to Lake Maninjau, but including an ascent to 1100 metres the highest point so far and descent of almost 600m
Day 8 lots of descent to coast then hot run along coast road to Pariaman 84km
Day 9 51km to Padang, rest in midday sun then 23 km to Bungus, room on the beach.
Day 10 rest day
Day 11 61 km to Painan
Day 12 74 km to Belai Selasa
Day 13 130 km to Muko Muko
Day 14 103 km to Ipuh
Day 15 120 km to Lais
Day 16 47 km to Bengkulu
Enough of this after 3 days of constant up and down on terrible roads. We had a rest day then stuck the bikes on a bus to Jakarta. Jakarta was horrendous - couldn't see the city for the smog, so got another bus to Yogyakarta. Cycled to Borobodour then Kaliurang for Mt Merapi - no longer flowing with lava. Back to Jogja then cycled south east where an Ageing ozzie hippy motorcyclist told us was a great cycling area. 110 km first day. 2nd day only about 35 km going all day. Steepest roads I ever saw pushing slowly up and cycling slowly down because so steep and rough. Ran out of daylight so hired a lift to take us to next town.
Combination of bus and trains over next few days got us to Mt Bromo. Staying at 2200 metres was a welcome relief from the heat, but cold shower was rough and we were wearing fleeces at night. Some stunning view including into the steaming crater of Mount Bromo and to the puffing cone of Mt Semeru.
Over 5 weeks into the trip. Headed for Bali today or tomorrow.
