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Monday, June 28, 2010

More Photos

Lake Maninjau, Western Sumatra.
Indonesian long distance cyclists, Bukittingi, Western Sumatra.

Traditional Minankabau house in Payakumbuh, Western Sumatra.
Equator monument, Pontianak, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo.)

Rice fields in southern Bali.

Mount Merapi, Central Java, steaming away, 2 days after we spent the night a third of the way up there!

Donna at Mount Bromo, East Java.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Malaysia at last

Did 2 days of about 90km each, then found a small town to chill for a few days and watch football. Then we discovered the only ATM in town wouldn't take any of my cards when we were down to our last 120000 rupiah - about 9 pounds sterling. Fortunately that was just enough to get us to the border town on a bus after a night with little food and no beer. Cycled over our first International border this morning, and a mere 43km to be within striking distance of Kuching - 60km to go. Hope to watch football here tonight and maybe stay one more night before we hit the bright lights and all the other hashers in Kuching. Interhash kicks off on Thursday. More pics hopefully next time.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Latest update

After the disappointment of the football, we discovered the only boat to Borneo was leaving from Surabaya on Java 3 days later, so we cycled back 137km in one day to the ferry. Had a euphoric night watching NZ scrape a draw with Slovakia, then caught ferry and train to Surabaya. Overnight there and a boat journey who's estimated journey time from staff and other passengers varied from 23 to 48 hours. It took almost 60 including being stuck in a river mouth waiting for a high tide for 11 hours! As a result we missed the football - no bad thing by the sound of it, but I did get Indonesia commentary, and even that sounded bad. Come on you Kiwis tonight! Now recovering in Pontianak, Indonesian Sumatra (Kalimantan), before the ride to Kuching.

Finally something more interesting than cycling distances

Borobudur, Central Java
Real mountain biking at last on Mt Bromo East Java - no panniers!
Mount Batok (right foreground) Mt Bromo, Steaming and Mt Semeru in the background
The worlds largest flower, Rafflesia Arnoldii, near Bukittingi, Central Sumatra. Sadly not the biggest specimen.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Kuta - Bali 13th June

Took the bus and boat to Bali then cycled 130km one day and about 20 the next to get to Kuta to watch the football at 2.30 this morning. Should have stayed in bed. Taking it easy today. Got to check out some boats tomorrow. Got to get to Borneo soon. Still can't get to upload photos.