http://VrienDuineN.tripod.com
http://VrienDuineN.tripod.com A few days of rest and relaxation in the bustling city of Yogyakarta, the cultural capital of Java, describes our current location. After an exhausting week of biking (with quite a few days of 100 km), our bodies and spirits were much in need of this break and we have been enjoying the slower pace that these days of reading, writing, window-shopping and sleeping in have provided for us. Tomorrow we head for Jakarta for a few days and then it's off to Sumatra for a week before we enter our next country, Thailand.
We're reached the two week marker and though the weeks (and months) ahead are still so many, our two weeks have given us a sense of adjustment and "routine", a word that I hesitate to use because a word like that doesn't fit into a traveler's lexicon. Each day brings its own surprises and as our adventures will tell you, there has been no way of predicting what we will see, do, or experience.
Our mornings begin early, often as early as 5:30 in our efforts to beat the heat and get in as much mileage before we quite literally wilt from the sun. We usually get breakfast on the road from street vendors; our menu depends on what we can find and has included everything from bananas to cookies. Our morning ride is usually broken up by water breaks, photo opps, or times when a village or town seems interesting enough to stop in and walk around. For each of these, we are guaranteed to attract the locals and usually find ourselves the center of a small circle of curious bystanders who repeat the few English phrases they know: "Hallo" "What is your name" and my personal favorite "Mister - I love you!"
For lunch, we try to find a food stand or restaurant, something that in our first few days we neglected to do and attempted to survive on small pieces of fruit or the remainder of granola bars that I had brought. We've learned that eating a huge meal (for both lunch and dinner) is absolutely necessary for our survival as bikers and have taken to ordering food for six people, much to the surprise of the restaurant workers.
We try to get to our destination in the early afternoon so it leaves us lots of time to find a guesthouse. Added to this is the fact that it starts getting dark here at 6pm and that the mosquitoes become a deadly force at that time as well. The Lonely Planet's recommendations for accommodations have served us rather well though sometimes it does take some searching to find a good place (in one town it took us 10 tries before we decided on the place we did, in another city (at which we arrived after a 5 hr train ride at 11pm) we went to at least 20 places before a man helped us find probably the only vacant hotel in the entire city. I'm convinced it was divine intervention but Jon's theory is that the man got a big commission from the deal).
Once at our guesthouse, we shower (the cold showers here are much enjoyed after a day of biking), do laundry, read or write a little and then head out to find a place for dinner. We've been enjoying Indonesia food (my favorite is gato-gato and sate) and have gotten to be pretty good at translating the Indonesian words for the different dishes. After dinner, it's usually bedtime, at an insanely early hour compared to our lives back at home, but our tired bodies demand it and we can't resist!
So far, we've had two flat tires, a few instances of chains coming off, one crash (all because of a chicken who wouldn't clear the way…Dan braked, Jon swerved, I stopped and Sarah fell to the ground, badly bruising her knee), a few sunburns but thank the good Lord, nothing major. In a rather ironic twist of fate, we have learned to avoid English teachers (something I never thought I would say!). Somehow they seem to smell our presence the minute we enter a town and wish us to meet their students. At first we enjoyed the interaction with the teachers and students, but after one of them got very demanding and started following us and hanging around our hotel room, we concluded that English teachers are a bit on the crazy side and should be avoided at all costs. I might have to rethink some of my English teacher strategies once back in the States, perhaps I am doing the same to others…!
That was deb's edditon… here is my short addition. We are tired, Deb is right about that and it is difficult to be tired in a country like this. Sometimes I just want to be cool and clean and less irritated. That said I do love it here. The sights, sounds, and new tastes (food is very good, but we here it will only get better in the other countries) make me this experience. It is great to be learning new things like languages and bartering for everything.
Take care, and live fully. I'm signing off until our next update…
Deb (and Jon)
