Beautiful Bali

First night in Padangbai we braved the hairdressing salon. A bit nerve racking for me trying to communicate when we speak different languages but it is better than it was! Then tucked into lots of good food, fried potatoes, just can't go passed them. Next day we hired a motor-bike and went about 100 km up & around into the hills & checked out a few tourist places & Hindu temple. I found the whole motorbike ride quite stressful, the traffic has increased 10 fold & uncomfortable on the bike.  And seemed so fast. But Trevor did ok managing to weave in & out of the traffic & not get lost. Very noisy & everyone here wants your money. Got stopped by a policeman & had to pay him $10... They stop all tourists on bikes, policemen are known for being corrupt in Bali.
Next day we headed off on our bikes and decided to get off the busy coast road so headed up of course. 4 km of busy rd then 10 km straight up. Actually managed to get a pic of Trevor pushing his bike, I must have been in front... You know it is a big hill when you can not hear the motorbikes, they just come around the corner coasting down the hill. Bali is picturesque, the Hindu shrines, flowers, tropical plants & lush bush all stand out after the dry islands we have been on. The houses are quite ornate & obviously the tourist $$ has lifted the standard of living for some.
A massive climb with a bit of pushing involved & I was at one stage wondering why I had been so quick to stop my bike going overboard on the ferry??
Finally made it to the top, quite cool, our shirts were dripping with sweat & we actually started to shiver in the shade. Ate at the top in a quiet little village then an awesome downhill ride almost to sea level, then up through the rice fields through a pass and down to Jemeluk. We found a lovely place right on the beach. So 60 km. Apart from the hill really felt like we were riding our bikes rather than just sitting like lumps of lard melting under the Sumbawa sun!  Think I just needed the 1000km training. Arrived about 2 pm then snorkelled straight off the beach. Then got talked into a massage, right there on the beach recliners,  $6 for an hour. Pretty good. Dinner sitting right on the beach as well.Great day!

Gili Meno - R n R

A quick 25 km down the coast to where the boats go.  There are 3 small islands just off the north coast of Lombok. One is a real party island but we went to the middle one. Overloaded boat, we were last on with all our stuff. Quite a rough 30 minutes, my bike nearly fell overboard after one big wave, lucky the guy sitting next to it grabbed it.  We found a gorgeous place to stay, off season price of $30 ($100 peak rate). Quiet, good food served right on the beach. We hired a small boat, driver & 1 crew for a couple of hours the next day & they took us to 3 snorkelling spots. Quite a big reef just off shore, lots of fish to  see & highlight was  definitely watching the turtles swimming. We walked around the island, took about 1.5 hours. All about the tourists here, it is nice we are here in the off season. 2 nights there then calm crossing back & about 35 km around the coast with steep ups & downs to Sengetti.  Not what we expected, lots of over priced resorts & boutique hotels but found a little place to stay further along. Massive downpour for half an hour, you get about 10 seconds to find cover before you are drenched. Left early the next morning & tried to take the quiet rds (35 km south)to the ferry that goes to Bali.  But one section had a quarry so lots of trucks for about 15 km. The rest of the ride was great.  So just did about half of Lombok, lovely beaches, nice places to stay. Straight onto the ferry, 4.5 hours to Padangbai, a lovely little village about 60 km north east of Dempasar.

Lovely Lombok

Arrived from the ferry into Lombok in the heat of the day. After lunch we headed south 20km, amongst manic traffic, made all the worse on our arrival into the next village that coincided with the end of the school day & about 300 teenage & younger boys heading home on motorbikes. Nowhere to stay & the main through rd was way too busy so headed up the mountain rd. We knew of a place to stay in Sapit, 17 km away. 3 km in, drenched in sweat & so steep, we spotted an empty pickup truck. There were a few guys sitting around so I pointed at the truck & said taxi Sapit & we were loaded in & whisked up the hill. Great! Lovely place to stay with nice view from our room, nestled amongst 8 mosques, all trying to make the loudest noise at the same time, fried potatoes & omlettes on the menu. Tashi decided Trevor needed an Indonesian flag so he sorted him one & off we went the next morning intending to ride 11 km to the summit. 1.8 km in we r both pushing our bikes, heart rate through the roof & realized it was impossible riding. So Trevor flagged down the first gravel truck, we loaded the bags & bikes in & got a lift to the top. No way could we ever had ridden that.  Amazing how $5 can turn a potential crappy day into a good one. Awesome ride down the other side where we decided to stay, at the base of Mt Rinjani. Still quite high up, cooler & a lovely growing area. Nice feel to both the villages. An incredible amount of mosques here & more being built all the time. They r just for the men although the women can go on Friday afternoon...
Awesome 24 km down the next morning & then a nice  coastal ride. About 70 km in total. Enjoyed bbq fish for lunch then found a beautiful hotel with restaurant just a few coconut palms away from the beach.  We were the only ones there. Had a nice swim in the evening & could not believe it was the same place the next morning with all the locals fishing for crabs. Gili islands next stop.

Bunch ride - Sumbawa Besar

Day off in the city. Trevor's birthday as well. Lazed around recovering. Too hot to walk anywhere. About 4.30pm we headed out on our bikes for a better look around. Went about 200 metres when stopped by a group of cyclists meeting up for their weekly ride. They asked us to join them, it sounded like they were going for a 30 km ride so I declined but Trevor headed off with them. He had a great time, they only cruised slowly around the city for about 10 km , while he was getting organized to go they asked me how old he was so i told them that it was his birthday. When they got to the wharf area, they stopped & did a little speech, welcoming their new friend from NZ & wishing him happy birthday so that was nice. Of course I had to go with him on his return to see the sights , only my ride was in the dark! Found a lovely place for dinner, seafood & vege soup to start, then I ordered cap cay khua ( vegies- not fried) & got exactly the same dish minus the prawns, but both perfect.
Sumbawa Besar to A'las - 70 km. Left early, best day riding, flat, shade of coconut palms most of the way around the coast. Stopped to have a drink & listen to a school performing across the rd. They encouraged me over & played another song. They were great. Stopped & shared watermelon with the locals. Hot last 20km but found a place to stay by 1 pm. With aircon that worked & actually got the room below 24!
A'las to Poto Tano, port town. 25 km  On the ferry by 9.30 1.5 hrs to Lombok, views of magnificent Mt Rinjani above the heat haze.
Ticked over 1000km...

TOUGH DAYS ON SUMBAWA

A bit to catch up on, no WiFi for a few days & exhausted at the end of each day! From Dompu we had a nice 50 km detour to Lakey beach, a surf spot with 6 surf breaks. We were there by lunchtime, stopping for mangos at the mid way point at the top of the hill. 4 for $2.50 cut up on a plate, we stopped for more on the way back as well. Just relaxed for a day & a half swimming & reading books. A few surfers about. We chatted with the young guy running the restaurant, he works 7 days a week, no annual holiday. Starts 7am till 11pm with a few hours off in the afternoon. Gets paid $20 per week, (loves his job) it is not always busy so he plays the guitar & sings - he is one if the lucky ones... Not outside in the heat breaking up rocks. Headed the 50km back to Dompu for the night.  We knew the next day was going to be a big one as it was 97 km to the next hotel. We left at 5.15am tail lights on for about 15 minutes.  Beautiful time of the morning. People were all ready about getting started at the market. We came across some young boys cycling about 6 o'clock. (Photo) The first 50 km was nice,  coastal but up & over the headlands then down to the coast, about 10 x  just enough to trash the legs, then the next 50km was unbearable. It just got hotter & hotter. 35-40 degrees. Very little shade, open, hot & dusty. The heat off the rd was intense. We kept stopping for cold drinks & long rests in random places but basically had to keep going. The only taxis here are horse & cart, which are everywhere in the little villages. We got to Empang at 5.30 so over 12 hours out there, 97 km. Not many tourists on Sumbawa, most take a bus straight through hence the lack of places to stay.
Empang to Sumbawa Besar - 98 km This day was even worse.  We didn't leave till 7.30 so it was all ready quite hot. Dead flat, uninteresting, stinking hot for 98 km & we had not recovered from the day before. This island is so dry & everything is being burnt off, we cannot understand it. Could have done without those 2 days. I find it really hard to eat in the heat & to keep hydrated. The water in our drink bottles is hot, we stop whenever we see a place with a fridge but often there is no electricity so the drinks are not cold anyway. Got to the city about 5.30 &.found a nice place to stay, rest day required. We were both too shattered to eat, nothing looked very appealing so just bought a rockmelon. Best part of those 2 days was getting to the end of them! This island is way too intrepid for me, I am a little over nasi gorang for breakfast, lunch & dinner, only another 100 km to Lombok. We did see lots of monkeys, even they looked hot & bothered, as well as Water buffalo & monitor lizards, they slithered away before I got the photo. We seem to take less photos on the bad days... I have given up on the Kofe ( coffee) that photo is as good as it gets. The flavour is good but it is just ground coffee so there is a lot of sludge!