End of the INDONESIAN traverse : Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores & West Timor

BALI - 5 days of relax

Arrived on the most famous island of all: Bali! Crazy how far we’ve got. As soon as we got off the ferry it felt like we were in a different country. Hindu temples everywhere, uncovered women, plenty of beers and alcohol back in the stores and jumping monkeys on the road. Along the coastal road we noticed perfect wild spots for our tent, unfortunately we didn’t have enough water so we treated ourselves to a very nice hotel for 9 euros for a room. Little paradise on Earth. Lot of people come from the other side of the world to visit Bali, like us, but they all come with planes. Arriving here only from the power of our legs adds a little bit of consideration to the place. You kind of deserved it !

While cycling in the morning, we noticed some kind of ceremony on the side of the road. Beautiful traditional music, dressed people dancing and drinking traditional alcohol. One of the dancing locals gave us a swing. We were invited to participate and watched the entire show. To our surprise, the ceremony turned out to be a funeral. We were shocked. Probably the most vibrant, colorful and incredible event we had ever seen. We followed along by bike the funeral procession through the village to the temple, all accompanied by traditional music, dance from the entire community. 

We decided to cycle along the northern coast of Bali as this region is known for its serene and less crowded atmosphere compared to the more touristy areas in the south. Also by sticking to the shore, we avoid the mountains. We cycled to Lovina and left our bikes there for a one day scooter trip to the South. Just for a immersion in the Ibiza style Bali... Way out of our confort zone.

Lovina is famous for its early morning dolphins watching tours. The price being pretty affordable compared to diving excursions, we hopped on the opportunity. At the end, there were more tourists in the water than dolphins, but we managed to see some happily jumping dolphins next to our boat. Overall we do not encourage this type of tourism.

On our way we stopped on several stunning waterfalls and passed by some beautiful volcanoes. We will definitely be back to explore this gem longer. Now it's time to cross to the neighboring island: Lombok!  

LOMBOK - an incredible encounter with a local cyclist

The boat arrived in Lombok late in the night so our only option was the noodles in front of an Indomaret supermarket and a gloomy hostel with squat toilets. Back to the Muslim world! Thanks to our community on social media again, we were contacted by a local cyclist living in the main city of the island. Heatemn, our peer, was more than eager to join us for a ride and brought us through his favorite bike packing path. He made us taste the typical sweet local breakfast (that we don’t know the name of) and showed us an awesome public natural swimming pool. A dreamy reward after a sticky and dusty climb in his “garden”. 

Our itinerary in Lombok crossed right in the middle of the island in the heart of a mountain chain with the second highest volcano in Indonesia at the top: Mount Rinjani culminating at 3726m. Our goal was to get to the Tetebatu village, lost somewhere in the mountains near the foothills of the giant. The climb to go up there is tough. Last kilometers we finished in the back of our favorite little truck, picked up by another friendly local. A cozy, cheap guesthouse with a view of Mount Rinjani was waiting for us. We spent two nights there, wandering and chilling around. One of these places which only started to be touristy, and still didn’t loose its authenticity. The village is surrounded by lush green rice terraces, tobacco fields and hills. The terraces are curved into the hillsides, creating a beautiful mosaic of green fields and hidden waterfalls. It was a pure joy to be surrounded by nature like this. Also a place we would like to know more, for a next trip maybe !

SUMBAWA - the driest island of all...

Again this feeling, like we had crossed to a different country. Luxurious forests, rice terraces and coconuts were replaced by desert and dry lands. There were goats scattered on the road struggling to find some green fresh grass. We struggled as well with the heat. The options in the small food stalls (“warungs”) were limited to rice with chicken, egg or instant noodles. We started to feel fed up with Indonesian basic cuisine after more than a month of eating only rice or noodles. Our Western bodies were still not used to the heat, it seemed like it was even harder, but it was already our 5th island and slowly getting closer to the goal. Nature was desperately waiting for the rainy season, late this year. At least, Sumbawa is one of these islands where wild camping is more than easy. We settled somewhere in the fields close to a farmer’s family house, of course they couldn't believe their eyes. The lady of the property brought us a broom so we could wipe out the soil for our beloved tent. Magical moments.

There is one very special place in Sumbawa which we passed further on the road, on the northern side of the Island. A whale shark colony in Saleh Bay!!! After some hesitations and hard negotiations of the price we decided to do a little tour and go snorkeling with these incredible giants. We took a shower at an hotel, pitched our tent just in front of it on a small beach, to be ready for a very early wake up. The guide picked us and several other western tourists at 2.30 am for a 2h boat drive to the middle of the bay, with a restless rattling engine. The boat took us to another fisherman’s boat where locals were raising their nets and threw the plankton out of the boat. Whale-sharks knew where to come for breakfast and it seemed like they were coming every day. Suddenly a huge dark shadow appeared under our boat. Our pulses are skyrocketing. We quickly put our snorkel masks on and jumped into the water. Whale sharks were not bothered at all by our presence, they were swimming between us, opening their huge mouths to devour the plankton. One of the most incredible experience ever. We had still a few kilometers to go so speared our legs.

The next ferry for our 6th island we took from the town of Bima, still on the north coast. Probably one of the ugliest cities we have ever seen... Plastic wastes all along the shore.

FLORES - the island of flowers

An epic 8-hours ride to our 6th island. The first boat with no cars or motorcycles and we were the only ones having bicycles. The first ferry without the aircon as well, luckily our little fan bought in Thailand came in handy. It was a long ride, and still… The longest was still ahead of us. 

To our surprise, the city of Labuan Bajo, where we arrived, was an extremely touristy place. It turns out that it served as the main gateway to Komodo National Park, famous for its Komodo dragons and snorkeling. We didn’t get lured.

We still decided to spend two nights there to enjoy good coffee and some western bakery before heading to the wild inland. A very few tourists ever get out of the town, it is generally their furtherest point. Not for us.

Not even 400m after leaving Labuan Bajo, we faced a huge ridiculously steep climb that we just couldn’t ride with our bikes. We were lucky enough to bump into a friendly farmer who stopped and gave us a little lift. After one month and a half in Indonesia, we caught some basics in Bahasa language, so we mastered the basic conversation. The farmer was so happy to hear that we were Christians (the dominant religion of the island) that he decided to invite us for coffee to his family house on the side of the road.

Then, we continued our way into the steepest climbs we’ve seen in all Indonesia. On the way we saw many of the traditional villages with unique cone-shaped houses called “Mbaru Niang” which were a very distinctive cultural aspect of Flores. Then another even steeper climb we had to reach the village of Bajawa, a little town up in the mountains. We found there, one of the most beautiful free viewpoints of our trip, on the spectacular Mount Inerie volcano. We will come back to climb it one day!

On the road from Bajawa to the coast we hit the most important milestone for us and probably the last round one: the 20 000 km cycled! We were prepared and already had candles bought for this occasion in Labuan Bajo. We were only missing the cake! The places we were crossing were pretty remote and there was not even an Indomaret store on the way. The enlightenment came, when we pedaled by and saw this big boat-size watermelon on the road. “Bingo”! - We stopped, cut it in half, put our candles on and took the symbolic photo sharing the watermelon with the kids around.

In the city of Ende, we left our bikes for the last time and rented a scooter. Two-days trip to the mountains to reach the village of Moni, the gateway for our last volcano. The Kelimutu volcano, known for its three colored lakes that periodically changes colors. We decided to go there for the sunset, so we were alone again. The next day we took the road back to Ende where the last and the longest ferry was waiting for us…

WEST TIMOR - Last pedal strokes in Indonesia

After a crazy hectic 16h ferry ride, we finally made it. Here on the last island of the ring of fire, and an interesting one ! Timor is one island, but divided into two countries. After the Portuguese colonized the eastern part during the 18th century, they left the country in the wave of independence around the world. Sadly, the big neighbor, Indonesia, took the opportunity to claim the territory as one more island on its long list. But the East Timorese fought and after terrible years of violence and rebellion finally gained independence. West Timor remained Indonesian as it ever was. A complex past for a small island as you can imagine. Anyway, we landed on shore the 30th of october, only a week before our visas’ due date. A week to cross the West part of the island, the last Indonesian stretch for us. But we arrived late and all the guesthouses we went to were either full or closed. It appeared to us that there were no touristy infrastructures in the town surrounding the harbor. But it was already midnight and we could not cycle further. In the end, we stayed at someone’ place in exchange for a few rupias. The place was simply gloomy, and we did stay in a lot of basic places. Next day we rushed out with the first lights.

A few kilometers later we arrived at the main town of the island, Kupang, where we did a bit of shopping and had a rest, as the previous night was terrible. Then we continued, east. With only a few days left, very hot hours and an insane amount of elevation, we took no risk in crossing with a mixt of cycling and hitchhiking for the steep climbs. We crossed through the city of Soe, high in the mountains, Kefamenanu where we found a very good local restaurant and finally Atambua, the last big city before the border. Our heads were already in the next country, always thinking about mysterious East Timor and what we would find there, in an old Portuguese colony. We took a day to visit with a scooter the beautiful plateau of Fulan Fehan, a piece of Scotland in the middle of a Timoreese land. Anyway, after 59 days in Indonesia, it was time to close this chapter and open the next one. We surely did not give enough attention to the Timoreese of this western part, only scratching the top of their traditions and ancient huts still used today. But as for every voyage, we tend to lose interest after a long time in the same country. We bought our last treats in the last “Indomaret” supermarket before the border and off we went !