Java to Sumatra Ferry

After arriving in Merak early after a pleasant ride from the south coast with little traffic, the first and only time in Java, we once again had the mission of finding a hotel. Merak would have to go down as one of the ugliest places we have come across with the stench to go with it. So we stayed at another city just down the road for a one night stop over before catching the ferry to Sumatra. As soon as we arrived I noticed a few kids milling around and watched them curiously to see what they were up to. Once our ferry had arrived they were straight on board; the odd thing was that they had neither luggage or shirts on. Shortly after boarding I knew what was going on after one young lad approached me for money. These guys beg for money, then jump from the highest points on the ferry while you take photos. Cool way to make easy cash if you ask me. So I paid the fella a few thousand rupiah to show me his best. Not only do they jump for cash but keep begging for money once in the water. Throwing coins in is the next thing to do and these guys are good at diving under and retrieving them. It is not just for the tourists as we were the only ones aboard. Quite a few people on board were also into it, even throwing notes overboard for them.

The ferries running out of Merak in Java have been the
biggest and in the best condition in all of Indonesia

Does not stop them from squeezing on as much as they can though!

The young lad I paid to jump off the ferry for me

Interesting style

So is this one!

They jump from a height of at least 10m+

Java

How best to describe Java... One word would be suffice to cover it: mayhem! With a population of 135 million people it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. And by the time we left Java one week later it felt like every single one of them had been on the road with us. The roads were congested to the extreme and we had to battle for right of way with trucks, buses, cars and scooters. Personally we had several very close calls and that we did not see any accidents involving other vehicles is nothing short of a miracle. Most of the scooter riders seem to have a death wish the way they ride and many of them are just kids, some as young as 8-10 years old hooning down the road two- or three-up while weaving in and out of traffic. Drivers licenses are obviously not mandatory or certainly not law enforced.
As bad as the traffic was, the people were as friendly as ever. We caused quite a stir every time we stopped with people asking for "foto foto!" and for some reason always wanting to have their photo taken  embracing us like we were lifelong friends. We were approached by a young guy one day who told us he was studying English, although clearly very much in the beginner stage judging from his blank expression to almost everything we said. He did however gush about how lucky he was to have met us, exclaiming: "I'm so happy! SO happy!" What can we say, that's the effect we have on people :)

 This particular ferry was so crammed full of vehicles that the ramp couldn't close

Safety standards - what's that?

A typical meal on the ferry, served in a banana leaf

Overload much?

 This photo doesn't even begin to describe the chaos we experienced that day!

Once in a while we did catch a break to take in the scenery

And a bit of feline love...

Deus Ex Machina

After a little research I found that Deus has opened a showroom in Bali. So we made the effort to drop past after not getting to have a look in the showroom in Sydney earlier this year. Knowing they build bikes I had hoped they could help us with getting a new battery for Sanne's bike. The guys there couldn't have been more helpful. They sent a guy on a 3hr+ mission into Denpasar to see what he could find. He came up trumps with a new battery. Only problem it had the wrong fittings and in the wrong place. So after wheeling it into the workshop they went about extending the wiring and adding new fittings and in no time it was all good to go again at no cost except for the battery. Big thankyou to all you guys. Anyone heading to Bali should go check the place out, very cool place and we plan on checking out their other showroom in Venice Beach, Califonia when we get to that part of the world. (Ed. We did visit the Venice Beach location: http://handfulofthrottle.blogspot.com/2015/01/la-la-land.html. ...We didn't like it very much).

 The Deus showroom

The workshop

Hard to imagine this little bike started its life as a Yamaha Scorpio 225

Sanne with her new stead, the mighty CB100

While the poor Suzy gets a new heart, a long awaited battery

Uluwatu

After a few days in Ubud we decided to head back to the coast for a night. Uluwatu seems to have become a lot busier over the last 2 years since we were last here. A lot more accommodation on offer with plenty more being constructed. It is a beautiful bit of coastline without all the rubbish and crap surrounding the beach like in Kuta! Never got to get out for a surf unfortunately, probably would have drowned and got dragged across the rocks like a rag doll if I had tried though.  I woke up early the following morning to take a few photos of everybody else enjoying themselves instead. We are back in a routine again and enjoying being on the bikes hence we didn't stick around long.

Ubud Monkey Forest

After our few experiences on the road with the monkeys we have both become a lot more weary as to what to expect of these cheeky little monkeys. The Monkey Forest in Ubud is home to about 600 Long Tailed Macaques. With so many in such close proximity there is constant fighting going on. Finding ourselves constantly on the look out after being chased down the road back in Flores, we just can't seem to trust them. They are very cute though all the same. I don't think that is the case for one young girl who was bitten when sitting and posing for a photo beside one. Next thing while wandering around we came across a film crew for a childrens show I think, filming a young girl and boy interacting with the monkeys and feeding them etc. While the girl loved being around them the young fella was not too sure. To start with he seemed quite brave teasing them and making noises at them, so soon as they looked or walked in his direction the look of horror on his face was hilarious. We stayed just to watch him be teased by the film crew trying to push him in the direction of the monkeys eating.

Who's a cheeky monkey?

Bali

After another ferry crossing, this time 4hrs we made it to Bali from Lombok. What the ticketing guy failed to tell us was that we were in for a 3hr wait before we could disembark onto the island. The ferry was the worst looking of all we have been on so far and we had already been told that this was usually the roughest crossing with big swells pushing between the the 2 islands. We didn't get off the ferry until dark so we had decided to stay in Padang Bai for the night before heading to Ubud. After navigating up a few narrow lanes we found someone who had a room for us, more than we were wanting to pay so he came down in price. Bali seems to be the place for doing deals as everyone is always wanting some tourist dollars. We found that this if anything has done this island an injustice as the people here are not as friendly as all the other islands. We have still had some great experiences here, especially at the local mechanics in Ubud. A fellow dirt bike rider Kadex helped me with pulling Sanne's carby apart to give it a bit of a clean, 2hrs labour and parts came in at a total of 70000Rp that's roughly $8! We had been looking so forward to coming back to Ubud after our visit 2 years ago thanks to Mr Rudd. When we arrived we were a little taken back when we saw just how busy the place was. So many tourists everywhere. We were out for a spot of shopping in the markets one day when by surprise ran in to a French couple, Tom and Camille that we had met all the way back on the Gibb river rd. We finally got to catch up for a drink that we never got to have in Darwin. By the way Tom, thanks for the hangover and the kiss mate. We also caught up with Daniel a fellow bike traveller from Germany who's battery charger I had been holding onto since Dili, now one less thing to lug around. Our time in Ubud was mainly spent wandering around town eating, drinking and relaxing with a massage. Hard life but after 5 days we were both itching to get back on the bikes and moving again.

Bali and Mount Agung in the background

Travelling Indonesia style

Ubud Markets

Green green rice fields

Lily pond, Candi Dasa

Bike getting a much needed wash

With friends Tom and Camille

Tanah Lot temple

Lombok - Gili Islands

"Hey Rasta, you smoke weed?" was the sentence we heard most in Lombok and on the Gili Islands. We seemed to have stumbled upon a little island nation of Bob Marley devotees and well, stoners.

We headed out to the Gili's with a plan to stay 3 nights. We were unsure about the safety of our bikes so always had that in the back of our minds hence the reason for not staying any longer, we did manage to get in contact with the guys looking after our bikes and after quite a discussion we found they were still safe so decided to stay on the island a further night. By this stage we were quite getting into Island life. Swimming and snorkeling all day in between sitting in the many little huts by the beach eating and drinking freshly squeezed pineapple juice. At night sitting in the Corner Cafe with our new friends having a Bintang or two. Even had one guy there (Uncle Bob) who fixed my dreads up for me. He didn't even want any money for his time but gave him a little cash for his work. We spent a night at Gili Air and wanted to see some more of the islands so off to Gili Meno the following day. We had been told it was quieter there so we were all up for that until we got there. The island is not too different in looks but is more expensive and you see a different type of tourist there. More a package holiday destination than anything else. We decided it was too quiet so headed back to Gili Air the following day for a couple of nights in our cheap little bungalow just a short walk in from the beach. We have been told many good thing's about Kuta in Lombok so that is now our next destination from here.

On our way to Gili Air

Lombok Ferrari, as the pony-and-carts are called here

The local beach

Our bungalow - $10 a night was all we paid

 Turtle sanctuary at Gili Meno

Chillin with yet another pineapple juice

Uncle Bob from the Corner Cafe

A sweet little puss who decided to join us for lunch

Leaving the island...they like to cram people in like sardines