Motorcycle Journeys

[Joko]

Well, this is it. The final blog.

Dedicated to the memory of Bapak Soebali, my Indonesian 'father' who passed away yesterday. The blog is the last in the series detailing my recent trip to Indonesia. I spent my last night in Indonesia in the same place I did my first night in the archipelago, some 30 years ago, under the roof of Pak Soebali.

Joko's Java Journey 11

 

[Bad_azz]

It has been a pleasure to follow your journey and a privilege to be a small part of it Joko.
It is sad news, however I am sure he was made up to see you again before he died. May he RIP.

 

[jukung11]

This is great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Puspawarna]

Oops, I just saw this now. I am sorry for your loss - but like BA says, I am sure it was wonderful for him to see you again.

 

[Tocean]

Very cool videos, checked the blog too, it was interesting reading leading up to your departure, looks like we are around the same age. Must of been awesome to go to Indonesia at that young of an age in the 80's, how long did you stay then?

 

[Joko]

how long did you stay then?

I was there in Jakarta for a year in high school. Four year later, I went back for another year as an exchange student at Gadjah Mada U in Yogya,

 

[Joko]

The journeys continue, this time for work, not pleasure. I've been assigned to teach a short program to some civil servants in the small Myanmar city of Hinthada. Since I'm not allowed to drive my motorbike in Yangon, where they're banned, I was very excited about having the chance to take it from across the river up the 120 miles or so north to Hinthada. The trip did NOT go as planned. You can read the full story of what happened at my blog, and if you'd like to see for yourself, another of my travel videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i52RaDlA09k

 

[jukung11]

Thanks for the update. When I am stuck in an office, I like watching these.

 

[Joko]

Greetings ExpatIndosians.

This footage will be part of a longer video in the next few days, but it was such a singular experience that I felt it needed its own video and blog unto itself. No music. No editing. Just a crazy bridge.

Jack and I were out exploring the countryside here near Hinthada, Myanmar and decided to just make the next right and ask around until we found where we wanted to go. Turned out we needed to cross a river. The only bridge across that river was remarkable. Like no other bridge I've ever seen, much less crossed.

​

 

[jukung11]

I love when you share updates to these. I watch them when I am stuck indoors. This is a good one. I don't know if I missed it from your posts, but what kind of camera setup do you have? Do you bring your own helmet when you travel to Indonesia? Has anyone ever been offended by the helmet cam? Do you record your whole trip or just parts?

 

[Joko]

I love when you share updates to these. I watch them when I am stuck indoors. This is a good one. I don't know if I missed it from your posts, but what kind of camera setup do you have? Do you bring your own helmet when you travel to Indonesia? Has anyone ever been offended by the helmet cam? Do you record your whole trip or just parts?

Thanks for the appreciation. I've got a couple cameras. What you see here is my GoPro Hero Session, a little 3cm cube that attaches to the top of my motorcycle helmet. I didn't bring my helmet with me the last time I was in Indonesia in September. Instead, I just jerry rigged a mount using duct tape. Here in my current home country of Myanmar, I got the helmet cam. People are generally curious; not offended.

 

[Joko]

Greetings ExpatIndoers from Myanmar. There's a blog that explains this video which I invite you to check out as well.

 

[Joko]

Where to next?

I'm looking for suggestions as to where to go on my next motorcycle tour. I've got a month off in late January to February, and I'm looking at a few regions on the archipelago to make my next loop.

A few criteria:
A. Loopability. See, I don't like trips where I have to retrace the same road because there's no place to go. I'd like to be able end up where I started via a different path.
B. Adult cold beverages. After a long day on a motorbike, I'll admit I do enjoy a frosty beer. One thing I wasn't keen on when visiting Kalimantan Barat was the complete absence of any sudsy brew in entire districts.
C. Availability of rental motorbikes.

A few proposed routes.

1. Yogya-Bali-Lombok-Sumbawa and back. I used to live in Yogya 30 years ago, and was disappointed that I wasn't able to get there on my last journey.
2. Lombok-Sumbawa-Flores and back. This would be new territory for me. I spent a month in Lombok years ago, but nothing east of that.
3. Manado to Palu and back... There appear to roads on both sides of the North Sulawesi peninsula. I wonder if I could rent a bike in Manado, however.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these itineraries appreciated.

After my recent teaching gig in the Myanmar back country, I had 4 days off, so it was on the road again. Another odd bridge crossed.

 

[jstar]

First things first; if you want a cold brew, go to North Sulawesi, yes.

Inland is great. Nature and sightseeing is perfect. Nice place to drive with great B roads but avoid dusk&dawn with the many dogs walking around having no fear of any vehicle.

I love Flores, the Moluccas and Papua (esp. if you want the real deal before the inevitable invasion, some tourist areas on Flores are dominantly Italian) but can't imagine driving around on a motorbike there. When in a rental car with driver it was already boink...boink... Need to ask some people. They are mainly Christian areas btw so you don't have to be thirsty.

EDIT: So I checked and the two guys told me it is perfectly possible to rent and drive a motorbike on Ambon, Saparua end the Kei islands (there is a Kei Besar and a Kei Kecil). But the roads in general are still in a rather bad shape. Especialy for the rather steep roads on Kei Besar you'd need a heavier bike. They paid 100K-120K per day per bike. They flew in from Manado but that was very expensive. (There is a ferry too if you want to be really adventurous.)

Thinking about it, with a motorbike or so I would probably do the Philippines. Or China.

 

[jukung11]

A month will be longer than your other trips. I look forward to you posting about it. The routes you propose will be across islands. I read some rental companies don't allow that, but I have no experience. Or are you just going to rent a new one on each island? A video of you traveling with a bike by ferry would be interesting though.

I have watched one couple that did a motorcycle tour through Flores. I believe the place to rent is Labuan Bajo, I have not found any reliable advertisements for sewa motor across Flores although there may be a way once you have boots on the ground. The other place I have read, but it did not seem reliable was Maumere. The last travel article I read about it, they were 50,000 a day, but it was from 2014. Wikitravel says they are 75,000 now. I assume you could get a diskon for a long term rental.
In full disclosure, I am a little jealous. I have been plotting the same for a few months, but have been a bit short on funds. You will probably beat me to it. I wanted to do a tour of Flores by motorcycle and then to Kupang to tour Timor. If I had 30 days to blow, I would also make a trip to Timor Timur too. I read that tourism to the country is less than 13,000 visitors a year. It would seem to fit with your spirit of travel, but you need to secure a visa ahead of time of crossing by land.

Some of the advertisements for motorcycle rental from Manado have been less than reliable and the rates much higher. The most consistent advertised one was 350,000 idr a day. There are a lot of expats on the forum from that area, so you should be able to get a lot of support and possible meet more westerners on that trip. Also, the infrastructure for tourism and travel is much higher in Sulawesi than Flores.

My only advice is not to over plan and work in some downtime. From your Kalimantan and Java trips you had a few delays.

 

[Joko]

I've reconsidered the timing of the trip. I'm getting a month off in Jan-Feb, but I'll also be getting 3 weeks in April (Yes, my job is very generous with the time off). Looking at the weather in Indonesia, January is the rainiest month of the year. At the same time, January is the best month to travel here in Myanmar. There's no rain. We're far enough from the equator that there's a discernible winter, and January is the coolest month of the year. I think I'll stay around here to motor in January and go to Indonesia in April.

 

[Joko]

Hey folks! A couple vids to share..

 

[Joko]

 

[Joko]

Probably my last journey from the Kenbo 125. Before my next adventure, I'm going to upgrade the motorbike.

 

[atlantis]

3. Manado to Palu and back... There appear to roads on both sides of the North Sulawesi peninsula. I wonder if I could rent a bike in Manado, however.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these itineraries appreciated.

Renting a motorbike in Manado wouldn't be a problem. That is if you DON'T say to the owner that you intend to do a loop going south to Palu with the motorbike of course.

Should you decide to come around here, I will try to check (and more importantly, convince) if anyone is willing to let his/her motorbike going down to Palu. Most of the rental I know don't allow the motorbike being brought out of the province.

The region and scenery are fantastic. I was used to go down to Palu and Poso a couple of time a month, either in car or truck and really had a lot of fun. Doing it on a motorbike, you would have to go for a 150cc minimum. There are plenty of possibilities to avoid to be back by the same road, however checking the condition of the road before is imperative.
Alternatively you could even visit the Togean and user Terry MacArsey in your loop.