first 3 days in borneo...

first 3 days through borneo were tough and the road only gets harder from here.. im going to find the mental and physical test that i was seeking, and then some.. first of all it is hot, like really hot and humid and even with constant sun block my exposed skin is still burning everyday.. also im getting bitten by many mosquitoes risking getting sick with malaria and fevers.. the landscape is jungle with many rivers and the wildlife here is very unique and abundant.. sleeping in the jungle is very dangerous because of snakes and various animals.. in my hammock i would look like a big human flavored banana to a crocodile! so i will try to stay in or near towns as i get west through the even more remote parts.. so far ive spent every night in rural police stations which has been great.. i pull up and say in bahasa:
'permisi, saya dari jauh dan memakai sepeda kelinling kalimantan.. bisa tidur disii?'
(excuse me, im from far away and trying to cross kalimantan on a bike, can i sleep here?)
the officers are so cool and even woke me up on one occasion to watch soccer and drink beer! i sleep on concrete floors and am grateful for even that when i look out into the mysterious and loud jungle.. was woken up the other night by a rat trying ot get into the bag under my head (i stupidly had food in there).. i was startled and i scared the hell out of the rat too.. afterwards i was thinking:
the rat is a mammal who spends his time trying to find food, female counterparts, and a safe place to sleep.. me too!!! we really arent that different and he means me no harm..
a ridiculous thought i admit but it made me feel comfortable enough to quickly fall back asleep before the 4am arabic chanting would wake me up and signal that it was time to start the day..

adding to my route...

i could only get a boat to banjarmassin so i will have to ride across central kalimantan before getting to west kalimantan.. the marked map is about a 1000 km (620 mile) ride

surabaya to banjarmassin...

i left surabaya to go to the city of banjarmassin in south/eastern kalimantan.. i wanted to go to kumai but could only find a boat here so it will be about 500 miles until kumai!! i said goodbye to my friend husny and his family and went to the main port in sur.. the ride from port to port took nearly 32 hours and delays are frequent and long.. the people here have a notable amount of patience with things like this (on the road as well) and never seem to get frustrated or mind all the delays..
on the boat i met some really really cool people.. randika and rudi are 2 guys my age and we hung out most of the time.. when we got to banjarmassin the following night rudi offered that i come stay at his friends place.. they are a bunch of guys from java working here in borneo and it was such a bachelors pad akin to places ive lived in chicago/nyc.. they living conditions were very poor with a huge projector and speakers for watching world cup!! we drank arak, a local rice liquor made in someones backyard and sold in plastic baggies, like goldfish.. they bought me some whiskey also which i really appreciate cause its not cheap here and i made lots of friends and watched football til 4am! great intro to borneo..
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saying goodbye in surabaya

still waiting to board the ship 9 hours after arriving at the port!! this truck loaded up with fruit broke down while boarding causing another 2 hour delay while mechanics tried to fix it

on the boat with randika and rudi

banjarmassin!!

after not eating all day, rudy and i got off the boat and went straight for street food..

with my buds in banjarmassin

watching soccer

the first whiskey ive had in months!

a week in surabaya...

i stayed with my friend husny and his family here in surabaya for a week.. they are such a nice family and husny's mom is an unbelievabl cook.. they treated me like family and made me feel so welcome.. together husny and i had many many great meals and got to play some pool too.. surabaya is the second biggest city in indonesia and my first really large se asia city..

soto madura in downtown surabaya

is there anything on earth better than the street food that is sold on every corner throughout indonesia?

husny's ibu (mother) made us this soup, its called 'soto banjar' (named for the city banjarmassin in central kalimantan) and it was so delicious and spicy.. it was one of those meals that just makes you happy to be alive..

'sate madura'

hanging out with husny and his niece nebila

maps and route planning for borneo and sulawesi

im in surabaya getting ready to head to borneo.. its a 24 hour boat ride to southern borneo.. borneo is the third largest island on earth and is made up of malaysia and brunei in the north and kalimantan (indonesia) in the south.. the north is more populous and kalimantan is more remote and rural.. the center of the island is impenetrable jungle.. robin from scotland helped me so much planning my route and figuring out what i will need.. he has ridden in east kalimantan and his cousin salva in the west and they have given me lots of good info.. this will by far be the most difficult ride ive done.. food may be tough to come by in parts so my plan is to stock up on cooked rice and instant oats. west kalimantan is very hilly with poor roads and fading the elements will surely be very difficult.. it is very hot/humid and there are risks of dengue and yellow fever so mosquitoes are to be avoided with nets and repellent.. also the wildlife in west/east kalimantan is pretty crazy with giant crocodiles, snakes, orangutans... some people say there are rhinoceros but im pretty sure its in the center or they have been hunted to extinction.. im so excited but trying not to get too pumped up so that im not disappointed when i come across lots of horrible industy (logging and oil) that are slowly destroying the island.. hopefully it will be a chance to physically test myself and meet interesting native people while exploring some of the more remote places .. there may be a delay in posts as im not sure when ill be able to get online, and im not taking my computer.. ill be traveling with next to nothing as far as weight because of steep climbs and poor roads

here is a map of sulawesi... i know nothing about sulawesi other than it is big, pretty remote, and looks really cool on a map! i want to ride from manado in the northeast to makassar in the south

friends in madura...

here are some of the people i met along the way in madura...

kalianget youth, a rugged bunch

olivia is the queen of kalianget, eastern madura's port town.. she is so cool and i will miss our mid afternoon conversations.. hope we can hang out again!

late night with my buddies at a wartel in sumenap

adi is the man in sumenap.. he is a great guy and i spent some time with him and his family at his home.. if anyone ever finds themselves in sumenap (the capital of east madura) please let me know and i will put you in touch with him...

i hung out with these little dudes one afternoon in a park in sumenap.. umar on the left was the smartest 10yr old ive ever met.. he quickly noticed my level of bahasa and would purposely enunciate his worlds slowly and explain words that he didnt think i understood... he was sharp with conversation and asked questions that an adult might ask... if i had more time in sumenap i would have spent the rest of the afternoon teaching him to play chess.. little guy is gonna do big things one day for sure

i met hiro, a japanese guy around my age who was super cool.. he was here rebuilding an old style madurese ship that he was going to sail all the way to japan!! i hung out one afternoon with him and his crew.. he offered jokingly to take me with him to japan, but if he were serious i def would have taken an opportunity to sail around southeast asia on such a kick ass ship.. it would have been a long ride back to indonesia though!

was cycling through a small town along the northern coast and i met miftah and his family.. they took me in for the night and i really loved staying with them and spending time with their family.. miftah is from madura but also has a home and works in djakarta (the biggest city in indonesia) so i look forward to meeting up with him there in a couple months.. we had some great meals made by miftah's sister and his brother in law gave me a cool madurese sarong so that i can sleep in the mosques if i need to.. the children woke me up at 2am to watch the usa england football match.. world cup is a big deal in indonesia and even at 3am you can hear nearby people yelling every time there is almost a goal!! lots of fun

trying to beat the midday heat with my buddies in northern madura

i quickly made friends with the 'terang bulan' guy.. terang bulan (clear moon?) is a sweet, crunchy, and thick pancake with cheese, chocolate, and banana.. it is one of my fav things to eat here...

cycling across madura...

cycling across madura was great.. had a lot of fun and met lots of cool people (another post).. from sumenap i took the northern route across along the north coast and down into kamal where i caught a ferry to surabaya... all these photos are from east madura as i didnt spend much time in the west.. it rained heavily almost everyday and going from being extremely hot to wet and shivering is putting my immune system to the test..

BALI TO MADURA VIA EAST JAVA...

arrived in java around 4 pm on a tues and noticed differences immediately from bali.. the food was a little different, with 'bakso' (a spicy soup with beef dumplings), 'nasi pecel' (rice with veg and a peanut sauce, sometimes with prawns?) and 'mie goreng' (like a stir fried noodle with vegetables) seeming to be typical east java fair, also there are no signs of my favorite 'babi guling' here as muslims dont eat pork.. due to the lack of tourism and the fact that i can now pronounce and order food properly in bahasa, they are charging me the local price which is amost never more than 5000rp per meal (about 55 cents). i usually get 4 amazing meals in a day for about $2..
another big difference was the loud voice of a man singing in arabic over loud speakers that echoed through every neighborhood, a subtle reminder that im not in kansas anymore and that this place is totally different from anywhere ive ever been..
i found a couple of trees next to the sea and was setting up my hammock when my new friend edi stopped on his way home from work.. we started chatting and his english was really good.. i told him what i was doing and he insisted that i come stay the night at his home.. he went slow and i followed him about 10k on my bike to his neighborhood.. he showed me around the city on his motorbike and i had some killer 'mie ayam' (a spicy noodle soup with veg and chicken).. i was really happy to meet/stay with edi and his brother, they were so nice and made me feel at home.. i woke up at 4am to the a capella muslim chants blairing from the nearby mosque.. i hit the road early to try to catch the 2pm ferry to madura which was in a port town called jangkar about 80km away.. riding in the morning is the way to do it here, before it gets too hot.. all the little villages smelled of smoke and seemed surreal.. small children were piled on motorbikes driving themselves to school.. lots of people talk to me and are curious as to who i am and why i am on a bike.. there is no tourism at all in the towns here which i love.. most people smile and wave and children go crazy, but everyone stares at me and makes me feel a little awkward.. though i cant blame them, if i saw an indonesian walking through the lower east side with a machete carrying bundles of banana leaves i would stare too!!