Week 1 & 2 - Sumatra
24-02-17
Today was a transit day. We said goodbye to our amazing
hosts at Pavillion 19 in Bandung and loaded our bike boxes and gear into a
little taxi truck which took us to the airport for our flight to Padang in
Sumatra. We were just waiting in a coffee shop for our flight when a young guy
approached Dave and said our bikes need attention. Oh no not again. Larry has obviously been up to no good or was
it Priscilla this time? Dave wondered off with the airport man with everyone
looking as he passed. They were a little concerned that the tyres on the bikes
hadn’t been deflated enough and asked if we could deflate them a little more.
With a little psss psss on each tyre they were then happy and back Dave came.
The flight was quite quick, and we got a magnificent view of
the coast south of Padang on approach. This was where we were heading for the
next ten days, so it was great to see it from the air. The air looked clean,
not so much dense housing, lots of jungle and the terrain was looking to be
quite challenging. Another adventure awaits us.
We got to the hotel in Padang and spent the rest of the
afternoon getting the bikes put back together, ready to head off tomorrow. We
stayed at the New d’Dhave Hotel, which was a bit out of the city, but suited us
fine as it was really quite nice, and all we wanted to do was eat and sleep. Of
course, we had lots of interest and help from the staff with our bikes.
25-02-17
We didn’t have a big day ahead, only about 30k’s, so we took
our time getting going. I was still having trouble getting Priscilla’s rear
tyre to seat up tubeless, so I had to make a dash up the road again, to a
motorbike repair shop with a compressor. This time we got it, pheww. 
We hit the road. Our route out of Padang, heading South was
quite pleasant, along narrow roads alongside canals and rivers. We even passed
a little stall that had homemade donuts for sale, yum what a treat. The air is
so much clearer here, we are feeling like we like Sumatra a lot already. The
people seem just as friendly towards us, with lots of hellos, and high fives
from the school kids as we go past.
We had one bad section of road, which was on the bypass.
Choking dust with roadworks, but it only lasted for five k’s or so, before the
road turned into a very scenic coastal road, looking out over blue water bays,
and small islands just off the coast.
We did have to climb up and around one headland, which was a
good grade, but still got to us a bit in the heat. Following that though, the
descent down into the next cove was a delight, and certainly cooled us down
with the breeze blowing through our sweaty shirts.
There was a need for a cool drink by this time and after
having passed a few small places we decided on a traditional looking place that
overlooked the rice paddies. We still don’t have the guts to walk out of a
place that doesn’t have what we want. No cold drinks, so we asked for two black
coffees and forgot to ask for no sugar. The coffee came, but was heavily
sweetened with a serious chemical after taste. Oh well. It was only 5k’s to go
until our destination at Bungus Beach.
The final part of our ride was easy, flat, but with great views
around every turn. We found the Cavery Beach Hotel and booked in there. They
were really welcoming and upgraded our room to one with a view of the bay. This
was really nice, modern, but well done, and as we will most likely be coming
back this way, we will probably stay there again.
26-02-17
A late start, we slept so well. Breakfast was supposed to
arrive at 8am, but we didn’t even wake up till 8:30. The lovely lady who runs
the hotel must have realised that we were still sleeping, and five minutes
after we surfaced, coffee was delivered and five minutes after that, a nice
fresh nasi goreng arrived.
We took our time packing up, as we only had about eighteen k’s
to travel today. Once we got going, the roll out of town was easy. A few k’s
out of town we came to our turn off the main highway to the right, and on down
the coast. An old fella sitting on his porch called out to us, and he and his
son gestured that we were going the right way. The old guy then proceeded to
get quite animated and loud towards me (Dave) and I must say that I wasn’t sure
if he was abusing me or encouraging me. Maybe he just thought we were crazy.
His son was rolling his eyes apologetically, perhaps confirming the former, but
at the same time made the international sign for “steep hill” with his hand.
The road to the base of the first hill was nice and quiet
with views to the coast, rice paddies and steep jungle clad hills. The road
became steep, and the breeze dropped, as it was a gully, and as a result the
temperature and humidity skyrocketed, the sweating began in earnest. The first
hill was a killer. But when we stopped at the top for a rest, we looked down
after a couple of minutes to see a pool of sweat on the road under us both.
This was to be the order of the day until we reached the really bad road. This
had the same steep climbs and descents, but without the road surface. Mary
actually got off for two of the descents, they were as brutally dangerous on
the bikes as the climbs. We did get a lot of encouragement from the few passing
motorbikes and the occasional car. A few of which we were actually overtaking
on the flat bits as they were so rough. We finally arrived at the tiny fishing
village of Sungai Pinang. This, despite only being three hours from Padang, is
a remote village. Funnily, we seemed to take the right way through, across the
village square and towards the beach. We came out right at the village part of
Ricky’s beach house, the turtle hatchery and care centre. Funny how that
happens sometimes.
We met IL, Rickys brother, and he gave us directions to get
across the river and around to the Beach House. Most people get a boat from
here, and we were about to find out why. I have to say that I love the network
of narrow concrete roads through the villages in Sumatra. It’s a network that
doesn’t support cars at all, bikes and motorbikes only, sort of, and one day
they will be replaced with electric bikes, and that’s a good thing.
As we headed out of town on these concrete roads and onto
the bridge over the river, we knew we were close. The gps said we were at most
2k’s away. Crossing the bridge, we looked at the road ahead, and basically
said, Oh shit. From here on, yes, there was a road. But it was a newly
bulldozed road, and it went straight up and over the headland, that separated
the village, from Ricky’s. This means that the form was there, but no surface.
Not a problem for a fat bike you might say, sure. But what the bulldozer had
stirred up, was just a mix of clay and volcanic bombs of various sizes. This
was going to be tough, but it wasn’t that far to go. 
As we pushed our bikes up this gnarly track, we got a view
back over the river mouth and smiled at each other. This was a seriously
beautiful place. Yes, this was tough, and seriously, I know I’ve said it
before, but we’ve never sweated so much. Was there enough Bintang at the beach
house to replace the lost fluids? I wasn’t sure. 
We crested the ridge, and got back on the bikes to make the
descent to the cove below us. I probably made a mistake trying to ride this,
but there was a path that a few motorbikes take and I thought I could ride it.
I then heard a shout from behind me, I turned and saw that Mary had hit the
deck. She had got off the one rideable line and payed the ultimate price. A
skun knee and dented pride, we walked for a bit, looking ahead at a few beach
bungalows, we missed the trail into Ricky’s. We descended too far, and then
tried to see if we could get around the beach, but no, there was a headland in
between. So back up the hill we went, shit. We turned up the unmarked trail,
just as a guy on a motorbike arrived that Ricky had sent out to find us before
we got too far the wrong way. He led us into the cove that only Ricky’s Beach
House occupied, wow, what a place.
We were met by one of the most awesome human beings we have
met, Sava. He was so genuinely glad to meet us, and we were glad to be here. He
automatically decided that we needed shade, water and a plate of fresh fruit.
He was so right. We chilled out over that for a while and were greeted also by
the other staff and the very chilled out guests. Sava then ordered us some lunch to be prepared
as we got our gear to our bungalow, right on the beach, overlooking the bay
surrounded by jungle clad peaks and islands out in the bay. This is a special
place, I don’t say that lightly.
Ricky’s Beach House
Chilling first few days:
Ricky’s Beach House is paradise, it is the place we have
been searching for. It is not a 5 star hotel, it is better than that. It is a
place where you feel you have stepped back to nature. Basic, comfortable,
minimalistic, grounding and gives you a sense of peacefulness and freedom. The
bungalows are set right on the beach encouraging a good night’s sleep with the
sound of small waves rolling in on the beach. Our bungalow has a lot of natural
light from large windows and fresh air with a mosquito net over our bed
protecting us from any mozzies. Looking out of the large front window of a
morning at the ocean, the bay, the jungle coming down to the waters edge and
the small islands in the distance is a beautiful sight when you wake. We have a
private semi outdoor shower, cold water only which is all that is needed here
in Sumatra.
The crew who work here for Ricky are young lads from the
village and do an awesome job looking after all of our needs. They cook
pancakes, toast and cut up fresh fruit every morning for breakfast. Lunch is a
choice of Indonesian dishes cooked fresh or an omelette with rice or hand cut
French fries. Dinner is a feast. Everyone staying at Ricky’s share dinner
together. The boys cook up a storm with a number of dishes, including a good
variety of vegetarian dishes, chicken, fish and rice.
During the day the boys often hang around the communal area
where we eat and sing and play music. At night after dinner this really revs up
and turns into a jamming session with all sorts of songs being sung with
guitar, box, bongos and even spoons come out and are played. The boys have
great voices, rhythm and a great love and passion for music. We as guests, are
encouraged to join in and sing as well. After a few beers, the music becomes
more vibrant, louder and the energy is intoxicating. To hear the guys sing the
Indonesian National Anthem gives you goose bumps and brings tears to your eyes.
I have never heard an anthem sung with so much heart, soul and pride. It was a
sight to be seen, so much passion, pride and energy created from this one song.
For the first few days of our stay at Ricky’s there were
lots of guests and from all different parts of the world. There were two
brothers from Turkey who came to stay two or three days but ended up staying
for a month. Azi was a really cool guy, had the full dread’s happening and had
a great skill he learnt in Nepal making beaded bracelets. He spent time helping
us all one afternoon making our own bracelets, or making them for us with everyone
choosing their own beads. He could whip up a bracelet in about 15 minutes and
was always happy and excited to see his finished work.
Barbora and Vasek were a beautiful young couple from Czech
Republic. They have been travelling around Sumatra for a few weeks and came to
Ricky’s in search of some land somewhere to buy or rent to start a nature
photography jungle stay business. Ricky has been helping them with prospective
sites for their venture. Vasek is a
professional nature photographer and a guy with a lot of worldly outdoor
experience. Some of their stories of his experiences were just amazing. We
really do hope their dream does come true here, as they are just awesome people
with so much passion and love for nature and the environment.
Ailee is a lovely Australian lady from Brisbane who lives
and works in Padang. She comes to Ricky’s often, leaving the hustle and bustle
of the city behind her to ground herself and step back into nature as often as
she can. I think this may have been her 7th visit here at Ricky’s,
the boys all call her ‘mum’.
A week before this visit to Ricky’s she was on her way to
work and found a box with a new born puppy inside it. He was so tiny and had
wounds that were covered in maggots. She was able to take him to a vet who
spent time flushing out all the maggots from under his skin and set Ailee up with
milk and bottles to get him started. The vet didn’t think he would actually
survive. But this little pup right before our eyes grew stronger and stronger.
It was due to all the love and care that Ailee provided him with and the help
that Barbora and I gave that helped him this far. Each day he changed. One day
he opened one eye, the next day his other eye. The following day he started to
become a little more vocal and following that he started to stand on four legs
and try to walk. Sweet little Jipsi. What a horrible start to his life but all
made up with so much love and care that encouraged this little one to start to
thrive. The day Ailee and Jipsi left, he looked like a fat rollie pollie puppy.
During this first
five days, three guys from the UK also came to stay. They were all really good
mates and travel together quite often. They were funny guys, always stirring
each other up and arguing but always having fun.
Another couple from Australia stayed two nights as well,
they had spent two days and two nights over on the island that we look out to
from the main land. They were a really lovely young couple who were enjoying some
great adventures.
Three guys from France were also here and are in their third
week of four. They are on a filming project but I don’t think there is too much
filming going on, they are having way too much fun. So the first few days was
full of chatting and hanging out with all of these great people.
I must mention the bad cat. A little black kitten that
apparently just appeared and has taken over the place. The French boys call her
Bad Cat, as she is always up to mischief. The other resident cats are all
scared of this little black kitten as she spits and growls at them if they come
too close. She loves attention from humans and sits next to you at meal times
and loves to eat rice and chips. She will always find an empty lap to sleep on
and snuggles in for comfort time. She even has the local dog Ninja under
control. He isn’t allowed in the food area but sits quietly watching Bad Cat do
as she pleases. He is a very sweet dog, very skinny, and is often found
sleeping under one of the bungalows or sneakily sits on one of the bench seats
near the entrance to the communal area. Sometimes you see him wet, as he has
just ventured back from the village and has to swim part of the way.
Boat to village:
The quickest and easiest way into the village is by boat.
The small motor boat comes to the beach at Ricky’s a couple of times a day and
you can hop on board for a very short ride to the village. There are a couple
of small shops at the village where you can buy a few things like soft drink,
beer, chips and biscuits and phone credit. All the extra essentials. You can
walk around the village and chat with the kids and sit in one of the small
shops and watch village life. There are a lot of animals roaming in the
village. The usual chickens and roosters, goats with lots of baby kids, lots of
dogs and cats and often you can see the water buffalo walking through.
The village has a Turtle Project operating where sick or
injured turtles are taken to the centre for rehabilitation. The people involved
with the project also search for turtle nests a couple of days either side of
the full moon, and remove the eggs and place them in a make shift nest back at
the centre. Once the turtles are hatched, they are then safely released back to
the ocean. This is all part of a project that is happening all over the world to
help protect the green turtles, loggerhead turtle and leatherback turtles.
The reason this needs to happen is that far too many turtle eggs
are taken and sold, putting the turtles at risk of extinction. A lot of time has
been spent here in this village on education and positive results are starting
to show. Instead of the fishermen killing the turtles caught in nets they are
now sending them to the centre for rehab. As soon as they are well, they are
released back into the ocean. The centre is very basic and unfortunately the
turtles have to live in quite small areas (bathtubs and plastic containers). A
new centre with large tanks is now in the process of being built. This will
allow more room for the injured turtles and space for the smaller turtles that
are unable to be released. The children at the local school are also very
involved in this project, and it is the children that encourage their fathers
to bring the injured turtles into the centre. We are able to go there daily and
help clean the turtles and their containers.
On one trip back from the village an old man hitched a ride
back to Ricky’s beach on the boat. As we were leaving we could see two dogs
running up and down the beach in the village. As we got into the surf from the
river mouth we saw that both of the dogs had jumped in and were swimming across
the river. They then worked their way around the headland swimming in the
water. We had pulled onto the beach and the old man started walking up the dirt
track and disappeared. The guys said he lives over on the other beach and the
two dogs belong to him. Then we spotted them on the rocks where they proceeded
to walk up the beach and reached us. They hung around for a few minutes looking
for the old man. Soon after we saw them heading up the track on the scent of
the old guy. It is so great to see the devotion some of these dogs have to
their humans. Sometimes you see a dog or two in the rice paddies just following
along behind their human.
Rained in:
On our 5th day here Barbora and Vasek, the Turkish
brothers, Ailee and little Jipsi were all set to leave after lunch. But the
weather decided that this was not going to happen. It started to rain early in
the morning and did not give up. Barbora and Vasek had a 4 wheel drive and the
others were all going to catch a ride with them back to Padang. The track into
Ricky’s when wet, is very slippery and looked like it may be a concern for
these guys to drive out. They tried to drive out about mid-morning as they had
a couple of things to do in the village, and the thought was to leave the car
in the village and the others catch the boat in after lunch. Unfortunately,
even at this time the road was too slippery and the vehicle just spun its
wheels on the greasy surface, spinning and slipping backwards and sideways
towards the edge of the road where there was a steep and long drop. It was
really scary sitting back here just watching this all happen. Dave and the boys,
as quick as lightning ran up the hill to help them. They tried to push the
vehicle and tried to put sticks etc under the wheels to help it get traction
but it just wasn’t going to happen. It didn’t help that the vehicle was in 2
wheel drive as the 4 wheel drive was stuffed. Vasek was a really good driver
and did everything right but all that could be done was to leave it up on the
hill and wait for the rain to stop and for things to dry out. This was not
going to happen today as the rain set in for the whole of the day. This meant
they could all stay one more night which was really exciting. So that night
another party developed and lots of singing, drinking and fun was had. Early the next morning Vasek and Barbora were
able to get the vehicle to the top of the hill and after breakfast a lot of sad
goodbyes were had.
Boat to island – detour to two other main island beaches
Mary and I shared a boat trip with the three guys from the
UK. The intention was for us to be dropped out to the island about 5k’s off
shore while the others went fishing for a few hours.
Unfortunately, the rain closed in around the island as we
left, sweeping East across the bay. The boat crew decided that it would be a
bad idea to head out there, so they suggested taking us to another spot that
would be protected, on the mainland, but still a pretty cool looking beach.
They dropped Mary, myself and Stuart off on the beach while
the others went just a little off shore to fish. We explored the beach which
was quite narrow due to the high tide and the storm pushing the waves up a bit.
The jungle comes right down to the water’s edge, hanging over the beach,
creating quite a lot of cool vistas to photograph. There was quite a bit of
rubbish here in spots, as this was a beach that no-one has access to other than
by boat, it is obviously what washes up with the currents and wind.
I found a couple of quite large clam shells on the beach,
and was surprised at how heavy they are. Very strong too.
The fishermen weren’t having much luck, so they came back in
and picked us up. We would head to the other side of the bay and check that
out.
We were dropped on the beach again, near the mouth of a
small creek that was flowing fresh water out to sea. There was a nice camping
spot just here. But the other opportunity was to check out the condition of the
new road heading south from Ricky’s. This was the way we were planning to go
when we leave.
We walked off the beach and up the steep track that had
recently been bulldozed through the jungle. The amount of damage was terrible.
It is obvious that once you disturb this geology that you are in serious
trouble. The ground is made up of roundish volcanic rocks that have landed and
become embedded in the sandy clay soils. This is all bound together by the
jungle. Drive a bulldozer through this and loosen it up without some very
serious retaining work and you are going to end up with a huge pile of rocks
and mud all over your new road as soon as it rains. There were land slips, and
gouges out of the road. We realised here, that we were not going to be heading
south by bike. Time for plan B.
Chilling out on the beach, and sitting still, we started to
see some wildlife. This included a monitor lizard, an eagle, as well as an
Azure Kingfisher, very cool. We have noticed an absence of sea birds, nothing,
not even a seagull. Should they be here?
Looking out towards the boat, it seemed as if our fishermen
were negotiating with another local boat to buy some fish. Pretty funny. They
picked us up and we headed back to Ricky’s. This was a really cool and
informative morning out. Now, to work out what plan B was going to be.
Waterfall – trek.
A jungle trek was available up to a nearby waterfall. We had
had to delay it, due to the rain. But today was looking like the ideal day.
Ricky sent a couple of guys with us as guides and another Canadian guest
accompanied us as well.
The trek started off with the walk out of Ricky’s and across
the large rice paddies behind the village. This was terrific, as harvest was in
full swing, and it was great to see all the villagers out helping to cut and
bundle the stalks. They were then taken over to a threshing box, where the
bundles were bashed against a grid to dislodge the rice grains.
Water Buffalo milled around the fringes, and were always up
for a candid photo.
We then crossed several shallow river crossings. We stopped
in the middle of the last crossing, while our guides discussed the option of
continuing up the river bed (slippery and difficult) or the jungle track
(leeches). We decided on leeches, as especially I was worried about drowning
the camera. There was no way, we weren’t going to fall in at some stage.
So, Leech trek it was. It was only about half an hour from
here, but I have never seen leeches in this high a concentration. It was
insane. I think we all pulled off at least a hundred leeches. You could see the
little bastards on the track reaching up to get you. By the time we reached the
safety of the rocks at the waterfalls and pulled the last ones off, our feet,
both top and underneath and lower legs were a bloody mess. And we had to go
back through them, shit.
The swim in the waterfall pools was amazing. The water was
cool, but certainly not cold and you could go up to further levels and get
under the waterfalls in various spots, while the jungle pulsed and vibrated
with life and oxygen all around us. We spent a good hour swimming, before
braving the leech infested jungle again on the way back.
We danced light footed through the jungle, desperately
trying to evade the straining leeches, when we could see them. Life must be
bloody tough as a leech. We popped back out of the jungle into the rice fields
and picked the last of the leeches off. Including one that had got dangerously
up my shorts.
It was fun to have a go at threshing the rice on the way
back across, but I just wanted to get back to the beach and disinfect with a
swim in the salt water. This was a great day out and we got some great photos.
But we will remember it for the leeches. More beer please.
Trip to Padang Hospital:
My ears (Mary) have been playing up really badly the last
few days. I have had to be really careful not getting water in my ears as it
really sets off my swimmers ear condition. I thought I was being really careful
but it’s a bit difficult to keep the water out when washing your hair. So I
have tried to keep them dry with cotton buds. Unfortunately, the water here
really set them off and I developed pain, swelling and discharge in my left ear
so I put myself on antibiotic medication but it really didn’t help as then my
right ear started to flare up too. We decided to act on this as it was worsening
so we caught a lift into Padang with two guests from Canada who were leaving.
Ricky organised the driver to take us to the hospital after the airport drop
off and sent Kim to be our translator if required.
The drive into Padang was crazy. We had ridden it in on the
bikes and thought it was rough, steep and crazy but to drive it just showed us
how difficult it actually was. Our driver was very skilled and did a fantastic
job navigating around all the deep, large pot holes. The couple travelling in
the car with us said that in French the word for pot hole translates to chicken
crater so we classed these holes as ostrich craters. For one hour we drove this
road and once onto the smoother surface came the congested driving which one
has to be very skilled at to avoid hitting motorbikes, cars, buses or trucks.
After the airport drop off we went to Hospital number 1. We
were told at reception that we were welcome to wait but the doctor wasn’t due
to come in for 4 hours and as we looked outside there was already a large
number of people waiting. So on to Hospital number 2. Here I got to see a
doctor straight away but she said I needed to see a specialist and he doesn’t
work on Saturday’s or Sunday’s but were welcome to come back on Monday. Next
stop Hospital number 3. This was a very large hospital and when we were greeted
at reception and asked our reason for coming the young lady then asked if I had
any animals in my ears. Oh my gosh I suddenly had a vision of leeches!!!! I
assured her that I only had an infection so she called a doctor to the counter
and she then took us to the surgical ward. Here a group of doctors and
specialists were all standing around and we were told to go stand by a hospital
examination bed. We watched the doctors and it looked like they were all trying
to work out who was going to look after the Australian. After a few minutes a
lady doctor threw up her hands and walked straight over followed by a guy. They
introduced themselves, they were both ear, nose and throat specialists and she
was also head of the interns in this department. She spoke very good English
and his English was ok. They asked lots of question, looked into my ears and
decided I needed to go upstairs and have an endoscope done to thoroughly check
out what was going on in my ears. So up we went and here we were met by two
interns. So now we had 4 medical staff in the small room plus myself, with Dave
and Kim hanging outside just in case. Another specialist dropped in as well to
see how things were going and had to poke and prod my ears too. The endoscope
went well and showed that I had an infection in both ears in the lining of the
outer ear canal. Because of the swelling in my ears they decided to put wicks
covered in antibiotic and steroid creams and leave them in there for two days. Here
another specialist made an appearance and she was the one who performed the
wick insertion. Usually they like to have you come in and have them removed and
checked but as we were a three hour drive away, the specialist was happy for me
to remove them myself as long as there was no pain. Then I would need to come
back for reassessment and more treatment. As well as the wicks they taped my
ears shut and honestly I could hardly hear a thing. Fingers crossed this would work. All this work
on my ears which took nearly 2 hours cost 140000IRP ($14).
We had to find a pharmacy to get some prescribed painkillers
and our driver took us to a nearby store. This was on a small street and it was
a long row of stalls that were all pharmacy’s so we just approached the closest
stall and got our prescribed painkillers 5000IRP (.50 cents) for 5 days worth
of painkillers.
By this stage it was well after lunch and everyone was
feeling really hungry. We let the boys decide where to go for lunch and they said
we should stop off at a warung at Bungas Beach. So off we drove. Just before
the warung our poor driver hit a big hole in the road and once we stopped at
the warung we realised he had done some damage to the front left wheel. Kim
took us inside and we sat down to lunch while our driver organised the
changeover of the tyre. Plates of food came out and we chose what we wanted and
had a lovely lunch. Our driver soon had the tyre all changed and sat down and
ate his lunch.
After lunch we had to stop at the nearest tyre repair shop
to have the tyre fixed as it really was not going to be a good idea tackling
the bad section of road on the spare tyre. The damage was minimal, and fixed in
just a few minutes so we were not long on our way once more where our driver
drove the bad section very skilfully once more.
Stay a few extra days:
We had booked to stay at Ricky’s for 8 nights and had
planned to take 5 days to ride back along the coast heading south and then hook
up with the highway and ride north back to Padang. But after looking at the
state of the road further on from Ricky’s we decided that it was a ridiculous
plan. We spoke with Ricky and he suggested that we could take a small boat down
south of the coast to the harbour (about 1 hour away by boat) and then ride
from there as the road is all sealed and very good. This would then only be a 2
day ride and we would then get to stay at Ricky’s for an extra 3 days. Perfect
plan.
Monday lunchtime was when I had to reassess my ears, take
out the wicks and see how they were. The night before I had no pain so that was
a really good sign. Monday morning, again I had no pain, and once the wicks
were removed everything felt good. No swelling, no redness, no discharge and no
pain. And I could hear again. It was so loud for the first few minutes after
the wicks were taken out. I am going to have to be extra careful to make sure I
don’t get any water in them again.
Our last day:
The picture perfect day today with sunshine, warm waters,
beautiful views and topped off with a lovely gentle cool breeze. We caught the
boat to the village at about 10am and spent the morning helping with the
building of the new turtle house. The French boys were there too and were
completing the art work on two of the walls that they had started yesterday. It
was all really starting to look fantastic and nearing completion. We helped cut
the timber slats to length with an old not so sharp saw, used an axe to indent
holes in both ends to place the nails in and then one by one secured them to
the fixing rails with nails. While we worked we also watched the locals drag in
the fishing nets from the bay to retrieve the fish. Adults and children all
help in this process and Dave headed down and gave one small group a bit of a
hand.
We had a great chat with four young boys who were hanging
around watching the art work being completed. These boys, the youngest being
only 7 and eldest 12 years old, spoke quite good English and asked our names,
and then were really keen to see some of my photos of Prambanan and Borobudor. They
knew about these places in Java but have not had the chance to visit yet. They
were really sweet and very polite young kids who also loved bikes and rode
BMX’s. We all shared lunch together at Ricky’s house in the village where the
turtles are temporarily kept. By the time we had finished lunch and had a bit
of a chill it was time to head back to the beach house. The normal boat we use
was held up somewhere so another boat was called in to take us all back. Three
very young lads operated this boat that was very basic, loud and a whole lot of
fun.
It was the classic straight drive propeller off an old four
stroke honda motor. The external fuel tank was a cut off ten litre oil drum
with a hose running straight to the carburettor. There was no exhaust, so this
was the loudest, slowest, most dangerous boat in the village. But shit, it was
a lot of fun. It just made me remember some of the home made go karts I made
with some of my mates as a kid, just awesome. Yes, it could have gone boom at
any moment, but it didn’t. Live to ride another day.
We spent the rest of the afternoon checking over the bikes
and packing our gear, ready for an early night and early start tomorrow.
The only problem with that was that I had asked the guys if
I could record some of their music, so I could put it with a trip video later
on, when we got home. This led to a full blown recording session that didn’t
finish until midnight. It was a lot of fun though, and everyone was quite happy
with the results, considering we only recorded it on the laptop.
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