I arrived in Bali

I had just a few days time before my Indonesian visa runs out and I had to rush and cycle as much and as fast as possible. I just realized that February has only 29 days and so I am short of 2 days from my calculation as I thought it has 31 days. So it means that I have to kill myself cycling to reach Bali and come back again to Jakarta before my visa expires. I had 330kms from Jogjakarta to Surabaya and from there I had to take a bus for Bali and I just have 2 days left. I made 162kms the first day which was a good day because all the way it was flat road and I had the wind behind me and I cycled by average of 21.65 kms/hr which was good. Just the last 3 hours was raining, which made it a bit hard but it was fine and I found a petrol station and slept there without any more activity. I had to save my energy for the next day. The next day, I did almost 175kms which was a long day. In the morning I had up and down and the wind in front and I was just 2 hours behind my schedule but I knew that in the afternoon it will probably be much easier because I was heading to the beach and I would have down road so in the afternoon I made it and I was in Surabaya by about 6pm. As you know I dont use any travel guide or information book, etc and just I follow my senses and always when I need information someone comes to me and give me what I need.

I thought that there is a boat from Surabaya to Bali but there was none and I didnt know that. When I arrived in the town one bicycle came to me and began to talk and after he knew that what I was looking for he took me to his house and brought me some food and told me how I can go to Bali and how I have to take a bus for that. After that I realized that I have to cycle for 130kms on the following day which was difficult especially if I travel overnight on a bus and I cannot have a good sleep in the bus and I cannot recover my strength so it looks like a very hard job. I had 3 hours time and I slept in his house for about 1 hour and then he took me to the bus station and I left the bus station at about 9pm. It was so funny, the man invited me to his house and helped me a lot but after a few hours he sent me sms and introduced himself. His name is Bagus, a friendly and kind guy who was my helping angel in Surabaya. He was really helpful and kind. However, I already wrote before that Indonesian people are my favorite due to their manner and their hospitality and kindness. Thank you Bagus for your help.

There is a port between the islands of Java and Bali and the only access is by ferry boat and I was supposed to ride the bus and then cycle to Denpasar from the port which was 130kms riding. We arrived at the port at 5am in the morning but oh my GOD I was so sleepy and I couldnt open my eyes so I preferred to go directly to Denpasar by bus and to cycle back on the same road. So I just closed my eyes to not be conscious that we were passing the road that I was supposed to cycle so I would feel comfortable traveling by bus. However I was not cheating the road because I had to and I had no choice due to lack of time and there was another reason which I will write in the next article.

25 Feb 2008