04/03/2014 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 71 - Extreme spice.

Distance cycled: 36km from a beautiful mountain sunrise to Rantepao, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Average speed: 16.1km/h
Moving Time: 2h14m
Elevation Ascended: 762m
Burned Calories: 1378kcal
Burned Fat: 179g
Total Distance on Current trip: 6410km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 13,340km
Money spent: $16




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Seeing as I was in the mountains, a thousand meters above sea level, camped and overlooking the scenic view in an easterly direction I knew the sunrise from this location would be spectacular on a clear morning and that it was, and having interrupting my sleep cycle to get up and check it out wow certainly worthwhile - photos below.
The last couple of weeks I have climbed some incredible mountain passes on both Sulawesi and Flores and after each one I tackle the following one becomes a little less strenuous and more enjoyable. I remember there was a time that I loathed climbing hills but now I love the sense of gratification having accomplished cycling to the peak of a pass, with of course the added benefit of the downhill descent.
Having eaten all my food last night I set off climbing the last few kilometers to the top of the pass with an empty stomach, normally there are at least a couple of stalls at every pass but here not.
Starving, I continued to cycle down towards Rantepao scanning the road looking for a place to eat but here was nothing and even when I did find a 'Warung' it was too early for them to be serving food.
Eventually I found a woman selling a variety of vegetables and so I scoffed down some tomatoes and what I thought was a small bell pepper, this pepper was not in any way what I was expecting, even after removing the seeds with my hands. The chili spice effects and symptoms were predictable, me red faced, squirming in pain, sweating, and in search of a liquid that would help with the burn - coconut water works well.
Relieved that the worst was over I then blew my nose forgetting that I had just removed the seeds of this insane pepper with my hands - school boy error!
All I wanted was a small amount of sustenance and nourishment and what I got was an intense burn on my hands, face, lips and mouth.
Arriving in Rantepao, still feeling the burn for the chili I went in search for a place to stay, I circled the streets and eventually found a fantastic place to stay, it was slightly out of town, had friendly staff, I was welcomed with a juice, was cheap and comfortable, but one downside however was that the tourists staying here were of the couple-ly type who kept to themselves and rarely said a word to one another

Sunrise

Enter Toraja

03/03/2014 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 70 - Why did the chicken cross the road?

Distance cycled: 109km from just south of Belopa to the 1,000 meter marker point on the mountain pass road from Polopo to Rantapao, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Average speed: 16.5km/h
Moving Time: 6h37m
Elevation Ascended: 1780m
Burned Calories: 3787kcal
Burned Fat: 491g
Total Distance on Current trip: 6374km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 13,376km
Money spent: $ 8


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So why did the chicken cross the road? Obviously to get to the other side. However from today's observation on these roads the answer should be 'to attempt to get to the other side'. Needless to say there were a plethora of deceased chickens and chicks that filled the pot holes in the road... Sorry, that is an extreme exaggeration but there were plenty of poultry road kill... If only I were to be starving...
The last couple of days I was stuck on the coastal plains of South Sulawesi and it was rather boring with little to no vantage point offering views of the surrounding area but as a positive I did meet some fantastic locals who put me up with a place to sleep over the last couple nights.
Today can be broken up in two parts, the first half of the day I spent on more uninteresting flat terrain but the second half was far more exciting albeit far slower paced; this is because I was now headed inland towards the mountainous and apparently popular Tana Toraja area.
Unfortunately I didn't quite make it to the main touristy town of the area called Rantapao due to a downpour of rain in the late afternoon but I did find an almost ideal place to sleep sheltered under an abandoned home with plenty of spiders to keep me company.
Tomorrow should be a relatively easy and short day and I still have a week before I have to return to Makassar for my flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Easy!
Actually on the topic of spiders, one thing that I do not understand here in Indonesia is that every bathroom of every home I have stayed in always has a resident spider living amongst the toothbrushes and shampoos. But not only this, there are also so many cobwebs and deceased Arachnids in the near vicinity within the bathroom. Maybe the Indonesians like having spiders (dead or alive) watch them bathe? It's very strange and it wouldn't take much to clean them out, but it does give me the opportunity to take great macro shots of them.

02/03/2014 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 69 - More Sulawesi hospitality.

Distance cycled: 148.2km from near Watampone to 20km south of Belopa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Average speed: 19.5km/h
Moving Time: 7h36m
Elevation Ascended: 1137m
Burned Calories: 3852kcal
Burned Fat: 500g
Total Distance on Current trip: 6265km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 13,485km
Money spent: $5


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What a day, hot, flat, bumpy, sweaty, sticky and despite my dislike towards rain I was eagerly awaiting the normally predictable afternoon cool-down/shower which unfortunately never came.
Still, I covered some decent distance today and yet again I was invited into another home by a local family. Anser and his wife Lulu were happy to have me spend the evening and within moments of entering their home, having a shower and meeting their disabled daughter I was taken to the aftermath of a traditional wedding ceremony, unfortunately I missed out the big event by 3 days but it was great to see the household decorated in a traditional colorful fashion and meeting the family who were intrigued by this white but temporarily red, sunburnt foreigner with crazy hair who dripped buckets of sweat into the nice carpets whist ate all the delicious treats that were available.
Typically the celebrations last 6 days after the ceremony, I am a bit disappointed I missed it though because I still have never been to a wedding.

Lukman and his family

Me at a local wedding… with lots of treats

01/03/2014 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 68 - More calamities!

Distance cycled: 106.6km from Sinjai to Tokaseng, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Average speed: 22.6km/h
Moving Time: 4h43m
Elevation Ascended: 681m
Burned Calories: 2516kcal
Burned Fat: 326g
Total Distance on Current trip: 6117km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 13,633km
Money spent: $18


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I didn't quite cycle the distance I wanted to today mainly due to the series of events that followed after a collision with a woman on her motorbike. Entirely my fault because i was reading the map on my GPS as I was cycling towards an unexpected red light, it was nothing serious, I just broke a small piece of plastic off her scooter and I punctured my tire.
Having replaced the tube at a roadside repair shop I topped up the air in my rear tire which caused it to tear the seam around the stupid French valves that are more problematic than they are worth, much like French cars.
Trying my best efforts with the patches and rubber cement I failed at getting my bicycle in a rideable state. Thankfully I was close to a big city where I could purchase a replacement tube and hopped onto the back of a scooter to get me there.
Without doubt I was ripped off on the purchase but I was in dire need of it. I was also unsure if the tube would fit my tire but everything worked out just fine.
The (now) late afternoon traffic on the narrow and pothole riddled road was ridiculous and avoiding these holes, which were more like death traps, would put me in harms way of the passing vehicles.
As night fell desperately searching for a place I could pitch my tent i found it near impossible too do so because between each little town there were only rice paddies, eventually I stopped at a shop where the local village flocked to come see me and I asked if I could camp behind the shop. They agreed but soon I was approached by a local guy who spoke English and he invited me to his home. I joined Lukman down the road to his place where he lived in what seemed to be a converted barn, it was pleasant, and his family were all very welcoming.
It didn't take me long before I told them I needed to sleep but tomorrow I'm going to try and get to Polapo that is 200km away.

Locals on bikes

Showing some kids some magic tricks

Friendly locals

28/02/2014 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 67 - Covered in Mud

Distance cycled: 109.4km from Bira to Sinjai, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Average speed: 18.2km/h
Moving Time: 6h01m
Elevation Ascended: 1293m
Burned Calories: 3253kcal
Burned Fat: 422g
Total Distance on Current trip: 6010km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 13,740km
Money spent: $ 15



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Yesterday I should have really left Bira but because I was feeling ill rested (for good reason) and under the weather I decided to have a day to recoup.
Still, today I wasn't at all in a good state, dizziness, aches, runny nose and having little to no energy I powered through the day climbing some steep terrain though the masses of dirt and muddy roads. This is because roadworks were in progress throughout the road I cycled on.
At first it was fine, good sections, bad sections with just some loose dirt on compacted gravel, certainly not ideal but manageable... things however, progressively became a whole lot worse solely due to the downpour of rain; this washboard gravel and dirt road soon turned into a slippery mud pit that relentlessly jammed up my brakes and gears.
After these calamities I eventually made it to the town of Sinjai where it was evident of how much rain had fallen because the hotel I went to check into had a brand new offering to their guests, a swimming pool!
At first I was offered one of the more flooded rooms for 100,000 ($9) but soon was upgraded to a less flooded room by the manager. They offered wifi, so that's good enough for me.

The flooded hotel I stayed at.

27/02/2014–An amazing sunset in Bira, Sulawesi

26/02/2014 - South Sulawesi Diving.

Today's activity, Diving!... amongst other things. 

Meeting the girls I met last night who convinced me to go diving today I geared up at the dive center and boarded the boat with a bunch of others and we set off to Goat island, apparently one of the better locations to dive.

Today involved two dives, both lasting around an hour each where there was plenty of things to see, from sharks, colorful coral, sea slugs, turtles, sea snakes, a minuscule seahorse and of course plenty of vibrant fish. Not nearly as interesting as the diving was in Galapagos but nevertheless these dives were fantastic with great visibility and plenty to see. 

The crew on the boat including us 6 tourists were all good fun to be around and we all thoroughly enjoyed our morning out in the open ocean. 

One interesting thing today was that when one of the crew members was checking out the second dive spot he surfaced to yell out "Shark, Shark"... most people's response would be "Argh" and stay on the boat, but on the contrary for us diver's our train of thought works a little differently, first yelling "where is my mask" and upon finding it jumping into the water to see the thing - it was incredibly amusing. 

I'm not going to lie, this trip was expensive and worthwhile but partly the reason why I went on this diving trip is because I rather fancied one of the girls I met yesterday, Jaya, from Luxembourg also a Gado-Gado - meaning half Asian mix, Cambodia specifically and she is just stunning.

Arriving back in Bira in the afternoon both fatigued from the diving we went on a walk to see the ship building process not far from the harbor. Now this was epic! These enormous vessels that are hand built out of wood take a year and a half to construct and sell for a billion rupiah... That's roughly $100,000; built using basic and blunt tools and to watch the builders put the thing together is a marvel in itself. Staggering!

I'm not going to romanticize the events surrounding the evening with Jaya because that is hard to avoid simply because it involved a sunset, all you need to know is that it was a activity filled day and the same could be said about the evening and unlike yesterday I got my second wind of energy.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from the dive.

The children around Bira, Sulwesi, Indonesia

Amazing, the ship building process