Day 97 - on the road again, leading with the nose. - Unfinished Business

August 5, 2023

Day 97 - on the road again, leading with the nose.

I was up early, didn't feel too bad and so, after a nasi goreng tanpa daging, around the corner, I got on my way.

Being on the road again is a sure way to shake off all the blog hearts I was scoring in Yogyakarta. As I've mentioned before, I just love following my nose and using the app in my head to navigate. It seemed the sensible way to leave Yogya and, after about 10 km, I saw a sign to Wate; I had nailed it.

A nice mix of pastels on this Yogyakarta riverfront.

I was on a major, divided road for a good while and found the occasional traffic snarl slowing me. Even so, I did 23 km in the first hour and maintained this speed throughout the day. I might add that apart from the heat and humidity it was very easy going. I felt as though I was cheating.

The coppers were keeping a close eye on things again.

A pair of gates indicating something. Indonesians like their grandeur.

The first ten km were not particularly interesting. It was all the usual businesses with stuff for sale, interspersed with warungs, all offering the same fare. Name it and you could probably buy it. Things then changed a little with the occasional small paddy field sneaking in; surely endangered but hanging on for a little longer.

Among all of this were things that caught the eye. This tiger on a vacant wall facing the oncoming traffic prompted me to stop.

I guess this is what Kartika means when she says that I look at her like a tiger.

The tiger drew me in but I found this mural on an adjacent wall more thought-provoking. It's very clever.

I have a habit of stopping when I cross a river. A long way back, in Queensland, there was water in every watercourse and incredible birdlife. I'm usually bitterly disappointed in Indonesia because what once were marvelous places are now cesspools. This river appeared cleaner than most.

I wouldn't eat the fish, but look at that net.

By now, I had done about 40 km and had long left the city behind. For the remainder of the day I would be cycling through interesting agricultural country and the occasional enormous expanse of paddy.

I sensed the chance to follow my nose again and jumped onto a minor road. It was good - better scenery and reasonably fast.

There's no shoulder but that didn't bother me. There were even other cyclists!

After about 70 km for the day, a village with a market popped up so I loaded with fruit and then ducked around the corner for bowls of noodle soup, and cups of tea and coffee. When I went to pay, the lovely couple running the warung refused to accept money. I gave them what I knew it to be worth and we exchanged photos.

I followed my nose once more and turned south to seek the coast. It was a terrific few kilometres and I stopped often for photographs.

I was pleased to get confirmation that it's a hot day.

I still see an enormous amount of manual labour in paddy fields, from cultivation through to harvesting.

I never quite reached the coast although I could smell it. I reached a reasonably busy road thar clearly ran parallel to the coast so I turned right.

This says "coast"! The country here is flat for kilometres. If the sirens sound, you'd want to jump on a scooter, head north and flog it.

I wasn't far along this road when I came across trees on which every fruit was bagged. Many of the plastic bags contained substantial water. I'm of the same persuasion as my friend, John, who commented recently on this blog that "he's always looking over the fence". I photographed a tree and then stopped at the next stall to purchase a fruit. They were sold in bags and so the fellow carefully selected one, washed it and then gave it to me. There would be no payment! He wanted a photo. I took one too. He called the fruit Jambu Krystal. Later, I looked it up - crystal guava.

I ate it later in the day to dilute a reasonably greasy dinner. Its crunchy and of mild flavour, something between an Asian pear and a tasteless Granny Smith. While I could imagine coming to Indonesia to gorge on fruits like mangosteen, durian, rambutan, lychee, mango and even pineapple and banana, I would not come specifically for crystal guava.

For the remaining 30 km of my day, I was surrounded by intensive small-scale agriculture. I enjoyed piecing the puzzle together in my head - chook sheds under coconuts for shade; a range of crops in rotation - chilli, leaf vegetables, corn, peanuts. Cassava and papaya were common too as were bananas. I couldn't see any pattern with the trees but they were invariably fruit-bearing; mangoes everywhere.

Peanuts or ground nuts - a legume and so good for enriching the soil with nitrogen; I don't see many tree nuts.

I try to buy the smaller papaya, less than half this size for 5,000 rp.

Having once had a job in this industry, I'm guessing that it's hybrid seed production.

It was along this stretch that I had the pleasure of doing a little fist pump to celebrate 100 km. I did another 20 to get about halfway to Pangandaran and was resigned to doing 20 more and 140 km for the day, when this salubrious establishment appeared. It had plenty of rooms available, which is a worry. I was not the least bit weary, but pulling the pin at 3 pm seemed like a good idea.

What pulled me in was "Hotel Karaoke" but it does have another name Hotel Mulya Indah.

I returned after dinner to a stage that had been thoroughly cleaned and set up. It is Saturday night, after all. I might add that it's a pity that they don't apply the same standards to the rooms.

I leave you with the bike of the day - a real workhorse, of which I saw many today. I passed one woman pedaling home, undoubtedly after a long day. Like many, she was barefooted and pedaled with her heels. She will get there as she's done day after day.

Today's ride: 122 km (76 miles)
Total: 7,050 km (4,378 miles)

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John GrantNice to see a bit of food production again Ian. Thanks for the day's report and photos.
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