Category: Carstensz pyramid

After leaving the resort where the boat was supposed to arrive the 7th of April I cycled towards Bali to drop off my bike. In a meanwhile the boat arrived in Surabaya and is now waiting to be cleared by customs and delivered to the resort. From there I’m trying to arrange transport to the most eastern part of Java, the city Banyuwangi. By doing this I’m saving again 400km of rowing, instead of just waiting in the resort for the boat. This all seems very nice, waiting in a resort in Indonesia, but the timing and seasons don’t allow me to just wait and do nothing here.

 

      

 

Despite that I try to enjoy my time here off course. And how else would I enjoy it than cycling? I decided to make a detour by bike to go and climb Mt Bromo. This is an active volcano at 2329m above sea level. Not very high, but to come from sea level with your 80kg bicycle on the ridiculous steep roads they make here is quite a challenge. The last day I just needed to cover 16km, a light ride some would think. Well I covered 1285 altitude meters, with this bike I was able to get an average of 4km/h…

 

 

 

The effort was clearly worth it when arriving at the crater. I got rewarded with a very impressive view and experience of this beautiful volcano. The next day I take a day off cycling but hike op to watch the crater from close by. The force that you feel there is really impressive.

 

  

After this restday I wake up at night to hike up to another viewpoint to see the sunrise to cycle down afterwards. The view is once more fantastic and after this it’s an easy 50km ride down, what a great descend! There the cycling continues and after a couple of days I’m in Bali. From here I’m leaving my bicycle to send it back to Belgium with a friend. I started to realise that this is my last bicycle ride in Indonesia and actually on this bike. Everything is falling apart (my derailleur broke, my rim is breaking, brakes don’t function,…) but I really loved cycling with it. It is some kind of emotional goodbye, it served me well and we went through a lot of things, cycled so many place.

 

I’m being hosted here by Peter-James, a great guy who’s helping cyclists having a good stay in Bali. He grew up as a street kid after losing his patents at a young age, very strong and brave guy.  He has a great webshop selling glasses and jewelery from recycled products and 10 percent of the sales go to PJ foundation for street children. Please check his website www.pj-collections.com .

 

 

I feel my body is very tired (I covered 1300km in about 10 days) so I could use some rest and good food here before I start on the next stretch of this human powered adventure.

 

 

Now being in Tanjung I have time to look back at my first week in Indonesia. After a 3 month preparation which consisted of rowing, working and preparing I set off to Jakarta once more where my bike was waiting for me. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially if you don’t know how long you exactly will be gone. It all depends on the timing of when the boat arrives (the logistics and customs are turning this one into a real hassle).  I just heard as well that the containership with the boat is already on a delay for at least a week.

When arriving in Jakarta I got hosted by Jos and his family which gave me a pleasant stay and good food to start this new adventure in great shape! This gave me the opportunity to clean my bike and get ready. A couple of days later I start my cycling journey to the east of Java!

Cycling the busy streets of Jakarta which isn’t very pleasant. It doesn’t happen a lot that I get caught in traffic jams with my bicycle. Combine this with a hot sun in 32°C temperatures and you’re in for one hell of a ride/wait. That first day I was barely able to do 110km in total.
     

It is really crowded here with crazy traffic and pollution, but luckily no traffic jams anymore. The Indonesians are really friendly and helpful people. When I broke my chain, immediately people come to me, telling me where I can go for help. They’re very surprised when I start to take out my own equipment and they help to fix my chain. While cycling, once in a while someone offers me drinks or to come to their house for lunch and everywhere people shout at me “mister, mister, selfie please?”.

   

It is truly amazing how open, generous and helpful the people are here. On the other hand smelling and tasting the burnt gasoline in the streets while cycling isn’t my favourite thing to do.  Another thing that bothers me is that almost every day I arrive at a guest house or hotel, someone asks me if I ‘want a girl’. I find this very sad and disturbing that men try to get money from a girls’ body and sadly it happens all around the world… But still so many good and beautiful things are in this world as well, so don’t let it stop you from exploring, just be responsible (especially to the men who read this in this situation).

I see a lot of garbage everywhere, actually all around the world where people live. Here now the past couple of days I saw a lot of it on the beaches and sea. I really hope we get more aware about such growing problem. It’s not just here, before I left Ghent we had fairly good weather with people gathering at a river and by the end of the evening a lot of garbage was left behind.

Here I’m writing this blog at the location where the rowboat would arrive today. But today I got the news that it is one week in delay. Thats another part about this adventure, the logistics are a complete hassle. If someone knows a good transportation company that could suit for the next episodes of this project, please let me know. Just waiting here is not an option so I’m trying to have the boat sent to a more eastern point of Java where I can start as well. Then I won’t loose too many days just sitting around and waiting. I will cycle my bike all the way to Bali and leave it in a guest house for a while and pick it up returning to bring it to Belgium.

A lot has been going on since my return from Indonesia. It’s been a pleasure being back in Belgium seeing back my loved ones. There has been so much preparation going on for the next episode of this human powered adventure. The rowboat is finished, tested and shipped by now and should be arriving the 7th of April in Surabaya (Indonesia, Java). The 27th of March I’m flying to Jakarta where my bike is waiting for me to continue a 750km cycling trip to Surabaya. There I’ll be waiting my boat to arrive and start rowing to Papua. An estimated 2500 km rowing trip following the Indonesian archipelago from Bali to Lombok, the Flores Islands and on to some bigger stretches of open sea into Papua. This is all very new to me, but luckily Koen De Gezelle (the boat constructor) will assist me for 3 weeks to give me the needed experience I need on the further stage of this journey. From there I’m on my own for a couple of weeks to have another companion help me cross the bigger section by the end of the rowing trip into Papua.

 

 

 

 

The support for this project from all sides is getting bigger and I’m happy to announce my ambassadorship for Vayamundo. They are providing a good platform for my expeditions and help me achieve my mission. By having the same values we strive to invest more on international solidarity, Active ageing, Ecology, tourism for all and multiculturalism. I keep on giving full support to the INGO shangrilahome which gives opportunities in life for street children in Nepal. Therefore the name of the boat will be baptised the “Shangri-La”. This is a Utopian place described in the book ‘Lost Horizon’ from James Hilton, we’re trying to provide such place to the children in Nepal and the rest of the world. Besides that I want to create more awareness on some other problems I will meet along this trip and all continents and oceans. This creates an extra value to this project and is not all about adventure, it is about connecting people, their worlds and our environment.

 

Our partnership with Secutec is continued for this year as well and I’m very proud to be part of their team. This is a fast growing company delivering data security for companies, which is a becoming a much bigger concern nowadays. Without their support I wouldn’t be able to fulfil my goal and I’m honoured to partner up with their strong team. Secutec is an IT security company and founded by Geert Baudewijns in September 2005 to meet the market’s needs for security solutions. The idea was to establish a strong link between vendors & distributors on the one hand, and professional clients on the other. The objective was to provide businesses with integrated security solutions for a fast, efficient, secure and enjoyable IT experience. Security is a very important aspect during my expeditions and the same counts for IT security solutions. Therefore this partnership focusses on security with the tagline your security above everything!

 

Another major partner in the team is Whaleboat. Owner Koen De Gezelle constructed the boat I’ll be rowing with to Papua. A great machine that will give me the necessary safety and speed to clear this expedition. A beautiful boat already winning many prizes and I’m sure many more to come, I can’t wait to get rowing!

 

This website is completely renewed  that is the result of the collaboration with my partners. This all to make it easier to follow my progress and adventures while I’m away. I hope you enjoy the new interface and please let me know if there are any issues regarding the website.