After the difficulty with immigration, I went to find coffee. Coffee was found and a chat with another cycle tourist who had fallen into a problem of being stuck in Bengkulu, Sumatra. He managed to get a bus out of the city to Yogyakarta. He mentioned a hostel owner there who said one-day visa extensions were possible. Target Yogyakarta.
A short cycle to the bus station but no spaces available for over a week. They suggested another across town. I set off for that one, no spaces. The nearest they had was the 24th but it was a two-day journey and I was told you need at least 5 days left on the visa. This wouldn’t work. So, back to the drawing board. Another coffee and I had a plan. I was going to cycle to the next major city with an airport and try and sort the visa out there. If not I could fly and get out of Indonesia to Australia. However, it would mean cutting my Indonesia journey short by a month.
Now on plan C, I had to wait to sort out my credit card which was currently blocked. After a 30-minute conversation with my bank, the card was unblocked and I could set off. I needed to do 500km in 5 days, but with the current road quality and undulating nature, it would be a challenge. Setting off with what felt like electricity running through my body. I knew I would need to calm down if I was to hit the distance but it was fun being able to push without worrying about the energy drop.
Plan D, E, F?
About 40-50km into my ride with the sun starting to set I had another rethink of my plan. I realised I was going to leave Indonesia with only seeing a couple of the highlights. So, I decided to look into getting to Yogyakarta by plane. There was a flight in two days. I turned around and headed back to Bengkulu. In total I had completed 70km but an easier plan and one which might be more assured. I stupidly left booking the flight until the next morning though. It had gone. But there was one on the 25th.
I had about 4 days to myself to relax. There were few attractions in the area but only enough for a day. I guess boredom could set in for a bit. I’ve always found boredom to be a useful driver and it pushed me to finally get around to describing my bike, the Lord Baldrick. I also started to set up a set of stock photos. This was going to be a slow burner. Stock photography doesn’t pay until you have over 1,000 images! But it could be a nice little passive earner for the future. I guess I just need to shoot more!
The day of the flight came without any major issues but a short delay in landing in Yogyakarta. The next day I met Muk, the hostel owner, who gave me the contact details of the immigration officer I needed to speak to. I had to grab a taxi over otherwise I would miss him. I’m sure I do not want to spend an hour on a moped again! But I got my visa and it only took two hours. As I was near the Borobudur temple, I visited it, hoping to get the light from a sunset. Unfortunately, the clouds and eventually the rain came in! I needed another moped to get back, this time wet!
The Borobudur Temple
The temple is an amazing Buddhist structure and well worth a visit. Carvings on the first 4 levels and all the Buddhas enshrined on top in the stupas make for an epic monument. I will let the pictures tell the story of the beauty of the temple. My next day was set aside to build the bike and design the route for the rest of Java and this time I made sure I could exit from Bali on-time.
Lesson learnt… plan when you have little time!