My first post! bare with me! Initially I did this trip back in June 2015 but I havent heard Rideasia not until last December, so here I am
(chillin out day at Tanjung Aan)
So this adventure started with meeting a new friend from my backpacking travels to Thailand. We shared the same passion, bike riding. So I invited her over to my island bali and devised a road trip that I have never done before. We actually have just met briefly and so this whole journey was our bonding adventure... in the end we didnt kill each so thats great.
(First camp by the cove)
We left Bali around midnight to catch the ferry leaving to Lombok, it takes about 4hrs or 5. We tried to get some sleep before we arrived to Lombok in the early am. We went to a coffee shop in Mataram to recharge our brains and electronics, had an ok brekky at this spot too. Then we continued driving all the way east for 2hrs to catch our 2hr ferry from lombok to sumbawa. Once, we landed and rode on to an empty beach cove for our first camp. We arrived just in time for sunset and the moon rising. Didnt do any cooking as there is plenty of food jst 10mins drive outside the cove and plus we had to charge electronics again
(keeping safe from mozzies while watching bollywood)
The path we chosen for this trip was the long way but really scenic, the road conditions is mostly not paved and there are some river crossings along the way. Extremely fun to go through fortunately! We drove about 6hrs i think on the second day, it was about 175km from our first camp. Doesnt seem much but we couldnt drive fast as the roads were unpaved. Arrived to sumbawa besar just an hour before sundown but the lady at the warung insisted we stayed and camp in her living room to be on the safe side.
(Beautiful ladies of Flores with their big smile!)
Next day we headed towards Dompu, but jst before the turn to town we decided to take a little detour towards Tambora. Found a track and decided to just drive around and checked out the scenery. Had plenty of fun until the rainclouds started coming at us. Drove around town to find accomodation and hunted for some beers (alcohol is scarce, only can get them in fancy hotels) we managed to find a little warung that hid their beers at the back.
(Ula and Carl)
As the morning prayers blasted from the mosque across the hotel, we set off to catch our Ferry to Labuhan Bajo and we made it just in the nick of time. As you go further east from Bali, there are less boats rides and their time schedule sometimes its hard to predict. The ride was about 6-7hrs, by the time we docked it was just in time for dinner. After scouting around google for some green spaces near labuhan bajo, we set up for a hunt and took us about an hour after fumbling about dead ends we finally found the spot! Then realized we dropped the tent somewhere along the dirt track, went for a rescue mission and retrieved the tent and all is well!
(Gnarly)
After we packed up, we set a goal towards Bajawa. We decided to try and drive the south way thinking it might connect to Bajawa but it got to a point it only got harder to cross the rivers we had to turn back and find the main road towards Bajawa. It was a slow day with a few set backs, one of them was a massive nail puncture on my rear tire. Lucky enough only had to push my bike 1km in the heat of the day, and if I hadnt pack my wrench, the guy wouldnt havent been able to change my inner tube. My friend Ula had to fetch the inner tube from the next village 30mins away.
(South Sumbawa)
By the time it was dark we just arrived to Ruteng, and realizing that we wouldnt be able to make it there in time. Ula to knock some sense of reality that it would have been a stupid idea, she was right of course. We stayed the night in Ruteng and we leisurely drove towards Labuhan Bajo while making stops checking out some cool areas. When we got to Labuhan bajo my friends brother invited us to crash on their rooftop restaurant and so that saved us packing time. Next day set off to go home, but at the dock we bumped into a Swedish man on the KLX150, his name is Carl and we basically had the way to go and ended up riding together with us to Lombok. We ended up chilling and resting before catching the ferry at midnight with the hopes of it arriving in the am to Bali but... I had no idea that it actually takes the midnight from Lombok to Bali only takes 3hrs. So we arrived around 3 or 4am, it was quite frustrating to find shelter at that hour. But I saw a little hut infront of a house by the beach and we crashed there to get a bit more sleep. When the owners came out, they were really friendly and didnt mind at all at us passing out their front yard.
(Camp in Labuhan bajo, flores)
(Road overlooking Pulau Mules, south flores)
(Sweet javanese lady who gave us shelter and food)
(Riding around Tambora)
Thanks for reading! and hope to write more trips in the future! oh, I also finished editing the video for this trip! check this 4min video i put together :
(chillin out day at Tanjung Aan)
So this adventure started with meeting a new friend from my backpacking travels to Thailand. We shared the same passion, bike riding. So I invited her over to my island bali and devised a road trip that I have never done before. We actually have just met briefly and so this whole journey was our bonding adventure... in the end we didnt kill each so thats great.
(First camp by the cove)
We left Bali around midnight to catch the ferry leaving to Lombok, it takes about 4hrs or 5. We tried to get some sleep before we arrived to Lombok in the early am. We went to a coffee shop in Mataram to recharge our brains and electronics, had an ok brekky at this spot too. Then we continued driving all the way east for 2hrs to catch our 2hr ferry from lombok to sumbawa. Once, we landed and rode on to an empty beach cove for our first camp. We arrived just in time for sunset and the moon rising. Didnt do any cooking as there is plenty of food jst 10mins drive outside the cove and plus we had to charge electronics again
(keeping safe from mozzies while watching bollywood)
The path we chosen for this trip was the long way but really scenic, the road conditions is mostly not paved and there are some river crossings along the way. Extremely fun to go through fortunately! We drove about 6hrs i think on the second day, it was about 175km from our first camp. Doesnt seem much but we couldnt drive fast as the roads were unpaved. Arrived to sumbawa besar just an hour before sundown but the lady at the warung insisted we stayed and camp in her living room to be on the safe side.
(Beautiful ladies of Flores with their big smile!)
Next day we headed towards Dompu, but jst before the turn to town we decided to take a little detour towards Tambora. Found a track and decided to just drive around and checked out the scenery. Had plenty of fun until the rainclouds started coming at us. Drove around town to find accomodation and hunted for some beers (alcohol is scarce, only can get them in fancy hotels) we managed to find a little warung that hid their beers at the back.
(Ula and Carl)
As the morning prayers blasted from the mosque across the hotel, we set off to catch our Ferry to Labuhan Bajo and we made it just in the nick of time. As you go further east from Bali, there are less boats rides and their time schedule sometimes its hard to predict. The ride was about 6-7hrs, by the time we docked it was just in time for dinner. After scouting around google for some green spaces near labuhan bajo, we set up for a hunt and took us about an hour after fumbling about dead ends we finally found the spot! Then realized we dropped the tent somewhere along the dirt track, went for a rescue mission and retrieved the tent and all is well!
(Gnarly)
After we packed up, we set a goal towards Bajawa. We decided to try and drive the south way thinking it might connect to Bajawa but it got to a point it only got harder to cross the rivers we had to turn back and find the main road towards Bajawa. It was a slow day with a few set backs, one of them was a massive nail puncture on my rear tire. Lucky enough only had to push my bike 1km in the heat of the day, and if I hadnt pack my wrench, the guy wouldnt havent been able to change my inner tube. My friend Ula had to fetch the inner tube from the next village 30mins away.
(South Sumbawa)
By the time it was dark we just arrived to Ruteng, and realizing that we wouldnt be able to make it there in time. Ula to knock some sense of reality that it would have been a stupid idea, she was right of course. We stayed the night in Ruteng and we leisurely drove towards Labuhan Bajo while making stops checking out some cool areas. When we got to Labuhan bajo my friends brother invited us to crash on their rooftop restaurant and so that saved us packing time. Next day set off to go home, but at the dock we bumped into a Swedish man on the KLX150, his name is Carl and we basically had the way to go and ended up riding together with us to Lombok. We ended up chilling and resting before catching the ferry at midnight with the hopes of it arriving in the am to Bali but... I had no idea that it actually takes the midnight from Lombok to Bali only takes 3hrs. So we arrived around 3 or 4am, it was quite frustrating to find shelter at that hour. But I saw a little hut infront of a house by the beach and we crashed there to get a bit more sleep. When the owners came out, they were really friendly and didnt mind at all at us passing out their front yard.
(Camp in Labuhan bajo, flores)
(Road overlooking Pulau Mules, south flores)
(Sweet javanese lady who gave us shelter and food)
(Riding around Tambora)
Thanks for reading! and hope to write more trips in the future! oh, I also finished editing the video for this trip! check this 4min video i put together :
