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Jakarta to Dieng Plateau Central Java
Dieng plateau on Central Java to Bali

INDONESIA

Mar
2004-09-14 16:42:50

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dirt track. A long descent brings us finally to Bandarwaru at the coast. We start wondering... shouldn't we have crossed the main tarred road in the meanwhile? We are literally at the beach, but where's the road. We can't have missed it. Bandarwaru is a small village that is located on the side of a 'basin', in the middle of the basing there are rice fields divided by muddy raised walkways and surrounded by two rivers.

We cycle through the village and muddy footpaths until we get to the shore of the first river. We take our shoes off and prepare ourselves to cross. The river reaches just under our axels at the deepest point, and while Raymond now has waterproof panniers, I don't. A local teenager is eager to help a wanita (woman). We pay him a small amount and he makes clear that we don't have to put on our shoes again, there will be another river waiting for us. We continue on slippers over the walkways through the rice fields. The second river is wider, deeper and has a stronger current.

A bamboo raft ferry brings us halfway; the rest is a matter of pushing. After a short rest and relieve that the monsoon rain starts late in the afternoon at the south coast, we push our bikes forward to Cipancong, another 10 kilometres to go. A new road is under construction, but although it is not a weekend day, there is not much activity on building the road. This must be the one on our maps, ever seen maps looking in the future? Another 500 meters further we find that the road is really in its primary stages, big sharp rocks mark where the asphalt should come on top. This is not a road where we can cycle or even walk with the bicycles. Looking a little further we see that the road stops in the nothing. We turn right to the 'main road', ... the beach, a combination of fine sand and black volcanic sand. Cycling on sand with a mountain bike and with the right tires is not a problem, although the salt doesn't do anything ...