Day 41, March 19, 2013, Purwokerto (Indonesia)
I was going to head out today, but Andres and Steve were heading here today, So I figured why bother ride just one day ahead of them? So I’m hanging in Purwokerto and we’ll ride out to Pangandaran the next day. I also had the choice of getting up at 4:30 to go on a ride with Sonny. I slept in.
Went over to Ecko’s workplace, a car and scooter parts store, and hung out. Once his coworker came, he led me to Popo(Sonny’s friend) who owns a local bike shop. Popo was keen to chat about my trip and even had my bike cleaned and serviced. Really, really kind of him. He even treated me to breakfast, While in the shop, Popo left to make a phone call, and came back with a proposition: that his friend can ride with us all the way to Jakarta. A really kind offer, one that I didn’t know exactly to reply. I was simultanesouly joyed to have another cyclist along the way, especially one that knows the roads. But logistics might become really sticky to find accomodation for 4 people, not to mention he doesn’t speak a work of english, and should we treat him like a guide and pay for him etc?. I suggested to Popo that maybe he should just ride with us to Pangandaran. A day of riding together might be best.
After getting my bike serviced, I went back to Ecko’s, hung out and when he got a break he took me to a tailor nearby. The tailor sewed up my camera bag’s holes lickity split and didn’t charge me a thing! Headed back to the hotel, relaxed and waited for Sonny. Sonny and Popo scooped me up and we went to get nasi rawon for lunch. The restaurant owner wanted a picture with me and there’s a fairly decent chance that picture is now up on the wall next to her pictures of notable customers.. Popo is going to go back to check out if my picture actually does go up. After lunch we dropped Popo off and I went to a few of Sonny’s sales stops. It was pretty interesting to see. Sonny personally going to all these shops and taking orders, maintaining a personal relationship. The most noteworthy thing is that quite a few of these car shops are accounting on paper! No cash register, point of sales, or computer! I can’t imagine how they properly manage their inventory etc. Hats off.
Sonny dropped me off at the hotel, he finished up his business and then we went out for chocolate drinks and wifi. Intan met with us and later her sister came. I was ready to blog, but my computer wouldn’t leave a simple text screen stating that there was an error reading the hard drive. Damn. Like really really damn. Sonny got a computer repair contact from Popo and we drove over before Andres and Steve arrived. It was a random house in an obscure neighborhood and there were computers everywhere, parts, circuit boards etc. I would have to wait another day to buy a harddrive for him to install. I ended up deciding to see if I could get it repaired under warranty.
Sonny and I met Andres and Steve back at the hotel. They washed up, and we headed out to dinner to discuss our plans and eat, of course. Andres wanted a rest day, so we settled on leaving the day after next. Picked up a “San Francisco” Martabak manis and some ice cream to create a beautiful combination of pancakey chocolate goodness with ice cream dessert.
Day 42, March 20, 2013, Purwokerto (Indonesia)
I slept in a bit, but woke up earlier than Steve and Andres. I waited around and once they got up I led them to a breakfast spot nearby, Cheap, really good masakan padang. After breakfast I had us stop by a fancy hotel to get a good workout. We walked into the lobby and asked to see the gym. They instructed us to park our bikes in the basement, and to go to the 4th floor. We headed up, I asked where the gym was and was directed down the hall. The gym was sterile, clean, had a good set of weights, and looked like it was barely used. A staff member came up to us, because we probably looked suspicious, simply because we wanted to use the weight room. I scoped it out, asked what time they close and told him we’ll back later. I’d also hop in the pool if I could, but that might be pushing it.
Right next door to the hotel was an Acer service center, I brought my computer in and found out it was still under warranty! Woohoo! I argued, negotiated and pleaded to keep my harddrive to try and salvage my data(all my journal was on that effing thing!) It was a maybe, but likely not. I chalked it up to a loss and decided to just go through with the service. I do need Popo to pick it up and send it to Jakarta as Acer won’t send it. Acer is a huge pain in the ass to deal with.
Off to the bike shop where Popo had his mechanics start working on Steve and Andres’ bikes, we chatted for a bit and headed for a juice and local super market where Popo introduced us to the owner, told her about our trip and we were subsequently hooked up with juice, yogurt and watermelon. Aall three of us marveled at this moment, that all sparked from sitting down at a certain table at a certain time at a certain volcano(Kawah Ijen). Where we met Thea who introduced us to Sonny whom we met in every town along the way, who, connected us with Popo who then brought us to get this delicious snack. Wow, that was seriously the butterfly effect in action.
photo: Popo
I told Popo my plans to sneak into the hotel’s gym, he then suggested I go with his friend to his friends gym. I was hesitant because I really want to sneak into a hotel, but that can wait. Popo dropped us off at our hotel as biking would be miserable through the heavy rain that started. Our bikes will be dropped off in the car by Popo’s mechanic.
Sonny picked me up and dropped me off at the gym to work out with Hero. It was funny to be in a gym…in Indonesia, there’s a saying here that is really appropriate, “Same same but different” The equipment was a bit more worn, but generally the same things were available. I saw the classic bros, super big chests, tiny legs and cavernous backs. Just like home. I stood out for sure. A totally random bule walking into a gym in a non touristy town of central java. All the guys were eying me as prepared to do the bench press. I know all of them were thinking Alright, what is this white dude going to put up? I knew I was representing the US and western world at this time so I put in a good effort. 20k on either side as a warm up, many reps, then adding 5k each time. Surprisingly I still had a decent amount of strength even after a month and half of biking. I think the weight trainer spotting me was hoping I’d max out at a low weight. Points on the board for the USA!
A good hour of working out, and then a final dinner with Sonny, Popo, Hero and Intan. We had awesome fish, which is either goat, lamb, or chicken fish as all different members of our group couldn’t agree on the name. Ice cream for dessert at a nearby café, where there were many college students. Again, same same but different. I was trying to picture this as I-house café or Café strada etc. It was funny to see people in a country that one might expect to be sooooo different, doing the same things..
Picked up some breakfast oats at the minimart, back to the hotel, packed and then headed to bed.