Beliau bukan siapa-siapa, hanya seorang pengelana yang telah bertahun-tahun 
keliling dunia diatas sepeda. Konsepnya sederhana, kemampuannya membadut, 
membawa serta tawa pada tiap daerah yang disinggahinya. 

Kiranya ada sodaraku disini yang kebetulan disinggahi, silahkan bertegur sapa, 
seperti halnya ciri khas bangsa kita...setidaknya tersenyum, maaf bila 
postingan ini agak diluar topik diskusi.

Berikut email dari beliau:

-----Original Message-----
From: "Inu Febiana" <[email protected]>

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:55:55 
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: [b2w] Fw: from lombok, indonesia



-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]

Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:28:50 
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [b2w] Fw: from lombok, indonesia


Fren, masih inget salva? Bikepacker dari spanyol yang melakukan perjalanan 
keliling dunia dan mampir ke jakarta beberapa waktu lalu.  Berikut email dari 
beliau yang menceritakan kesan2 positif selama berada di Indonesia, juga 
pengalamannya dibantu oleh b2w selama di jakarta.

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dear all,

how are you?



i am still alive and travelling, enjoying a rest after 4 months of cycling in 
the islands. i am tired, very tired.



i left kuala lumpur, middle may, with adam, a long-distance cyclist from poland 
that i met first time in samarkand, uzbekistan. so, we spent a confortable week 
in malaysia peninsula, camping in hot springs and enjoying beautiful cameroon 
highlands. also by chance we had a good night with the aborigen people in the 
jungle.

we crossed to sumatra from georgetown, close to thailand border. there is a 
cheaper ferry from malaca but it crosses to middle sumatra.



we had a very good 5 weeks in sumatra. everything is here, volcanos, lakes, 
mountains, jungle, beaches... but the best jem is the people. such a wonderful 
smiling people. they make us feel welcome always. they smile all time like 
clones of dalai lama. i believe they are very happy, not rich, not poor, living 
in a blessed land and always in family. they gave us a lot of positive energy, 
you cannot be sad in sumatra!



there are not many cyclists in sumatra and rest of indonesia surprisingly, 
maybe because is remote and the western media only speak about natural 
disasters and sporadic terrorism, but it has been a highlight of my travel so 
far.



may is the end of rainning season, so weather is nice with some showers. 
everycorner is green, exotic flowers (you can pee on orchids!) and birds. also 
very cheap, but mostly we stayed with locals which are really friendly.

we did not meet here radical muslim people, in fact islam is extremely relaxed 
here, and all religions are very kind between themselves. but it is true they 
have a problem with a small terrorism group, and they attack from time to time.

being spanish, a country that suffers also attacks from ETA terrorists, i can 
say that if you can plan to visit my country for holidays, why not indonesia as 
well?



well, we crossed to jawa island and traffic plus pollution was there. also the 
jakarta cycling community. people which spent with us their time, helped us 
with our bike problems and everything smiling. we felt in family. they have two 
organizations jumping over religions and ethnics, with the aim of reducing 
pollution and increasing the number of cyclists. very strong community. i love 
them. you can chek them at www.bike2work or www.bikepackerindonesia (maybe i am 
not very exact with address but you will find them in google).



adam and me split there, and i went to kalimantan (borneo indonesia), and i 
cycled the west. it is a little developed area and weather conditions are 
tough. strong sun and humidity, very steep hills and clay road. also no traffic 
neither tourism at all. it was good, some nice jungle, rivers and birds. the 
best again, the people, the dayak tribe. extremely friendly. i had no time 
someevenings to ask where i could hang my mosquito net, they already organised 
everything.

it is not a very isolated land as some in africa (i miss' sometimes), but it is 
hard enough to keen the trip. you have to be autonomous since there are not 
facilities as public transport, electricity, bike shops and sometimes 
longdistance between villages.



once you cross kapuas river, asphalt and ciilization are there, and very soon, 
malaysia side, which is developed. so i reached kuching and took a short rest. 
i went to see orangutans (0.7 euro) and stay in baku national park with 
proboscis monkeys as neibourghs (2 euro entrance, 1 for camp at any where). 

malaysia borneo is oriented to holidays and middle class tourism, but even like 
this, if you look for it you can make it cheap. for example, many groups visit 
orangutans in expensive reserve areas, i do not understand since there is one 
close to kuching for 1$!



on the way to brunei i sow many traditional longhouses, very interesting. 
sometimes i was invited to stay, but i must say that i felt no sincerity, so i 
refused and they never insisted...

malay people are not so warm as indonesian. they keep a distance, but still 
very helpful. you can sleep in very good rekreasi parks, camp in rivers, or in 
'public places' as churches or youthcenters.

chinese comunity is very interesting here. they keep their traditions since the 
mop of the revolution was not here, and i enjoyed with them very much. even in 
a taoist temple, the caretaker did a ceremony for me and told me my future. 
asked when i was going to finish my trip and comeback home, he said 'when you 
get married'. so, dear friends, i am very worried now!



another beautiful national park is niah caves. stunning scenery and huge caves.

in bandar seri, brunei capital, there is a 300000 inhabitants watervillage. no 
tourism, so it is very pleasant to walk aroun there. you hear only your steps 
on the wood path and the glu-glup of the tide. this is also the first capital i 
have ever been with no taxis! everybody has 1 or 2 cars, so they are useless.



again in malaysian side (sabah), i stopped for a rest in kuta kinabalu, but it 
was boring town and i did not meet there the funny chinese comunity i did 
before. also many beautiful girls and i was afraid of ending in a marriage...

so i left for mountains. kinabalu mountain is scenic, but not unique. still a 
pleasure to cycle over 1000 m because of the cool weather. many people 'climb' 
kinabalu, but you must hire a guide and join a group, and the trek is crowded. 



the rest of saba was not nice since 50% of the land is ocuppied by oil palm 
farms. the enviroment is changed and climate as well, very hot and humid.

from here (sandakan) you can cross to philippines (50 euros). i got a new 
indonesia visa in tawau (very easy, 20 minutes) and crossed to sulawesi island.

i met adam again and we enjoyed the stunning mountains of central sulawesi. 
road is good an scenic, no traffic at all, until lake poso. from there we took 
very bad roads to linde national park. ti goes through rainforest mountains 
and, my friends, it was fantastic. i had some of the best days of the travel 
here. it is a thick jungle and unhabited, which means it is touhg and unique. 
the very best, the 60 kms in the linde national park. the 'road' is just a 30 
cms path in the jungle, and we jump over broken huge trees, crossed rivers, 
push a lot in steep muddy areas, and yet exhausted, we felt ourselves the 
luckiest men in the world.



after this we split again in palu. adam is heading to philippines and shanghai, 
looking for a job as he is running out of money. i had a very good time with 
him in sumatra and sulawesi, he is a very positive man and always faces 
problems in a good mood. i am happy to say i have such a good friend now.



well, after almost 4 months cycling without a break, my body was begging for a 
rest, so i went to the coast in search of a small paradise for my old bones.

i had no success, even i crossed very beautiful beaches and villages with 
turquoise waters (road sometimes is so close that you can snorkel from the 
bike!), but i did not like anyone in all the way to very far makassar.

then, i decided my rest cannot wait, sometimes i felt no power at all, so i 
decided to go to a touristic place, and i took a ferry to lombok island, close 
to bali.

it is high season and it was extremely difficult to find accomodation. even for 
a shitty bambu room with nothing but an old dirty mat they asked me 10$!

but at the end i asked in a bungalow esort if they could allow me to camp. they 
were very surprised and no idea about what i was talking about (this is a place 
for sufers, divers and relax holidays, not for a gypsy on a bike), but when 
they saw my tent set up, they laught a lot and they allowed me to stay 2 weeks 
with them. even i pay local price in their restaurant but most times they just 
feed me. very good people, and also they are not used to see 'bule' (westerner) 
that want to spend time with them. tomorrow we have a birthday party, i feel in 
family.



so, my friends, i am enjoying a nice rest in this kuta beach paradise. in 
middle september i will cross back to peninsula, to singapore, and i will 
continue on my route to japan. i still have to delivery the yen coin to my 
friend kim. he gave it to me in capetown, more than 2 years and 40000 kms ago, 
so maybe i am the slowest delivery system in the world!

anyway, i hope i will reach japan during next year, if i do not get married....



i will write again about december or so, and please, if you have time let me 
know how are you. i am always eager to know about my friends.

happy ramadam for all muslim friends!



with love

salva








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