night ride #3: jatiningsih

It's been a while since our last ride, too many things to do. At least we're still able to squeeze a little short ride for our soul. So me and my bee went out for the night, it was the second night of consecutive insomnia. I spent my first night writing paper, not that because of doing paper I stayed awake all night, but because I stayed awake all night I got to do something. The second night we decided to depart somewhere, it was after midnight. We rolled our tyres toward Jogjakarta outer ring road, we headed west.

We were entering Jogjakarta-Godean Road, a straight road for about 20km that leads us to the Progo river in west of Jogjakarta. We stopped by Jatiningsih, a quiet sanctuary by the Progo river. If we cross Progo an go straight we we'll reach Menoreh Hill and to the Purworejo town, we'll do it next time.

Went home in the morning, short rest then do my daily activity.

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Gesing Run - the beach

Remember our first run toward Tritis, an we said we want to visit Gesing beach. Well here we went, it was an overcast day, nice for the ride and we got companion on our side Tebo and his minerva 150cc. Wild honey bee were on duty, after that night ride it got new clutch setting and carburetor setting. We went at noon, a stupid habit that always cost us daylight. The route we took was the same Siluk-Panggang route from Jogjakarta-Imogiri road. Same old story on the hill climb but we did better run with better engine service. 

We reached Panggang and headed left, on the first intersection we found Gesing sign straight ahead, but the asphalt was terrible, we were told that there is better road farther to the east, in the T-junction with big banyan tree nearby. So we turn left headed east, we found the T junction with banyan tree but there's no sign whatsoever, the sign was only for those who arrive from the east direction. So we turn right to the south took the road and motored away, we were enjoying our ride until suddenly the asphalt disappeared and we felt sun in our left, it was afternoon which mean we were heading north WRONG WAY. We asked some people there and they said we overshot the T junction to the beach by 5 kilometers.

On our way back we were careful and scrutinized all small T-junction and read the road sign carefully, There we find to beaches sign Kripak beach (or something I'm not really sure) and finally Gesing beach. The sign was just a small woodboard 30x15cms and was handpainted, too small. The road was just asphalt with potholes, not so bad. Then we finally found the beach, no tourist ticket no parking lot, only 3 or 4 food vendors. It was not heavily commercialized, NICE. It was pristine fisherman beach, the beach was in a fjorded bay, the water was calm, you can swim safely here in the contrary with other southern open beach here which has strong wave and rip curl.

We didn't take the dip just hang there by the beach then went for a coffee in the food vendor nearby, there we met a US expat and a lifeguard who also agree that so far this was the most beautiful beach we could find, it was beautiful, quiet, lack of tourists, no electricity, no cellphone signal, and it was not heavily commercialized. Let's keep it that way. And why in the world I'm leaving breadcrumbs for you guys, so this is it, anyone reading this blog entry have to burn their computer, laptop, and gadget immediately.

*put Moby's porcelain on

Riding distant: 123km

Riding duration : 4 hours

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Merapi-Parangtritis Cosmos Balance

We meet again, this time with the Javanese Jogjakarta cosmos. The whole Jogjakarta Sultanate legitimization were based on this two worlds, Merapi volcano and the southern coast of Java facing Indian Ocean. Nyi Roro Kidul the Queen of South Ocean were married to the whole heritage line of Jogjakarta Sultan, this gave Sultans the legitimization to rule over southern coastal people who worship the Queen.

While the mountain considered as grand dad by the sultanate, its big stature offered the sign of protection and literally protection from Dutch hegemony in the northern coast and eventually British invasion of Java during Napoleonic war at then. The volcano also bring lot of fertile soil to the valley of Jogjakarta and it brings life to this agricultural kingdom. The city of Jogjakarta were built as a straight axis line between the peak of Merapi and the southern beach of Parangtritis.

We planned this journey, to hug the merapi by riding around it and then go to the southern beach. The eastern route were taken, it was drizzle then rain then off then on and off the whole way. By noon we headed east to Klaten town then went north to Boyolali town in the central Java province. From Boyolali we headed west to the small town of Selo. Selo means gap, it is an ancient mountain pass road that pass between Merapi and Merbabu mountain. It's the gap between those two majestic mountain hence its named the gap (selo) town.

Up from the Boyolali to Selo, the scenery was beautiful but once again in this episode we were held by the rain, I promise we will redo the photographs when the weather went better. The rain stopped at the top which is Selo town then fogs appear on our way down, after the fogs came the rain again. It was a smooth hill ride until on our way down toward Blabak town which was famous for its paper factory. The road toward Blabak is also road for volcanic sand miner trucks, those trucks really destroy the asphalt, at some part the government tried to replace the asphalt with concrete, but the project wasn't finished yet. We were withheld behind line of trucks, rain pouring heavily. At 5pm we reached Blabak town it was quite dark like dusk due to the heavy cloud, but the rain has subsided.

Blabak was a T-junction town with Magelang-Jogjakarta road, wide 4 lanes road. From here we headed south until we met the Jogjakarta outer ring road then we turned right, ringed the city until we reached the intersection to Jogjakarta-Bantul road, took a right turn toward Gandjuran church. There I said my prayer then fell asleep, exhausted.
I woke up about 10 pm and continued our journey south, just a small hop toward Depok beach adjacent to Parangtritis beach, from Depok we strolled the beach road to Parangtritis. Strange-fully there's no wind that night as we expected. Took a smoke break here for a while then we headed back to the city.

Ride distant : 193.9km
Ride duration : 10 hours.



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night ride #2: magelang

Midnight hunger stroke, it guided us to the small town of Magelang that was located in the north west of Jogjakarta. This town was known for its military academy. For us, well it was a destination for a meal.

It's a quick ride about two hours ride round trip thru the smooth 4 lanes inter-provinces road.

Not much a story here, we found the city square, found an angkringan (food vendor) there, ate then headed back to Jogjakarta.

Riding distant : 84.6 km
Riding time : 2 hours

the first and only hotel and mall in magelang

city square

old dutch water reservoir in the city

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night ride #1: dlingo-pathuk

Insomnia night, me and the red wild bee honey took a night ride to the Gandjuran church in Bantul area. We headed south, taking a slow stroll enjoying the bright clear night with its mild breeze. We hanged by the church for an hour, then we headed north to the city, in the first intersection we were tempted to go right to the Imogiri town, we went, the night was young, we needed more kilometers to spend the night.

In the Imogiri town there were road sign, to the right was to Gunung Kidul through Siluk-Panggang road, straight ahead was to Gunung Kidul as well through Imogiri-Dlingo road, to the left was head back to the city. We have taken the right road and we definitely not taken the left road to the city. Straight ahead into the unknown, it was the very fist time we took the road. As usual before we took the climb, we make a rest stop to chill down the engine, rest and smoking.

And here we went, twisted the throttle and ran away, but all for sudden it was a dead end. We were accidentally entering the parking lot of Imogiri tomb of kings, this cemetery is royal cemetery for the descendant of Mataram empire, which now consist of Jogjakarta Sultanane, Pakualaman Principality of Jogjakarta, Mangkunegara Princedom of Surakarta, and Surakarta Sunanate. Their kings, princes, and princesses were buried here.

After taking the correct route we started the climb, the climb was less steep than Siluk-Panggang road, but the climb is longer, in the second long climb we had a trouble. It was difficult to gear down and we were losing power, fuck the engine stalled, make a quick u turn and restarted the engine with the gravity, thank god it worked. near the top of the climb fog appears and drizzle came down, nice, then the road flat out and villages appear. There was T-junction that showed direction to Dlingo and Pathuk, we think we're gonna take Pathuk, it got nice view of Jogjakarta city from above, we took it but the road gotten narrow and was back to climb again with an extreme steep and the villages are gone then teakwood forest appeared.

Fuck for the second time the engine was stalled, fuck again it was pitch dark in the fog no light from villages nor head light and fuck we made mistake by pulling over to the shoulder, it was a mushy damp leaves and mud, our wheels got stuck. We managed to restart the engine by the kick starter, but the wheel got no traction at all, I had to walk in the side of the wild honey bee gave it a push while throttling. After that wild climb we went to the wild descent, we was thinking of going back since there's no presence of civilization there. But going back meant we had to make another extreme climb which may cost our engine stall again, maybe this time we need to spent the night in the forest. We only got faith that it will lead to civilization since the asphalt quality is fine even though the road was narrow. After a while we saw in the distance a small light, artificial light, we were so happy, it was the edge of a village. We met village and village and more village, with people by the side of the road, it was safe passage now. Finally we met the Pleret-Dlingo intersection, to the left is going down to Pleret town, to the right is Dlingo town, and straight is Pathuk hill.

We got bright streetlight here then we stopped, we adjust the clutch so we can make a better climb to the Pathuk hill. There we found out that our fuel was leaking through the fuel filter, ooooooow nice. The engine got the proper power after we adjust the clutch, but we need to open on and off the fuel line so we didn't lose much fuel since we haven't saw any fuel sellers by the road. The Pathuk hill is beautiful but unfortunately the drizzle made me had to kept the camera off the water. We stop a while to chill down the engine again and take a smoke..... awaaaaay from the wild honey bee, because we still  worried about the fuel leak.

The final descent was worry free we reached Jogjakarta-Wonosari road, refuel and head home, it was about 2 hours to dawn, it's enough, head home snuggle to the blanket and watch TV until I fell sleep.

Wake up lazy head you need to fix the fuel line in the morning.

Riding distant  : 102.8km
Riding duration : 5 hours

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Gadjah Mungkur

valley of opak

That wet and rainy day we decided to shoot our chance in the road, that day it was Gadjah Mungkur dam in wonogiri regency as the destination. The rain ran continuously all day, heavy, drizzle, with some stop gaps, that's why in this journey we can only made only few photographs during the rain's stop gaps.

moped

Here we go again with this small villain moped, onward to the dam. In the drizzle at first we took the Jogjakarta-Surakarta main road, in the contrary of our adventure through small roads. At the T-junction nearby the Jogjakarta airport, the traffic congestion had built up, damn it was part of long weekend where everybody seems to take vacation in Jogjakarta-Surakarta area. It was meant to be, small road it is, we took a u-turn and headed toward Jogjakarta-Wonosari road, it was much much much better traffic load. This moped can easily climb Pathuk hill in the Jogjakarta-Wonosari road in less than 30 minutes we reached the T junction in Pathuk that will lead us to the central Java. 

border sign

The sign showed Nglipar town, we soldiered on to that small town. The road was nicely asphalt the view was stunning, northern part of southern karst mountain was the headwater of Oya river, one of the largest river in jogjakarta. The scenery was green, lotsa paddy fields and small rivers in the valley. There were less limestone here, more volcanic stone and loam, one of ancient volcano crater the Nglanggeran extinct volcano was located in the northen part of gunung kidul not far from Pathuk. It was next in the must visit list.

potholes road

Along this road there were several T-junction that headed north toward Klaten area, but as Klaten was lowland we stayed our self by the hill roads, the view was just awesome. After about two hours we reached the central Java and Jogjakarta border, the border signs were only a sign post and milestone, here the butt misery begun. The road network in central Java especially the small roads were not as maintained as those in Jogjakarta, more potholes, wavy asphalt, and less road sign. Politely speaking : TERRIBLE.

41111.1

Then it hit us, in this slow potholes infested road, the magic number suddenly appears, my odometer showed 41,111.1 kms. If you think about it, it's about 3 times around the world on the equator. It's been a long way my friend, and we'll continue to ride and add more kilometers.

We reach the outskirt of Wonogiri city almost near dusk, with heavy cloudy in our head. These were the final photographs before we losing light. Then we head home to Jjogjakarta thru Klaten sawah (paddy field) road in hail storm of insects and rain and then the main Jogjakarta-Surakarta road.

Riding distant : 177km
Riding duration : 6 hours

gadjah mungkur dam #1

wonogiri city border

gadjah mungkur dam#2

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Menoreh Run

by the progo river

Trip to the northwest border of the Yogyakarta, Menoreh hill-ranges Kulon Progo. This time my red bee were in workshop, I have to ride my moped yamaha 110cc. As we rode into the wild, we passed the meander of Progo river. At first we head toward Muntilan, a town north east of Jogjakarta. Then we rode eastward until we crossed Progo river, in the border of Jogjakarta and central java.

progo river

Progo river is the largest river in Jogjakarta area, it started from the mountains in central Java such as Sindoro Sumbing Merapi and Merbabu and dumped its flow in the Trisik beach in Kulon Progo regency. It meander beautifully in the valley of Menoreh hill ranges. Menoreh hill ranges is a natural border between central Java and Jogjakarta in the west side. The departute route we took were mostly in central Java and the returned route were in Kulon Progo regency inside jogjakarta.

end of civilized road

Once again we stupidly took the non tourist road, a small road that was look smooth at the beginning. as we progress deeper and higher into the hills, the asphalt is gone, into basic stone based road that was ready to be asphalted actually and remember guys, we rode in this stupidity with a moped, a comfortable commuter ride in the city, but horrible for off road duty such as this.

One thing that can be thanked from this moped is its 4 stroke engine, this model got the heaviest crankcase against its competitor and we already change the rear sprocket from 37 teeth to 39 teeth, at first it's intentionally to get faster acceleration in the city but not for the top speed. This engine setting was also suit for the hill road, it got more torque to climb (my wild bee is nothing at climb, it got no power) but the small 17inches tyres, suspensions, and ridding position was terrible, we got wear easily and the butts were getting numb.

serviens in lumine veritatis

Serviens in Lumine Veritatis: Service in the Light of Truth. slogan from Universitas Atma Jaya Yogjakarta (http://www.uajy.ac.id). a secular university that was run by a catholicism spirit foundation in the city of Jogjakarta, I've been there for a while for my economics degree. The sign in that village indicate the extracurricular activity of the university. After two hours in the road we finally reach the top, it was more organized than when we last came there say like 6 years ago, there are new parking area with food stalls and statues of punakawan, we separated for a while, I left my moped in the parking. the stairs remain the same, it has 1,2,3,4,5..... I always lost count in the way, take me 3 stops to catch my breath. Finally here I was at the top of my world, with both Jogjakarta and central Java valleys as my view. at top there is a statue, I think it is dewi durga statue Shiva's wife, I'm not really sure. I stayed for a while, enjoying the scenery and thinking about the world in the ancient time.

punakawan

the stairs

stairs above view

one of the peaks

top shelter

jogjakarta view from atop

central java view from atop

sign to the hill top

rujak ice crime

On the descent there was a sign that made me smile, a rujak ice cream vendor, it was a fruit salad with ice cream topping, but the sign says rujak ice crime, I'm sure they are honest businessmen and it was merely mispelling because english is not even our second language. But it made my day ended with smile, without any intention to underestimate the rujak vendor.

Riding distant : 83.5km

Riding duration : 5 hours

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