Early morning at the hotel.
This is the town of Solo.
Light traffic on the way out.
Full tanks as usual.
And the roads clear up...
...and the riding becomes relaxed.
Open spaces.
no traffic.....
This is riding fun .
Rice grown everywhere.
We stopped here for the views.
Nice huh.
This is why we ride.
Another stop at the border marker of central and east Jawa.
2/3 of Jawa complete.
Look at the lean angle ha ha ha
Again we're going up the mountains.
Look at that la....
BEAUTIFUL !!!
Gunung Lawu- another volcano.
Nice huh.
I didn't know at the time but...
..there is an ancient Hindu temple at the base of the volcano...
That looks exactly like the Mayan temples.
Its the only hindu temple that looks like that.
This -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuh
And this!! **internet pics x 2.
Next time around .
Large houses on the hills....
...with a view.
Another stop as the views were fantastic.
We're headed up there.
Way up there.
Its already quite cool here at noon.
Around 2200m.
A great group.
We did it :-)
Look at the views.
The ridiers coming up the mountains.
Soon we continue on our way.
But first a quick pit stop...
...for these :-)
More views further up.
And more terraces.
It was slightly hazy...
But still great views.
Nice shot.
Further on another boundry post.
Riding through forests.
Up in the highlands.
Some of the sights along the way.
With a lake .
We're headed way up there...see the road.
More small towns.
But this one was a bit bigger.
The town of Kediri.
And the tower at the intersection of 5 roads.
Monumen Simpang Lima Gumul
So we took a short break here.,..
And played with the swings ha ha ha
Cops on the left diverted traffic so we could take pics.
Very nice of them.
A last look at the arch...
Then its back on the bike.
Village roads .
Another stop later for some tea...
Here.
Tired riders.
Trying some local delicacies.
Behind the shops...
Was this view.
So rustic.
The shops behind.
Further down the road a bit.
We stopped to watch the sunset at Ngantang.
And stock up on memories.
By late evening we reached the town of Batu.
Where we stayed the night.
The next town Malang is on the foothills of the Bromo volcano.
Thats Malang town.
Our view from the dinner place.
What a day :-)
Day 6
Early morning at Batu.
Our friendly local volcano.
On the bike.
Riding towards Malang.
Passing village markers
Many villages = many markers.
A stop at a scenic viewing spot.
Today is going to be very interesting.....
...read that as HELL .
Happy happy still.
Going up...
We're headed to Bromo.
Quite high up already.
Almost at the top.
Finally.....
Welcome to Bromo.
We did it.
2nd Childhood. ha ha ha
To the peak....
Cold and foggy here.
Our guide suggested an off road route to the Bromo crater.
Proper equipment.
We thought , off road means some unpaved flat roads...
Little did we know...
Right at the rim of the huge Tengger caldera.
Adventurers.
All these guys.
So the plan is to head down there.
Looks like a nice plain no...
That is the entrance to riding hell for noobs like us.
You are going to be abused.
First we stock up on pics.
Beautiful place.
Nice backdrop...
Makes for great pics.
This is where we are.
A last pic.....
Filling up on food here.... purely for fuel.
See the soil...thats not sand.....
See the extra large tyres....
That should have given us an idea of what was to come..
Elevation here 8000 + feet.
So it starts.....
This video was taken by Han .Its 18 min long .The off road section is divided into 3 parts.
One -Straight down the cliff side. Narrow tracks with thick ash and stones in the path .Steep and uneven .
Two - Narrower single tracks along the side of the cliff. . Still lots of sand/ash and uneven but more level.
Three - at the base ,relatively flat. BUT , Thick -thick ash .Everywhere. Hard to move,. We stopped almost every 500m due to the fatigue of riding. Newbies to offroad ;-)
This video is only 18min into part one. Subsequently the battery died.
The road to hell.
A common sight.
Volcanic ash everywhere.
More fallen trees.
Steep ,sandy ,stones.....some people call this fun .
ha ha ha
After a long descent we take a break on the cliff side.
Never say die spirit .
Our view .
Stage 2- single track along the cliff.
The base is not firm .Still thick sand.
Fun huh , ha ha ha
But the views - superb.
On and on we rode.
Very very slowly due to the terrain.
The trail.
Some parts were a bit wider.
Look at that. Superb view.
Batok volcano.
We're headed there.
First we have to get down.
Time to move.
On the bike.
But wait -pics first. ha ha ha
Once in a lifetime .
Time to move.
Look at the drop.
See .
The exposed cliff is all compacted ash.
Nice huh..... :-(
Even nicer ha ha ha.
Finally after descending 1000+ feet ,we reach the plains.
Elevation 7000+ feet here.
Dataran pasir berbisik
In English - Tengger Sand Sea
More ash than sand.
Deep gullies...
Thick sand even under the grass and bushes.
Sea of sand indeed.
One of our breaks.
Memories.
Fatigue , everyone suffered.
We're headed behind that.
Nice huh.
Memories bro.
Adv rider in action.
Riding the sea of sand.
Raising sand not hell , ha ha ha
All took the opportunity for pics.
Once in a lifetime indeed.
A truly wonderful place.
Flying low...real low :-)
In the wake.....
Time to move.....
Very slowly.
Thick ash everywhere.
Not easy at all....for us.
Loss of control was common with everyone.
Another break...
Then move again.
Slow but we kept at it.
Need to improve our non existent off roading skills.
Adv riders all...
The sheer joy of riding and adventure.
Thataway...
Finally we reach the Bromo crater proper.
The surrounding Tengger cliffs.
We came from that elevation.
Through lots of this.
Wallpaper :-)
A Hindu temple at the foot of Mount Bromo.
Similar to the Balinese design.
Success !!!
A hard day for the bikes.
The local riders who came to assist us on the trail .
Adventurers.
Map of our route in Red .
Bromo is dead center.
From Bromo we rode to the right ...more sand , to a town by the side of the Caldera.
21 km total in 5 hours , ha ha ha.
Was it worth it ?--- hell yeah :-)
Final part next .
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