Star Highway

I've become a tourist. After finishing a week's training in Maumere, I've been riding the trans Flores highway, all the way to Labuanbajo.

I didn't have much luck finding a bike to hire at first, they were all little scooters (so not really up to some of the big hills along the way), and hiring a big, proper bike turned out to be quite expensive. But with typical Indonesian generosity, someone at the government office where I was training offered to lend me his bike for a couple of weeks. So I was the proud borrower of a 200cc Honda Tiger - which is as big as bikes get over here.

The trans Flores highway does this for 100s of km.

So I headed off on the first leg from Maumere to Riung, to meet other volunteers there. 300km and 10 hours later I arrived - an average speed of 30km/h is typical here. The route was spectacular - arching over Flores' spine of volcanoes down to Ende, a dusty town down by the sea, back up to Air Gila, down to Mbay, then along the broken asphalt to Riung.

Don't look down - you wouldn't want to run out of road here.

The nature of the countryside is what makes the trans Flores highway. Flores is mostly mountain, so the road winds up and down through sequences of hairpin bends, with sometimes sheer drops on one (or both) sides. Great motorcycling, although there are the usual hazards of roadworks, gravel, goats, and some big holes. Really big holes - where there is more hole than road. But there's a lot of work being done to improve the road, widening some corners and fixing the surface. So in places there are stretches of new asphalt snaking up the hillside, something that anyone who loves riding bikes likes to see. 

Look what's waiting round the corner. I actually thought the road just stopped when I saw this.

After a couple of days at Riung, enjoying the beaches, islands and beer, it was time to head to Bajawa, a cute little town nestling between volcanoes covered in lush forest. Then on to Ruteng, and finally Labuanbajo. I was heading to this tourist spot to try to see Komodo Dragons on the nearby island of Rinca - but being out of tourist season, couldn't find a boat going out there. But I did see a real, live volcano - something that the villagers there seemed very proud of.

A real live volcano!

I earned my keep by cooking in Bajawa - volunteers Sarah provided the wine, and Rachel gutted the fish. Teamwork.

So this has been a fun road trip - something positive to end my time in Indonesia. I've covered 1250km, I don't know how many hairpin bends, and goodness knows how many Bintang. It's been so good to catch up with all the other volunteers on Flores, who've welcomed me with a place to stay and a cold beer at the end of my day's ride. I'll miss them.

Labuanbajo - end of the road at the western tip of Flores