Chalet NZ

Travel adventures, kiwi style.

[chaletnz]

Jakarta: Jayakarta neighbourhood, Kota Tua station, Uluru for coffee, Pancake Co. In the Thamrin City mall

[chaletnz]

Jakarta: Breakfast at 1/15, Kota Tua - Dutch Colonial Centre

[chaletnz]

Jakarta: Kota Tua

I woke up to the AC unit struggling, I'd set it to 18 but it was more like 22-23 in the room as it just couldn’t get it down cold enough but it was manageable. I showered and changed into my last clean shirt and then went in search of laundry again, not liking my chances with it being Sunday. After 2 failed attempts I saw a small sign saying laundry with an arrow that was pointing down a little alleyway so I thought why not wander down there. I startled a guy who’s house it must’ve been that I walked into and he explained the laundry was around the corner so I apologised and of course it was right there when I reemerged on the street! The attendant was napping but was happy to wake up and communicate through Google translate. He quoted me 53k rupiah, or about $3.50 for the wash, dry, and fold by the end of the day. With my backpack now empty, I was ready to explore the Indonesian capital! It was only 10:30am and it was hot but not yet unpleasant, that would come more around 3pm. Upon reflection, I decided that Kuala Lumpur was actually the worst (hottest/stickiest) weather of the trip. I walked a few minutes to a café called 1/15 for a much needed fancy acai bowl for breakfast, paired with a flat white and an iced ginger milk which is a more traditional Indonesian café drink. I then bought a train pass and took the train all the way into Kota Tua Station, the historical centre of Jakarta. The train had super strong AC and wasn’t very busy so it was a comfortable ride all the way in, with just one transfer. As I walked out of the Kota Tua station I was bombarded with food stalls lining the streets right outside. I’d love to try all the different foods but with my stomach upset, less than ideal hygiene standards, and no cold storage it was not worth the risk! I walked around the huge Taman Fatahillah plaza where there were more vendors, kids running around and riding old Dutch bikes, people were painted like statues or set up with a carriage and costumes for families to get their commemorative photo. The plaza previously was called the Batavia Stadsplein as Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies when it was colonised. The atmosphere was lively on this Sunday afternoon yet I still spotted a few dodgy looking people to reinforce that shady Jakarta undercurrent in the city, so I kept an eye out for opportunistic thieves. I walked around the river to see the Toko Merah and then I took a break with a fami chiki and Pocari sweat from Family Mart like my Japanese days. The chicken was not as good as the ones in Japan unfortunately! My intention was to walk from Kota Tua to Chinatown/Glodok as I had that pinned as another place to visit but with all the construction and traffic I couldn’t find a way across the road to go in that direction so I walked to Jayakarta instead. It was a big difference going from the colonial centre to just outside, much dirtier and more rough looking people around that stared at me, an out of place tourist in this neighbourhood. The heat had taken the steam out of me and I wanted to go back to the hotel already so I found the train station and boarded the next one, relieved for the AC once again! Back in my hotel area I walked to Uluru for a flat white to pick me back up for the evening and it was a quiet break to wait for the sun to set and the air to cool. I walked to the Grand Mall to check out the shops and I went for dinner at the Pancake Co. which conveniently popped up right when I was starving! I had a pineapple lemon iced tea with a katsu donburi for dinner, and then a single souffle pancake for dessert. I was worried it would be too heavy to get the standard 2 pancakes but it was light and fluffy so I probably could’ve squeezed in 2 after all… After dinner I found my way back to the alleyway pin for the laundry and my clothes were clean and waiting for me to pick them up, and he was chuffed with a 7k rupiah tip to make it an even 60k. I always like to tip these kinds of local services well as it makes them extra willing to help foreigners the next time!

[chaletnz]

Hasa Coffee to avoid the downpour outside in Bangsal, Lombok airport KFC, journey to Java island first stop Jakarta! Thanks to Debbie for being my driver and scooter deliverer!

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop Day 4 - Senaru to Bangsal to Jakarta

I had an unexpected hot shower when I arrived back at the homestay – though not for long… It lost all pressure after a few minutes and had to do my final rinse off with just a trickle. The host mother prepared breakfast for me – a banana pancake and a watermelon juice, plus I think she cut up the remaining watermelon and served it on another plate for me. It was far too much, and I could only finish one extra slice of watermelon so I hope she had her son eat the rest! The little kitten came and sat in my lap while I had breakfast and it was so hard to get up and disturb her but I had to get going to make sure I was going to make it for my flight this evening. I set off on the scooter to a spot I had chosen for lunch (closed due to the muslim holiday) and then an alternative spot (also closed) and eventually ended up at the final destination anyway which was Bangsal. It had been an interesting drive, with some rainy patches and a sighting of a young boy on the back of his father’s scooter holding a rifle. I made it through the main intersection with the help of an attendant with flags though I had to wonder why they had this guy working when there were traffic lights built but just switched off? I stopped at a small café around the corner from our convenience store meeting point and ordered a cappuccino inside to write some blog notes while I waited for 2pm to roll around for my ride to the airport. The weather gradually got worse and it started to rain, then it was like a torrential downpour out of nowhere! The streets were completely flooded and I messaged Debbie to say I was at this café but it was raining so heavily I wasn’t leaving and asked her to meet me there instead. They showed up and I made a mad dash in the rain over to her van and a teenage boy sitting next to the door quickly threw it open and I jumped in. She told me that this was her neighbour who would be driving the scooter back to Mataram and she’d drive me to the airport. I felt bad as we drove away leaving the mother and 2 kids standing under a small roof for shelter, but Debbie assured me they’d just wait and then bring the scooter back when the rain stopped. We took the monkey forest route to the airport which was the last main road I needed to see to complete Lombok, and we saw plenty of fat monkeys over there too. Debbie told me all about some passengers she’d driven around, a British guy who had his laptop stolen and she went on a wild goose chase to get it back from police for him, a 69 year old lady who she drove to surf spots, and an American guy who offered her a remote job but then ghosted her. She dropped me right at the door of the airport and asked if we could take a selfie together, then I rushed inside to have a KFC lunch/dinner as I hadn’t eaten since breakfast! The flight gave me some nice sunset views on top of the clouds and then I was successful in taking the train from Jakarta airport downtown to Sudirman station. Though what should've been a 7 minute walk with all my luggage turned into 20+ minutes down crowded streets, through a loud and colourful sunsilk pop up event, then random back alleyways where I got a few side eyes. I missed my street and ended up looping all the way around the block but found it eventually and had an old toothless guy check me in. The room left a lot to be desired but it was a great location, clean enough, and cost about $13 a night so overall not a bad place. The door didn't latch unless I slammed it hard which was annoying, especially as I was in and out trying to find a laundry in walking distance that was open (none), and getting some snacks.

[chaletnz]

Tiu Kelep and Sendang Gila, back with the kitten at breakfast

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop Day 4 - Chasing Waterfalls

I was woken up by an annoying rooster at 4am and had trouble getting back to sleep but I still got out onto the bike by 7am as I had planned. It was a quick 5 minute ride down the road to the entrance of the waterfalls where I paid a small entrance fee and then started my walk down the steps. I’d read that there were a lot of locals who hang around the entrance and aggressively offer their ‘guide’ services so it’s best to show up very early which suited me anyway as I had a lot to pack in to the day! Within 15 minutes I had reached the first waterfall Sendang Gile and had the space all to myself to admire the area. I didn’t stay too long, as I wanted to keep my head start on getting to the main attraction Tiu Kelep. I had researched a lot about the path, guides, monkeys, and so on the previous night so I thought I’d have no issues finding the way myself. There was a path for about 20 minutes and then I ended up at a river, a little unsure if I needed to cross it, or walk upstream. I chose the upstream option and luckily it was correct! A short way of wading through shin-deep water and then I could feel the mist of Tiu Kelep all over me. My phone was already in its protective case, and I tried to place my backpack behind a rock to avoid it getting too wet. The waterfall was so powerful, about 45 metres high, plunging into the pool below with such force I’d be very afraid to swim there. I spent about half an hour here getting some photos and never saw another soul, which seemed crazy based on other photos I’d seen of crowds here in the day time. It was a great spot to visit, and well worth the early morning to enjoy it to myself. As I was walking back out, there was a local guy collecting rubbish in a large sack and carrying it out which I realise must be a bit of an issue as there are no roads but there are vendor tents at the first waterfall which presumably sell a lot of drinks and food for inflated prices and need to be carried out and thrown away. It was a steep climb out and there were a few ojeks that appeared near the entrance offering an expensive ride up on the back of a scooter but I declined. Bokkie was waiting there for me to bring me back to the homestay for a shower and breakfast before the last leg of the Lombok Loop back to the airport.

[chaletnz]

Senaru, Lombok: My own balcony with this view for $18, traditional village nearby, gado-gado for a late lunch, sunset with fried banana and a kitten

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop: Breakfast overlooking the rice paddies in Tetebatu, scooter ride up and over a mountain pass to Sembalun for an iced strawberry drink with mountain views and the best climate of the whole trip!

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop Day 3 - Tetebatu to Senaru

During my visit to Lombok, it was Eid al-Adha which is a major holiday for muslims. The Tetebatu area has a lot of mosques, and from when I arrived at 2pm until whenever I fell asleep probably around 10pm the loudspeakers were blasting. I was also woken at 4:45am for the morning call to prayer (of course I later found a little note explaining the mosques and some earplugs hidden in a corner of the bungalow!). When I was fully awake I went down for breakfast of banana pancakes and coffee overlooking the rice terraces. I took my time getting ready and packing up and Bandi was nice enough to drive my scooter up to the road for me and then I set off north towards Mount Rinjani. I drove for about an hour through quiet, scenic roads and figured I must be close to my lunch spot in Sembalun but I was still an hour away! In this 2 hours of riding I’d seen everything in Lombok; rice terraces, forest, ocean views, and then completed a steep mountain pass. The road was so windy and steep I was revving Bokkie to full throttle and it would only go 30kmh! There were monkeys hanging out on the side of the road almost the whole way up and down, I guess people feed them so they have become reliant on humans and aren’t afraid to get very close, some were super fat and there was a lot of rubbish littered around everywhere. I saw a monkey drinking something from a plastic bottle! The top of the mountain pass was cold, I almost wanted to put my hoodie on but as the area was so steep I didn’t feel comfortable parking anywhere up there for the views so I just continued riding over and back down. I stopped for lunch at Kedai Sarah Sembalun but they told me they weren’t serving food so I just had an es strawberry which was like a strawberry milkshake. This town is known for growing strawberries so their strawberry products are fresh and delicious. They had a flower garden too that you could pay entry for and go in and get nice photos with the mountain background but I just sat and watched the families doing their photoshoots before carrying on. I tried another cafe along the way which was also closed, I suspect because of the holiday a lot of places were closed up without notice on google maps. I arrived in Senaru in the early afternoon and was shown to my room right away, I dropped off my stuff and decided I should go for a walk as I’d been sitting on the scooter most of the day and needed to stretch my legs. It was a nice temperature so I explored the little village nearby. There was a traditional village a few minutes away but it had a fence around it so I thought I’d better not walk directly through it but took a few photos from outside. I found a little shack building just outside the fence with 2 squat toilets and a bucket of water for a ‘local shower’ and I presume the village all share this. I’d felt the people here were nice enough but I sensed a little hostility, a group of teenage boys were yelling and shouting as I had rode by on my scooter coming in and then they all eyeballed me silently as I walked back that way. A family was burning a pile of rubbish outside their house and stared at me as they stoked it. I found a quiet road that led to a more upscale guesthouse so I walked up there for a late lunch and tried my first gado-gado. I’m not sure what I was expecting but the gado-gado was a plate of veggies like cabbage, potato, carrot and green beans all covered in peanut sauce with some fried tempeh and shrimp chips on the side. Surprisingly delicious! It was almost sunset so I returned to my guest house to have a watermelon juice with fried banana and enjoy the sunset until the host father brought out his guitar and terrible singing. There was a tiny little kitten that wanted some of the fried banana but the host mother told her young son to scoop it up and hold it until I had finished eating. I had an early night since tomorrow will likely be hectic with seeing the waterfalls, riding all the way to Bangsal and getting my luggage and a ride down to the airport in time for my evening flight to Jakarta.

[chaletnz]

Lombok: Chasing waterfalls, more rice fields, monkey forest, Bandi found a police car and a tiny python, fried tempeh and potato for dinner at the bungalows

[chaletnz]

Lombok: Walking around the rice paddies of Tetebatu, absolutely breathtaking views (ft. Bandi the jungle boy)

[chaletnz]

Lombok: Tetebatu Rice Terraces/Waterfall Tour

The reception guys introduced me to Bandi the jungle boy who would be my guide. He said he would help me move my scooter up to the reception and I thought “great, I’ll take the bottle of water from under the seat” except we didn’t go that way, we headed up into the rice terraces climbing up grassy steps and taking planks of wood to cross streams. He took me to a great viewpoint where I could see all the rice terraces below, and a waterfall in the distance. I asked Bandi to take some photos of me here but they didn’t look that good unfortunately – he needs some work on his photography skills! He was great at smoking though, he chain smoked 3 cigarettes during our walk through the terraces to Serang Walet waterfall and told me in his broken English about what happened to his leg. He had a huge scar on his leg, maybe a skin graft, from where he’d been drunk on rice wine riding his scooter at night and crashed. At the waterfall I paid the entrance fee and we started to walk through and reached a cave full of water, Bandi said I can take off my shoes here so we can continue. Something had been miscommunicated here… I’d said I didn’t want to swim and just wanted to view the waterfalls at the start of the tour so hadn’t brought anything with me to change into. He said there was no other way to the waterfall except swimming through this cave to it, so we turned around and left but they wouldn’t return the entrance fee even though he was friends with the guy working on the gate. I was a bit annoyed he’d even bring me there, knowing that I didn’t want to swim and swimming was the only way to get there, and then not get back the entrance fee for me. He then tried to rope me into going to his friend’s coffee shop for a break but they didn’t have any cold drinks available. I asked him where I could buy a cold bottle of water, again he’d said we’d move the bike and then went off in the complete opposite direction so I hadn’t been able to get my water bottle. He found a little shop so I could buy a big one and then he insisted on carrying it for me until I had drunk about half of it. Our next stop was at Air Terjun, another waterfall, with some sketchy steep ladders to access it. We then walked back through some more rice terraces and the monkey forest but we didn’t see any monkeys unfortunately. We must’ve walked about 5km or more, as in the monkey forest I pinged the directions and it was about 2km to get back to the bungalows.

[chaletnz]

Lombok: Breakfast at Milk Espresso in Kuta, incredible rice paddy views riding Bokkie all the way from Kuta to Tetebatu

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop Day 2 – Kuta to Tetebatu

I packed up and went for breakfast at Milk Espresso just a short walk down the road, I ordered a flat white and their golden smoothie bowl. The coffee came with chocolate on top which I thought was strange but maybe just how they do things here… They then brought me an acai bowl and I said I’d ordered a different one so they took it back. A minute later I saw a lady come up and talk to the staff and said “I ordered a cappuccino and I was sitting there, but now I’m outside” and I realized I’d been given her cappuccino! My flat white ended up arriving too, so I got a coffee and a half for the price of one! The smoothie bowl was okay but came with frozen fruits, I really didn’t expect that knowing how much fresh fruit they have on hand in these Indonesian islands and I guess I’d been spoiled with all the fruit in Sumatra. I packed up quickly as I was very eager to leave Kuta behind and start my 2 hour drive to Tetebatu hoping to reach my next homestay within about 4-5 hours with some photo stops and lunch on the way. I was on the road by around 11am and the first 30 minutes was a breeze, I’d put my Airpods in and had Google maps directing me which was so much better than yesterday where I was just pulling over to check the map. I had my music going and then I’d get the directions when I had a turn coming up. It was all smooth sailing as I headed north towards through rice terraces and took a little break at an Indomaret halfway through my journey. I bought a Pocari Sweat and some rendang flavoured chips (delicious) and the clerks called their manager to come and meet me. I suppose they don’t get many foreigners stopping in this town so they wanted to practice their English a little! The manager could speak a little bit of English and he asked about my travels in Lombok and shook my hand as I went on my way. I pulled over a lot when I found some very picturesque rice terraces and needed to try and get selfies, and photos of Bokkie with a nice background. I encountered a very busy road, possibly the main East-West route across central Lombok and I needed to turn right. I thought to myself, “how?! I can barely get into the flow to turn left!” I ended up making the left and pulled into a gas station on the left which was a good idea anyway as I needed a top up. Once Bokkie was full once again, I saw a truck at the entrance waiting to turn right onto the main road and quickly drove up beside it to use it as cover for me getting around too and made it! After this turn everything was chaos-free once again and despite some pothole-y roads I enjoyed all the small towns with little kids playing beside the road and stopping to shout out hello as I rode by. I had trouble finding the entrance to the bungalows and tried to ask some locals to point me in the right direction but they didn’t speak English at all and I could not understand their directions other than the vague pointing in the direction I thought it should be. After a couple times up and down the road I realized that I hadn’t seen it before because a taxi was dropping off some tourists in the tiny entrance and was parked blocking their sign. I made it inside and it was a very steep, narrow, and unpaved path to the bungalows. There was a big tree that had been felled about 100m down so I decided to just park there as I didn’t want to go any further, thinking how hard it would be to get back out. I wandered further in and found the reception area for the bungalows where they brought me a strong (and super hot) black coffee to drink while I waited for them to check me in. I sipped on it as much as I could but it was too hot to drink properly and I wondered what we were waiting for as the check in time had already passed… They had a sign advertising some of their local tours so I asked if I could do the rice terrace/waterfall tour this afternoon. Now my room was ready so they led me there so I could freshen up and then I met them back at the reception for the tour.

[chaletnz]

Lombok: How could I ever find Bokkie, driving through the countryside towards Kuta, highway sunset views, Kuta market, new Pringles flavour!

[chaletnz]

Lombok Loop Day 1 – Selong Balanuk to Kuta

I was led to a surf school called ‘Tom & Jerry’ and I thought this would be as good as any since they could speak English. They gave me their sales pitch, 400k rupiah for a private lesson with an instructor for up to 2 hours, as long as I feel I need, plus the board rental for the rest of the day until I was finished. That seemed like a great deal as I’d looked into a surf class in Bali which was about $50 for a 2 hour group class so I happily paid and prepared myself to go. I had some basic instruction in their surf shack of foot placement, how to paddle, how to stand and then I was ready for the water. My instructor Ayan carried my 8ft surfboard out to the swell while I followed him with my GoPro in hand. Ayan took the GoPro to record my attempts but the SD card broke so nothing actually recorded unfortunately. He held the tail of the board and waited for a wave and then he pushed me forwards and had me paddle to keep going and then he shouted out when to stand up. I made about 8 attempts this way, and I stood up and surfed about 3 of these times but the other 5 times I didn’t get up in time, slipped, or had my weight wrong so the board flipped. Each of these wipeouts was as awful as the last, covering my head in case the board came and hit me, swallowing seawater, and getting thrashed under the waves. I’d certainly had enough the 5th time I came up coughing and spluttering. I told him I was finished now and he took the board and led me back to the shack where I could take a ‘local shower’ - a large bucket of water with a little pail to scoop it out over me. Ayan was very apologetic and I felt bad, as he seemed to take it as a personal failure that he couldn’t teach me but I assured him it was not him but me. I didn’t have the desire to keep wiping out like this, I’d wanted to try and see if it was for me and determined it wasn’t and I’ll stick to snowboarding! Plus I was already starving and it was almost 3pm by now so I needed some lunch. I wandered down the beach trying to find a place that looked like more than a surf shack and found a nice looking beach restaurant called Laut Biru. I ordered the satay campur, a mixture of chicken and beef satay, a local cider, and a pavlova for dessert as my belated birthday cake. It was all delicious and nice to sit on the beach watching the surfers while I enjoyed it. It was hard to leave this beach, but I needed to keep going before it got dark as I didn’t want to be riding the bike in the dark. It was very difficult to pick out Bokkie (my scooter) from the lineup as they all looked the same and there were probably at least 100 in the row I parked in. I had to go back and watch the video of the condition from when I got the scooter to see the license plate and then find the matching license plate! I drove all the way directly to Kuta with just a few stops for photos on the way, the roads around my homestay were dirty and busy so I started to get a bit nervous again on the scooter. I must’ve missed whatever small sign the homestay had out front as there were no driveways so I looped back and parked at the supermarket down the road and picked up a cold drink. From here I walked a minute to find the homestay and realized that the entrance was a complete construction zone so that’s why I missed it, I checked into my room with the weird owners and their super rude little kid and wished I’d booked somewhere else to stay! As they gave me a tour around the place this little kid was staring at me so I said hello and asked how he was in Indonesian, he just turned and ran away then came back with a handful of sand that he threw at me and gave me the finger. Rudest Indonesian I’ve met so far! I left my stuff in the room and then went back to get the bike, planning on riding to a sunset spot but after the line to get gas I’d missed the sunset so did a short dusk drive around and then parked Bokkie in the construction zone for the night. I went for a little walk to check out the market and bought a shirt and a couple snacks for an evening in away from all the drunk Australians around here.