Articles tagged with: bike tour
24 – Trapped Among Trucks and a Birdsong Competition
Sunday September 2, 2018
5:00 a.m. Room 208, Cahaya Asahan Hotel
Kisaran, Sumatra
(130,000 rupiah/$8.50 US per night; great hotel; great staff; professional; indoor parking with security; nice room; two beds; air conditioning; Wi-Fi; nice, clean bathroom; shopping center with grocery store across the street)
At long last, I have made it to Kisaran. Assuming I don’t ride to the small town of Tanjungbalai, this is the last stop …
23 – Devouring Chicken in Langsa, Pangkalan Brandan, and Medan
Thursday August 26, 2018
5:00 a.m. Room 102, Khalifah Hotel
Idirayeuk, Aceh, Sumatra
The plan is to ride down the road to the town of Langsa today. It’s not terribly far to Langsa, and there appear to be a variety of hotels there, so I wasn’t anticipating a difficult day. However, I’ve woken up to the sound of rain. If it were heavy rain, I might have just …
21 – The Road to Lhokseumawe
Monday, August 20, 2018
7:00 a.m. Room 10, Wisma Pase
Lhokseumawe, Sumatra
(170,000 rupiah/$11 US per night; big room; big bed; furniture; TV; air conditioning; nice bathroom; clean; modern; quiet; fast WiFi and strong cell phone reception)
From the time being seven in the morning, it’s clear that I am staying in Lhokseumawe today. I had a fair amount of trouble cycling the sixty-five kilometers to get here yesterday, …
19 – No Bridge! Crossing the River by Raft
Wednesday August 15, 2018
6:30 a.m. Room 10, Kana Wisma
Meureudu, Aceh, Sumatra
Well, I’m afraid it is that time again, the time for a graphic account of being very ill. This has been a very bad one so far, but I also got a bit lucky. The lucky part is that I made it through the entire day of cycling and getting a hotel room and getting …
18 – Fixing My Bike and Other Gear in Sigli
Monday August 13, 2019
6:30 a.m Ramshackle Room, Wisma Dian
Sigli, Sumatra
I was woken up by the call to prayer this morning at around five a.m. I felt like I should sleep longer, but I wasn’t able to. So I got up and went about my early morning routine. That involves taking down my mosquito net and setting it aside, plugging in my kettle for hot water, …
15 – Return to Banda Aceh
Wednesday August 8, 2018
6:15 a.m. Room in the House, Griya Arida
Banda Aceh, Sumatra
My time in Kuala Lumpur passed easily. I ran some errands, met up with some friends, and bought a couple of items for my bike. Then it was time to head to the airport to catch my flight back to Banda Aceh. The flight went smoothly, though my arrival at the airport was …
14 – Short Trip to Kuala Lumpur
Sunday August 5, 2018
7:00 a.m. Room 216, Rain Forest Hotel
Chinatown District, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
45 ringgit per night ($11 US) – shared bath, air con, WiFi, clean, modern, professional staff, great place
I never was able to fully relax in the coffee shop at the airport in Banda Aceh. I kept wondering when immigration would open. I wondered if maybe I was at the wrong part of …
12 – Beautiful Lampuuk Beach Near Banda Aceh
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day. I needed to do some preparations for my trip to Kuala Lumpur. Nothing major, but I have to do a bit of planning to make sure that I bring everything with me that I need. And my clothing was very smelly. I didn’t want to inflict my funk on people at the airport, so I needed to do some …