Two-Wheel Travel: Lampung, South Sumatra
Choice destinations for weekend cycling in West Java are often impractical because of poor access. Lido, for instance, can be a very pleasant recreational area which has a beautiful lake, riding trails, paragliding as well as a resort hotel. However, the only way to get there can be along ‘The Path to Death’, aka Jalan Raya Sukabumi, via the end of the Jagorawi Toll Road. There are numerous additional hot trails for bicyclists in West Java, nevertheless getting there can be a real challenge.
Puncak, once a delightful weekend hideaway, can be today an unspeakable six-hour drive up to smoggy, jammed-up Cipanas. in which’s actually more like a mountainside parking lot, as weekends will trap you in your vehicle enjoying an interminable view of the tea plantations.
Ditto for the west coast. By the time you get to Anyer, Carita or Labuan, fairly interesting cycling areas, all the enthusiasm can be beaten out of you.
So where to go? My enthusiastic suggestion can be Lampung Province, at the southern tip of Sumatra, nevertheless which has a key qualification: you have to first battle your way via West Jakarta, through Tangerang, Balaraja, Serang as well as Cilegon, to industrial Merak, as well as then survive a rather uncomfortable three-hour ferry jaunt across the Sunda Strait to the Port of Bakauheni.
Once you disembark in Sumatra, however, the planet seems to open right up: in which’s a broad, fierce landscape with rough natural grandeur — at least compared to overpopulated West Java.
What I normally do can be hire a little pickup to carry bicycles as well as riders down the bumpy toll road via Kebun Jeruk to the Ferry Terminal at Merak. I can usually hammer drivers down to Rp.400,000 for the trip.
Be warned in which the Sunda Strait ferries are a favourite of pickpockets as well as additional gangs of thieves, who will break into locked vehicles as well as ransack them, unless someone stays inside on watch. Seriously. Keep an eye on your car or bike for the duration of the trip.
There are Great bicycling roads abound in Lampung Province once you escape the heavily – travelled Bakauheni – Medan artery highway. Riding uphill via the Terminal through smoke as well as heavy truck traffic can be only for the ultra-hardcore. Better to start your cycling journey at Bandar Lampung, the pleasantly green capital of the Province, an hour by car via the Ferry Terminal. You can usually rent transport, with patience as well as haggling.
Bandar Lampung can be worth an evening’s stopover, after the considerable struggle to escape polluted West Java; we usually stay at the Hotel Hartono, a modest, two-star place which has a magnificent view of the Bay, as well as a tribe of macaques who swarm up the balcony, demanding food via guests.
via Lampung, head west on Great roads with little traffic, to Kota Agung. The cycling journey I’m describing forms a rough quadrangle, combining riding as well as transport. Map in which out on Google Earth with the four points as Bandar Lampung – Kota Agung – Krui – Kotabumi, as well as back.
Bicycling via Bandar Lampung to Kota Agung can be fairly flat nevertheless a challenge in hot weather. I normally take the bikes on a local bus: the conductor just piles them on top of additional passengers’ assorted baggage, for an extra Rp.150,000.
During This particular trip to Kota Agung I had a Dahon Matrix, a full-size folding bike in which was perfect for mixed riding as well as loading into the baggage compartment.
Kota Agung can be a busy fishing port, on the vast Teluk Semangka (Watermelon Bay) enclosed by the peninsula of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Fishing boats come in just after dawn with their catch, which can be then auctioned on the spot. There are inexpensive seafood restaurants along the highway; in which’s best to stay overnight in neighbouring Gisting. Energetic bicyclists can ride up nearby Tanggamus Mountain.
via Kota Agung, in which’s over the mountains to the west coast, another challenging uphill bicycle ride. Motor traffic can be generally light; if you tire out there’s always someone which has a pickup truck who will carry you a bit further. Travelling through the National Park early within the morning, you will be serenaded by the whoops of troops of siamang (gibbons) — their screams easily travel several kilometres, within the quiet of the forest.
We turn east via Krui, heading for Liwa. in which’s a pleasant uphill ride, back through the National Park.
An hour to the north can be Danau Ranau, a gorgeous, ominous lake reminiscent of those in mountainous Austria. Lake Ranau can be surrounded by mountains, which has a symmetrical volcano to the west. Accommodation can be poor — all nevertheless starless; as a hardy cyclist, you can put up which has a pathetic losmen (“last resort” resort) for a night. Hiring a boat to traverse the rough, windy black waters of the lake can be well worth the effort. Great riding roads too.
Then in which’s a grand ride eastward, through the mountains of Bukit Kemuning, to Kotabumi, where you catch the busy axis highway down to Bakauheni. Best to seek transport for the bicycles as well as save the harp-playing for later.
Fast facts
Lampung, South Sumatra
Capital: Bandar Lampung
Area: 13,659 km2
Population: 7.691 million (2010)
Where to stay:
Hartono Lestari Hotel, Bandar Lampung. Jl. Kesehatan 7, Bandar Lampung.
Phone:+62 721 262525
Hotel Mutiara Alam Zandino, Jl. Pantai Harapan, Krui, Lampung.
Phone: Zane Redman – 081514139201
http://kruisurfcamps.com
What to do:
Cycle as well as surf.
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Two-Wheel Travel: Lampung, South Sumatra
Two-Wheel Travel: Lampung, South Sumatra