Salam all, A friend of my wife and I is shortly due to embark upon bicycle odyssey across Indonesia. I thought this may be a nice opportunity for Western pesilat, who do not have the opportunity or means to spend time in Indonesia, to get a dirt track perspective of the achipelago. Jeremy is Canadian by birth but now an Indonesian citizen having spent nearly 30 years there! He speaks bahasa and a number of dialects fluently and as something of a novelty 'bule' is able to straddle both worlds thus giving the Westerner a 'man on the street' perspective rather than the usual tourist trap blatherings Anyway, I hope some of you may follow his epic journey with interest. I'll let the man himself do the talking...well writing! http://www.jeremyallan.com/bikebaik/index.html
This sounds quite interesting. I'll be interested to see how it goes for him. Beats any bike trip I've gone on.
Yeah, it will be good stuff with plenty of pictures too. Jeremy tends to engage with, dare I say it, everyday people. He's worked as a journalist and translator in Indonesia and has published a couple of books too. I can say that he is not a travel writer per se, more a collector of human stories and experience. (BTW, I'm trying to pester him to keep an eye out for all things silat related along the way as I know he wrote an article on the role of jagoan during Nyepi a few years ago.)
Based on what you've been saying about him, it should be an interesting read. One does not have to be a travel writer as it's more important to have interesting experiences in unique places and be able to communicate about them. Pictures of pythons would be well appreciated if he sees any in the rural areas. Cheers!
I remember we found some python (2) in the sawah near our place in the early '70's. They were huge! The men tied them to a pole and pikul-ed them to the nearest town (Walikukun) to sell ... I was told that they'd be made into abon ... but I think that was just village talk . Martin, you'll both cut quite a spectacle I think ... 2 londo's p) wisata naik baik ... heheh. Have fun! I had an Australia friend called Anton Lucas in Yogya when I was in high-school (I rented a room in his house .. ndkos). He did a similar thing on a motorbike (big bushy red beard ... cut's quite a startling figure in Jawa!). I think he wrote his thesis based on his experiences ... my recollection is a bit hazy. Cheers, Krisno.
LOL Krisno I think I have written a little ambiguously. I meant the guy is a friend me and my wife, rather than Jeremy and I doing the journey. Ummm I can't imagine the response from the wife if I announced I was off on an 18month bike ride Anyway the man in question is more an Indo-putih than a Londo these days.....talk about going native Hmmm, I don't mind abon sapi but you never know....mind you I'd expect abon ular sawa to be a bit more 'chickeny'. Ular Sawa, the only time I've ever seen a reticulated python in the wild was in India, at first I thought it was a fallen tree trunk, big old fellow doing a bit of sunbathing. One of those "wish I had my camera" moments. I also saw a black cobra and a king cobra in the padi, of course plenty of vine snakes. I've caught the odd glimpse of tree snakes in Indonesia but not easily identifiable for me as I'm not much of a herpetologist. I have however been stung on the **** by a scorpion and had a sudden realisation why most peoples of the tropics tend to squat(jongkok?) rather than sit on the ground outdoors Generally if something can sting, it will sting me! Anyway I better shut up because all this talk of epic adventures and jungle beasts is bringing out the travel bore in me
Ouwww! If you can talk about it like that you must have some natural immunity then ... my father was having a mandi and got stung and he was affected very badly ... for days! Jongkok is good, but Jawanese prefer to ndodok (both the same). BTW, the prefix of a "n" denotes active ... the act of dodok ... misalnya jongkok > most people in the tropics tend to 'njongkok' (or ndodok). Cheers (hope you don't mind the impromptu lesson lol).
Hehe, general rule with scorpions is fatter the tail nastier the sting. Still, bloody painful like you would not believe....I was paralysed from my lower back on the right side to my toes.....palpitations, cold sweats... BTW I appreciate all lessons(even the self taught ones) Anyway, the man himself starts the epic journey on Sunday. I am expecting lots of photos. If he doesn't deliver, he's got my wife to answer to
Ummm, I should have forseen a little 'jam karet', now the start date is july 15th and the journey has expanded to 2years.
