A Bogor beach weekend: the SW coast of Java

Having a motorbike was near the top of my top-5 “must-do” list for being an expat in Asia. You know, along with the off-shore bank account and weekend trips to Bali. OK, full disclosure: riding a motorbike here isn’t nearly as cool as I thought it would be. Truth be told, we only use it once every couple of weeks or so, usually when I’m out of beer and need to fill up the beer fridge. For local missions like work and groceries, our bicycles or ankots (the public transport system of 30-cent rides in dilapidated minivans with no doors) are our go-to.

You see, it’s not the act of operating a motorbike per se (which actually is really fun, obviously, ask any redneck), it’s the insanity of traffic chaos here in West Java, where being on a motorbike is quite literally like being in a visual-reality video game. You know, the kind where you’re driving or flying a vehicle and/or space craft of some kind, and the screen is your eye-level view, and things like rocks, cars, planes, missiles, spears, flaming projectiles, and other random objects are being hurled at you. The critical difference of course, is that in real life, if you slam into a flaming projectile, you don’t just reset the game and start over. It’s unquestionably one of the scariest and most stressful ways of getting around here, and easily the most dangerous thing we do in Indonesia (including eating street food J). In two years, Amy’s passenger state of mind has improved from “sheer white-knuckle terror”, to now, probably hovering around just “sheer terror”.

So, obviously, when the latest long weekend presented itself, we planned a 3-day motorcycle mission to the southwest coast of West Java! Ah, life is an adventure, or nothing at all eh. I think it was the fact that we hadn’t done it in about a year, so we had forgotten J Seriously, it is one of those things you need some time to forget the bad parts, until you do it again. The good news is: we survived!

OK, so what’s the mission? As the loyal blog followers among you will know, the closest decent beach area to us is about 90 kms from our home in Bogor – an area on the southwest coast of Java called Pelabuhan Ratu (Queen’s Port). And as you also know well, 90 kms here in West Java can take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours, depending on the traffic gods. Although, I must say, the learning curve from this being our 7^th or 8^th time to this area is paying off handsomely. We now know the critical backroad deviations and shortcuts, and are now clocking in at near the 3-hr mark for the journey. Not bad for a couple of bules! But ya, just a quick weekend of sand, surf, sunsets, and maybe a massage on the beach (Amy has become addicted to 8-dollar massages).

Actually, there are some very nice stretches of the ride, in between the near-death parts (Indo driving rule: if you didn’t make contact, it wasn’t even close…so chill!). In particular, the last hour or so, upon turning off the main “highway” (highway just means there is more traffic, not necessarily a better or bigger road), takes one through a rather pleasant hilly area dominated by oil palm and rubber plantations (despite the bad wrap palm oil gets [google it], oil palms are quite stunning and beautiful). It is the “relief” part of the journey when we both feel like we may just make it. It also leads us down to the coast, which of course is also another highlight of the mission: seeing the ocean!

As Amy likes to point out, one of the great ironies (and tragedies) of living where we do in Indonesia, is that despite living in a country with the longest tropical coastline in the world, we very rarely see the ocean (Interesting twist #2: Canada, our homeland, has the longest coastline in the world, where we also almost never saw the ocean). Sad, but true. So, when the opportunity arises, we need to take advantage of it. Amy’s tan is suffering J

It’s a bit squishy on the ole' Honda Tiger (a mean 200 cc’s of sheer torque and power) with our gear, two people, and then a waterproof MEC duffle bag strapped to the gas tank. By Indo standards, this is a big bad hog. For those noticing in the photos, I picked up a “trunk”, which is a storage box that is fitted behind the seat. That definitely comes in handy, and is waterproof and lockable. Not a bad ride overall, but after a few hours in the sun, and multiple near-death experiences (you can never fully relax and cruise), we can’t get off the bike fast enough upon arrival. It’s was only 11 am when we arrived, but cold beer was the only thing on our minds.

The accom we have settled into on these missions is a place run by a German guy and his Indonesian wife. It’s a simple affair of several rustic bamboo cabins, shared bathrooms, cold outdoor showers, and bad beds. It’s basically one step up from camping, and needs some work. Although, it could be our coming off a 3-week mission in Bali (see last post) that has ratcheted up our standards a few notches. What?! No infinity pool! This just won’t do….

But, it’s that “feet in the sand” thing that keeps us coming back to it. You just can’t beat being right on the water. It’s actually on a nice stretch of beach, has cold beer, and the sunsets are amazing (better than anything we saw in Bali!). As Mic says: you can’t always get what you want, but you find sometimes, you get what you need. And Amy needs to work on her tan J