Ant's Sumatran Adventure

DAY 3

Rest day today in beautiful Banda Aceh city. After the rebuild from the tsunami in 2004 the streets are wide and clean. It's very safe - I'm assured it's OK to walk about and leave the bike outside all night.




A mighty Honda CB100.








The Tsunami Museum is housed in an amazing ship-like building, representing the many boats washed inland at the time. Around 130000 people lost their lives and half a million were made homeless.







After the musuem, cruised out to the sea facing section of town.







No words can express...

More bike work today as it dumped down rain in the afternoon. Bike mechanic right next door to the hotel of course. Went in to have a wonky gear lever checked, bloody mechanic kept finding more to fix, just like Australia. Replaced fork seals , brake pads front and back, gear lever repair, fixed the idle speed, etc etc... total rip-off at $30. Ah well, better to be safe than sorry I suppose. This guy really saw me coming - his eyes lit up when I started saying "really? OK fix it"

Solved the fuel gauge issue too - the cable terminals had disconnected under the seat. Mechanic also said with this model when it rains water gets int the tank through the tank cap lock!! so park under shelter or put plastic over it.

Orange connector was separated


Mr Atar say leaky fork seals? No problem.



Rain? Plenty.



Rear drum shot? Easy peasy.



Ooh almost forgot, two new mirrors to replace the one crappy lhs one which was on the rhs for legal reasons. $2 each!
Etc etc

This looks tasty



In good news, I got two offers to buy the bike when time comes to sell! One random guy offered me 5 million, Mr Atar himself offered me 4. "But Mr Atar, another guy offered 5!". "I don't care, I'll give you 4" was his pithy response.

I'll likely be a thousand kms away when I sell but early signs are good and it probably means I only got ripped off about 2mill on the purchase which is about what I expected.


:credit:

ant said:

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hoto:

Love those shanties. One of these days I'm going to build one. I've got a rough plan and started building one but never finished it.
Rain in Melbourne usually means cold, wet, windy and miserable but the rain in your photos looks warm, cleansing and life-giving. Thanks for sharing.

Good stuff, keep it coming .......

ant said:

.... Replaced fork seals , brake pads front and back, gear lever repair, fixed the idle speed, etc etc... total rip-off at $30.....

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Methinks I just heard some blood-curdling screams from Benalla.

:thun

John & Johnny said:

..... got a rough plan .....

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Probably the first time "shanties" and "plan" have ever been used together.

Shitty Wi-Fi here so full updates tomorrow. But today was a cracker.

Also had my front wheel respoked as one too many huge potholes had broken a spoke and warped it, not good as it tended to skip and lock up under heavy braking. Cost? You don't wanna know but it was less than $10.99.


EDIT... some pics of the process.

Old spokes out




New ones in

ant said:

Shitty Wi-Fi here so full updates tomorrow. But today was a cracker.

Also had my front wheel respoked as one too many huge potholes had broken a spoke and warped it, not good as it tended to skip and lock up under heavy braking. Cost? You don't wanna know but it was less than $10.99.

Click to expand...

A fantastic ride report Ant! Thanks a lot!
$10.99 ..... a very good price.
Did You found a bike service for replace the spoke immediately?

Good luck, enjoy Your ride.....
I´m really jealous about that journey
Hans

Hi Hans, every small town here has at least one bike workshop because here there are many more bikes than cars! So easy to find wherever you go. Just pull in and they fix it while you wait!

Quick day four report

Banda Aceh to Meulahbo 238 km

Where Vespas go to die



Before I left BA a quick trip into the burbs to see the famous "boat on a house". During the tsunami this boat washed inland from a dry dock and some 59 people managed to climb aboard to escape the waters.





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Route - morning was mountains, jungles , twisties and coast.









this section was magic, two mountains, a rainstorm and sights you would not believe. Very good road, wide and little traffic. Probably the most fun riding I've done in Indo.

Lunch in Calang... also got the wheel respoked here.

Fried noodles while you wait for bike repairs.







Afternoon less spectacular but still good. More agricultural than jungle, lots of cows and water buffalo that have free rein to wander along the road. When water buffalo decide to cross, you don't argue



Lots of straights and sweepers.

Apocalypse Now?



Got into Meulahbo at about 5:30. Nice, small town . Stayed in a large overpriced hotel ($30) that has seen better days but was OK. A guy at a cafe across the road said it was haunted.

"Lots of small ghosts, but don't worry, only on the top floor."

"I'm staying on the top floor."

He laughed nervously.

"What kind of haunting?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh just footsteps, knocking on your door, children laughing, that kind of thing".

I was indeed haunted, but only by the spicy noodles I had for lunch earlier. All good by morning though.