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Since Palopo, we climbed yet another mountain range and are back on sea level by now.
From Palopo to a small town called Tomoni, the going was pretty flat and easy. One thing that we find strange out here is that we seldom ride along the sea, even though Sulawesi is a island made up by three peninsulas. Whenever we ride 'along the coast', the road is actually several kilometers inland and we don't get to see the sea as such. Bummer. Also because we'd be quite keen to find good camping spots on the beach. Not so far.
After Tomoni, we climbed up towards Danau Poso. We did get more than we wagered for. As a matter of fact, the 1511 meters climbed that day meant a new tour record. (Applause please!).
But we were rewarded for our efforts - the 800 meters vertical downhill was fantastic and eventually we arrive on beautiful Lake Poso in Pendolo.
The whole Poso area has been plagued with secterian violence between 2001 and 2005 and this caused tourism to collapse completely. We stayed at a small place called 'Pendolo Cottages' and true to its name, we occupied one of three small cottages right on the shore of the lake. The guestbook showed that the last guests stayed at the cottages more than a month ago. Bad for the owner, good for us. Indonesia can sometimes be pretty loud and staying on the lake was a welcome respite from that.
We then headed to the northern end of the lake to Tentena, where we found a few tourists, mostlyh French and Dutch. It was interesting to see these people all going the same paths: Makassar - Tana Toraja - Lake Poso - Togian islands. Whenever we talk to the bus tourists, they don't know 90% of the towns we stayed at. Their loss.
Now we are in Poso itself, after a beautiful downhill ride. From here we'll have to head to Palu...and that pretty soon. It's 220 kilometers and we need to be there in a few days. Our visas are running out on the 24th of July and we have to leave the country. And we are not happy about that at all. Not only did we come to really like the people, the country side, the food - no - we also enjoy the fact that mostly, there are no tourists. We know, Malaysian Borneo will be different and we're currently having mixed emotions about going there. On one hand, we are looking forward to a new country, a new experience, a new road. On the other hand...we crinch at the idea of white faces everywhere and the prices to reflect it. Well, maybe it'll be like here in Indonesia: the fact that we are riding our bicycles leads us to places no bule (foreigner) would ever consider stopping at. I hope it will be that way.
I am currently uploading a new video to our You Tube Channel. It's a pretty slow line, so you might want to wait an hour or so before checking it out. But please do! It's groovy! Hehe.
I will also upload some pictures once the video has been completed.
I will probably check in before tranfering from Palu to Nunukan. But if not, then you'll probably read the next diary from Malaysian Borneo.
So tingal.
Adrian |
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