Ok. Considering it's still a good year until we can get the hell out of Australia, I'm trying to fight depression with planning/envisioning/dreaming up/investigating our upcoming cycling trip in Asia.
So, we'll start riding in Indonesia - say start in Bali go East, come back to Sulawesi and then hop over to Borneo. Now, while on Borneo, I find, it would make sense to do both parts: Indonesian and Malaysian part.
Now, when I look at the map of Borneo...I see that it's not possible to ride around the island that easily. What do the experts think? What is the best plan to 'ride around' the island?
How about this plan:
1. Ferry/fly into Banjarmasin
2. Ride up to Samarinda
3. Fly to Tawau (Malaysia)
4. Ride down (through Brunei) to Kuching
5. Ride to Pontianak (Indonesia)
6. Ferry out to Java
Any suggestions? Problems that you see? Etc.?
All information and suggestions are welcome.
I have driven the road from Pontianak up to near the Malysian border, around Sinkawang (sp?) or a bit further, with some small side trips inland. The road was OK but this was over 10 years ago. Mostly pretty flat but inland had some gentle hills. So not hard for cyling I think except for the heat of course. Traffic was mostly quite light (but I was living in Java so my idea of light traffic may be distorted).
There were some quite pretty villages, especially inland, but also some long dull stretches though plantations (rubber and probably palm oil).
There was a lot of violence in the area after I was there, when the local Dayak turned on immigrants from Madura and many were killed (several thousand according to reports at the time) and Maduran villages were destroyed. Hopefully things are peaceful now.
The road is better now, but many "crazy drivers" here, Rak is true ( about the war )... and the area is peaceful now, i live in Pontianak.
Thanks for the info. Keep it coming.
I'm aware that the traffic in Indonesia (especially Java) is going to be intense. We'll just have to live (hopefully) with that.
You could keep riding from Samarinda as far north as Tanjung Selor, though the road is awful.
And then go to Tawau by boat instead of flying...
You could also ride further south than Pontianak.
It would also be easy to ride between Pangkalanbun and Banjarmasan, but note that by sticking to these coastal routes, you will miss most of the best parts of Kalimantan!
Thanks for the info, Laszlo. Yes, I'm aware that 'staying on the main roads' won't show us the best of Kalimantan - we'd definitely do side tours, either hiking or riding when there. I was just generally interested if it'd be possible to 'ride around the island'.
Now that I have the experts attention: is there any chance in hell that West Papua is 'ridable'? I mean, I am aware that the 'road system' isn't that extensive. But, would it make sense to take a bike, ride to the end of the road, then fly/boat to the next 'trail head'?
Also, did you hear anything new about that new 4 months Indonesian tourist visa?
The 4 months visa is just a rumour.
You could take a bike to Papua, and ride around on the roads fanning out of the cities, but you may have to keep backtracking to those same cities to take boats to the next area.
The longest roads would be out of Jayapura and Merauke, mostly leading to dull transmigration areas.
The Manokwari area would be somewhat more interesting to cycle, as would be the Baliem - only on a sturdy mountain bike, of course!
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