The Sumatra Sutra section is over. Yesterday late afternoon I arrived at Carita, the first camp location on Java. A fairly large hotel complex at the beach. Whereas Eric – who was already here for some days, to recover from his fall and broken rips – stated that the hotel was deserted, with him as the only guest; it is now over crowded with weekend guests. two dozen busses with students and adults from all over the place are here turning the hotel into a massive entertainment area, with live music, games and all day BBQs.

As with the terrain – with a lot of ups and downs – it goes up and down with the health. Many suffer from sore throats, colds from A/C and pollution. It is not easy to find the right balance between refreshing cool and a comfortable room climate. Sharing the room with another person require compromises, too. Cycling all day in sweaty, wet fabric and temperatures between 20 and 40°C and the entering the hotel room with A/C set to 18°C is of no good. The filters are probably also not well maintained, spreading germs easily. Well, this will all change in Australia, when I am sleeping in my own tent.

I skipped a boat trip to Krakatau in favor to relax and cure my A/C|pollution cold. It would have been a ~4 hours boat ride to and from the volcanic island, but too much if you don’t feel well. Therefore I went to the village, got some medicine for my cold from the hospital (costs me 0.80€), had passport photos made (for my 3rd application for the Timor-Leste visa), and permanent ‘health mask for biker’ to wear when cycling, replacing the disposable surgeons masks.

Hope internet gets better during the day, so I can upload more photos from the past cycling days.