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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Indonesia: Bali-Sumba Discovery 2023
Bali-Sumba, Indonesia : 29th May- 6th June 2023
(See day-to-day blogs for more detailed routes. Travelling in between towns in Sumba were by 4-5 seater vans.)
We regularly have casual Sunday rides in Kuala Lumpur with a few friends, including Poh Nee. While on one of this ride along the KL River of Life paths, I mentioned to her that her recent trip to Hà Giang (Vietnam), although it was a non-cycling off-the-beaten-track tour, looked very interesting and scenic! She casually remarked that there would be another similar tour, but one of a recce to Sumba Island (Indonesia), an island about an hour and a half flight east of Bali. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I had not had a chance to fly out of the country! My last trip to Indonesia was an invite for a Brompton Cycling Tour in Bali. So hesitantly but unabashingly, I asked to joined this recce tour ..... so will we be doing the rumba in Sumba? Read on to find out!
(Note: further below are travel tips for this tour. For those interested in cycling in Sumba, follow this link - Sumba Cycling Tours NTT.)
BLOGS
Below are the daily blogs of our tour, click on the respective photos to read. It was a interesting eye-opening tour, so come and have a look:
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(Next... a short trip to Sarawak, to ride in the Land of the Hornbills! ..... and after that a road trip of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son loop)
Bali-Sumba 2023 Overall Travel Route Map
Zoom-in for more details. See respective daily blogs for detailed daily route maps.
(Click here for Overall Bali-Sumba Travel Route Map)
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TRAVEL TIPS FOR BALI & SUMBA
Here's, some general tips on travelling in Bali & Sumba, Indonesia, more detailed tips will be included in the day to day blogs:
1. Traffic Directions!
Traffic in Indonesia, is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!
2. Getting to Bali & Sumba and Packing Light.
Bali is a favourite tourist destination and many airlines fly direct to it's international Ngurah Rai Airport. We flew Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Bali, buying our tickets 2-3 months earlier and paid between MYR700-800 (approx. USD200) per pax for a basic return fare, without checked in luggage and other frills.
From Bali to Sumba we flew Lion Wings Air, departing from Ngurah Rai Airport and arriving at Tambolaka's Lede Kalumbang Airport. We stayed a night at Tambolaka before going by local hired vans to get to Waingapu and the surrounding area. The basic return air-fare from Denpasar to Tambolaka was around IDR2,300,000 (MYR710 or USD155) per pax without checked in luggage. Online bookings can be done via the Lion Air Website.
There are direct flights from Denpasar to Waingapu, but oddly the fares are more expensive, almost double. So it did make sense that for a big group like ours, the first option of flight-vans was cheaper.
All of us did not have any checked in luggage for most of the flights and learnt to pack light, maintaining our luggage weight to the allowable 7 kg cabin luggage per pax. It was a good exercise for me as I learnt to pack light and figure out what basic clothing is required (ie one set being worn and 2-sets packed in). It's lighter to bring direct plug-in USB chargers suitable for Indonesia power points than using heavier International plug-socket multi-adapters, etc. Most power plugs and sockets in Indonesia are type C and F, a 2 pin design which is the standard European plug. Click here for details.
For the flight back from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, we did buy the minimum 20kg of check-in luggage for some shopping to bring goodies back for friends.
3. Covid-19 & Customs Requirments
We applied for Covid-19 clearance through the e-forms submitted to the SatuSehat mobile app, which required uploading of vaccination details & PDF copies of vaccination certificates, and got on-line approval. Upon arrival at Bali Airport, there was a small counter for SatuSehat, but it was not manned, so perhaps this is not required for Bali.
Submission for customs e-clearance is advised for getting past the airport customs without a fuss. E-submission can be done prior to leaving for Indonesia, Click here for to access and fill up the Indonesian E-CD (Electronic Customs Declaration) forms for approval. Upon successful application, a QR Code is given, save this to your phone and show it to the customs officer upon arrival. With a quick scan, and one is cleared to enjoy one's holiday.
4. Clearing Immigaration for Senior Citizens and families with infants, etc.
Prior to the pandemic, there were special counters at the Malaysian & Indonesian immigration exit points for senior citizens above 60 years old, but these are not there anymore. No worries though, if there are long queues, just asked any helpful officer for help for senior citizens, and one will be directed to a fast-track counter.
5. Route & Traffic Conditions
This past few years, Kuta, Ubud and the surrounding regions have developed tremendously and traffic along most roads can be quite busy. Drive with care and do take note that there are many motorcyclists around. As one goes further north towards Kintamani, the traffic gets lighter, but at hilly areas some stretches can be steep with winding roads.
At Sumba, traffic is slightly heavy at the urban areas of Tambolaka and Waingapu, but there were not much jams. Roads are narrower but still pleasant to drive on. At some stretches leading to the waterfalls, some hiking was required (more details on this at the day to day blogs).
6. Weather
Weather at Bali differs a lot between the lowland and highlands. In June, the average day temperature at Kuta was 28°C, while night ones averaged 24°C. Up in Kintamani, it was 22°C, and 15°C respectively.
The best time to visit Bali & Sumba is April-June and September, just before and just after high season. It's still dry season, it's slightly less humid, and room prices and villa rentals can be 30-50% cheaper than during high season. It's a cooler season.
Useful weather forecast sites for the Indonesia is AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
7. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost from the rest. Compared to the our previous trip 5-years ago, this time round it was more difficult to get the Indonesian pre-paid phone sim card. For security reasons, there is a need to register ones's passport and phone's IMEI #1 and IMEI #2. One cannot just go to any local shops to buy the sim card as they are reluctant or not equiped to provide such a service. As such, most local phone shops sells only to locals.
It is EASIEST to get the sim cards at the airport. There are booth selling these just after getting past customs and into the arrival hall of Bali (Ngurah Rai) Airport, the local staff there are at hand to help register one's passport and IMEIs. We opted for Telkomsel's as it provides the best coverage at Bali, and even at some of the remote areas of Sumba, and got their Tourist prepaid simcard with 16+8 GB of data valid for 30 days at IRD250K (MYR77 or USD17). 3G internet is available in the more populated areas but can drop to the slower GPRS or even Edge in remote areas. Failing to get a sim card at the airport one can try to get it at some of the Telkomsel's shop, click here for Bali shops locations and click here for Sumba shop locations.
It is possible to get these Tourist prepaid simcard on-line, but registration of passport & IMEIs are still required and one will have to select an official pick-up point, which are only available in the Bali and Mandalika Lombok areas.
Most hotels, motels, home-stays, restaurants, and airports have free Wifi; but do note that public free wifi may not be secure and registration could be required. But one can safe on one's mobile data by using these especially for uploading or downloading videos.
8. Communicating with Locals
As Bali, is a favorite tourist destinations, many locals speak fairly good English. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English. The older generation speak very little English, so knowing some basic Bahasa Indonesia (or even better - Balinese language) will come in handy and also warm one up to the locals.
At Sumba, except at hotels and up-market restaurant, very few locals speak English, so some basic Bahasa Indonesia will come in handy. The older Sumbese speak Sumba languages which are a subgroup of the Austronesian language family, that is closely related to the Hawu–Dhao languages.
7. Getting Around & Accommodations
We were on a recce tour group and paid MYR1,700 per pax for ground arrangements that include hotels, breakfast and van transportation, other meals & tips for guide and drivers were not include - all in cost came to around MYR4,000 including some minimum shopping. They were 13 of us including the two tour guides. At Bali, a large 15-seater van with driver took us around. In Sumba, 3 smaller Toyota Avanza took us from Tambolaka to Waingapu and around these cities.
Those interested in joining the guided tour can contact Nik at +6017-4881917. Those who are keen in having their own free and easy tour, contact Bali van driver Made at +6281-5580-02922 or Sumba van drivers Rian Djara at +6281-2387-26367 & Lih Man at +62 82-3398-64280 Sumba Driver.
If planning for one's own; Bali has a wide range of accommodations, ranging from six-stars hotels, to homestays and even back-packers hostels. If one is not fussy, cheap accommodations can be found in Bali, for as low as 170k Rupiahs per twin-sharing room per night in Kuta; click here for range of hotels in Bali. In Sumba 3-4 star hotels can be found at around MYR150 (USD35) per room per night even for those beach hotels ;click here for range of hotels in Sumba.
8. Places & Things of Interests
There were many scenic and interesting places of interest; but one should not miss the following (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for directional map to the respective places):
a. The terraced padi-fields of Jatiluwih Rice Terrace (Jatiluwih website link)in Bali (GPS: -8.37031, 115.13137), an UNESCO Heritage Site;
d. The Walakiri Dancing Mangroves Beach in Sumba (GPS: -9.62861, 120.42640).
Click here for a nice video of Sumba.
Click here for a nice video of Sumba.
e. Balinese artwork.
f. Sumba Ikat Weaving - a manually weaved cotton fabric Sumbanese textile art form using natural dyes.
9. Food
There is no lack of good food in the country. Indonesian food and Western food can also be found in most places in Bali.
One should not miss the following:
- traditional Balinese food from the small warongs (stalls) including nasi timbel; & gado-gado.
- traditional Balinese food from the small warongs (stalls) including nasi timbel; & gado-gado.
Sumba is renown for their seafood, and on should not miss their barbecued fish. The more adventurous, can try authentic Sumbese Food, that may include heart of banana or even sea worms!
10. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.
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PLACES
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