When the phone rings and Royal Enfield is on the line asking if you want to go to Indonesia for a ride, you should say yes. It was horrible timing, I’d just gotten back from my annual break but the opportunity was too good to be missed. I packed a bag, carried my helmet on the plane and decided to see what happened.
Meeting up with a group of 10 strangers in Bali, the Wonderful Indonesia trip aimed to show a group of tourists around Bali and Lombok to some lesser seen destinations, experience local culture and food, all on the back of a motorcycle. Sounds fun right? I thought so too. We’ve created a bunch of social media clips, a great Youtube video of the experience and this blog which will act as my travel journal showing you what we got up to so if it really sounds fun to you, you can go and book your own trip.
I landed in DPS Bali and met a couple of the Wonderful Indonesia staff members. We rode to the hotel and I quickly linked up with a guy I’d spoken with on instagram a few times, Custom Bike builder and Pro Skater Padin Musa . With a few hours to spare before dinner we jumped in a GoJek (taxi) with another rider Dani from Malaysia and made our way to AMS garage.
Ajus, the owner of AMS garage is a metal shaper and Bali local that recently completed an amazing custom build for Royal Enfield on the Super Meteor platform. The videos of this wild bike coming together are amazing, the level of detail in the bike is really next level. I suggest you check them out on his instagram page. I saw the bike and had been chatting with Ajus before my arrival and wanted to visit and check out his shop. Have a few beers and put a face to the name.
We hung out, talked shop and he showed me around his workshop and the projects he had on the floor. Of course his Royal Enfield super meteor, an amazing Porsche speedster race replica, a custom racer built on the Zero electric platform and a HD XG500 that was equally impressive. AMS has a really distinct style and it was great to meet the guys, check out all his hand made equipment (including an early version of Cristian Sosa’s power hammer). A quick visit but definitely worthwhile to go and check out, this was my first taste of Bali’s hospitality and we were already off to a good start.
The team convened on the rooftop of our Seminyak hotel for an introduction dinner, meet and greet, ride rundown and some live music. I met fellow Aussies Travis Cloke, and Zak Haselby. A couple of girls from Korea Izidor and Joomin. Vivek who came out from India and a couple of riders from Thailand Zee and Aye. We also got introduced to our host and the support team behind the ride. Eddi Brokoli (A Local celebrity + legend), Bimo our tail rider and the ladies behind organizing the whole show, Anindya and Sitoh.
After a few bad Jokes from Eddi and a ride plan, I got into my first serve of legit Mee Goreng (best food on earth) and a couple of beers. It was an early night with a huge ride day tomorrow and everyone was keen to get on the bikes!
DAY 1 - Riding Bali, GWK monument, Sababay winery and the Ferry to Gili T
An early start and Taxi to Royal Enfield Nusantara and headed for our first destination.
GWK has epic gardens, festival grounds and Garuda Monument. We took a quick tour around and the wishing well granted my wish and we were back on the bikes in about an hour, starting to head out of the city onto better roads.
I was on a Himalayan 450, my first time riding this new release for Royal Enfield. Super fun bike, nimble on the street, and comfy for our 10 hour days riding coming up. While I do love a beer, I'm man enough to admit rosè is epic on a 38 degree day. Sababay winery provided the goods with some rose for the gang at their tasting.
For some reason when we left the winery everyone seemed to be having a little more fun on the bikes and going a lot faster. Let's put it down to confidence. That made the ride to the beach a lot quicker, and by sunset we were on Gili Trawangan (Gili T) for some beers, a few local specialty milkshakes, another round of Nasi and Mee Goreng and sleep. We wouldn’t see our bikes again until tomorrow afternoon. Gili T has a strict no car/motorbike policy which is kinda epic. Everyone just rides bikes or gets a horse drawn taxi, sort of like Island Burning man.
At dinner we had a live band playing and Aye decided to jump up and have a go at singing, we didn't know but that's actually her job back home. After she belted out stand by me, and an aussie classic Dance monkey - Tones and I, the pub was full, we were all blown away by how good she was and how fast that bar filled up when she jumped on stage. What a party trick!
Before the sleep though a few of the riders had some team bonding at a halloween party with our host Eddi. Some weird cocktails, too many sampoerna’s (clove cigarettes) and Travis standing about 2 feet above anyone else on the dancefloor before we hit the hotel for some rest.
Day 2 - Gili Island tour, Diving, Ferry to Lombok and some mountain roads
Jumping on a boat, the first thing for a dive trip, was just what we needed. Most of you don't know me outside motorcycles but I'm a keen free diver and love getting in the water. We hit a few epic dive spots around the Gili islands and cured the hangover, ready to get back on the bikes for day 2. The dive conditions were perfect, warm water, great visibility and some nice marine life. I take it for granted as an Australian that can see turtles in my backyard but some of the other guys were blown away seeing a big sea turtle in the wild.
As you’d expect with a group of vloggers, everyone was diving with their cameras getting some nice shots. Izi at one point dropped her phone to the bottom of the reef we were on and couldn’t get it. She called me over to dive for it, and because it was still recording made for a pretty funny video.
As we arrived to Lombok the weather took a turn and we were holed up in a beach shack warung (kitchen) while we got kitted in our wet weather gear. Queue the next round of Mee Goreng while we wait. I chucked on my @akinmoto anorak and we got going, snaking our way through a monsoon along the coast towards Mount Rinjani and the Nusantara Hotel.
The sun came out after lunch just in time for the roads to get epic.
In a place like Lombok I never expected perfect road surfaces leading up a mountain but we were treated to some of the best riding conditions I've seen in a long time. Incredible views, perfect roads and winding corners coming off the coast and heading into the mountains. The weather was so nice Travis decided to get the pipes out and have his arms roasted off for the afternoon. The himalayan 450 and I had a good time up the side of that hill. This riding got me excited for tomorrow as we got to explore more of Lombok.
As it got dark we hit our hotel and just caught the sunset over the back of an active volcano. An Incredible, quiet place nestled in the hills on the outskirts of a muslim village. Zak and I took the bikes out after dark for a leisure cruise through town as the locals were coming out from the mosque and into the street for dinner. Dodging the stray chooks and dogs on the street made the 40km/h ride more exciting than you’d expect.
Day 3 - Lombok roads, Rice fields, Beach stops and the Pullman hotel.
As time went on for this trip one of my favourite things began to be the people we were with. Padin and I quickly became mates both being custom bike guys, same with Dani after our first afternoon visiting AMS Garage in Denpasar. The local media crew and organizers were all great crew to get around as well. After our first night out in Gili T with the Korean girls Joomin and Izi, watching Aye from Thailand jump on stage and blow the crowd away singing we had a fun group dynamic going.
This made the ride days even better. I swapped rides with Padin to have a run on the Classic 350, a way smaller bike, but…. small bikes, big fun right!? Through the mountains as we headed again for the coast. Riders were starting to play around and have a bit of fun. Trying to drag knees + fingers around corners honking at the monkeys and chooks we were dodging, good times were being had. I need to mention the insane road quality again too, shout out Lombok Road works.
We had so many highlights on day 3: (find all of these in our youtube video here)
- Midday swim at Jeeva Beloam a secluded beach hotel and restaurant.
- The wild off road riding on the Classic 350 that lead us to the beach was a heap of fun.
- Meeting a bunch of school kids at a street food vendor and having them take the piss out of my aussie accent (and horrible indonesian)
- Green coconut pancakes (find these and eat em in Indonesia)
- Finally riding through a huge street festival that blocked the major road on the island.
1000 people walking down the street in traditional dress, dancing with a marching band and a huge burning man spec art car stacked with speakers 8m high blasting music.
These are the sort of experiences I travel for and this trip was delivering day after day.
By the time we got to our hotel in Mandalika after our biggest day yet, a simple bintang by the pool wasn't going to cut it. Travis and I had to introduce ourselves to a few mango daquiris to take to edge off.
Night 3 was the night we really got to know the camera crew and Bimo, they came out to the bar with us and in between Eddi getting asked for photos with locals, the lads were having themselves a time with unsolicited karaoke sung into beer bottles. Stone, Very, Billy and Hadi the camera crew needed to blow off some steam too and we ended the night with some 1AM fried duck and catfish from a street food vendor off the side of a bar. Once our bellies were full we hit the road home 3 up on the scooters. True Indo vibes.
Day 4 - Mandalika GP Circuit, Stick fighting and village visit.
TRACK DAY WAS HERE!
In 2019 the Tiny Island of Lombok decided they needed a Moto GP track, I'm glad they did because today I get to go for a ride on it. Pointing 30 Royal Enfields down the straight for some world record setting laps (for slowest track time ever)
I gave Trav a run on the himalayan today, and took his Shotgun 650 for a rip. A fun choice for our hot laps around Mandalika GP track. The Pullman hotel is a 2 minute ride to the track where we posted up on the hill and watched some qualifying laps from the Porsche GT3RS class before we headed out.
We rolled into pit lane, parked the bikes to gear up and have a safety briefing which lasted about 26 seconds and mostly consisted of "look after each other and have fun". Gotta love the laid back Indo locals.
The track was the ultimate way to top off our trip. 30 or so Royal Enfields with riders all out there for a good time, seeing how much fun these little engines can produce. Dani and I linked up with Izidor (an actual racer) on the track for a bit of fun through the corners. Smiles and high 5's all round after this.
After our laps the actual racing started. Opened for the day with a military marching band, way more laid back and fun than anything I've seen from western military bands. Involved some back breaking drum skills and cheer squad style drumming pyramids.
That afternoon we took a short ride to a traditional Lombok village Sasak Ende, ate some more home made local foods, they tried to sell us some magic potion to make us more virile, watched more drumming and the village lads got out for some ceremonial stick fighting.
Meeting these locals was a good time, such a simple life that keeps them all fulfilled and satisfied, living in a tiny community where you literally know everyone.
The sunset ride home was the last time we got to ride as a full group so I tried to soak it in as much as I could. Special thanks to Sitoh and Anindya from Wonderful Indonesia and Royal Enfield for organizing the trip, I wouldn’t want to do it any other way.
Seeing this small part of Indonesia on a motorcycle has made me instantly want to go back and explore more. The amazing roads and scenery aside, this place is full of rich culture, incredible food and experiences you just wouldn’t find anywhere else.
What I look for when I travel is getting in close contact with the locals and spending as much time as I can with them to see what makes this place tick. A place like Indonesia is naturally beautiful, but made special by the people who live there. Sharing culture, their food and way of life is what I will carry with me from this trip.
I’m already planning my next ride and adventure in Indonesia and you should too.
Go have a beer with a local, eat duck at 1 am and try a green pancake. Just make sure you do it all on a bike.
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