Seeing the world frame by frame
Looking back over the last month its been a tough grind. Perhaps the toughest segment of the entire run.
In Timor, Flores, Sumbawa the people were so friendly they drove me into the ground,I was mentally harassed by their friendliness is all I can call it. This was to be by far the poorest part of Indonesia. As in much of Indonesia so many people walk around barefooted or wear cheap shower sandals, more so here.
Kids stand in large groups shouting out Mister,Mister..I say hi but they all want their own individual acknowledgement..Then.. ” Where you going mister? ” And another round from each child or adult. I estimate around 3,000 greetings a day.
Very wearisome as the sun bakes me alive in this high humidity..
I am told temp is between 30 and 35. It seems Indonesia is made up of villages all connected up about 2 to 3km apart. One day it rained when I was running between another two villages. It was sudden and very hard.I had my camera in my arm sling, so when it rained I stupidly just pushed it under my sleeve and kept running.
Well that stretch was one of only two areas that had villages 5km apart in my first two weeks in the country.
I arrived at that place,Ngora Kego absolutely soaked,also my camera is now rain damaged. The people at a roadside eatery there let me stay the night under a roadside shelter.They were popping garlic from nuts putting the garlic nut into a leaf whip which they had tied a slot into and then whipping it against a stone, cracking the garlic nut..Very time consuming but there were five of them and they didn’t seem to have much else to do.The lady put my wet socks up against the fire to dry but the nosy dog knocked them into the fire..disaster as I am down to my last pair..Gotta give Bob at Drymax Socks a mail,he is so good.
Indonesia is a very poor country people and companies can’t afford expensive equipment and they gotta improvise. Everything from old tyre strips picked up off the road which are then used for door hinges as they are nailed into the door frame. I have rarely seen a screw usedwhere it should be, same as in Latin America – everything nailed to bits!
I have seen scaffolding made from bamboo canes also men working on roadworks with no shoes using pick axes too close to their feet for my liking.
Also several times I have seen barefoot workers mixing concrete with the concrete all over their feet .Do they not get concrete burn I wondered.
No health and safety standards enforced here.
Cheap and effective water tanks made from wooden structures with a tarp tied inside to hold the water.Indonesia has 80% of the worlds forests and yet only Brazil has more deforestation. This is a startling statistic when one considers the vastness of Amazonas.
I see people chopping down trees at will and even carpenters with large stocks of the raw material in their workshops. More than 50% of the population survive on less than $2 a day. The country reminds me of Latin America,men sitting around while the women do the work.
“Get Tony a coffee,Get him a pen” or whatever, I often feel like telling the men to get up of their backsides as you wouldn’t order a western woman around like that!
Women fetch the firewood and water while many of the men stand around in smoking groups. 75% of the male population smokes I am told. I rarely see women smoke. To my mind the cigareete companies are irresponsible with their huge banners at the side of the road, often up to ten on each side of the road welcoming visitors to a town, a bit like the finish line of the Tour de France with all the bunting. To my mind the government should not allow this. I also think the warnings on the cigarette advertisements don’t go far enough as they warn of impotency, and not cancer as far as I can see.
One woman told me it’s a womans job to look after the house, children, cook etc and a mans job to bring in the money, yet most women have to work till the day they die, no social security here. I see old men and women scaveging the dumps at the side of the road for waste, old plastic bottles to sell to the recycler. In fact I have even been asked for the plastic water bottles I carry in my hands as I run.
Everyone smokes in public places,even young kids and people standing over food they are serving. Nobody puts their hand to their mouth when coughing or sneezing. I cannot remember ever seeing a woman spit in my life in over 80 countries till I came to Indonesia where it is very common.
I continue to make decent progress.There are often no hotels in the small towns and villages,unlike in Latin America so I got to keep finding places to sleep in peoples homes giving them my few dollars. I notice the poorest of people often try handing back my money but I always insist on them taking it. I don’t know why I didn’t use this tactic in Latin America as I am sure it would have worked just as well and would have saved me all that time-consuming commuting.
I have been told not to wild camp in the forest because of the snakes.The worlds longest snake ever measured was at just under 10metres. It was found here in Indonesia.Imagine that crawling over you.The advice is to stay calm 
One man told me that many people have been bitten and not known about it, as so many snake bites vary. Some snakes bite in rapid motion, you can get bitten five times and think you just got one bite, other times you will not be aware of it. The worst thing anyone can do is to run around after getting a bite!! Just because you stand on one one you wont necessarily get bitten,a bit like me standing on your toe,you may not punch me! I know I go on a bit too much about snakes in the blog, I just find them to be facinating creatures, yet baffling as one of lifes great mysteries to me is why oh why they venture out onto the road (that’s for the warmth of the tarmac which retains its warmth before they go hunting at night) when they navigate by vibrations due to being deaf. An Indonesian road, vibrates like no place on earth I can tell you. Oh! for the stillness of running in the Australian Outback at night and all of it’s ten vechicles on average, here that would take 5/10 seconds! There is no such thing as a rural countryside here in Indonesia, traffic wise as 24 hours a day it’s a constant heavy flow, like Dublin City on the last day of shopping before Christmas, that is wherever you are in Indonesia!
So I stopped at a shop one day before it rained. Again the people were nice to me as they pulled out a spare matress in a storeroom,prepared a thermos of coffee and bread for me for my breakfast obviously assuming I would be up before the lark next morning! Then they came back with a small paint can filled with kerosene and a paint brush made from the end of an old rope which was used to spread the kerosene around the edges of the walls and doorway, they worked as I looked on from my bed. This was to keep insects out, they told me. When they were finished they put the rope paintbrush into the can and used it as a wick to light a lamp, yes, on foot is the only real way to see a country frame by frame, just like the 50 frames a second in a movie, I have my frame by frame image of the world as I run it, any other means of travel is just to see the movie trailer. How else would I be in a house like this, very few people stop in places like this, cyclist perhaps the nearest but they, just like backpackers tend to go from town to town, city to city.
July 21st, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Great reading, Tony. Seeing the world ‘a frame at a time’ is a hard fought for privilege with immeasurable rewards.
July 22nd, 2013 at 12:11 am
Great read Tony and a very descriptive insight into the lives of the Indonesians:) traffic seems really crazy for you running. Take care
July 22nd, 2013 at 1:14 am
tony, its great to get the latest update on the locals. some lovely stories of different people. well done. kevin
July 22nd, 2013 at 3:10 am
Snakes and more snakes–and big ones!!!—-Nice read Tony—I remember the poverty–but also the smiling faces—and can understand how you must feel with so many greetings each and every day—-keep up the pursuit—you are on the home stretch—–Good running–Greg
July 23rd, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Just wonderin if Spot is updatin?xx pls post Staying in hotel in Nganjuk and we got a power cut! Mon 50k Tues 43k total 32,906km for 762 road days
July 25th, 2013 at 5:19 pm
pls ask Ann post Thursday 46km total 32.991 km for 764 days
July 26th, 2013 at 12:15 am
Heading towards 33,000 kms, well done Tony. What a great personal achievement. You should be so proud of your great stamina
July 26th, 2013 at 2:04 am
well said ann. it is some feat and long may it continue. well done tony.
July 26th, 2013 at 7:19 am
over 33.000km now,Spot not updating In Jenar, Nice man called Sergio helped
me, Thanks
July 26th, 2013 at 7:23 am
I am on the backroads to Purwodadi, No traffic, nice
Then onto to Semarang, hopefully Sunday night as I hope to get my 60 day visa extended there on Monday
July 26th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Oh my god tony such an amazing blog. Such deep insight into all aspects of Indonesian life. Fascinated by your snake stories and can’t believe the poor health and safety conditions of the workers. Think you could write a few books on what you are experiencing! Stay safe and enjoy. Serena
July 28th, 2013 at 7:23 am
Great stories Tony – I have never forgotten the resilience of the people from Papua New Guinea, especially the women. You are probablybecoming a local legend!
July 28th, 2013 at 5:13 pm
He is in Semarang central java right now. I’ve just meet him and talk to him.
Go Tony Go!
July 29th, 2013 at 9:46 am
Just received email from Tony,
” It turns out the 60 day visa I got for Indonesia is non-extendable despite what the Indonesian Ambassador said in Timor-Leste, and nothing can be done. . I went to the Immigration office here in Semarang this morning . As I only got a few days left on my visa I have to make a ‘ Visa Run ” to Singapore a $70 return flight, In other words I got to leave Indonesia, just to return to get another 30 day visa, Also means a couple days lost on the road. I will be in Singapore for a few hours only and had hoped to meet my old MSB club mate Stafford Bagot who lives there, but ironically he is flying to Jakarta for a meeting tonight while I am on the bus
Sat, 51km, Sun 54km.. Total.. 33,136km
Ta Tony ”
light Departing Arriving Details Class Seat Meals Status
JT 154
737-900ER
Jakarta (CGK)
11:15 Tue, 30 Jul Singapore (SIN)
14:00 Tue, 30 Jul 0 Stops
1h 45m Economy
(V) Check In Required
Confirmed
JT 159
737-900ER
Singapore (SIN)
21:20 Tue, 30 Jul Jakarta (CGK)
22:05 Tue, 30 Jul 0 Stops
1h 45m Economy
(V) Check In Required
Confirmed
All Timings Are Local Time
July 29th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
tony, what a nuisance about the visa…….enjoy the day trip to Singapore. the updates on the blog are brilliant. well done. kevin.
July 30th, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Hi All, I just discovered this internet area on my way through departures in Singapore airport. I spent the whole afternoon in a lovely clean and efficient place, the airport. The furthest I went was from arrivals to Burger King where I did a lot of work on the blog via my mobile phone. I got a whopper of a blog coming up, sorry I didn’t mean that, just goes to show the power of the subconsious
On my way back to Jakarta, night bus is slow, so could be very late or no start tomorrow. BTW when I return I willhave a new 30 day visa, that is extendable for another 30 days. I now plan to end Indonesia at the equator. I will explain this line of thought later, That is about 1,600km away. Thanks for support, Tony
July 30th, 2013 at 6:26 pm
Text from Tony: Pls post this > On 1am bus out of Jakarta may take 12 hrs so may get half day running
September 20th, 2013 at 3:24 am
Well done Tony! I see you’re half way through Malaysia already. I’ll be thinking of you and our run through Singapore(me getting much needed inspiration) when I do my 100 miler Craze Ultra in Singapore tomorrow and Sunday. Very Best of Luck -Lyndon