Hot News – December 2006 (Jakarta / Indonesia, December 8, 2006)
- Website statistics: In November, we were able to welcome on our website 30'324 visitors who did 694'657 hits.
- (October = 30'118 visitors – ??? countries* – 681'407 hits)
- Record days since 12/17/1998 - the birthday of our website: March 20, 1'474 visitors; August 29, 47'038 hits
- (*= the country counter, which stopped working March 23, 2006, has still not been repaired by the
- ISP Goldnet - frustrating! - usually there were monthly between 100 and 118 different countries!)
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- On November 18th, 2006, we entered without any problems the Indonesian province of Kalimantan on the Island of
- Borneo at the overland road crossing in Entikong, coming from the East-Malaysian state of Sarawak. Indonesia
- became our 155th country. 200 miles later, we arrived at the port city of Pontianak, lying exactly on the
- Equator, where we started immediately to look for a ferry for our continuation - either to Sumatra or Java. On
- November 21st, it was time to say good-bye to Borneo. With about a dozen of trucks and two passenger cars, as
- well as around 400 passengers on board, the vessel "M/L Farina Nusantara" of the "Prima Vista" company set
- sail at midnight for the 38 hours trip to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on the island of Java. Unfortunately, this
- destination became our target, as only very irregularly ships are leaving directly to Sumatra, and our two-months
- Indonesian visa doesn't allow any extended stay in the not-at-all very interesting city of Pontianak.
- When we intended to occupy our reserved "cabin", we realized astonishingly that not only our places have already
- been taken, but that there are also 82 other passengers in the same sleeping room – thus privacy wasn't
- anymore guaranteed. As the only "westerners", say "white" passengers on board, the attraction was perfect. But
- as times go by, everything is calming down - people get obviously adjusted very quickly to sensations. The very
- nice Indonesian co-passengers got accustomed to our presence and we found the atmosphere on board very
- lively, interesting and amusing, even if a little unusual though – in short: a new experience! Saying this, the
- breakfast was served in styropor boxes to the "bed" – of course prepared in Indonesian style: rice, some chicken
- and vegetables.
- After a very quiet crossing of about 470 miles of sea, the vessel berthed in the 10-million-mega-city of Jakarta – exactly
- at the port of Tanjung Priok. Not having left actually the harbor area, we got already stuck in the notorious whole-day line-up
- of cars, which becomes worse everywhere - a global issue. But in Jakarta it differs in that way that in this
- region one gets nearly poisoned to the incredible exhaust of all kind of vehicles. Observing how
- often and how much the Indonesians are smoking additionally, it's no wonder that the life expectancy is rather low
- (69 years in 2003).
- On Monday, November 27th, we decided to continue to Sumatra. Already leaving the city of Jakarta, we
- experienced a reduction of passenger cars, but an immense increase of trucks. The car ferry was completely full,
- and after 2½ hours of sailing, we reached the Island of Sumatra. Spending the first night in Kalianda near the
- southernmost tip – not far from the center of the explosion where the Krakatau volcano blew up in 1883 –, we
- continued the next day direction Bukittingi, Lake Toba and Medan. But soon after, it happened: In Bandar Lampung,
- 52 miles after the ferry terminal – it crashed and rumbled in the rear. Checking showed that the interior of the rear
- differential seemed to have disintegrated. The consequence was that we had to dismantle the rear drive shaft and
- have the car powered by the front wheels.
- Alone those 52 miles in Sumatra showed that – due to the immense truck traffic – driving was only in line with
- a very rare possibility of passing by. And once one of these overloaded and fuming truck was overtaken, there were
- hundreds or thousands more ahead – all with the same black polluting exhaust. Furthermore, the roads are so
- narrow that already passing a scooter is nearly impossible. The many potholes are actually just a side-effect - hitting
- them and hoping for the best was the only way!
- Some when, we came to the conclusion that firstly the differential had to be repaired – even if continuing to drive showed
- to be possible in a case of emergency – and secondly that these driving conditions don't make any fun at all, particularly
- taking into account that another 2'500 of the same terrible miles (return) are ahead of us. Result: We return to the ferry
- terminal and back to the capital to search for spare parts. Hence our Sumatra-trip ends already after totally 132 miles, -
- not at all what we intended to do.
- Unfortunately, we had to realize once more that finding spare parts for "elderly" cars poses the longer the more a big
- problem. As already experienced with the pistons for the engine during our "general-overhaul", the probability to
- find parts for the differential is getting slimmer every day. Some might be found still at Toyota Motor Corporation in
- Japan, but to receive such a "goodie" involves a delivery time of at least 2-3 weeks and a hefty surcharge for "airfreight",
- i.e. "emergency". It is well known that stock keeping is big money (interest, space), but simultaneously, it is shown
- pretty clearly to the customer that he is driving around with an outdated vehicle, which actually should be replaced. Finding
- "our" part may mean that we will have to divert to the kind of questionable generic parts market.
- Therefore, please check from time to time the progress of our "Indonesia-Trip" on our pictured site!
New Reports/Pictures
- SOUTHEASTASIA: mouse over picture shows comments
- click a picture to see details
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| + our Indonesia Trip | Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara – Dez. 2006 -....... |
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| + our Borneo Trip | Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah, Kalimantan – Sept.-Nov. 2006 |
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| + our LandCruiser on a "Rejuvenation Cure" | in Miri/Sarawak - the East Malaysian province on Borneo June-Aug. 2006 |
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| + added from a earlier visit to the USA: | Las Vegas (Millennium change) |
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| + added from our Arabian Peninsula round trip: | Pictures from Yemen (May-June 1996) |
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| + Flashbacks of our Worldrecordtour: | Pictures from "all the continents" (Oct. 1984 - April 1997) |
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