Riding in the Desa (sung to the tune of 'Running with the Devil")

So, yesterday, I got to naik sepeda (ride a bike) in the desa (village) with a big chunk of new friends. The outing was generously organized by Wisma Bahasa (my language school). The obtained bikes for everyone, and at 6:30 on Saturday morning, after a nice little box breakfast of savory pastries, rice (in Indonesia there is ALWAYS rice) and a donut, they loaded us into vehicles and brought us out to the country.

My apologies for the poor quality of the pictures... I tool them with my cell phone and mostly while I was riding!

Getting ready to ride!

Riding through rice fields

Riding through a village

The group of riders included teachers, administrators, security guards and students of Wisma Bahasa. The teachers at this school continue to impress. They don't teach us like very foreign clients. They treat us like friends. It makes learning Indonesian a lot less like work.

Our point of departure and return was also our lunch restaurant. It is a series of open thatch-roofed huts linked by bamboo paths that wind around coi-filled ponds. We rode through small villages and even a market. Although the total distance was less than 20 km, we had plenty of rest breaks with snacks. One of the most interesting stops was at a cemetery that contains a memorial to victims of the 2010 eruption of Mt. Merapi, a nearby volcano.

View from my seat at lunch

The day heated up quickly and we were pleased when we returned to our oasis for a group lunch of fresh seafood, lotek (vegetables in peanut sauce) and lots and lots of spicy stuff (oh, and rice). After lazing about by the water in a post-lunch torpor, we were delivered back to the city and sent on our merry ways to bathe, sleep and await the cooler part of the day... and the drag show... but that is a story for another day.

And some folks got more adventurous!