Thank you. Ironically, though, I think I know only one complete sentence. And that sentence is basically saying that I don't speak Indonesian. 🙂 And I can ask people if they speak English. Those are kind of long, complete sentences. But I've also learned a few short phrases, and I'm trying to learn numbers and how to say the date and time and things like that.

It was funny in the moment, too. To be honest, the way we kick off our flip-flops and leave them in big piles at the entrances to places, you'd think it would happen more often. And my flip-flops were black and the son's flip-flops were black. So it was easy to get them mixed up. From a scenery point of view, entering Sumatra at Dumai and riding through Riau Province wasn't the best idea. Apparently, the nice scenery doesn't appear until you get to West Sumatra Province. The smarter tourist would have flown directly to the west coast.

I end up doing the same thing. I usually don't understand what people are saying in real time. But then when I watch the video I recorded later on, I can sometimes figure it out.

I'm like you being the arm chair traveler. I was planning on going back to Thailand this month but after thinking about the 3 leg, 27 hour flight in coach plus waiting to be processed through immigration on arrival for only a 3 week trip, I decided that traveling local is the better option at this time. Getting older and traveling on those long horrible cramped flights is just not worth it.

Thanks! I learned a bit of Indonesian through a podcast that I downloaded to my phone. I play these podcasts in the morning when I'm getting ready and at other times. And then I actually learn a bit more when I'm editing the video. When people speak in real time, I often have no idea what they're saying. And I can't distinguish between the words. But when I'm editing the video, I can repeat that section and slow it down and then I enter what I hear into Google Translate, and I can figure it out. That's an advantage to recording some of these conversations on video. I can figure out later on what in the world we were talking about.

Luckily, the level of truck traffic has gone down on this highway. It isn't nearly as bad as it was on the ride from Dumai to Pekanbaru. There are still enough trucks that it does get a bit risky from time to time. As far as the videos go, the biggest challenge continues to be finding fast enough WiFi for the uploading. That's like a full-time job on its own. It can be such a relief to check into a hotel and discover that the WiFi works reasonably well.

The sun, the heat, the sweat, and everything else definitely takes a toll on my face when I'm on the bicycle. Maybe I should keep the GoPro pointing forward the entire time. Then you'd just hear my heavy breathing as I gasp for oxygen up those steep climbs. 🙂 It's really not a problem, though. It's just what cycling is like. It's actually quite pleasant to get into the routine of slowly pedalling up long climbs. It's like a physical meditation to find the right rhythm for turning the pedals. A new thing is trying to talk during these climbs. That takes a lot more energy than you'd think. The combination of cycling and speaking is a lot more demanding than just cycling. It's nice to have a tent for situations like this. And that's kind of why I carry it. It's always better to stay in a hotel. It's just so much easier, especially if you are trying to record video of your day. Sleeping in a tent in the open is really hard, I find. It takes all your energy and time. And it would be nice to NOT bring any camping equipment at all: no tent; no sleeping pad; no stove; no food; etc. That would make the bike much lighter. (And there would be room for more cameras....) But it's always nice to have a tent with you for these kinds of unusual situations when there are no guest houses nearby. I've always wanted to camp out more often. And in places like Canada, I would sleep in my tent almost every night. There is lots of empty space to put up a tent, and it is so much cooler and more comfortable, and hotels are far too expensive anyway. I can't afford them. But in places like the Philippines and Indonesia, it's much tougher to sleep in a tent - just to find a place to put your tent is difficult. All the land is used by someone for something. And then you are generally so hot and sweaty. It can lead to an uncomfortable night. But a night in a tent is a nice change. A new small adventure.

IT'S Peeeeple 🤯

I'm just guessing about how the sandals might have affected my knees. I just noticed that when I was riding around the Bankinang area while wearing flip flops, I rode 20 kilometers easily without any problems. And the thin profile of the flip flops allowed me to move my feet closer to the frame of the bike. The placement of my feet felt different and more natural. But when I left my guesthouse that morning, I was wearing my full sandals, and my left knee started to feel strange right from the beginning. So I wondered if these very wide/large sandals were somehow pushing my feet (and knees) out of alignment with the natural pedal stroke. It seems unlikely, but when I switched to flip flops, it appeared to feel better. And after that, I was able to ride my bike fully loaded straight up a steep incline for several hours non-stop without any problems. Changing to these slim-profile flip flops seemed to have made a difference.

@@PlanetDoug 加油 my friend...

I guess it's one of my (many?) quirks that I don't like shoes. I never have. My feet get hot and sweaty and swollen and uncomfortable in shoes and socks. I just wear sandals or flip-flops whenever I can. I suppose another quirk is that I really dislike hats. I've often thought I would be more comfortable wearing a hat of some kind for protection from the sun. And I've even gone so far as to buy a hat from time to time. But the feeling of the hat on my head bugs me so much that I wear it less and less and then it just gets stuffed into my bag and I never put it on.

@@PlanetDoug Yes we all have our own foibles, I also have feet that swell up, especially on one foot, when I fell about 15 feet and broke my heel bone, but having good quality tight fitting socks makes a lot of difference, I got them from a sports shop in London and was amazed how much better my feet could handle the heat!

I seem to have a mental self-image that is stuck in younger days. I simply forget my actual age. I'll often spend an entire day interacting with people. And I see them all as my elders, and I instinctively behave like a young person in their presence. I treat them as my elders. And then I'll have the sudden realization that I am actually older than all of them. Yet, I can't shake this idea that I'm thirty years younger than everyone around me.

@@PlanetDoug 🤣 That's great that you're still young ar heart. You're certainly in great shape doing all that bicycling and staying trim even with the odd muscle aches from time to time. Keep safe my friend and keep on truckin 😄