Thank you. My couple of nights at the HW72 is one of the highlights of this little trip so far. I really enjoyed my time there. I wish I could have stayed at least another day and enjoyed another breakfast buffet. But perhaps I can stop off there on my way back to Dumai.

I haven't gotten very far on this here heavily-laden bicycle, but I've since spent one day on the roads leaving from Pekanbaru, and on the map, it looked like the road might be smaller and less busy and more scenic. Unfortunately, that hasn't turned out to be true. The road itself got a bit narrower, but the truck traffic remained almost at the same level. That surprised me. Perhaps the truck traffic will diminish over time, but I'm not holding my breath. I wouldn't have any problem packing it in and putting the bicycle on a bus or truck if that ends up being necessary. I've done that in the past. I'll take whatever transportation makes the most sense. I have no cycling pride in that way. 🙂

absolutely!

I've slowly been working out systems for mounting the camera in different places. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. The key is that you have to have two mounting points - one at the base of the selfie stick and then a second one a foot or two along the stick. It works out well because the base mount doesn't have to very strong. It is more about positioning, and it doesn't have to have a firm grip. You can use almost anything just as long as the base of the stick doesn't move around. But then the second mounting point has to be extremely strong and hold up the entire weight of the camera and stick, and I managed to do that by using two giant clamps from two different Insta360 motorcycle mounting kits. I took the clamp from one kit and attached it to the clamp from the second kit. Once I figured that out, I was able to put the camera almost anywhere around the bike. It does take time, however, to get all that set up and then break it down again. It's not easy to do at the side of the road with that sun beating down and all those trucks roaring past. 🙂

@@PlanetDoug 👍

I wrote to Agoda just to tell them about what was happening at these Oyo-branded hotels, and they said that they would contact the hotel and look into the situation. However, there didn't seem to be any possibility of getting any money back. I don't know how that works. That isn't a big deal, though, because it is a budget hotel, and the price on Agoda was very reasonable. I lost very little money in that deal. It was just annoying to be asked to pay three to four times that much again in cash once I arrived. This seems to be a general problem with hotels that are associated with Oyo. I booked a room in the town of Bangkinang through Agoda, and almost the same thing happened. The hotel is also part of the Oyo system, and even though I had reserved a room in advance and paid for it in advance, they said that I had to pay more. They even put me on the phone with a rep from Oyo, and they said that the prices on Agoda were too low, and I had to pay extra at the hotel when I arrived. It's just a weird system. The person on Oyo said that when I booked my room and paid for it, they then sent me a text message telling me that I would have to pay more in cash when I arrived at the hotel. I never got this message, but that doesn't really matter. The whole thing seems weird. They advertise a very low price on Agoda to get you to book the room and pay for it. And it's nonrefundable, so now you're trapped. And then they make you pay more in cash when you arrive at the hotel. And you don't have a choice but to pay more or go to a new hotel and lose the money you've already paid. I don't think they're doing it on purpose and trying to scam people. They just seem to be very confused about how the Agoda and other online booking systems work. 🙂

@@PlanetDoug Nice to see your replies Doug. I guess you know best, especially since it's not a large amount. Hopefully not, and I'm not sure if it would help, but in the event if it happens again, perhaps you could try getting the receipt at the end of your stay. After which send Agoda the photo of it as proof, showing you had paid separately for those exact same times of stay. Also by documenting the condition of the facilities, ie the toilet, could also reflect the kind of attitude/service the hotel has to Agoda, which could help favor your case for the refund.

if you arrive just before dark in Rumbai (as its the first Pekanbaru district from Duri) I could recommend you to try Sate Padang cun and Martabak djoeragan 👍

I did stop in Pekanbaru, and I stayed there for quite a few days. In fact, my original plan didn't include going to Pekanbaru at all. But I've been moving so slowly that I had to adjust my plans and go to the immigration office in Pekanbaru to get an extension for my visa. I was hoping to do that in Bukittinggi, but I knew I had no chance of getting there in time. Once I got my visa extension in Pekanbaru, I got back on my bike and rode to the town you mentioned, Bangkinang. I'm there right now. Unfortunately, even after all the time off the bike in Pekanbaru, my left knee is still in a lot of pain when I ride my bike. My right knee is fine. But my left is still giving me problems. I'm hoping it will gradually start to heal, but I'm taking it very slow, and I've been off the bike for two days here in Bangkinang. It's actually a very nice town. With its very wide and quiet streets and well-maintained sidewalks and lots of open spaces, it feels very different from the other towns I've passed through, such as Dumai, Duri, and even Pekanbaru. I remember Minas, by the way. I stopped there for a cold drink at an Indomaret before the final twenty or thirty kilometers to Pekanbaru. That also seemed like a nice place. I would have gotten something to eat there, but I was still feeling ill. I'm not sure if they had any hotels there.

Have a nice lunch there. Love your video's

Thank you, Maarten. I really appreciate the help. 🙏

The company that makes the trailer produce a special flag with its own mounting system. I used to use it, but I found it was a lot of trouble. The mounting system was not well thought-out, and it was difficult to put on and take off. I ended up getting rid of it.

I didn't know I could do that with Google Maps. I wish you had told me about that little trick sooner. 🤪 That's brand new to me. And it seems to work perfectly. I didn't know that compass icon would do that. With the camera, it seems like it's better to have the camera lower rather than higher. I seem to end up with more usable perspectives with the camera lower. There is less of that wide angle distortion. I think for the shot you are talking about, I had the selfie sticked attached to the aluminum bar that attaches the trailer to the bike. I have to use two mounting points to make it work - one just to hold the base and a second much stronger mount to hold the weight of the stick and camera. You can't see the selfie stick, of course. It's invisible. But you can see the black clamps on the aluminum rod. That's where the selfie stick is attached.

I did that later on, and the rates were all pretty much the same. At this place in Duri, they just said they weren't accepting any online bookings at all. It didn't matter if it came through Agoda or Oyo or anywhere else. Interestingly, almost the same thing happened at my current hotel. It's another hotel that is associated with Oyo. I booked the room through Agoda and paid for it in advance. But there was quite a bit of confusion when I arrived, and they told me that I would have to pay extra in cash. They accepted the Agoda reservation, but since the price on Agoda was lower than they'd like, they wanted me to pay more. It was all very strange. They even put me on the phone with an Oyo rep who explained that this was all normal. Since the Agoda price was lower than the walk-in price at the hotel, I would have to pay to make up the difference in cash. There's something weird going on with Oyo hotels in Sumatra it seems. 🙂

Well, my knees did give in almost completely. That was an unpleasant surprise. That has never happened before. I think I simply pushed myself too hard and too far on that first day and I badly strained both knees. It was a dumb thing to do. But as I said, I never had to worry about knee strain before. It was always just muscle fatigue and a sore butt that limited how far I could go. I never thought I could damage my knees by going too far too soon. Since then, my right knee has recovered completely. I don't feel anything out of the ordinary there. But my left knee is still giving me a lot of pain. I've really been babying it along hoping that it will start to heal. But the jury is still out. This could be a permanent state, or it could just take a long time to go back to normal.

@@Abraracourix I checked and they are still on Agoda. Others got scammed as well. Their rating is 7.4. Do you know how to report them to Agoda?or at least get them off.

@@norlizahmohdnor88 Agoda doesn't care and never reply emails.

I was actually wondering if my seat was too low. I thought maybe I wasn't extending and straightening my leg and knee enough. On some later days, I raised the seat a bit to test that idea, but it didn't seem to help. I ended up putting it back to this position. I don't know if any of these types of changes would make any difference. I've always ridden this bike wearing sandals in exactly this way, and I've never had a problem with my knees like this before. My guess is that I was just off the bike for many years and then I just started too fast while carrying a lot of weight. I just wasn't physically prepared and I put a strain on my knees. I should have ridden just twenty to thirty kilometers and quit for the day. Eased into it.

As you know, the knee-healing is an ongoing process. 🙂 Right knee is back to normal. But the jury is still out on the left knee. I'm definitely making those more frequent stops.