The Riding In

We had a bit of time riding the bikes in before the start of the Bali - Flores - Bali trip, and it was good to put some kilometers on the bikes and get the first free service by Kawasaki done before heading into the unknown. There was also lots of paperwork to get done, and Adam had some issues with his registration as he had changed to color of the bike form green to black which required approval from Jakarta.

There was still a 12 km evacuation zone around Agung but there is another dormant volcano on the northern side of the island which is so big that you can drive down into the crater and visit hot springs a local villages. Allan headed to the Mount Batur volcano and he was also looking for some black lava sand which is in the center of the crater and supposedly makes for some fun dirt bike action.

After visiting the volcanic crater of Mount Batur Allan headed to the east coast village of Amed through another volcanic crater which doesn't seem to get many if any tourists visiting. The ride was amazing and so was the view from the top of the volcano down into the river valley leading out to the coast. Upon reaching the coast we got the first glimpse of Mount Agung. Here on the north east coast the air was clear and the peak was clear and imposing.

The water was as clear as the air and it was time to stop and cool of and have some late lunch. The village of Amed was very quiet and the guides at one of the dive shops explained that tourists were uncomfortable staying within such close proximity to a volcano that might be about to erupt, even though it was more than twice the safe distance recommended by the government and the experts. At least parking wasn't a problem, but it usually isn't on a dirt bike.

After lunch it was time to head back to Ubud and arrange the last few things before the other riders arrived.