Yesterday A Wonderful Day on the Motorbikes! Yes!

 Thursday - We had an open day....WAY COOL Nick...lets go for a ride...yes?

OK - good with 2 bikes! 

Off we went at 9:15 am and the Sun was out and just a perfect day for a bike ride!!! 

            

       YES... Ellen likes!

Nick & I had heard from friends about this nice drive to this mountain called Mt. Gunung Telemoyo ...and you had a beautiful view up there!

There are several mountains all around us but we decided on this one because the ride is fun up to this area that has a lot of countryside!

 

We rode and rode.going up into the hillside...oh how I love to ride through the villages and see the beautiful scenery! 

Such a treat!  

Once we got to the turn off for the mountain...we paid the gatekeeper a fee to go up it...and as we traveled upward along the mountain road....  

 

We saw a nice view and stopped to take some pictures!  All along this road local people were working the land!  Ridges of rice...laid out so neatly!

 So hard & diligent working people!

 The views were stunning!

We could not see the top of the mountain - we planned to ride up ~

 But we certainly enjoyed looking down!

 The path was REALLY rough...we had to ride with our feet out because of the broken up rocks and gravel....we went further up and then realized....this was not wise!  What if we get a flat?  What if we slip? 

 That would be no fun at all! 
So we made a turn around on the mountain - and we were both glad we did!  No need to take chances - we were at least 50 km away from Salatiga and the little town below...well just not wise!
 We went down again- waved to the gatekeeper - and off we went riding around the mountain ranges and sawa's...(rice fields!) 

                                       We stopped for a beautiful view of our surroundings!

                One of the village roads we drove along! Nice huh?

 We saw these 2 men with their cattle - hooking them up to a plow that was made of wood...that which they have done for many years - and most likely their fathers too!

We came to a hillside and saw the mosque in the background...pretty sight huh?  See the rice fields being irrigated?

 By the way most of these mountains around us are volcanic!  This is Mt Merbabu!

 Can you believe the little roads we drove through...so many like these!  Nice! 

Look at that cloud forming up there...just had to stop to show it to you!
 It was around 1:30 and we were getting hungry!  Breakfast was early this morning!  So we tried to look for a place to stop at. There was 2 hotels but both restaurants were closed - no guests.  Nick said he knew something down the road back towards Salatiga!

So off we went..riding down down down back towards Salatiga...and Mr Roadrunner Nick was enjoying his ride! And Ellen was a little slower behind him.  No hurry! It was so fun to drive down to town!  We decided

 to stop at Resto Lotus a cute place we had eaten before!  

It was good to take a break!  

Let's have early dinner today?

 Coffee, nasi goreng special, stirred fried veggies and a COLD beer...it was hot today!

We got a bit roasted on the arms and face from our ride!  When the Sun is out it can get pretty hot out there!

After we had enjoyed our lunch and surroundings - we headed into town to say Hello to David and Swanny and their daughter Joke who own the motorbike shop where we purchased the bikes!  We had been wanting to say Hello to them!  So we did and had a nice visit - and now we are invited to come to dinner at their home on Sunday...how very kind!  David & Swanny and their daughter had lived in Holland for about 13 yrs and returned back to Indonesia around 2004. So they both speak Dutch!