Friday, February 10, 2023
9:03 a.m. Room P3, Wisma Flamboyant
Payakumbuh, Sumatra, Indonesia
I woke up at a more reasonable time this morning. And I just came back from the Wisma Flamboyant breakfast. They have an actual dining room in the back, and they lay out a small breakfast buffet. It isn’t anything fancy, but it suits me perfectly, and it has changed from one day to the next. On my first morning, there were noodles and a dish of sauce with jackfruit. And then they had coffee, tea, water, some sliced veggies, toast and jam, and other snacks. This morning, they changed it up, and the main dishes were fried rice, Indonesian-style eggs, and something they called rendang telur. It was very good and filling.
A few things happened yesterday and that has led to me changing my plans. Instead of riding my bike to Bukittinggi today, I am going to spend another day in Payakumbuh. I made that change because the husband of a woman I met on the road contacted me, and he helped me figure out that I could take a car or van directly from Bukittinggi to the Padang airport on the morning of my flight. I was thinking that I’d have to do this in stages, and that I’d have to go to Padang first and spend the night there. And then I’d have to find transportation from Padang to the airport. But with the option of going to the airport directly, I gain an extra day. And I decided to use that extra day as an additional rest day here as I continue to work on some videos. I like this plan because I was really tired yesterday, and I wasn’t looking forward to waking up this morning and immediately getting back on the bike. I wrote quite a bit about how the ride from Pangkalan to here wasn’t as physically draining as I expected. Yet, it still involved up to five hours of constant uphill climbing, and that put a strain on my legs and knees. And then I got practically no sleep. I was walking around the streets of Payakumbuh yesterday like a zombie.
The car to the airport leaves at nine in the morning. And since my flight is at four forty-five in the afternoon, I have confidence that I will get there on time. And it costs 70,000 rupiah, which is a reasonable price. I was in contact with the company yesterday via WhatsApp and began making the arrangements. I will have to contact them again once I know where I will be staying in Bukittinggi. They will come directly to my guest house to pick me up. I have to say that I’m not exactly thrilled at the prospect of all the logistical arrangements and planning that has to go into this visa run. It’s so much more relaxing just to be somewhere without having to constantly figure out what comes next. Today, I will probably do a number of things: book a room in Bukittinggi; make arrangements for leaving my bike in Bukittinggi; withdraw money; and book a room in Kuala Lumpur. As with all such tasks, it’s best to just dive into them and get them over with. The longer I put them off, the more the stress builds up.