The Road to Kendari - Solo Travel (Sulawesi, Indonesia)
What's up you guys and welcome back to the channel.. My name is Kristian Hansen. In today's episode, we're going on a road trip! For more than two years now, I've been riding across Indonesia on my motorcycle. And in today's video, I'm crossing into South East Sulawesi. For five straight days. 765 kilometers.
I'll be taking you with me.. As the kind Indonesians welcome me. With open arms and great excitement. We will ride by the ocean.. Visit remote Villages..
And the deepest lake in Indonesia. We will learn about the agriculture. How the locals make a living.. From these vast lands of spices! We will meet subscribers of mine.. in the most unexpected areas. I'll be showing you the ups and downs..
Of traveling solo with 55 kilos of luggage. and a motorcycle.. As we ride through heavy rain.. Broken roads.. and thunderstorms! On our way to Kendari.
Good morning guys! It is day 758 here on the Sabang to Merauke journey. And it is finally time to go to South East Sulawesi. So over the next couple of days, we will be heading to the deepest lake in Indonesia. Lake Matano. And then we will be heading to the Capital of South East Sulawesi, Kendari. So it's gonna be some good days with a lot of touring, we got a lot of road to cover.
So let's get to it.. It's gonna be a good day. Let's go! Oh I have stayed here at Hotel Manggasa.. In Makale for a long time! So it was a bit difficult saying goodbye to the sweet girls that work here. Because they have been so kind during my stay here. And I'm going to miss them. Macan you are heavy today! Okay..let's go!
All right guys, so.. Today is gonna be a long day, we got 7 hours and nearly 300 km ahead of us And I took a look at the map and it looks like it's going to be a lot of small roads and I have no idea if it's gonna be tarmac or if it's going to be broken roads. but only one way to find out. Given the great distance that we had to overcome, I was not overly excited..
as we already hit traffic on our way through Rantepao. Oh I have a feeling that this is gonna be a very, very long day but if there is one thing you simply cannot do going through the cities like this It's speeding. So many old ladies, small children, chickens, buffalos..
that are passing the road so suddenly, so..yeah that's why we need have...patience It is 10:30 guys, and I am heading through the mountains now here in North Toraja. I'm taking a nice and easy today and trying to drive very careful..
Because I got to say.. The drivers here in North Toraja they are a little bit Reckless They drive very fast.. and that long straight line.. Even though it's not broken.
It apparently doesn't mean a thing here. it is, definitely not being used for anything. Oh my God this is truly Jurassic Park vibes! Wow..
I think we have to send up the drone here. Jesus.. Macan and I had made it into the Cloudy mountains. In between North Toraja and the Luwu Regency.
Looking from above, you can barely see the roads.. That are hidden in between the abundance of greenery. But these roads, can be fairly dangerous as well. As there are a few things that you need to be aware of. Misty morning mountain views. That is something I am never going to get tired of looking at.
Except for all these lorries, not a big fan of that.. If there's one thing you got to always keep a special eye on when you're out touring It's... Lorries and mini busses in the small cities.
Oh my god, they are so dangerous. Anyone who has ever seen a mini bus or been in a mini bus.. They know what I'm talking about. I then had to pick up the pace a little bit.
As my GPS still said another five and a half hours. At 11:30. So I rode through the mountains, past the city of palobo.
Where my energy eventually ran out And I stopped at the local mosque, to rest for a bit. It wasn't until I put the drone in the air.. That I realised, just how beautiful my surroundings were.
After a quick 20 minute break, from the scorching heat. I got back on on the long road. Where I came across.. Something you don't see every day. You know some days, I feel like Macan is fully packed, But..
This is fully packed! Hello! Be careful! But shortly after, the rain started once again. Which can be rather dangerous on these roads. Especially if you're riding in flipflops and no helmet. All right guys, it is now nearly 17:00.
And I still have, nearly 100 kilometers to go.. to get to Lake Matano. So uh.. The rain continues, and if I look that way. Yeah.. it's gonna to get even worse, it looks more dark.
And yeah..safe to say I'm tired, I'm exhausted. But that is why I normally don't do these like.. Very long days on the road.
I do prefer to do like max 6 hours. Because then I can do more stops.. And I feel like I can enjoy it more.
But maybe you guys have already wondered.. Why is it that you are doing such a long stretch suddenly all the way to Kendari. And it's actually because.. I have been feeling a bit homesick The last couple of weeks, so the day before yesterday.
I booked a ticket to Denmark So actually in just 5 days I am flying back to Denmark to visit my family. But so far it's been a good day And um yeah.. I'm going to give it 10 more minutes Hopefully the rain will come down a bit Otherwise.. It's on with the rain close and just push through. Sometimes it's difficult for me to understand..
How I can possibly be so tired. After just a day of riding. But when I then go through the clips like this. I realize.. How many Impressions, I process during a full day of riding.
7 to 10 hours of constantly being alert. And focused on the moment. And it then, all kind of makes sense. And even though I was behind on time. I stopped to enjoy the sunset Knowing that it would mean, some riding in the dark.
I rarely ride in the dark. Simply because it increases the risk.. Of missing an obstacle on the road. But I had no other option. As it continued to rain. And I had, to get past the thunder.
And after 10 hours on the road. It was time to unpack the bike. Because I had arrived.. At my stay for the next two nights.
Thank God! Yes! We have made it to hotel.. What is it called? Mireya. I cannot feel my butt.. So, I will talk to you guys tomorrow! Good evening! Check in! That morning, as the sun rose. I could finally see the destination I had arrived at.
The beautiful, Lake Matano. It is the deepest lake in Indonesia. At 590 meters.. And it's home, to many endemic species of fish. And it is located in the small mining town of Sorowako.
Good morning guys. It is my first morning here at Lake Matano and it is.. A beautiful view to wake up to! So when I arrived here Hotel Mireya last night..
I pretty much went straight to bed.. I actually had dinner, with one of my subscribers from India Who works at the mine here close by. As I came here to the hotel last night I realized, In order to get here You actually drive through.. The largest nickel mine in Indonesia, owned by PT. Vale. So.. I really want to get some drone shots of the mine..
And I would love to go inside and see how it works. So I'm thinking today we're going to get Macan.. Drive to the mine.. And see if maybe.. We could get a permission to get inside. But now.. It's breakfast time, I'm starving!
At hotel Miraya.. I had booked the deluxe room. Which cost 650,000 per night.
It is a decent room.. And it is currently, the best hotel at Lake Matano. And it was then time, to explore the lake. All right guys, It is now 10:00..
And Mireya Hotel here they have actually.. Helped me arrange a boat, that's going to pick me up. And then take me out on, the massive Lake Matano for a bit. And today I will be joined by.. Mercy, here from the hotel.
And Dian wants join too, or? Just dropping off. Okay just dropping off. So for those of you who are not from Indonesia..
It is very normal here to use an umbrella, not when it's raining.. But when there is sun! But in all fairness it is, very hot! It's going to be a hot day on the water! So, Mercy are from here? Yes, I'm local. I used to study in Bali.
So is it better here or in Bali? In Bali.. Oh in Bali? I was hoping she would say here, okay we can cut that out yeah And I will edit so you say, ah matano much better than Bali. Good morning bro! Morning! We then met our sunshy captain, Tadil was rocking some very cool flipflops.
And while he prepared the boat, I spotted a local Who wasn't too afraid of his own safety. As he was fixing the dock, walking barefoot On thin planks, with a chainsaw in his hands. Mercy..if you fall in the water it will be very good for my video It's not funny! Who else here is hoping she will fall in the water.
All right, I think karma is about to get me. I can do it! Yes.. So while Mercy took shelter for the sun, We headed for a small hidden gem on Lake Matano.
Some locals say, that there are still freshwater crocodiles To be found in certain areas of the lake. But as they say, no risk no reward. All right guys, we have come to a place called GOA AIR. So it is a small cave, that you can swim into And um.. Yeah mercy she doesn't really want to swim, So uh, I will go in there and check it out Let's go! 1 2 3! Ah not too cold.
Only thing I worry about is snakes! Look at this! Bye guys.. Bye, see you next week! See you next week yeah! Bye! Wow.. The sun is coming through up there. But I will tell you this guys, If something suddenly bites my feet I'm gonna proper [ __ ] myself. Cool..
Something on my feet! This one It was just the one from my vest My vest is kind of useless All I need now is a floating mattress And a cold beer I could have a very good nap been here. Okay next spot! Welcome to Lake matano The place where the floating vest don't work. Oopsie. As we continue to the next gem, I set up the drone. If you're into freshwater diving, you can actually do that here as well. There have been several discoveries of ancient iron relics in this lake.
As this area used to be famous not only for its nickel, but for its high quality Iron. However the sites where relics have been found requires a special permit to dive there. If you wish to learn more about this, my good friend Spencer Wells a scientist has covered this in more depth.
You can find his blog post on lombokdiaries.substack.com And as three eagles soar above us, we arrived at our next stop which I like to call Instagram Island. It's a stone Island which is a perfect little spot for taking some good pictures for the gram.
But make sure that you bring sunscreen because it is hot. And just 15 minutes later, we had arrived at our final stop for the day.. The Matano Lake Village. That was close.
Let's go and have a look and see if anyone's home, it is in the middle of the day so it's quite hot. Hence why I believe you won't be seeing a lot of people outside. The only way to reach this small village is by boat. Only around 1,500 people calls this place home.
And I could tell they encouraged tourism as there was even home stays. And I was about to be surprised by their level of friendliness. -Hello Mister. -Assalamualaikum. Waalaikumsalam, hello mister. Excellent for coming to Matano.
-Nice to meet you. I'm Kris. -Our handsome man. You're very handsome. -I make videos on TV and YouTube. -Alhamdulillah, I like it when I'm on TV. -Put my face everywhere, I love it! Excellent.
I think she has squeezed my cheek like four times now. So we will try and see if we can find something to eat because it is very very hot here. But so far very nice welcoming here from Ibu. Ibu Nurhidayah. -Thank you, Bu. -Yes, you're welcome.
Some of the young men they move to Sorowako looking for a job. This is what normally happens in a lot of the villages I come to, the villages are getting smaller and smaller. Because people are moving from the small village to the bigger cities to look for better paying jobs. -Yeah for school. - And to pay for school and also for the kids to go to school yeah?
Yeah that's one of the reasons why I love going on these trips because a lot of the areas I go to, a lot of the remote places.. -They in 10, 20, 50 years they will not be the same you know. -Yeah. So that's why we have to visit them today.
We have very small restaurant here yeah they think I've come here looking for a Good afternoon. -Afternoon. -Where are you going? Why? Do you want me to find you a soul mate in Matano, mister? -Look for what? -Soul mate, girlfriend.
They think I come here looking for girlfriend. The majority of the people here are pepper farmers. But before exploring that, we sat down for a chat and an ice cold lemon tea. -Not PlayStation but "borrow one hundred thousand" -Borrow one hundred.
Ah it's cool. Can I buy that? Ibu then served us a delicious Rp 15.000 chicken soto. And before we could finish, the rain started and this meant that no pepper farmers would be in the fields.
But to my surprise, our cook Ibu Ona was a farmer herself.. And she told me that it is hard work as the pepper prices have fallen from Rp 100.000 per kilo last year to Rp 65.000. She can only Harvest 6 months of the year which brings in about 20 million Rupiah. Hence why she opened her small restaurant for extra income. But she tells me that the most important thing is that she can send her kids to school.
And that she is grateful because she no longer have to worry about being able to feed her family. The rain lasted a couple of hours so it was time to head back towards the boat. And on our way back, we walked through their beautiful village with flowers and greens everywhere. They even have small signs with words you can learn in the matano language. And as the sun was now out we also met a couple of pepper farmers who now try to dry their pepper.
Of all the times I've put pepper on my food, never have I imagined that it might be coming from a local Indonesian farmer.. Who dried it on a plastic sheet next to his wooden house, walking across it barefoot. In a small remote Lake Village. And this is exactly why we must remember to visit small tourist attractions like this. It might not have the biggest wow factor like Disneyland or Dubai.
But it's a unique experience and something that we might never see again. Alright guys we are now back at the hotel, I just quickly changed my shirt took some more gear. And now we're gonna try and we head up to PT Vale and see if we can maybe take a couple of drone clips. Maybe we can go inside, I know it's a long shot but yeah we gotta try. So let's go and see if we can get inside the biggest nickel mine in Indonesia. Yeah I am quite fried after today's trip, but because my flight back to Denmark is only in 3 days..
I don't have so much time, so tomorrow my plan is to ride around 250 maybe 300. Stop for one night and then the day after we can make the final stretch to the capital of Southeast Sulawesi. Yes I think I will sleep great though by the time I board that flight back to Denmark. Alright, spirit! The entrance to their main facility was just 10 minutes away and it's the size of a small city.
As more than 10,000 people work there, I met a kind employee who just happened to also be my subscriber. And he told me that my only chance was to drive to their media office. And there I met a kind guy named William who actually helped me set a meeting with their media team. But even after hours of effort it simply wasn't possible due to their regulations.
I did meet a couple of my subscribers who worked security for PT Vale. And that made me happy. So after all it was time well spent. Alright guys and that's gonna be it for today wow it has been a day full of experiences. And then now I've packed all of my stuff and now here back in my room I've ordered some room service. I'll be having some delicious Kung Pao chicken I really like that and yeah.
BecauseI feel like I deserve it I have gotten a piece of some banana coffee cake as well. And I'll be watching a bit of Netflix. It is 19:45 now so by 9:00 it's bedtime because tomorrow we got a long day on the road. So yeah see you guys tomorrow, good night guys. All right guys see you yeah, bye.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, it is your captain speaking. It is now 8:15 weather is looking good nice and clear with a few clouds. We have plus 200 km 5 to 6 hours to get to our stop for the night. So please sit back fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride let's go to Kendari guys.
Coming to Matano I couldn't see a thing as it was nighttime so I hadn't noticed the massive River I had passed along the way. As I was rather tired that morning I didn't even realize that we had passed the border into our 14th province, Southeast Sulawesi. All right guys it's around a quarter past 10 and we have actually made it quite far in a very short time. The road have been really good but now we've kind of come into the mountains on our way to a place called Lasusua. I'm pretty sure it's Lulusua (which I was wrong haha). This is one of the things I really enjoy about traveling in Indonesia there are so many places where you can ride.
And even though you're going from A to B you will have these Mountain views. Oh there's one thing that makes me happy, it's mountain views. So guys I'm just taking a small shortcut because I saw this from the road and it almost looked like a wine Plantation you know. But all of this you can see on my right and left here it is merica or as you know it pepper. So there's still another 7 or eight months before they can start picking it. But it just yeah it looks so much, it looks so fun from the road.
So I had an idea, I really wanted to visit a Pepper Farm so I used my drone to try and find a route and a farmer. All these Mountain sides are covered with pepper fields. I wasn't able to find a way in though, but as I looked along the river I did find someone who was looking for gold.
Or so I thought because I had found a pepper farmer after all, because they weren't exactly looking for gold. But they were simply washing pepper. Because after the black pepper fruit has been harvested, it must be cleaned for any dirt before it can be dried in the sun.
So while washing it in the cold river water, they also take away the stalks that attach the fruit to the vine. And they discard it in the river. And did you know that Indonesia is actually the fourth largest black pepper exporting country in the world.
The farmer he actually came up and talked to me and told me a little bit about being a farmer, a pepper farmer. So he's 45 years old and he's owned the land here for the last 10 years. And his Fields is way up in the mountains and he goes there every day to check on it. So he was down here washing the pepper with all of his family.
And I asked him if he was happy with this job and he said that he was very grateful. He has enough money food for the family and he can send his kids to school so what more can you ask. All right it's 11:30 guys, we still got a couple of hours so let's get back on the road. It is also time for me to find something to eat cause I am getting hungry, lunch time. Always the unexpected stops that are the best stops, always. All right guys it's 12:00 it is, it's got to be at least 35° it is super hot.
So I'm choosing the easy lunch today because if I stop at a restaurant get a nice big meal.. I'm gonna get so tired and it's so difficult to continue so today I'm doing the supermarket lunch. Which is always greek yogurt, a sausage for a bit of protein it also has a lot of fats but most importantly it has a lot of salt. And that I need when I sweat so much. And for a bit of carbs I'm getting a fit bar and a couple of buns. Definitely a sausage and greek yogurt is not the most amazing combo, But sometimes you got to think more practical than what's enjoyable.
Good afternoon guys, ah still daylight. It is now quarter past 2 and I'm tired. GPS says we still have 50 km, an hour and 10 minutes. So it's not the biggest roads but wow I've driven through a lot of villages today.
And they are definitely not used to seeing foreigners coming this way from Matano to Lasusua. Because all the kids are staring whenever I pass by, got a lot of waves, a lot of thumbs up. All of the girls when I pass them mostly the younger girls but they are screaming.
And pretty much everywhere I've stopped I've been invited in for coffee or food but I've actually said no today. Because yeah I do really want to get to the hotel. But there are so many beautiful Moments that is so difficult to capture but I got to say my favorite moment today this..
I don't even have to show you a clip of I can just describe it, I was driving and a bike was coming towards me. Three people on it, the father riding, the mother behind and in front the sweetest little girl maybe 2 or 3 years old. A little bit fat chubby cheeks in a tight hijab, sunglasses and sleeping with her mouth open just absolutely enjoying that ride. Best best side of the day, so cute. I did have to spend a couple of hours in the rain and those last few hours are always the hardest.
When your body is so tired that you can nearly sleep standing up. And just as I had nearly arrived at my destination for the night the rain finally stop. Alright we have made it to Lasusua. I really do like that name, Lasusua. 1 Km to the hotel. Time to rest.
God I'm tired. Thing about this town is they do not have any like hotels so it is half hotel, half home stay kind of thing. Guest house, there we go. No fancy stay tonight but as long as they have a bed, I am happy. Unpacking time. When it's a small hotel like this, I will usually go for their best room and this one costed Rp 500.000 per night.
A bit expensive considering the quality but it had decent AC and running water for now. But before going anywhere I got to make sure that all my batteries are charged so that my gear is ready for the next day. The city of Lasusua is the capital of the North Kolaka regency. Roughly 30,000 people lives here in between the mountains and the ocean. I will always do a quick Google Maps search for nearby restaurants and as I couldn't find a lot..
I simply rode out to the main street and stopped at the best one I could see from the road all Alright guys so it has been a very long day so I thought this afternoon I would do something that I normally don't do.. And invite you guys out for dinner. So they didn't have anything else on the menu than fried chicken and rice in variations.
But they seem so happy that I came here. So I couldn't bear to go again and actually what they have brought me it looks really really nice. So I've ordered some egg, some smashed chicken with a lot of chili I see and lime. Oh I like that. We have some soup and fried rice and more crispy. I am so.. now I'm going to have my dinner I think that's going to be it for today it's been a long day it's been a good day.
The point of this video is also for me to show you guys some of these road days are, where you're just riding.. Experiencing what you can on the way in order to get to the next destination and sometimes they can be pretty hectic like this. All right let's eat guys let's try this crispy chicken and see how it is. Okay that is some good crispy chicken and only Rp 25.000 for one dish, that's cheap. Once I had finished my dinner, the waiter told me that she was actually my subscriber.
And that we had met once before when I was making the real Jakarta video. Who would have thought of all places that we would meet once again in Lasusua. Good morning guys, so this morning at 4:00 I heard a knocking on my door and I always quickly get up. Because I always fear something has happened with my motorcycle so I go out and turns out to be another guest.. Who thinks I'm the manager of the hotel and wants to inform me that there is no water in his room.
So I told him unfortunately I couldn't help with that but thanks for waking me. So I'm a little bit tired today, didn't get too much sleep after that and yeah I also didn't have water in my room.. So no shower this morning but besides that the good news is everything is packed and we are ready to go. The bad news is that it is raining and for once I've actually checked the weather forecast for today.. It looks like we're going to have rain all day.
Yeah it's probably still going to be another great day on the road, let's go. All right guys it is 8:27 and we now have 300 km in front of us. Yesterday we rode 200 km and it took 7 and a half hours. Today we got 300 so my estimate is 10 hours, so let's go. But first we do got to find some gasoline for Macan because it is blinking red. So the problem is basically all the way from Matano here to Lasusua..
All Pertamina gas stations they didn't have pertamax and most of them were actually sold out with pertalite. So there is so many of these vendors that sells these green glass bottles but it's a bit more expensive. So now I'm going to try to go to the Pertamina here in Lasusua and if they are all out as well.. Then I'm sorry Macan we got to fill you up with some expensive Pertalite. Good morning, dek.
What are you doing? Isn't it cold? Use your clothes dek, it's cold. You can get sick. Here's a pro tip if you're traveling alone and you start the day by feeling a bit lonely.. Go out talk to people especially here in Indonesia you never meet anyone who's not smiling or.. They want to talk to you, best way to pick up your mood instantly. All right Pertamina is supposed to be right here, ah I see Pertamax on the sign.
And I also see a homemade sign that says "stock out" are we in a pickle now, expensive Pertalite it will be. -Good morning, sir. -Good morning. -Any discount today? buy 1 get 1 free. - [laughing] -There isn't any ya. -You have Pertamax? - No I don't -You have Pertalite? - Yes, I have. -How much is the price per litre? - This is 13 thousand Okay okay, okay.
Okay all right let's fill her up with Pertalite. -Oh you thought I bring my wife? No, I'm all alone sir. I have one girlfriend on every city. Haha I'm joking.
-You can bring girl in the back seat. - But it's full of stuff here. And if I bring girl here, they will talk a lot. Let's go and try to sit here, don't be shy. I'll help ya.
-I totally can't ride this. -Its cool ya. - So cool. -Its quite tall ya. - Yeah. Its quite heavy ya. -I already travel on the road more than 700 days. - Wow.
I want to go to Papua. I still need a lot of time to arrive at Papua, I'll go Maluku first. -Maybe around 3 more years. - Oh yeah. -Okay sir thank you so much, success for you. - Success to you too.
Thank you sir, bye. Good people always pick my mood right back up, now I'm ready for touring. As much as I love traveling during the rainy season it can be rather tiring when the weather is not exactly in your favor.
So when I feel worn out I'll find a beautiful spot to stop and remind myself how lucky I am... To be able to travel all of Indonesia like this while calling it my full-time job. And that every day can't be equally exciting after nearly 800 days of traveling. Alright guys so today didn't go exactly as I had expected, I wish I could have shown you guys more from today's road trip.
But the reality was that it took me 9 hours from Lasusua and it was raining all day. So there wasn't a lot of people outside and not that much to see, I couldn't put up the drone, I couldn't use my big camera. Because it continued to rain and that is how it is sometimes. And what I wanted to show you guys in this video is how some of my days look like when I'm not in one location filming all the time.
But these days that are behind all of these special locations like Maratua or Sungai Utik or Bira... It requires a lot of motorcycle traveling, sometimes it's good days and sometimes you just want to arrive. And today was one of those days. We made it to Kendari. I'm not going to show you guys a lot now we're going to do that in the next video because now I need to pack all of my stuff... Because tomorrow morning I am flying to Denmark to visit my family for a week.
So in the next video I'm going to show you guys Kendari here in Southeast Sulawesi. Thank you so much for watching guys, I will see you in the next one and.. (yawn break) Until next time, bye guys.
-Enjoy your meal. - Enjoy your meal.
2024-04-20 20:06
