Saturday 3rd September 2016<\/p>\n
The father and son and the 2 boys driving the ute picked me up at 9:00 am, right on queue. Adam had told us that the bike shop in Surabaya would be open till 3pm so we had plenty of time to make the 4 hour drive. We were to meet Adam at a MacDonald’s. It was strange following a truck with my bike in the back while I followed along in the car. It was a pleasant enough drive until we hit Surabaya where everything came very close to a halt. Traffic in Surabaya is famous for being one of the most congested in Indonesia and Saturdays in particular. We arrived at the designated meeting point around !:30pm where we waited and waited \u00a0for Adam to turn up. Even though he lived in Surabaya he phoned several times to say he was on the way. He too had come to a complete standstill on the motorway leading into Surabaya. There doesn’t seem to be any forward planning in road construction. You build one bit, then wait to see what happened to the traffic “flow” and then build the next bit. Normally resulting in worse traffic flow than previously. It got to around 2:30pm and no Adam. The next time he called he gave us directions to go to the bike shop by ourselves. We did and eventually Adam arrived at \u00a0the shop. This was the main office of a Harley Davidson dealership. Adam came away from that conversation with the news that they would not \u00a0be able to fit it into their work schedule and directed us to a branch office that was half and hour away. By this time it was already past three and I was curious to know as to whether this shop would be still open. “Yeah yeah” was the reply. The half hour trip turned into a 1 hour trip. We got there though and the shop was still open. This was in an area of almost wall to wall bike and bike accessory shops, which is how businesses seem to cluster in most parts of Asia. The bike was freed from its restraints in the ute and installed in the shop to await its fate. Discussions were made, lots of looking at the bike by everybody and his dog in the place, actually there weren’t any dogs, It was settled that they were competent enough to do the job as long as they could acquire the parts. The next item on which to decide was where I would be housed during this process. When asked what I would settle for, because the man was paying, I replied that all I really wanted, well needed actually, was Wifi, hot water and my own bathroom. So off everyone else went Adam, the man and his son and a guy from the bike shop. They returned very shortly after with a possible room, subject to my approval. So we all went to check out the room in what was it seems was a boarding house. The room had recently been vacated , however, all the previous \u00a0tenant’s gear was piled up in a corner and the frig was still full of food. Still, it did conform to my requests. I should have asked for one that was clean. no matter. I was assured that if I was to come back in a hour the room would be cleaned and ready for my occupancy. From my balcony I could see the bike shop, so that was a plus. Adam and I retired to a small cafe next to the bike shop where the owner, another bike fanatic had offered free food and drink. We discussed the ongoing situation. When the hour had passed everyone assisted in carted all my luggage to the room. The price to be paid was $250 for a month. I generously, accorded to others, agreed to pay a third. That’s one month for $8 per day. I could handle that. The room was pretty grotty. I think the cleaning thing was to sweep the floor and put some clean linen on the bed. It was OK. \u00a0The air con worked. the hot water worked when I figured out how to use it. The frig worked. The drain smelt. The TV was very ghosty, but then it was all Indonesian channels\u00a0anyway. \u00a0The bathroom, I doubt, had never been cleaned properly. As is typical here was no handbasin nor mirror. I can adjust. Sometimes when I check out the state of my house it can usually do with some cleaning, So at this point in time this was to be my home for possibly the next month. If it was to take a month that would be the end of my visa time. More things to worry about, like as if I didn’t have enough. The end of another very long and anxious filled day. Will this make me stronger person? It doesn’t feel like it, I”m still shaking. But for now, it’s time to crash, in bed this time.<\/p>\n
Sunday 4th September 2016<\/p>\n
In way I was glad it was Sunday because the bike shop was closed. Not that I had the day off. In between trying to rest my increasing sore body with some bed time, I was really concerned that parts for the repairs would not be available anywhere. So I spent a lot of time searching the web for parts and the prices thereof. I think you need to be mega rich to own a BMW. The prices were staggering and there were a lot that needed to be replaced if I was to get it back to its original condition. Then there was the extension to my visa if the repairs were to take more than 3 weeks. None of this decreased my anxiety levels. All the what if’s and the more importantly the what if not’s. Everything was unknown and not much I could do about any of it today anyway. Got more money from the ATM, checked out the possible food sources, looked around for Bintang, no luck there. I have since been told that the current president brought in new laws where alcholic drinks could not be sold outside licensed premised. This basically meant clubs and high end restaurants. None of those near where I was holed up. That wrapped up Sunday.<\/p>\n
Monday 5th September 2016<\/p>\n
I was ready to head for the bike shop at \u00a08am. Silly idea, Nothing seems to get going until 10am, Could have stayed in bed. I watched the traffic build to its frantic tempo with everyone going to work. Its interesting, by 9am I am, if outside, starting to perspire, yet people riding to work are wearing coats, scarfs and gloves, and its going to hit 36 degrees C today. I found some nice roadside chicken soup for breakfast followed by the regular cup of unfiltered black coffee. No matter how often I ask for no sugar, the coffee always comes with sugar. Nothing for the locals to have 4 and 5 teaspoons of sugar in what is always half a cup of coffee. Come 10am people started arriving at the bike shop. The shop owner, Martin, luckily, had a friend, Ben, with him that day, he spoke English. Ben helped run his father’s coal mine in Kalimantan. After more discussions by everyone about the bike, a mechanic started the process of stripping down the front end of the bike. First thing they found, which wasn’t on my possible endangered list, was the bent front axle. Not easy to remove a bent front axle. With the wheel off it became obvious that the front brake disc was rather warped. From they on up we went, Front forks seriously bent and buckled, triple clamp warped, headstock shaft bent, handle bars considerably bent, light and instrument housing broken, lamp protector bent, front beak in many pieces, front left and right side and rear left cowling snapped and one broken mirror lens. Lots and lots of money, I’m taking donations. This, to me, was way worse than I had first assessed the damage might be.<\/p>\n\n\t\t