Explore Bali by Scooter
An ordinary couple who love riding,
Me, Exlesia Theorandaru & my wife, Leni Theorandaru like to ride a motorcycle for weekend / holiday. But this is the fact, Wifey is a person who always strict to the plan, make everything happen as scheduled, meanwhile I like to hit something spontaneously with no reason. Bali? everybody want to go there with no reason, just have fun. So here we are, flyin to Bali, then ride an italian scooter, exploring Bali.
So it all started from here… early morning, when the sun still sleeping,
Saturday 22 september, we are preparing to leave the Cilegon City and head towards Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. It was still morning, when our plane uphill among the clouds. This is a gift from me to my wife, a wedding gift after we have trip to South Korea, a non-motorcycle trip, make me sick. The plan is to get around the island using a motorbike, because we like to ride motorcycles. There are other feelings that make us feel free while riding a motorcycle.Why Bali? Who does not know Bali? The island that store a lot of happiness, and everyone always wants to go to Bali for havin ‘ fun. And why a Vespa? There is no other reason to still look good and classy, ride Vespa and use Givi helmets, a well-known Italian brands. So I think it all fits, all italian.
The trip is always fun with Givi in our gear. Usually, when we were riding with our motorcycles, we always bring our lovely Givi top case E45 and side case E45NJ. All the stuff is definitely fit in three case it. This time we just bring our Givi helmets due to the limitations of our aircraft baggage.
Exactly nine o’clock in the morning, we landed safely at the airport. Scooter GTS 150 looks clean and nice, a little treat our pique because the agent is comes late. Bali weather looks bright, clouds look beautiful in the sky, the sun was blazing and we started down the street towards the mountains of Ubud. Givi modular helmet feels comfortable in my head, it proved its versatility when I often ask direction to native.
Other special thing is when you’re in Indonesia, then soon you will find hospitality and a big smile from everyone. In Bali, the mandatory law to make your guests feels comfy like at home. After heavy traffic in Kuta, we pass many rice fields. The air seemed to grow cold as we climb to a rural area in Ubud. The traditional House, a lot of wild dogs, and typical of the warm smiles of the locals makes us very happy. It’s not just about the ride, but also culture and it’s little things about the local culture and traditions that are already well known to the whole world.
“Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. The area surrounding the town is made up of small farms, rice paddies, agroforestry plantations, and tourist accommodations”.
We spend the night in Ubud, a unique experience of living side by side with nature. My wife asked about the plans want to where after this. I smiled.
Then I said: “I do not know, you got any ideas?”
Leni can figure out how her husband dumbfounded, far away from Cilegon, to Bali, and there are no plans other than to order the hotel and rent a scooter!
My wife responded “Is up to you, I just follow you.”
Then we went down to the beach, Bali’s famous Kuta Beach, also known as Sunset Beach. Luxury resorts, restaurants, and clubs are located along the beach. Some tourists dislike it as it is considered blocking the beach view, while some others believe the wall helps dampen the sounds from the congested traffic street.
We really enjoy the Kuta… walking on the beach, watch the sunset, chatting with coast guards, fascinated by the way they train dogs to save visitors.
Near Kuta we seeing a huge monument dedicate to all victims of Bali Bombing in 2002, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. A permanent memorial, well-maintained and illuminated at night, was built on the site of the destroyed Paddy’s Pub on Legian Street (a new bar, named “Paddy’s: Reloaded”, was reopened further along Legian Street). The memorial is made of intricately carved stone, set with a large marble plaque, which bears the names and nationalities of each of those killed. It is flanked by the national flags of the victims.
The next day we continue the journey to Tanah Lot, a place where there is a temple on a large rock, on the edge of the sea. In Indonesia, motorcycle is not allowed to using a highway / toll road. But different with Bali, we can using Bali-Mandara toll road, even by small engine scooter… and fortunately the streets here are very good.From Bali, I’m learning about “happy wife, happy life”. Ahahaha! Leni was very enjoy sit in my back seat, the 150cc naturally aspirated engine adequate to carry us and our bagage.
Thanks Givi, for keep developing and continue to make peoples like me feels happy when I’m on two wheels.Explore, enjoy! We really enjoy our scooter time in Bali with Givi.
The protagonist
Exlesia Theorandaru and Leni Theorandaru
