The turtle is back.
For those of you that have been reading this blog since the beginning,
you have probably read about the turtle. Basically, imagine a 100 lb person with a 50
lb giant backpack on their back, a 40 lb backpack on their belly, and a Timbuk2
bag thrown over their shoulder (I got rid of my giant black box, thankfully). Well after the success of having the turtle
take a train, I decided to have the turtle try to ride on a moped. For someone who is carrying around their
entire house on their back, the idea of having some additional transportation help
seemed like a great idea (key word… seemed).
Therefore, when my assistant asked if I wanted to be picked up at the
airport, I, of course, agreed. I often
sit and watch the traffic pass by my town and I am constantly amazed at how
many people and things Indonesians can put on a moped. Four people is completely normal (I’ve seen
up to 6), so is carrying building supplies (including 2 X 4’s), hundreds of
durian fruits, or anything else one might need to transport. Therefore, I didn’t think twice about putting
the turtle on the moped. We began our
trip right after sundown and it begin without any problems. The weight was well
balanced, and all I had to do was hold on and relax for the hour and half ride
to my town. Just when I was getting comfortable,
we started going a little faster- and realized that I my backpack had become a
giant sail that was pushing me backwards.
Not only was I holding up the 65 lbs on the back of this small bike (which
of courses shifted so all the weight was hanging off my left shoulder), I was
carrying my other pack like a football (it only had two laptops, a pair of
binoculars and my nice camera- nothing important if it went flying off the
motorcycle). I tried to shift to get
things to fall back in balance- but as I did the entire motorcycle lunged as my
assistant, who is not much bigger than I am, tried to balance the extra wiggly
weight on the back of his bike. As I was
holding on for dear life, and literally, it was probably for my life, I just
kept thinking that since my backpack was soooo big if I did fall off, maybe my
backpack would save me, the irony of my life. By the time we
got back to my house in my little village, I had no feeling in any of my body-
especially the two fingers I was using to hold on the whole time. In the lack of feeling of my body though-
there was a different feeling, the feeling of finally starting to be a little Indonesian. However, there was also the thought that after
getting stuck on a train and then almost falling off a motorcycle, I should
really learn how to pack lighter.
