Indonesian vacation

Hi guys! I know. I´ve been of the grid for some time but now I’m back under the radar after three weeks island hopping in Indonesia! It was a getaway I needed. To forget about everything for a while was really refreshing. Our journey began with the flight to Bangkok then to Bali and from there by boat to Gili islands near Lombok. Actually we stayed on Gili air which is the closest one to Lombok. It’s a small island. You can walk around it in on hour. There’s not any kind of motorized on-land transports in Gilis. No fresh water either. You can move around in horse carriages and have shower with the sea water! It wasn’t that bad once you get to used to it! Absolutely peaceful. Only damn roosters wake you up early that’s all! Diving was good. Many turtles but also much broken corals and dead corals from dynamite fishing although it stopped 10 years ago. Hard corals grow slowly but there was some visible new growth on top of the dead coral at some places. In places were corals were intact it was truly beautiful.

After some days in Gili we took a boat to Lembongan island which is closer to Bali.

There diving was better in terms of coral but I saw only one turtle in 10 dives I did. Lembongan is world wide known for the Ocean Sunfish (mola mola) that can be seen from time to time around Lembongan and neighboring islands. It is the heaviest bony fish in the world and weighs around 1000kg/2200lbs. The best season to see them is July-September so I was a bit late and missed the opportunity to swim with these gentle giants. I saw one when I was diving a wall off Lembongan. I was about 40m deep and I saw it way below me maybe in 55m. I just had a glimpse of it looming down there in the blue before the strong current pushed me on. I saw Manta rays though. I made some nice footage so I’ll have no freetime problems this winter... video editing is my other hobby that I like a lot!

I have been home only few days but my moto club -Riihimäen Moottoripyöräkerho Kahvakopla- organized a “cake&coffee” evening to celebrate it’s succesful riders. My world championship title in Enduro, Reko Nieminen’s Finnish championship bronze in Road Racing were the highlights but what makes me happy and proud to be a member of this club is their dedication to juniors! They have “Kari Tiainen motorbike school” for kids every summer. Kari is also member of RIMPKK and with his seven world titles he is a living legend!

Today Finnish televion group from channel four came to visit the workshop of my mechanic Allan. They are putting together a compilation of 2010 Enduro GP season and they needed to make an interview with me for it. They have followed the whole season and now it’s time to wrap the whole season together for the last program.