I was told the bus to Bandar Lampung would leave at 7 in the morning and it would take around 6 hours to get there. I was a bit surprised when a guy came to knock on my hotel door at 6:30 to tell me that the bus was about to leave. I guess buses don’t usually leave before schedule in Indonesia.
It was not any less adventurous to cross the mountains in a small bus than it would have been on a bicycle. However, with the road in terrible condition I was happy to be in the bus and not the cycle with a broken tire.
On a long descend smoke started to fill the bus cabin. Obviously the brakes where overheated, but the bus driver was never the less continuing. I guess he knew what he was doing, but I was starting to get nervous.
Luckily the road was soon blocked by another truck that had broken down going uphill. The smoke in the cabin was now so bad that it was uncomfortable to breath. If we had continued any longer I guess the breaks would have given up. Once the way was clear things were back to normal, and I was happy to note that we continued at a bit slower speed down the mountain. I was also happy to know that the last couple of hours into Bandar Lampung would be flat.
Shit! Next time, play the engineering-card 😉