Riding Indonesia

2005 had been a landmark year for Yamaha Motor Company (YMC). The Japanese motorcycle maker celebrated its 50th anniversary with its second consecutive Motorcycle Grand Prix championship with 7-time World Champion Valentino Rossi riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 race bike. 2005 also saw the increase in sales of Yamaha motorcycles worldwide and the phenomenal growth is in what YMC considers as its most important market — the ASEAN region.

Among the ASEAN countries, Indonesia ranks as the biggest market for motorcycles with sales of over five million motorcycles per annum and a registered motorcycle population of about 15 million. The predominantly Muslim country of 222 million people was also chosen as the springboard to launch the Yamaha T135 Pan ASEAN Tour, which will run through Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The Tour is a 15,000-kilometer endurance run and on-road promotion of Yamaha’s new liquid-cooled, four-stroke135cc single-cylinder underbone motorcycle codenamed T135. The bike, which boasts of Yamaha’s technologically-advanced DiASil cylinder, lightweight forged aluminum piston, 4-valve and roller rocker arm valve train and new diamond-type frame, has been making waves around Indonesia as the baru (new) Jupiter MX and will be called the Sniper 135 when it comes to Philippine shores.

Manuel Gaspar "Boy" Albos, Jr., EVP of Norkis Trading Corporation, the country’s distributor of Yamaha motorcycles invited yours truly and Manila Standard Today motoring writer Dino Directo III to represent the Philippines in the Indonesian leg of the Tour aptly called the "Jupiter MX ASEAN Touring-Indonesia". The series of events unfolding in that country — terrorist threats, the bird flu and dengue fever health risks, and the riots that were being broadcasted on CNN, not to mention the rainy season that comes every November — might have been enough to prompt the Singaporean and Vietnamese delegates to decline their participation but being avid bikers, Dino and I threw all caution to the wind.

Riding through Jawa

We flew to Jakarta along with Al Camba of Inside Racing magazine last November 17 and then took an hour-long flight the next day (Nov. 18) to the city of Jogjakarta near the southern tip of Jawa (Java Island) where the Tour commenced. YMC and the local Yamaha distributor and manufacturer, PT Yamaha Motor Kercana Indonesia (YMK) took out all the stops in the planning, preparation and execution, as well as the safety and security aspects of the Tour. The participating ASEAN, Japanese and Indonesian riders took a guided tour of the Sultan’s Palace in morning and the Prambanan archeological site in the afternoon after a spicy but hearty lunch and a short technical briefing. A luncheon and press conference on November 19, attended by ASEAN and Japanese media, launched the Pan ASEAN Tour. After the luncheon conference, a big parade and concert was held in Malioboro, a wide commercial street that was closed exclusively for the Yamaha event.

The Yamaha T135 Pan ASEAN Tour/Jupiter MX ASEAN Touring-Indonesia officially started on the early morning of November 20 after a brief but colorful ceremony at Malioboro Street. We rode from Jogjakarta, stopped for lunch at the Rajawali Yamaha dealership in Ngawi and then rode into a welcome ceremony at Kediri, where we spent the night. At about mid-afternoon November 21, we rode into a colorful and mystic "Lion Head Dance" welcome ceremony at Surabaya, which is the second largest in Indonesia after Jakarta, and stayed at the Plaza Hotel for three nights. On the 22nd, we rode north to the mountain city of Malang and then rode back to Surabaya to tour the city and promote Yamaha’s baru cepeda motor (new motorcycle). We left Surabaya on November 23 to ride to Cepu, a small but wealthy, oil-producing province and stayed at a palace-like hotel, curiously named the Sweet Bintang (Star). That night, we had a taste of the local street food — tempe penyet, a spicy dish that the common folk love to eat and then retired to our luxurious rooms feeling like the fairytale pauper living the life of a prince.

The morning of November 24 found us riding to Semarang, Indonesia’s third largest city, and into the YMK flagship dealer, which is larger than some of the car dealerships around Indonesia. We stayed in Semarang for three nights, pampered and paraded like celebrities, touring the city and sight-seeing at the Borobodur Hindu temple and Cheng He Chinese temple, taking a 45-minute steam train ride and playing 9-ball at a local bar/bowling alley/billiard hall/concert stage.

On November 27, we rode out of Semarang and into the Tawang Mas Racing Circuit for a couple of parade laps before a large, appreciative crowd. The crowd witnessed the turn-over ceremonies of the tree-planting "Green Project" that Yamaha was concurrently undertaking during the Tour, as well as a motorcycle stunt show and the final Indonesian heats of the Yamaha Cup Race, which was the real reason why the crowd was there. We rode off into the afternoon sun and then spent the night in the oil-producing city of Cirebon.

We rode north on November 28 to Bandung, Indonesia’s more affordable version of Paris, a shopping haven for bargain hunters. Needless to say, we shopped ‘til we dropped and left the next day (Nov. 29) with lighter pockets and heavier baggage, but thankfully, we had a bus to carry our stuff. We rode our T135 bikes to Sumedang, a Baguio-like mountain city where we were greeted with a colorful ceremony that included a parade of dancing horses, ethnic music and traditional dances. After YMK turned over seedlings to the local governor for their environmental project, we retreated to Bandung for lunch, rode through foggy and cold mountain passes and arrived at the capitol city of Jakarta for an overnight stay.

Crossing into Sumatera

We were flagged-off at the Yamaha factory on the morning of November 30 by YMK president Takahashi-san and rode towards the northern tip of Java Island as we headed to the port area to catch a three-and-a-half-hour-long ferry ride to Sumatera (Sumatra Island). By nightfall, our ferry docked at Sumatra and we rode in the dark to the province of Bandar Lampung, where their city mascot is an elephant playing soccer, a wooden miniature of which was given to the riders as a souvenir during that evening’s welcome dinner.

After riding far and hard on December 1, some of the riders, including yours truly, were sleepless that night at the rural town of Baturaja. It was not because of the excitement of the day’s ride but because Baturaja’s guest accommodations were quite Spartan, to say the least. We had become so accustomed to first-class hotel accommodations after being pampered for the past 14 days that a lowly motel room suddenly felt uncomfortable. Thankfully, we stayed there for only a night and were never billeted in a roach hotel again during the remainder of the Tour.

At the afternoon of December 2, Palembang’s iconic Ampera Bridge (Sumatra’s version of the Golden Gate Bridge) greeted us as we rode into one of the more modern cities in Sumatra. An elaborate and colorful welcome greeted our convoy, including a flag parade and a ceremonial capping of traditional head gear and colorful woven cloth. The festivities at Palembang extended into dinner and included musical entertainment and awarding of souvenirs. The next morning, an equally elaborate send-off ceremony bade us farewell and made us feel sorry that we only had one night to spend in this friendly and dynamic city.

Whatever emotional and physical strain we felt during the 300-kilometer ride under the hot sun of December 3 was immediately washed away as we rode into an enthusiastic crowd in the city of Jambi. We felt like superstars as cultural dances, waving children and a large, appreciative crowd welcomed us into the city. The midday send-off on December 4 wasn’t as elaborate, but it felt good to see traditionally-garbed maidens kneeling before you and dancing to the gods for your safe journey.

On our way from Jambi to Muara Bungo, our Tour was slowed down by convoys of trucks and motorcycles causing traffic while carrying throngs of people to a political rally. I guess Indonesians and Filipinos are very much alike when it comes to politics — very much involved during campaigns and very much neglected after their candidate wins.

Our stay at Muara Bungo was rather quiet and subdued, which prompted the riders to jest that YMK must have blown the budget and was beginning to curb its expenses. But as we rode along the scenic mountain passes on the road to Padang on the morning of December 5, our queries were soothed by the changing scenery and the cool climate. Our doubts were likewise quickly erased when we rode into a rousing welcome from the citizens of Padang. We rolled behind a marching band into Plasa Andalas mall, where traditional dances, including a spiritual trance-induced dance on broken glass, were intertwined with a roaring ‘20s-like cancan dance and a modern band concert. We had a blast that night, albeit a short one that boosted our spirits.

We left Padang early the next morning (Dec. 6) and rode another 300-odd kilometers through cool climates, zigzag mountain roads and long, hot and boring plains (our average speed was limited to 80kph for safety reasons) to an uneventful night in Pekanbaru. We then rode 400 kilometers the next day (Dec. 7) to palm oil-producing Rantau Prapat, where the local Yamaha dealer hosted a memorable reception and send-off for us.

Terima Kasih (Thank You), Yamaha

On December 8, we rode an easy 182 kilometers to Medan, the largest city in Sumatra where a rousing welcome reception at the YMK dealership completed the Jupiter MX Pan Asean Touring-Indonesia. A city tour, a farewell ceremony and concert at the Medan Matahari mall and a final parade of ASEAN, Japanese and local riders aboard Yamaha-powered two-stroke tricycles on December 9 and a private farewell party attended by YMC and YMK executives and Yamaha Sumatran dealers on December 10 culminated the last two days of the Tour’s closing activities.

We later learned that the Indonesian leg of the Yamaha T135 Pan ASEAN Tour was originally designed to start at the tip of Jawa and end at the tip of Sumatera but the organizers had re-routed it to avoid the terrorist threat in Bali and out of respect for the victims of the tsunami catastrophe at Bandah Aceh. But no matter — the Tour had served its purpose. The Yamaha T135/Jupiter MX performed flawlessly throughout the entire 4,280 kilometers of riding, with no breakdowns and no accidents and hampered only by the occasional flat tire. The bike returned a respectable fuel mileage average of 51.65 kilometers per liter and even though it wasn’t meant to be a comfortable long-distance tourer, the Tour proved that it can be.

The Tour likewise generated the media and public attention needed to call this promotional activity a success. The riders were also treated like superstars, with enthusiastic Indonesians identifying us from the news footages that the Selamat Pagi (Good Morning) TV show broadcasted every morning, and with some even asking for our autographs. Even though we had a language barrier, (most of them can’t speak English and I don’t speak Bahasa, though a lot of people mistook me for a native Indonesian) I could feel the public astonishment, respect and more importantly, awareness that this Tour generated.

Like the lead police vehicle that sliced traffic on Indonesian roads to pave the way for our impressive and long convoy, the Pan ASEAN Tour is a harbinger of the Yamaha juggernaut that is about to assault the ASEAN motorcycle market. Competitors better be on the lookout.