It turned out that we were just in time for the arrival of the RoRo ferry.
For departures from the mainland, its on odd-hours.
Our ferry leaves at 01:00pm, plenty of time to hang around and wait.
And once it arrived, motorcycles, lorries and cars started to pack the ferry like sardines.
We had to put our bikes on a small lorry.
And the fare to get across from Dumai to Rupat on the RoRo ferry service costs about IDR 10,000 (RM2.67) one-way.
I told Mohd Radzi that there weren't much time and things to do on the island. Our mission was to get to a beach, put on our best Batik shirt for the camera!
It takes about 30-minutes for the ferry to land at the other side of the island and Rupat is no small dot on the map.
It's hugely under-developed and is the nearest point from Indonesia to the Malaysian Peninsular.
Packing up the bikes...
After alighting from the RoRo ferry, we rode back towards town.
Since we didn't have lunch, I asked if we could swing by Bakso Lapangan Tembak in town.
Mohd Radzi agreed and we had some Es Buah and Bakso to line our stomach.
The rest of the evening was a treat at Rumah Makan Pak Datuk at Jalan Jendral Sudirman.
With the free time that I had summed up, I washed my bike and bagged it. That's it, no more riding for me.
Summary
With Rupat in the fold, we've done about 279km in total.
It was an interesting ride in a sense that we saw some really cool places.
The people of Sumatera are friendly in general and are willing to help travelers.
We've capped our budget at IDR 2million, which is just about right for nearly a week.
The bulk of our expenses were on hotels, being the most expensive in Dumai.
During the journey home, the fucking baggage handlers broke my Ashima disk brake lever. I had to get replacement parts for this..
The next day, we hired a transport from the hotel to the port and began with our travel documents.
Endured the three-hour journey and told my cycling buddy that the best way for me to get home was to hire a cab.
It cost me RM60, and I am short of time. Why? Because I need to send my wife to the airport on the same day.
And for the journey, I've done my best to educate Mohd Radzi on the know-hows in bicycle touring and hope that he could pick up some good skills and would be someday a ride leader..
This guy has plenty of potential, he needs to be street-smart and alert. Rather than being a follower, I guess he will rise to ranks of expedition organizer.. At the end of it, I did apologized to him if I had treated him harshly throughout the week-long journey.
LEFT: Children fishing on a canal. RIGHT: Cycling in Pulau Rupat