WHO IS MOWGLI? AND WHERE THE HECK IS SHE?

We want you to meet our new friend from America, Michaela A.K.A. Mowgli. Yes, Mowgli like in the jungle book. Mowgli is on an adventure through Indonesia, and during her busy time fixing her bike somewhere in Lombok Island we’ve managed to make a little Q&A session to get to know her better. Get to know her now, as we’ll be following her adventure through the country over the coming months.

Ok Mowgli, explain to us. Who are you?
Hey! Well, what a question. In a nutshell, I’m a chick that loves riding motorcycles and being in the ocean. I’m originally from the United States but I moved to Indonesia when I was pretty young, around 19 years old. I spent 6 years here, traveled all over this beautiful country and was loving life. I was very lucky. I’ve now been in Australia studying over the last few years and that’s where I got my first motorcycle and I became addicted to riding instantly.

How did you get here and decide to ride across Indonesia?
So when I was in Australia I had a little 250 with a surfboard rack on it and I started doing long trips around the country with my bike and surfboard looking for waves. Out of nowhere with just started dreaming about coming back to Indo and doing a long trip by motorbike here. Indonesia has some of the best waves in the world, and I thought it would be a super cool place to see from a motorcycle. Over a couple months, the dreams about this trip just wouldn’t stop, so I thought, I better just make it happen. There’s no better time than now.

What drives you this far?
I don’t know, I think I’m driven by the challenge of it. I like having to figure all this out, like how to get to all the places I want to see, learning about motorcycles (that’s been a slow learning curve for me, I knew nothing before I planning this trip.) I’m also just really inspired by Indonesia, the people here and it’s beautiful culture. I love how you can literally watch it change from the seat of your motorbike as you ride past – culture, religion, clothing, and food. It’s definitely inspiring.

tell us your plan!
So right now the plan has been to start in Bali and head east through Lombok and Sumbawa and then loop back to Bali before heading to Java and Sumatra. I hope to end things with a cheeky trip surfing the Mentawais. But I’m open to what the road has for me and I’m sure it will take me to some unexpected places. I also can’t wait to hang with you guys in Jakarta!

where are you now?
Right now I’m in East Sumbawa! It took me 5 days to get here from Bali and I spent a couple days in Lombok with a hole in my tank. Which was fine because I got to hang out with a local rider Kevin Pentaxian there, and he took really good care of us. It was really cool to check out their bike community there too. Bikes bring people together which makes traveling on one a really awesome experience.

Guys, this is fun, and we envy her. We wish we could be with her riding all day and all night, enjoying tropical winds and waves and saying hi to all the good people on the way. But life is not fair. So Mowgli is having all the fun for us while we are busy in Jakarta working. But at least we can have a bit of happiness by following along with her journey. So stay tuned for more adventures from Mowgli in Indonesia!

More about Mowgli at https://wheresmowgli.com/about-mowgli/
Follow her Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wheresmowgli/

Photo Credit: Kevin Pentaxian