Rewind - Indo, Padang Part 1

If I could describe Indo in one word, it would be a short pause, and then "wow". I think in my last travel blog, in my rush to get a blog out to everyone, I made a pretty harsh comment about it being third world (which it is), and that I was jaded, and something about a hand out. I feel very bad about this comment and my inability to express myself sometimes, as what upset me about my time in Indo had nothing to do with the country, the people and its status at all. I think what I was jaded by were the actions of a fellow Aussie that was travelling with us.

When I look back at my time in Indo, I have very fond memories. We did a lot of strange things, put ourselves in the strangest of situations and witnessed alot of strange acts, which is just there culture. I think the last you heard of me in Indo was that I was in Cimaja - west Java, watching stuff get washed into shore. Cimaja was a nice place, but putting it simply, if you cant surf, it doesnt hold much for you. It is hot during the day, and there is nothing to do. In Cimajas defence, I do also think that I was trying to settle into the whole thing in my first few weeks - no routine to follow, trialling new routines to run etc. I still found lots of thing to do, but I guess I put expectations of some magical tropical place, similar to that of somewhere like Bali - but not Bali, just with less people. Silly me. So just took each day as it came, but nothing really blew me away. Actually the one thing that did blow me away was the Muslim celebration of Idul Fitri - the end of Ramadan. Not the actual tradition; but the fact that hundreds of Indos packed into the back of a truck travelling around the coast is not my idea of a fun holiday - which is how they celebrated Idul Fitri. It really did put a whole new meaning to truck loads of people.

After a 2.5 hour delayed flight from Jakarta, a 1.5 hour flight on busted ass airlines, missing luggage and a dozen Puffin Donuts, polished off with a cappucino coolata of course, my adventure actually began in the Sumatran city of Padang.

The heat was different, the city itself was different. The first thing that I had noticed was that there was no rubbish lining the streets. In Cimaja and Jakarta it was the first thing you noticed. (A lack of education as well as no where to properly dispose of it I suppose). The people were different. The first time I had seen rain in Indo was here... a tropical thunderstorm of the most strangest proportions. The humidity was different. Not to mention lightening hits the ground there. I watched people getting out of a taxi in the street, whilst lightening was crashing down all around them, and I was in awe - not because lightning was hitting the ground, but because the people getting out of the taxi were going about there business like it was a nice sunny day - I still wonder if they even knew that lightning was hitting the ground. I was so amazed by this that I hadnt even noticed Mick and the other aussie guy travelling with us ducking under the table because they thought someone was firing a gun (which is what the lightning sounded like). Wow. That was the first time I was actually truly blown away on my trip.

We were heading to the Mentawais. Surfing Mecca. The most isolated of tropical islands. We were misinformed by the surf guide, thinking we could just jump on next ferry over to Siberut, but because of Ramadan the ferries had stopped running and we had to wait for 5 days for the next one. Which was cool for me, but I think the boys were a bit bummed - they were keen for some good surf. This did give us some time to get everything ready for our trip. We had to get enough food for 4 people (myself, Mick, Mikey - the other Aussie guy, and Ronal - our Mentawaiian surf guide). Organise ferry tickets, and then get ourselves registered with the local police.

It also gave us some time to get our laundry done, and explore a bit. Didnt really find much - just an underground networkings of a huge marketplace, it took us about 20 minutes to find the exit. We were also introduced to Martabak. It is sort of Indos version of a sheperds pie - maybe, I am still not sure. So so so tasty!!! If you ever go to Padang, you have to try it. Apart from that we were staying in this nice homestay, so we were just hanging there until we left. If we werent there, we were doing missions to the dodgy dvd shops on the side of the streets, you know the ones, the copies of films where someone took a vid cam into the cinema and you can hear people laughing, or just wondering aimlessly around the joint. We also went on a dead end mission to find somewhere which could repair my camera. Hahahaha.... I just left it for London where I could properly explain what I wanted. My broken Indo wasnt cutting it. And I think the camera shop people were thinking I was asking for something dodgy.... not too sure. I think this is when I found out that I am so bad at charades.

On our last day in Padang, we had to go on the shopping mission. It took Mick and I about 4 hours to get everything and carry it back to the homestay. We had enough food and water for 2 weeks for 4 people. And three live chickens. In four hours we were jumping on a ferry Siberut........

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Part of trip: Indonesia

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