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Published: March 16th 2011
(WARNING: a whole lot of words and no photos)
I was pretty indecisive on my arrival in Java. A guy on the boat had almost convinced me to stay the night it Banyuwani and catch the morning train to Yogya, then continue on to Jakarta which sounded good because I prefer trains over buses. I was restless though and anxious to keep moving so I booked a bus to Yogyakarta leaving at 6pm with a German couple and an Irish/Scotish couple I met in the ‘tourist information center’ – aka tour booking with large commission center. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon then got on the bus which was of course an hour late. It was a luxury of luxury buses with massively reclining chairs, footrests, pillows and blankets, which were definitely necessary because it was FREEZING! We arrived in Yogya at 7:30 the next morning and I went straight to the train station and got on a train to Jakarta which took another 8 hours. I hoped there would be a bus leaving for Sumatra that evening but it turns out I would have to wait until midday the next day. This was frustrating since I could have spent the day seeing things in Yogya and caught the much cheaper night train to Jakarta without losing any time. It was nice to sleep horizontally for a night between 2 very long journeys though and I got to see abit of Java, even if it was only from a train window. I saw mainly rice fields on a much bigger scale than the ones I saw on the other islands, but also not as picturesque. I was also considering taking the Pelni ship from Jakarta either straight to North Sumatra (Medan) or to an island where I could then go on to Malaysia, reentering Indonesia a little higher up with a new visa and another 30 days to spare. I didn’t end up even asking about the Pelni schedule since I’d just heard about the Earthquake in Japan and the tsunami warning for Indonesia. Although Jakarta was a bad place to be in the event of a tsunami, I decided being on a boat was probably even worse.
My bus was meant to leave Jakarta at 1pm so I got to the station, well out of town, at 12:30 only to find out it wouldn't be arriving until 3:30pm so I had nothing to do but wait. Time went quickly in the beginning as I was something of a novelty and everyone wanted to talk to me, wear my hat, and have their photo taken with me. These were all employees of various bus companies who then had to go back to work so I sat and did nothing. 3:30 came and went and the bus eventually rocked up at 5:30pm. I don't really know what the delay was but I don't think it's particularly uncommon. This was the start of a 40 hour bus ride to Bukittinggi about half way up Sumatra. It included a 3 hour ferry ride where I was babysat by the bus driver the whole time and barely allowed out of his sight. I'm not sure if he enjoyed the attention and curiosity I attracted and was proud to be the driver of a tourist or whether he was worried I would be incapable of finding my way onto the ferry, then back onto the bus at the other end all on my own? The bus was not as comfortable as others I've taken recently but I had 2 seats to myself the whole way which made up for it. The driver was obviously in a rush as we only stopped every 8 or 9 hours. Luckily I wasn't very hungry because i certainly didn't think ahead and pack any food. There was a toilet on board and using it was probably my worst experience so far. I picked a particularly bad time to go when we were speeding along some of the windiest roads I've experienced yet. It was a squat toilet with a door that didn't even stay closed, let alone lock but luckily I was finished when it decided to fly open and throw me into the passage way. awkward...
I did nothing but sleep, read, and stare out the window for a day and 2 nights before arriving in Bukittinggi early in the morning. I went straight to the bus terminal (annoyingly the bus didn't drop me off here) and hopped on another bus to Prapat, a small town on Danau Toba, 15 hours north. I payed the extra (as has become a habbit) for an AC bus despite my passionate opposition to the overuse of air conditioning since it means smoking is forbidden. Unfortunately in Sumatra, smoking is not forbidden on AC buses and since there are no windows, there is nowhere for the smoke to go. I didn't think I would make it, I was so close to stopping the bus in the middle of nowhere and jumping off, punching all the smokers in the face as I passed them. I spent the bus ride breathing through 3 layers of clothing (which didn't help much), I developed a massive headache and my eyes stung so much it was hard to keep them open. Plus I was freezing due to the unneccessary air con and convinced I was developing pressure sores on my bum.
Thanks to many extra long meal breaks, a slow driver, and the inevitable breakdown, the bus took 20 hours and I was dumped on the side of the highway near Prapat centre with no map at 3am. Walking towards town I slipped in the mud and stacked it into a giant mud puddle and lost my hat. excellent. After wandering around trying to find a cheap hotel still open, I got worried about wandering the streets on my own in the middle of the night so I went into the foyer of a really ritzy hotel. Rooms were going at about $150 US a night. There was noone attending the front desk so I made use of their toilet and made a horrible mess being covered in mud and all. I tried to hide the evidence that I'd made the mess by washing my feet and legs but this just seemed to make it worse. I then slept in a chair in the foyer and woke up at 6 when the cleaners started work. Seeing a dirty backpacker and muddy footprints all over their immaculately clean tiled floor I expected them to kick me out but instead they offered me a more comfortable seat, map of the town, some brochures, and let me have free breakfast!
After that I went down to the pier, stocked up on fruit (considering the abundance of tropical fruit in this country it can be impossible to find alot of the time) and took the ferry over to Samosir island, an island about the size of Singapore in the middle of the lake. I now have a little over a week left of my visa to unstressfully enjoy north Sumatra!
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mia
non-member comment
i am confused with the logisitics of this post. you are in north sumatra and want to get to singapore - to get back into indo with another month visa? where are you heading when you get back into indo? i bet there is some madcore vegan places/people in singapore!!! oh thats sad you didnt get to stop in yogya. well good times on the transport system - i am feeling the pain (minus the smokers) with this no noarlunga train situation, its a good two hours home from the city these days and no way to get bikes from noarlunga to oaklands! in other exciting news: made pesto out of my own basil, plum jam out of free organic plums (i worked on hayden from doof doofs farm) and "honey" joys today!!