Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 10

Actually, this trip was unthinkable before. You know, what's in Kerinci in addition to the sleeping volcano and cough all day long? But I did not expect, this journey becomes an exciting adventure. my friend (Elias Widhi) and I was assigned the office to make a documentary about the Kerinci. tell the life of society and how they are friends with nature. to be honest, initially I was not interested. because at that time I was concentrating on making documentary films that are more challenging than just visiting a cinnamon garden which usually grow along the Bukit Barisan. We flew to Padang, West Sumatra on March, 19 2009. We must to use early morning flight, because we will take eight hours of travel from to Sungai Penuh, Kerinci. Having met the driver who picked us up ... read more

When i was 8 there was the school trip to ontario place at the end of the semester... pretty lame in retrospect. What i will never forget is viewing my first IMAX movie in the Cinesphere, The Pacific Ring of Fire. Mountainous volcanoes spewing lava all around tropical islands and filmed from a helicopter; it blew my young sense away and made me want to see these vast wild landscapes. Now we're here and its not quite as titillating as i thought it would be when i was a child but we did climb our first active volcano yesterday and it was beautiful and surreal. A relatively smaller mountain at 2095m above sea level, gunung (mountain) Sibayak was once taller but long ago blew its peak off and is now a wide Caldera with several peaks ... read more

While sitting in a hammock you hear goats under the deck, a gentle lapping of the sea and the shrill screams of an insane local as she beats her dogs and it dawns on you how truly strange a place you are in. The sultry allure of weh warps your perception of time and space as all that you could want or do is within view of your front door. The only difficult things to come by are beer and a reason to ever leave. Unlike the nearly all of asia there are no motor bikes, no "tour guides" trying to sign you up for a jungle trek, and no hassles in general. Usually you have to put up with a big pile of annoyance to be surrounded by such beauty but not here. From the ... read more

so where to begin? We are no longer sick and in sumatra. our second trip to malaysia was short and very sweet. The goats at permaculture perak were stubborn but we once again made them our friends and had them eating out of our hands. Christmas was a small but merry time celebrated with fun folks from around the world. we feasted on a far from traditional dinner of stir fry, prawns and water buffalo bbq. After the buzzing streets of bangkok the highland jungle was the perfect place for respite and rejuvenation. we parted from our farm friends grudgingly but recharged and ready for the sumatran gauntlet. that lies ahead. leading up to the flight from kuala lumpur to banda aceh it felt as though a dark expanse of unknown lay before us. it was ... read more

Horas, horas, horas is a greetings from local dialect ( Batak ) in North Sumatra province. I have been invite by Narasindo Travel and Tours for familiarization trip to know about tourism product and destination that they can offer for tourist in Medan, Brastagi and Lake Toba. I never been there before, so I take this opportunity to visit this places. Temporarily I need to forget about guesthouse, where all lodging and transportion is arrange by this agency. Medan is the 3rd largest city of Indonesia after Jakarta and Surabaya. Located north side of Sumatra, and 45min by flight from Kuala Lumpur, also can be reach by ferry from Penang. The lead majority population is Java Sumatra followed by Batak, and Chinesse people. Old building architecture blend with Dutch design, also can be found in ... read more

November 10th: Indonesia is pretty lo-tech compared to China when it comes to internet. So apologies if words and pictures get a little delayed. Trying to find a free wifi connection isn't easy I can tell you! After the jungle another contrast of sorts. Danu Toba is like a giant Scottish loch with an island in the middle populated by the Batak people who need no encouragement to burst into song! The Batak are Christian compared to the majority of Indonesian that are Muslim. They are spread all over Sumatra but their homeland is Samosir Island, where we are now staying on a peninsular called Tuk Tuk.  This oasis of calm means it is very very chilled here. We went off round the island by motorbike the other day. Rachel in control, me on the back - ... read more

Ahhh, Krakatau . How I love thee. Famous for its blast some hundred years ago, its charm surely has tantalized many to come and visit thee. It was said that Krakatau ashes reached Europe and changed the course of history. I am not sure if it’s a little bit exaggerating, but when I was being told that a friend of a friend is planning to go there, I immediately said “can I join?” Days before the trip, the child of Krakatau started to show signs of eruption. With Merapi’s explosion just days before - it doesn’t sound like a good idea to visit at such time. Too many bad news of Krakatau ’s present condition: poisonous gas, ashes that reach as far as Cilegon, earthquakes and many more. But the event organizer decided to give it ... read more