Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 38

The road that seemed to be lost in the tall maize fields would suddenly open up to vast expanses of brilliant green rice fields, the water reflecting the mountains and clouds surrounding them. Then, mingled amoungst the rice fields, small villages with satellite dishes on all the houses would spring up and as quickly disappear back into the thick farms. Once through the farmlands, the road wound back up and over jungle covered mountains again. Our chariot was a rickety minivan with tape along the windows, roof upholstery bouncing against the tin can exterior with all the bumps and potholes in the road. In the corners of the van, small blue strobe lights flashed to the beat of the music, the melody completely drowned out by the thud thud of the sub-woofer. So, although we've technically ... read more

The smell of the third world hits me as soon as we exit the immigrasi at Batam; that unmistakable smell of burning rubbish mixed with low-grade exhaust fumes and other exotic smells that just didn't exist back across the Straits. Singapore is probably the most immaculate city and country in the world, Indonesia is, well very different. We change money and enter the scrum of shouting Ojek drivers (an Ojek is motorbike taxi, how they think they can help us when we already have 2 wheels of our own is something I don't bother to stop and discuss) and food vendors, the road outside is a circus of food and market stalls as today is the day the big Pelni ship comes to town (well small village with a jetty really). We ride into the huge ... read more

Sumatra.... 'Why Sumatra?', I hear you ask. And no it's nothing to do with a book of 'those' positions - that's the Karma Sutra you bunch of pervs. Well ,the real reason is that after watching the late Steve Irwin do a documentary with the Orangutans in Borneo I thought that maybe by visiting them, all my questions about being ginger could be answered by these 'men of the forest'. Plus in return I could share with them the hardships of being the only ginger in the class when growing up in 1970s Gloucestershire. Thus paving the way for some primate - homo sapien bonding, making the world a better place. Hmmm maybe. But anyway before this, I had to get thro Medan..... Getting there.... First impressions of Medan weren't good. Well it was cool ... read more

We left BL for Lake Toba, we caught a mini van and this should of seated 12 people including the driver but instead we had 16 people crammed in, it was so uncomfortable! we sat next to 2 young local girls, one spoke good english which was good for us later on, we had to stop at the top of the mountain(1982m) as there was a rock fall the road, it was cleared after a while and the bus driver went crazy down the windy roads, overtaking lorries, and the road wasnt that wide, i was glad when we got to the bottom. We arrived as it was getting dark in a place called Pangururan which was onthe other side to Lake Toba, not where we had planned! So the girl next to us asked the ... read more

We took the high speed ferry from Penang across to Sumarta, it should of taken 4hrs but 6hrs later and lots of very ill people we arrived, the sea was really rocky, one minute you can see just the sky to one side of the boat then just the waves. We caught a mini van to the Capital City of Medan, now these mini vans are something else, they would be scrap in the UK, there is more filler than body work, most have spoilers onthe back, Bob Marley painted all over them and no doors. But we arrived eventually, again this should of taken 1hr but 2.5hrs later we arrived at our hotel. It was a very long day, took around 13hrs all in all, from when we left the Hotel in Penang to the ... read more