Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 43

So im alive, that nice family let me leave with one of my kidneys. How sweet! Seriously tho, they let me sleep in a bed for a few hours, fed me breakfast lunch and diner, drove me and helped me book my ticket to bukittinggi, and the brother even waiting for 2 hours with me at the bus station. I offered money but they refused. Made me think, if i was in that situation, i would totally help out other travelers like that. I dont think the situation will arise much, especially if i stay in Calgayry. who wants to travel there anyways? "and here is a big restaurant that rotatets, heres a crane, and another crane, and a bunch of business men, and oh, an oil company skyscraper! If you get bored of that, we ... read more

i got to sumatra, bandur lampung at 5am. wanting to take the night bus again, to bukittinggi, i did not want to find a hotel, just a bus there. i tried to tell the bus driver my situation, but no english. this young girl, who knew english over heard my story and offered to help me out. i was skeptical, but for somereason i just went with it. she said her brother would drive us to their house. as soon as we got off the bus, her brother and a friend were there on motor bikes. i got on, worrying that they might take me and beat me and steal my shit...but it was too late, i was on the bike. we get to the house, and there are their parents and younger sister there waiting ... read more

On to Palau Weh otherwise known as Sabang What a stunning island fantastic but even now with most of the NGO staff gone from Banda there is an accommodation problem especially at weekends. We arrived at the ferry port and locals sort the transport out part of the way in a bus then they unloaded us into a Taxi. Nice driver who is the main driver for Iboih beach. We wanted to stay at Gapang so he took us round looking for a place Ellie wasn’t feeling to good so looked for AC it was late, we ended up at one of the Government places Laguna Resort big bungalows 250000Rp a night absolutely crap. Toilet stank like a gent’s urinal that had never been cleaned. The rooms are huge soulless and depressing ours had more ants ... read more

Iwan the our guide from the Jungle Inn had been suggesting we take a trip to Tangakahan About 2.5 hours from Bukit Lawang (it took about 3.5 in the end) we can go for a day trip allegedly. Well that’s possible but who would want to. Not wanting to spend so long travelling in one day we decide on an overnight. This is where we screw up having got friendly with Iwan and liking his good knowledge and attitude to the wildlife. So we don’t check it out anywhere else. This would have been easy to do. Iwan said we had to come back to Bukit Lawang to get back to Medan we already had a flight to Banda Ache booked. Left one of our Bags at Iwans house and meet up with the chain smoking ... read more

- "Een colaatje?" - "4000 graag." - "En twee Nasi Goreng?" - "12.000 alsjeblieft" - "Twee bustickets naar Banda Aceh?" - "200.0000 op de kop" - "Het vliegtuig naar Jakarta?" - "440.000 per persoon." Zonder een krimp te geven, halen we 2.000.000 per keer af. We toveren de nullen uit onze portefeuille zoals konijnen uit een hoed. Voor elke euro krijg je 13.500 rupiah. Je moet het hier niet breed hebben om het breed te laten hangen... Nadat de Maleisische ferry ons had afgezet in Medan op Sumatra wisten we meteen waar naartoe: dezelfde nacht nog zaten we op de bus met bestemming Banda Aceh. Van daaruit zouden we weer een ferry nemen, deze keer naar Pulau Weh, een eilandje ten noorden van Sumatra. Na zeven uur Maleisische ferry, anderhalf uur bus naar Medan, opnieuw 13 ... read more