Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 46

Djungleturen var fantastisk! :) Turen hen til djunglen gik forygende godt. Der var kun et kritiskt punkt, og det var da vi ikke havde penge at betale visum med! (ups...) Naah, men allerede der fandt vi ud af hvor afslappede og venlige de indonesiske mennesker er - ogsaa de "officielle". Han ville bede om ca 400.000 rupias (hvilket vi stadigvaek ikke er helt klare over hvor meget det er i dkr...). Vi stod med et skaevt smil og spurgte om vi kunne betale med visa. Den gik ikke saa godt. Saa sagde han at vi kunne give ham US$60 - hvilket vi jo heller ikke havde. Vi spoerger ham saa naesten graedende om vi kan betale med euro - for heldigvis havde Sven og Ingrid givet os 50 euros med. Og det kunne vi!!!! :) :) ... read more

We arrived in West Sumatra late at night on December 4. A larger airport at Padang than expected but bit of a melee from the start and very hot and humid. The two men at Immigation took an inordinate amount of time reviewing passports and then stamped forms with vigour. After an hour we were waived through to collect our bags which I managed after only a short sharp tussle with shark-like wannabe baggage handlers. Customs officers smiling, but far too interested in the 4 arriving foreigners i(ncluding your fearless friends). Chatted with a friendly officer from Bukittinngi who expressed genuine pleasure that we were going hiking in the highlands the following week. For some reason I became separated from the missus and the Customs officer I was dealing with asked to go through the heavy ... read more

After another night in Medan after Bukit Lawang, we we're up early to take the bus to Berastagi in the Karo Highlands. We arrived at midday, glad to be in the cooler highlands after the jungle heat and Medan madness. That afternoon we attempted to make our way to the traditional Karo Batak (The Batak people are the original tribes people of Sumatra) village of Lingga. After initially finding it impossible to ascertain which bemo went to the village, we met two nice Indonesian lads, Jan and Fernando, who are learning to become Christian pastors. Jan spoke excellent english and they helped us find the right bemo and then decided to accompany us to the village. This turned out to be a great stroke of luck, as when we arrived Jan acted as interpreter for us ... read more

After a quick visa run through Malaysia we entered Sumatra for our final Indonesian stint. Twisty roads and crazy driving; 15 hrs later we arrived Gampong Chot and the Yasyan Bumi Sehat in meulaboh. info at http://www.bumisehatbali.org Meluboh was ground zero for the Tsunami, the whole area was flattened and an estimated 120,000 people lost their lives. The clinic is a maternity clinic run by an Indonesian NGO with an Australian midwife and about 15 idonesian staff. The work they do is vital to the well being of the mothers and babies in the local community. Originally we were coming to the clinc to help replant fruit trees and a medicinal garden. On arriving though it turned out that the land earmarked as a growing area was ontop of a small local landfill which in turn ... read more

With the male crew agents gone, I finally had Mrs. Gonzales to myself. We high tailed it North through Sumatran jungle counties, in search of Banda Ache. We didn’t fall in love, but strong friendships were made. The bus was typical Indonesian fare: bald tyres, cramped seats , three hours late, shocks that had been replaced by a Panzers, Muslim karaoke blasting till 3AM and of course the spasmatic driver that switches the wheel with his partner. This was done in between 2nd and 3rd, while the bus was still in "flight". "Amazing skills", I thought, only to fully be appreciated under heavy American sleeping sedatives and two 40oz Bintangs. The other two foreigners almost lost their late night rice and tea dinner. After one uses an Indonesian bus, there is a total disregard to all ... read more