On the ground in Sumatra

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After a long blog-absence I have returned! I am now in Probolinngo,Java Indonesia after having had a fantastic trip in Sumatra. The people of Sumatra and Indonesia in general are so friendly and welcoming! Not to mention there is an attraction or two to see! The adventure began interestingly right off the bat. At the ferry terminal there sat a ragged-looking old mountain bike set-up for touring and VERY loaded! It definitely looked like it had seen a few miles. It's owner was a fantastic character named Julian who has been cycling around the world since 1989!! That is not a typo! Julian was born in Africa and grew up mostly there to parents of mixed heritage and then then ended up in the UK. He holds a UK passport and has an English accent but doesn't really identify with the country. He really is just a sort of citizen of the world in my mind. He had a small landscape business in the U.K and at the age of 36 decided that he would cycle to India. He made some plans, arranged visas, sold his business, and off he went! The first day that he ever rode his bicycle was the day he left! Anyway, he made it to India and I guess at some point just decided to keep going. My first idea was that he must have made enough from his business to finance himself over all this time, but not so. He is skilled with his hands and when he needs money he stops and works. He lives very frugally and camps quite a bit. His longest stop was in Guatemala for two years. He has been on the same aluminum bicycle now since 1996! His philosophy on drinking water is that if the locals drink it, he does. My theory is that after so long his immune system has been exposed to so many different bacteria etc. that it is very strong, making him like a local almost anywhere he goes. Anyway, we hit it off on the ferry and were going the same way so decided to bike into Medan city together(maybe 27km from Belawan where the ferry port is). There was an instantly palpable feeling of going from sort of maybe 2nd world(in Malaysia)to 3rd world conditions. The traffic was totally chaotic-I was loving it! The only place I've seen it nearly as chaotic may have been Hanoi, Vietnam and Julian concurred! We arrived in Medan after having some locals on bike help guide us towards the area where most of the cheap tourist hotels are near Masjid Raya(the biggest mosque in Medan). We hung out together that evening and had a fantastic smorgasbord of padang(an area/city) food at a restaurant where they just layout a zillion dishes on your table and you pay for what you eat! We also hit up a little bakery and I found some peanut butter to bring as back up road food with some sweet rolls(it's very difficult to find bread that isn't sweet). We hung out the next day as well sort of tooling around the city looking for various supplies that we needed, using internet and sightseeing. We had a great evening meal at a little family run food stall or warung where we tried a TST drink. It stands for Teh,Susu,Telok(tea,sweetened condensed milk,egg) and it's delicious! It's fantastic just watching them make it! They start off by beating an egg yolk and sugar for minutes in the bottom of the glass, then they strain in some dark tea, and top it off with a LOT of sweetened condensed milk! The result is a very cool looking(and better tasting) three-layer drink! Later that evening I narrowly avoided a huge drinking session of jungle juice(some sort of alcohol made with coconut that is a milky yellow colour and in plastic 1.5l water bottles) with my neighbours. I had the obligatory shot and then escaped despite heavy pressure-lol! Th next a.m Julian and I set off to Berstagi in the mountains SW of Medan. We agreed that it would be best to cycle at our own paces and meet up in Berestagi. Julian sets off at first light everyday and I have now adopted the same habit and am thankful for the advice. With the intense heat here it really helps to get a few hours in before it gets really hot. It also gives you lots of lee-way if you should happen to have mechanical issues or get lost etc. Anyway, I thought that I was pretty much up at first light leaving by aprrox. 6:45a.m(ok, maybe 15 mins. late-I'm not a huge fan of getting up!), but Julian was already gone. I caught up with him about 20km out of the city. We had a little chat and I cont'd. on. It's a 70km ride but after the first the 30km or so it's mostly climbing and quite exposed. I was VERY hot and finding it quite hard. My "everyone gets a smile policy" (and there a a lot of people in cars, on the roadside, saying hello, beeping, waving etc.) was definitely getting put to the test as sometimes it's hard when you're having a tough time to crack that smile. Often, it's a boon though to get a thumbs up or some other bit of encouragement. Anyway, I did manage to keep the policy intact! What's really tough sometimes too but hilarious is when you're going up a steep, tough climb and someone on a motorbike putts along beside you and wants to have a full conversation-lol! You usually know it's coming because they'll usually putt along behind you for a while first(sometimes for ages) and you can hear the low-rev "putt, putt, putt" on your wheel. Sometimes they'll just pull up besdie you and follow you and look at you for a while and you have to start the conversation! Ok, now I must have really been seeing things(a mirage-isn't that supposed to happen in the desert?) because in the middle of nowhere I thought I saw a big ferris wheel and amusement park! But lo and behold my senses were not failing me and I pulled up to the very bizarre sight of Greenfield City, an amusement park with a sort of strip-mall of sort of upmarket restaurants! I pulled in for a meal with some local cyclists who had passed me earlier on in the day. We had a great time, and despite my protestations they did not let me pay for my meal. I think they thought I was a little crazy and were maybe un-convinced that I would make the rest of the climb up to Berestagi as this was the point where it got harder-lol! They had reached their turn around point. During the meal I saw Juilan slowly plod by. I eventually caught up with him again and the same as before had a little chat and kept going. The climbing got long and tough for me(the heat and associated water-loss really kicking my butt!) and I stopped for a drink break. Luckily they sell drinks equivalent to Gator-ade which they call isotonic drinks-I've been drinking lots of them. Once again Julian came plodding along at his slow and steady pace and decided to stop for a 500ml drink of water. I was beginning to suffer at this point and asked Julian about his day. This had been the first time that he had stopped and the FIRST drink he had taken on the ride! I was floored as I was SO hot(my thermometer read 38 deg Celsius and his 36 so somewhere in that range) and had conservatively drank 5-6 litres to that point in the day and felt like it was barely enough. He explained that he was able to just drink a lot of water at the end of a day and be fine. He's a human camel! I had to rest longer and he went ahead. I eventually finished the day very happy to see Berstagi and with the renewed sense of energy I usually seem to get upon reaching my destination, I was stoked to have arrived! I also definitely had a great deal of respect for this curious, somewhat shy(believe it or not!) cyclist 16yrs my senior and siginificantly more heavily loaded for whom the day had been "just another day at the office"! I sat down and was reading about places to stay amid the curious on-lookers when Julian rocked up and told me had had found a great little place sort of motel-style ground floor which is great for bikes! I checked it out, signed in, and had a seat on my patio chair sipping a tea-ahhh! Later Julian and I checked out the colourful local market and walked around town before having an AMAZING avocado salad and a little place near our hotel. Back at the hotel later I had to be fast on my feet as one of my neighbours who I had talked a bit too earlier (there were two brothers and sisters together on holiday from Lake Toba) was coming on pretty strong with marriage proposals-lol! All of a sudden my understanding of Bahasa Indonesia(Indonesian language) dropped a lot! Juilan and I decided to head for Lake Toba the next day. Berestagi is a town that does see it's share of tourists. They got there mainly to see climb two volcanoes in the area which are supposed to have spectacular views as well as check out the local market etc. I don't do a lot of hiking etc. on these bike trips. One, because I am tired from the usually hard climbing on the bike to get to these places! Secondly, because the journey IS the destination for me. All of the little villages and towns I see along the way, the "hello mister" calls, school kids running along beside me, ladies waving and calling from the rice fields, people that I stop and talk to who are so genuine and friendly and happy to have you visiting their area(and very surprised to see you on a bike!), the huge red-gummed smiles and laughs from the indigenous ladies chewing betel nut etc. So, yes sometimes I do miss some spectacular hikes etc. but for me it's more than made up for by all the rest. And I do get some amazing vistas on the way as well and unlike travelling on a bus I can stop wherever/whenever I want to enjoy a vista, talk to a local, or even camp!

**As an aside to any cyclists who may be reading this I have been keeping logs of kms and sometimes features etc. I also have been using a gps tracker which saves route data which I've forgotten which format(one of the most-used) is in but is software convertible to may different other formats.**

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Photos

Ferry to Medan
Mine and Julian's bikes

Traffic
Moderate (really!) traffic into Medan behind Julian

Watch your Step
You'd want to be careful walking the sidewalks at night-it's about a four foot drop down and there plenty of these!

Masjid Raya
View from my room in Medan(aboout the only good thing about the room in Zakia hotel!)

TST
This is the famous TST drink....mmmm :)

Buddies
My new friends at Greenfield city

Greenfield City
The surreal site of Greenfield City-an amusement park in the middle of the climb to Berestagi

View
A view on the way up to Berstagi

Market
Market in Berestagi

Neighbours
My neighbours in Berestagi. A bit touch and go--Juilan kept teasing me about my upcoming "nuptuals" later-lol!