INDONESIA - SUMATRA (Dumai, Bukittinggi, Lake Maninjau & Padang)

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DUMAI

Jumping on what was meant to be a boat but more like a floating scrap yard we headed over to Dumai Indonesia for the 6th leg of the trip 3 hours after we were meant to have left! Not really knowing what was ahead of us as this was off the main back packer routes.

Arriving in Dumai we were greeted by a local immigration officer who was quite nice and helpful, a bit too nice… He took us to a mini van and said we had a free ride to the town where we could catch our on going bus to Bukittinggi on the West of Sumatra. We had no Indonesian money so had to stop at a bank on the way - no problem, or so we thought!!!

The cards had been stopped yet again by the bank’s protection service (where if your card gets used several times in different countries they automatically block it just in case it has been stolen or for you to say otherwise)
After trying all the banks in town and finally residing to the fact that we were stuck until we could call the bank we told checked ourselves into a nice hotel that had WiFi etc so we could sort things out. It even had a hot shower (I had 3 in the 24 hrs we were there to make the most of it! It had been 2 months since the last hot shower!!!)
We were quite glad to be rid of the van driver etc as they started acting a bit strange, taking my picture and following us around to the hotel, made us a bit anxious (for a moment I actually thought Gareth was faking the whole card not working thing just to get rid of them!)

So finally sorted the cards out and had our bus tickets booked (incidentally with the same company who tried to make us by the tickets the day before)
15 hours, not too bad - we’d done worse… However the bus was a wreck, the seats were barely big enough for little me to sit in, let alone the big giant himself. So when we asked to sit on the back row they tried making us pay for the whole row!! On a bus that was no where near full! As you can imagine we (mainly big G) told them to sod off.

Anyway… finally left only an hour and half after the time we were meant to (we’ve learnt Asian time and actual time don’t fall into the same category)
We got on the move, only to stop 2 hours after we’d set off to wait in a town for an hour and a half (not sure why) then to set back off again. Then stopped Again after another hour, and AGAIN after another hour!!! Every bus journey seems to surpass the last as I keep saying…

The bus broke down late in the night, and for a total joke we noticed that the driver and his co-man was try to push the bus. Now remember this is a 50 seater bus loaded up. Two little Asian guys (craziest thing is one of them being the driver!!) trying to push this beast of a vehicle to bump start it. IDIOTS! So Gareth had to get out and push it, I actually slept(ish) for once on a bus.

Bukittinggi

Finally arrived in Bukittinggi around 7am and after a little bit of searching found a cheap hotel (£2.20 per night) to rest our heads…

We had a mosey around the town, there is a spectacular canyon there where at sunset these huge 1+metre bats (also known as flying dogs for some reason) fly out of the canyon for the nightly hunt. We got there early so went to try and find some food, we could see the sky going orange from where we were but by the time we’d finished and got back to the canyon the sunset had gone and there were only a few bats in the sky, we did see them and they are massive, but unfortunately too dark to take pictures.

“You just wait, tomorrow will be bad weather with no lovely sunset, and we’ll have missed our chance… sods law...” I said to Gareth, and lo and behold... It was as I said. I think I’m psychic or God or something…

Following day we headed back down towards the canyon and the Japanese tunnels built in the WW2. Not all that much to see even though they were rather large but with little to no info regarding these tunnels it felt pretty pointless. Around the tunnel area we encountered the monkey clang. Loads and loads of monkeys ranging from newly born to pretty large nasty buggers! Very cheeky bunch overall and great to play with, so bought a large bag of nuts and watched them take it in turns coming over and taking them off us. (Check the pics!).

Later that day headed back to the home stay for some rest ready for the trek up Merapi volcano (we think - we forgot to check which one we were climbing! It was the only active one left we know that much!)

After having a few beers and some grub we were advised by the pub owner and another guide not to go up the volcano due to bad weather. However as time went on the sky cleared up by the time our guide turned up. Voicing our concerns re weather he persisted that it would be fine. So he struck up a deal saying that if we can not see the sunrise he wont get paid. DEAL... so off we went!


BLOODY VOLCANO!!!
Leaving around 10.30pm jumped in a jeep and headed up the mountain. After a few Km we got out and started to trek. Easy going at first we thought this was going to be a piece of cake... ha-ha... how far from the truth could we be?!?!

After first hour had a slight break for ten then started the more steadily increasing long slope up through the dense jungle. This wasn’t too bad but with the recent rain made it very very slippery. This was not just a path but in places we had to climb literally on our hands and knees. All good fun though.

2 hours in we stopped for a cup of tea and a pot noodle. This was not out of choice but our guide insisted, especially as more heavy rain was setting in and the wind was much stronger. Trying to light a fire was also comical as the wood was wet. However the guide sort of tried but then fell asleep leaving it for Gareth to continue. Typical…!

2 hours later again we then headed off. Thinking now we had wasted so much time waiting around and the sunrise was due around 1 and half hours later. Guide still convincing us that we had plenty of time. So as we headed up the sloped we noticed it was getting a lot harder yet we had to speed up due to our poorly judged deadline. More mud, logs, trees and rocks plus with only one torch between me and G (the guide finally remembered when it started to get light that he had a spare torch - waste!) made this a bit of a nightmare. Scrambling up the slope we asked the guide how much further “not far, not far” he said. Yeah right.

Hour later we hit the tree line, and it was already noticeably lighter. After this it was meant to be a short trek over the rocks up to the summit. “Just zig- zagging through the rocks, not steep, easy” the guide advised us. Bull****!!!!
It was by now around 5.30am, we had been trekking since 11pm and we (especially me) were knackered. Having to clamber up the rocks was not ‘easy’ especially as the rocks were moving all over the place, skidding etc, and it was wet and slippery.
Gareth pushed me and we made it to the top finally, before the time that the guide said sunrise would be, but I think as we were stuck in the middle of a cloud there was no earthly way we could have ever seen the sun! It was bastard freezing up there, wet from the moisture in the cloud and gale force winds to boot! So we took a few snaps to prove we’d done it then it was back down as quick as possible to get out of the bad weather.

Made it down, very painfully, in one piece, I’m sure it was harder going down than up!! We got picked up and taken back to the hotel where we spent the next 24 hours in bed along with a couple of buckets of KFC!!!! Not able to move an aching muscle!!!

After some much needed rest, the next day we got on a local bus to Lake Maninjau, a volcanic crater lake not far from Bukittinggi.

Headed up to the local bus station jumped on what could be barley called a bus (check pic) we also noticed that most people here either smoked like there was no tomorrow or sniffed glue. Very nice. And when we say sniffed they hyper ventilated the stuff. Minging!!

LAKE Maninjau
Only having to change buses once and only 2 hours later than expected(!!!) we arrived and found some cute little shacks next to the lake and settled in. This was very much alike Don Det in Laos, same feel and setting.

Unfortunately the weather didn’t get any better over the next few days. We hired a bike the day after to have a tour around the lake, which when the weather is nice would be very beautiful (I imagine!) but we had to cut it short as it started to pelt it down! I’m sure the welsh weather follows us around wherever we go!

PADANG
Having had so many problems with the local transport we decided to go for a private mini van shared with 5 others to get to Padang. It was more expensive, but should have been twice as fast, with no unscheduled stops etc… But of course it was not the 2 hours we got told, more like 4!!
We got to the home stay that the guys from Maninjau had recommended only to find it in the middle of nowhere, Gareth needed internet access for work so we had to find something else.
After dropping all the others at their various houses we finally got to Padang town which was holding some sort of Government convention therefore almost all the hotel were fully booked, apart from the really expensive ones!

We checked out millions o places, found one that was ok, but pricey but we had no option, then to be told as we weren’t married we had to get 2 rooms! Bloody Islamic nut jobs!! Needless to say we did not stay there! Which turned out great as we got taken to a home stay owned by a Kiwi chap and had a massive room air-con TV for less than the ‘not married’ place!

We set out to sun ourselves on the beach the next day, to find a dump - literally- the beach had muddy sand and rubbish everywhere! We were highly disappointed as it was the first nice hot hot day that we’d had in a week. So back to the hotel and sunbathed on the balcony instead!!!

We had booked a flight from Padang to Jakarta to save ourselves a mammoth 35 hour bus journey (so in Asian time would have been more like 45hours!)
So by 9pm that night we were in the capital…

More to follow….

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