Sumatra

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Two weeks ago I started my trip to Sumatra, Indonesia. As I start writing this entry I am sitting in the Banda Aceh airport waiting to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'll likely finish it in KL.
I landed in Padang, Indonesia Saturday the 15th. To my surprise there was a Lithuanian couple on the plane with me and we eventually spit a taxi to Bukittinggi. The first thing about Sumatra besides the weather that stood out to me was that they drive on the wrong side of the road (left side). This became a bit confusing in the later days when I would rent motorbikes and explore the surrounding areas.
I had initially planned to spend only a couple days in Bukittinggi but when I realized all that it had to offer I stayed for 4 1/2 and could of easily stayed for a week. The first day I toured the town and tried the local cuisine. Most dishes consisted of rice or fried noodles along with egg, chicken, fish or beef, all quite delicious and of course dirt cheap. The 2nd day started with the 5am Islamic prayer call from the mosque that stood next door to my guesthouse. I was told about the prayer calls but completely forgot them in the days leading up to my trip. Around 9am I went out of town to try the famous Kopi Lawak. If you've seen the movie the Bucket List you know what I'm talking about. It's the most expensive coffee in the world because of its rarity. The coffee bean is ingested by a civet cat and eventually comes out in its waste. The beans are then gathered and processed by the local people. They’re washed, skinned and sun dried before it's ready for consumption. I took a local bus out to a small jungle village where I came upon a home that had the name ‘Kopi Lawak’ painted on its door frame. A Muslim lady warmly welcomed me in and had me relax on her sofa. She then proceeded to explain the steps of how they process the beans and then eagerly showed me all of her certifications. After a long introduction speech it was time to finally try the famous coffee. It was an instant coffee (no drip). It had a very strong aroma to it but it had no acidic taste to it what-so-ever, very smooth. I feel that it was a bit overrated but none-the-less the best coffee I've had.
I then spent the next 2 days in Lake Maninjau, a large volcanic lake west of Bukittinggi. This place was very relaxing and quiet. I had a lake front bungalow all to myself all for about $6. I spent one day doing nothing and the next touring the lake with a motorbike. Following my time here I joined a group and did a midnight hike on Mount Merapi, Sumatra’s most active volcano. I along with 3 others scurried through the dense jungle and made it to the top shortly after 4am. This was a mistake because sunrise didn’t occur for another 2 hours and it was very cold and windy. We hunkered down behind a large boulder, stayed as warm as we could and waited for the rest of the group to reach the top. Around 6:30am the sun was coming up but nothing could be seen because of the dense cloud that blanketed us. Our guide didn't know the area as well as we had hoped and lead us around the top for another 2 hours trying to find the actual summit the main crater. He finally found it around 8:30, not because he could see it but because we all could smell it. The strong sulfuric stench made it difficult to walk to the edge of the crater. Getting this close to an active crater I wasn't about to let an unpleasant odor stop me from looking down into one of earths most powerful forces. Gripping onto a large boulder I suspended my body over the edge and looked straight down into the mouth of the crater. It was a shear drop for about 300m. I was barely able visibly see the bottom where the molten was boiling. To test its strength we in a shot-put way lunged boulders over the edge. 4-5 seconds later we could hear the boulders disintegrate as they hit the molten below. We made it back into town mid afternoon and I then went straight to the terminal where I caught a 17 hr bus to Lake Toba, another volcanic lake. The bus was an old beat up 1970's coach bus. The ride was pretty rough to say the least but one of the best experiences I've had in Sumatra. With loud blaring Indonesian karaoke music playing and the AC turned to full blast the bus slowly winded its way through the pothole infested jungle roads. Midway through the night I noticed it started to rain, again not because I could see it but rather because I could feel it. For my pleasure there happened to a 2 inch rusted crack in the ceiling of the bus above my seat and a steady stream of water deposited on me for about 2 hours. Around 9am I arrived in the town of Parapat. From here I took a short ferry to Samosir Island to the town of Tuk Tuk. Tuk Tuk is the touristy area of the island. Its shores are lined with luxurious tropical resorts. Yet, it seemed that most of them were near empty. Again for about $6/night I had an accommodation right on the water. This time I was staying in a traditional batik style house, large enough that it could of easily slept an entire family. I spent 3 days here touring the island by motorbike and just lounging around at the resort. Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world and Samosir Island is the largest island on a volcanic lake. To give some perspective on its size, it’s bigger than all of Singapore. I could have easily stayed longer but I was ready for the jungle. So this past Monday I headed to Bukit Lawang to see the endangered orangutans. The trip there was rather nice as I split a private car with 3 other people, despite it still being a 7 hour journey. Travel in Sumatra is very slow. Bukit Lawang is a village of about 30k (small village eh?) that sits on the eastern edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park and I mean literally on the edge because the entire drive up to the town is nothing but palm tree plantations, then you reach the village and on the other side of the village is the actual rain forest. This rain forest is one of only two natural homes for the endangered Orangutans, the other being in Borneo. In Bukit Lawang therr is a rehabilitation center where the orangutans are fed on a daily schedule. This of course just drives up the tourist numbers. A random side note on this as well, apparently Ellen Degeneres has an orangutan as her personal pet. Stupid dike should give it back. Bukit Lawang as a whole didn't impress me as it was too touristy and even though orangutans are wild, they are very accustomed to being around people. I regret not heading to Ketambe which is a more rural area that accesses the NP on its southern edge since it's more remote it’s less visited.
After 2 days in Bukit Lawang I left for the Aceh province, specifically Pulau Weh. It was here where I spent my remainder of my time in Sumatra. In Pulau Weh I did a whole lot of nothing. It's a tropical island off the northern coast of Banda Aceh. People come here not for its lush beaches but for its world class diving. Not having any divining certificates I was only able to snorkel. In between the rainstorms that penetrated the island during my entire time there I was able to spot an abundance of colorful tropical sea life including: eels, blue spotted rays, tiger fish, barracudas, and lion fish to name a few. It was absolutely stunning and I wish I had the capability to take photos of it all. It was a very relaxing 4 days, despite the continual torrential downpours that rolled in every evening. I stayed at mini resort called OOng's in the town of Iboh. The owner, Norma, cooked up some fantastic dinners. For 25,000 Rupiah her guest would gather and indulge in a delicious communal meal. The meals ranged from seafood, to chicken, to vegetarian dishes. I highly recommend this place to anyone who travels to Pulau Weh.
Today I woke up early and got on the 8am ferry back to the mainland even though my flight to KL didn't leave only 5:30pm. I checked out some of the sights around Banda Aceh since it was one of the hardest hit cities of the 2004 tsunami that devastated SE Asia. It is estimated that over 600k people died in Banda Aceh alone that day. A random gentleman told me that when it came the water was initially sucked into the sea and the people ran out to the sand flats to collect the stranded fish, not knowing what was happening, then about 5 minutes later a swell of over 30 meters plummeted onto the city. The effects are less evident today because of the continual rebuilding but there are still a few sights. 1st is a gigantic vessel that sits about 1.5 km inland in a rundown neighborhood. The 2nd is a boat that went through a house (I wasn't able to see this because of the proximity to the other sights). The 3rd is a newly built museum which happened to be closed today so I wasn’t able to see it either.
I have now landed in KL and checked into my guesthouse. It's a beautiful city and Petronas Towers elegantly light up the skyline. In the morning Bryan will arrive from Seoul and we will explore the city before heading off to Burma on Monday. As excited as I am for the upcoming leg of the trip I can't help but reflect on my experience in Sumatra. It's an area of the world that has been hit the hardest by natural disasters in the past 20 years or so: tsunami's, earthquakes, and massive floods. Many people’s lives have completely been destroyed yet the people seem to be happier than any group of people I've come across. They just move forward and continue to rebuild what was lost. They aren't bitter about what has happened, they just look to tomorrow, quite inspiring.
I'm sure this post is full of grammatical errors; I just don’t have the time or the ability to review this post in word. I will try to write about KL briefly before I leave, but if not I hope to post a few times when I get to Burma.

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