Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 5

The highlight of Sumatra was, of course, the rain forest trek that lasted two days. It was an early morning and I woke up for one my hardest hikes in my childhood. My mum had told me we would see orangutans and I was dead excited. We met our guide Andu and we went out of the tourists resort and started climbing the first hill of our hike. We first saw the rubber tree plantation and apparently the rubber in the trees just comes out liquid. Then we continued and saw a gathering of people staring at a huge 90 kilo male orangutan. As he moved towards us people ran away and so did we. In all we saw eleven and including semi wild Mina and Jacky. Mina once bit Andu by sneaking behind him and ... read more

You would think I'd learn but it seems some people in this world are a bit slow on the uptake. This was my 9th foray into the group of islands off Sumatra's west coast so it's not as if I was sucker punched by the heat and humidity a degree or so from the equator. Yet despite all previous experience and everybody else's advice to slowly ween myself onto the surf, the moment I set eyes on those waves, the "go hard or go home" ethos overrode pragmatism. Caught up in a haze of fantasy, the first full day involved 2 x 3 hour sessions beneath a flat equatorial blaze. 6 hours and during a forced leisurely paddle back to the boat anchored in the channel, it was time for a flashback. Last year, an acquaintance ... read more

Geo: 3.18529, 98.5049... read more

Riding the MRT in Singapore to the airport I had worries of getting into Indonesia due to no onward travel ticket. I did have my rigged “E-Ticket” prepared in case I was asked but the uneasy feeling persisted. Of course when I got to the airport the airline agent never even asked the dreaded question. After landing in Indonesia I secured a Visa on arrival at the airport for the fee of $25 USD and not even the Indonesian immigration official at the border asked me for an onward travel ticket. Nice. After all of the bureaucracy was sorted I was able to breathe and relax. I had arrived in Sumatra. Wild, untamed, and the great unknown lay in front of me. The infernal city of Medan where I landed is nothing short of a pit. ... read more

Sumatra 3ème étape : Lake toba Lac majestueux d’un bleu intense, niché en altitude parmi les sommets volcaniques de Sumatra, c’est le plus grand lac d’Asie du Sud-Est couvrant une superficie de 1707km². Au milieu de cette immense étendue d’eau, une île presque aussi vaste que Singapour a été créée par le volcanisme. Plus exactement, c’est une caldeira, c’est à dire un lac né suite à l’éruption d’un super-volcan il y a 30 000 ans à 75 000ans … Selon certains spécialistes, la dernière éruption, qui remonte à 80 000 ans, aurait plongé la planète entière dans l’obscurité, c’est dire la violence de la chose… brrrr !!! Trêve de vision apocalyptique, revenons sur Samosir où un village touristique concentre les services: Tuk-Tuk ou je réside. C’est un ancien haut-lieu de la culture « hippie-peace-and-love » (avant ... read more