Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 7

Yesterday, we enjoyed the culture of the Toba Batak, on the island Samosir at Lake Toba. Today is the day, that we leave Samosir and drive in two days to the city of Bukittinggi. During these days, we will drive though the jungle and it’s mountains, we pass a lot of small towns and a lot of rice fields. However, we had also some small excursions. During two trips we found out about the plantations and wild-life plantations, we visited the Market of Balige, the Sumatra hot-springs (or do I need to say liquid garbage?) and we passed the Equator by Bonjol. However, this little fairytale came to the end, due the travellers horror: getting sick after a restaurant when we arrived in Bukittingi. The day started quite early, where the hotel opened breakfast for us ... read more

The alarm was ringing and the day that I shall encounter to Asia is today! It would be my first time in Asia - if you do not count Jordan as Asia. I only knew that Indonesia is a quite large country with many islands; every islands does have its own feeling, which makes the country quite diverse. But everywhere you can encounter the jungle and volcano’s, due the fact that Indonesia is laying in the “ring of fire”. The country does have a living culture, so you will encounter temples and old buildings everywhere. For example palaces, temples, mosques, the old Dutch VOC and tribal culture. And, you can find also “traditional south-east Asia”, with rice fields, mountains, the good food and of course the traffic. And, today is the day, I will experience it ... read more

On the plane from Padang to Jakarta March 24, 2015 The final part of the drive to the homestay was simply breathe-taking. We were each on the back of a bike with all our kit. Jane had the one helmet offered which added to my excitement. As we sped to the entrance of the Harau valley in Central Sumatra we were confronted with a wall of rock 100 metres high and a waterfall spumeing from the jungle at the top before it disappeared into the nearby rice paddies. Our bungalow was at the base of the waterfall. It loomed above you as you sat on the loo! The setting was truly spectacular. It did finally make one feel that the tortuous journey we had had to get there was worth it. We had come by night ... read more

It was just a walk in the woods. We entered from the village and climbed up the hillside over tree roots. It was drier in this jungle than we had experience in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. And there he was! Hanging nonchalantly from the branches above us was 120 kg of Orang Utan. He seemed remarkably unperturbed about 10 tourists pointing cameras at him. He just hung there as if this was a rather boring part of his day job. He was a good age, over thirty. Males tend to live until they are in their early forties and develop a flat face with large cheeks. So in the New Forest you have ponies and in the Sumatran jungle you have orangutans. They are just part of the scenery. In six hours of walking round the ... read more

So after having a good nights kip and a bit of a lay in I headed off for a walk around Tuk Tuk ( a small peninsula on the island of Samosir - which is the size of Singapore - so pretty big.) Tuk Tuk is the area where visitors tend to go to as its the only part that the public ferry drops people off at. It being full of guesthouses, hotels, cafes selling you magic mushrooms ( advertised everywhere!) to have while you get your laundry washed and sipping on a hot tea! Took only about an hr until I was back at the guesthouse, passing on the way rice fields, a catholic church and a school. The locals all seemed friendly all saying hello, and the atmosphere of the island feels nice. It ... read more