Indonesia - Sumatra, Jakarta, Gilis, Ubud, Kuala Lumpur - October 2011 3 weeks


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December 5th 2011
Published: December 6th 2011
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I had 3 weeks off for holiday and was planning only to go to North and West Sumatra, but ended up in Jakarta, Gili Trawagan, Ubud and Kuala Lumpur too. I also taught English for a week in a small town in West Sumatra that was the highlight of my trip.

Medan
My flight from London went first to Kuala Lumpur, then I got an Air Asia flight to Medan.
Stayed at the Ponduk Wista Angel - very simple rooms, but they were clean, for 60,000. Very noisy call to prayer from the mosque at 4am for about an hour! (But have to get used to this all over Indonesia).
Has a nice café at the front where I immediately met other backpackers, and there is a shopping mall across the road if you need anything.

Bukit Lawang
I was running late so I got the tourist bus offered by the guesthouse to BL for 60,000.
Arrived and looked in a few guesthouses before deciding on Green Hill. Had a basic room that had a massive open window, lots of character. They didn’t have a trek for the next day so I walked to the Rainforest guesthouse and booked a 2 day trek from there. Cost was 760,000.
Turned out that my tour was also with people who had booked a package with Ponduk Wista Angel in Medan for 760,000, so it would’ve been cheaper to book the package! (But I guess I got to choose my room…). In evening went to a bar, and then invited to a wedding party, where they offered us food and some ‘wine’ that tasted like vomit.

Our guide was Indra and there were 7 people in our group. We saw Orangutans very close. No feeding. Although our guides did feed banana to the peacock. Some of the trekking was quite hard – steep inclines and walking through river against the tide. Expect to get wet! We stayed in a permanent tent-shelter by the river. The food was really good.
Next day we went to a waterfall which was really fun. Then rafting back to BL, which was amazing! Bit like white water rafting, you have to hold on tight!
That night I moved to The Rainforest guesthouse as it was cheaper at 35,000 and had a hammock.

Berastagi
Booked a tourist bus from BL to Berastagi, 100,000 IDR, from The
Mt Sibayak volcano craterMt Sibayak volcano craterMt Sibayak volcano crater

With Mt Sinabung in the background
Rainforest.
I was the only one going to Berastagi, and there weren’t many tourists there. I stayed at Sibayak Losmen GH, 50,000IDR, but I didn’t meet anyone to walk up Mt. Sibayak with me so I booked a guide to go with. Took about 4 hours to walk up, and the volcano was amazing. Lots of sulphur vents. Took an hour to get back to Berastagi as I was really unwell and we hitched a ride on the back of a truck.

Danau Toba
My guide for the volcano showed me where to get a bus directly to Pangururan for Danau Toba. If you walk about ten minutes down the road from Losmen GH, past the bus station, there are small stalls on the street where you can buy tickets for buses.
I recommend going this route instead of via Parapat as the scenery is amazing as you look out over the lake.
From Pangururan they dropped me where I could get a bus to Tuk Tuk. I waited on the road for a minute and asked the next bus that came along. It took about an hour. They dropped me at the entrance to Tuk Tuk, where I walked about 10 mins to Liberta Homestay.
Liberta has some amazing rooms in traditional Batak houses where you’ll have 2 stories, and 2 beds. Met some nice people there and did mushrooms for the first time, which was fun!

I wasn’t overly impressed with Danau Toba so I only stayed 2 days. It was nice to walk around Tuk Tuk but you cannot walk directly around the lake as each GH has their own bit of private lakeside. I rented a motorbike for a day which was fun, but only managed to find the stone chairs (ancient stone chairs where they carried out judgements on people before eating them– worth seeing). I don’t have a licence, but the scooters are automatic and very easy to ride. Drive slowly and it’s safe. There are police on the island (contrary to what I was told), and I even got pulled over by the police. However it turns out they just wanted to give me a drink, play dominos and take photos!

Painan
I got a bus from Danau Toba to Padang – booked from Liberta Homestay, for 210,000. It took 20 hours on a very uncomfortable bus. Then an ‘illegal’ (unmarked) minibus to Painan (2hrs 20,000).

I went to Painan as I’d heard it had a small school there that wanted English speakers to visit and talk to the students. I thought this would be a change from the usual backpacking, and was going to stay a couple of days. I ended up staying a whole week as I had such a fantastic time! I stayed with the family of one of the teachers in a village surrounded by rice paddies and hills. The people were unbelievably nice and welcoming, and really looked after me. Painan itself is fairly small and has some beautiful beaches (although many covered in rubbish, there are some clean ones!). They took me sightseeing on motorbikes in the morning, then to the school in the afternoon. I’d really recommend stopping here to help out for whatever time. Not only is it loads of fun, and a great Indonesian experience, it’s really great for the students (and the teachers) to have a chance to practice their English. I didn’t have any experience whatsoever in teaching – it’s very easy! I was the first tourist they’d seen in over a year so I’d like to send
My adpoted home, PainanMy adpoted home, PainanMy adpoted home, Painan

Pretty bad panorama!
some more people their way! If anyone is interested, please message me. The school is called Master English School and can be found on facebook under that name or ‘English Speaking Club Painan’. Mr Asral is the headmaster. No evangelicals trying to push bibles on the students though please!

Jakarta
I have a friend who lives here and is the only reason I stayed for a couple of days. Great punk and metal music scene out here, if you thought that kind of music didn’t exist in Asia! Other than that, a noisy polluted city.

Gili Trawagan
Island with beaches. Just fancied a complete change.
Flew from Jakarta to Lombok. Coach from the airport to Sengiggi 25,000 about 11/2 hours. Got a bemo to Bangsal to get the ferry across to the island. Got ripped off by bemo driver wanting 100,000 because it was private. I didn’t ask for this. Best to ask the price before getting in!
Gili T is full of near naked bronzed Australians. Not really my thing (maybe a little jealous – being a very white English person that was mauled by sandflies on my first night – I was the only one that seemed to get bitten. Lots...). I know Bali’s supposed to be worse but I did meet a lot of Australians on drinking holidays (Costa Del Sol style). But met some nice people to drink with and have a snorkel.

Ubud
Had to fly back to Kuala Lumpur via Bali so went to Ubud for one night. Was blown away by the place as it’s so different. Beautiful Hindu architecture, and the people look beautiful in their sarongs and lace. The guesthouses are amazing. I stayed at Belos GH, 120,000 in a family ‘complex’ that had its own temple. Lots and lots and lots of crafty arty shops, so a great place for my (second to) last day!!

Kuala Lumpur
Ok so not Indonesia – but thought I’d mention that this is a great city. Stayed at Sunshine Bedz hostel right in the centre, in the middle of loads of bars, clubs and restaurants. Across the road from Bukit Bintang Metro station and Times Square shopping centre. In Times Square there is a theme park, with a massive rollercoaster. Made a great last day!

And some thoughts on eating vegetarian in Indonesia...

The touristy parts of course
Village near PainanVillage near PainanVillage near Painan

Paddy fields and jungle
have plenty of options. Fried rice and noodles mainly. Gado Gado is very good, and always vegetarian as far as I know.

Travelling to Padang was much harder to find unmeaty food. Everything seems to be fried meat. There is fried tofu –but will be cooked with the meat, and the veg could be in meat juice. There are glutinous rice chunks (that taste of nothing) that you can eat with satay sauce.

I did try some very good sweet food though.
Rakik – Biscuits with peanuts tasting like cinnamon
Goreng Pisang – fried banana
Dadargulung – Green spring roll looking thing filled with coconut
Roti Bakur Bandung – a loaf of sweet bread filled with various flavours (chocolate and pineapple my favourite) with condensed milk and covered in marge, and fried. Amazing.
If you see a road stall selling doughy bread – looking rolls, buy one. They are like doughnuts filled with coconut

I don’t know if anyone’ll find this useful but at least I won’t forget now!
Indonesia’s an awesome place – if you’re going you’re guaranteed an amazing time!



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