images of Indonesia
Sewa Mobil Murah di Bali
Bali Tours Club menyediakan sewa mobil murah di Bali, juga tersedia pengemudi untuk kunjungan ke objek wisata di Bali. Jasa sewa mobil atau Car Rental di Bali Tours Club akan memberikan pengalaman tour yang mengesankan karena kami mengedepankan pelayanan yang profesional. Harga sewa mobil di Bali Tours Club sangat bersaing , Rental car / sewa mobil selama di Bali bisa setir sendiri atau gunakan supir ( private driver ) dari Bali Tours Club.
Armada yang tersedia: Suzuki APV, Toyota Avanza, Daihatsu Xenia, Toyota Kijang, Toyota Innova, Mini Bus, Suzuki Karimun, Toyota Alphard. Charter/ sewa mobil murah di Bali sudah termasuk BBM dan pengemudi pariwsata.
Selain objek wisata yang di tonjolkan di Bali, wisata lainnya yang tak kalah menariknya adalah adat istiadat, arsitektur seni bangunan, kerajinan tangan dan budaya tiap-tiap daerah yang sangat beragam, sangat sayang untuk dilewatkan.
Isuzu Elf: harga sewa + supir + bbm Rp 700.000 / 10 jam
Mobil Mikrobus Full AC & Audio, Reclining Seat, Bagasi Radio Tape. Total penumpang 12 orang
Jimny Katana: Self drive: 120rb/hari. Supir+bbm: 325rb/10 jam
Full AC, stereo cassette/radio, power steering. Total penumpang 3-4 orang
Kia Pregio/Travello: harga sewa +
supir + bbm Rp 700.000 / 10 jam
Full AC & Audio, Bagasi Radio Tape, total penumpang 10 orang.
Kijang Innova: Self drive: 350rb/hari. Supir+bbm: 575rb/12 jam
Full AC & Audio, central lock windows, stereo cassette/radio, power steering. Total penumpang 7-8 orang
Toyota Avanza: Self drive: 215rb/hari. Supir+bbm: 420rb/12 jam
Full AC & Audio, central lock, power windows, stereo cassette/radio, power steering. Total 5-6 penumpang
Suzuki APV: Self drive: 215rb/hari. Supir+bbm: 430rb/12 jam
Full AC & Audio, central & safety lock, power windows, alarm system, stereo cassette, power steering, total penumpang 7-8 orang.
Suzuki Karimun: Self drive: 160rb/hari. Supir+bbm: 375rb/12 jam
Full AC & Audio, power windows, stereo cassette/radio, power steering.
Untuk keperluan sewa jenis mobil lainnya klik disni
Kontak Kami
Bali Tours Club
www.balitoursclub.com
info@balitoursclub.com
HP/ Hotline: 081 916 533 222
“You want magic mushrooms?”
“If they’re free sure!”
“Oh yes! I’m on them right now! Flying!” the guy says as he turns up the techno music while he drives down an impossibly narrow lane made of mud and rocks.
That was the conversation we had with one of our many drives of the day. To say the past 48 hours have been weird would be an understatement. They were weird and frustrating and a bit stressful.
It all started when we left our lovely room at Sama Sama Bungalows in Amed on the west coast of Bali. We had to get to Padangbai to catch the ferry to Lombok and then travel up Lombok to get to the Gili Islands. Our room in Amed was so beautiful that it was a bit nice to think we were there in the off-season and scored it for the low price of $6 a night per person with breakfast! The serenity of Amed was broken quickly when we arrived in Pandangbai to a chorus of “You want transport? Ferry to Lombok? We give you good price!” What was the good price you ask. Well 300,000 rupiah per person which is just over $30 and way too much when you’re on a rather strict budget! So we insisted they leave us to discuss it and by the time we got across the street to a variety store they’d dropped the price to 100,000 each. We still weren’t onboard though so Ally and I headed for the ferry office. Along the way several others tried to get us to purchase tickets from them but we held our ground, they even followed us on their scooters. The ferry office was a weird place. It was a newer building but dark and empty except for one man sitting in a waiting room like area not looking like he was actually waiting for anything. We found a security guard and he wrote down the price of 1 ferry ticket, 36,000 so about $4. So we figured by the time we paid for the ferry and transport up to the Gili’s we’d spend around 90,000 or more so we got the guy to lower his price to 90 each and off we went.
The ferry was 4 hours and quite boring. When we first got on we were bombarded by women trying to sell us snacks and they would NOT leave us alone. I even raised my voice at them and that’s not really not me! FRUSTRATION! Meanwhile we spent a good amount of time on the ferry watching for tsunami like waves on the horizon.
Of course when we arrived in Lombok we were taken to a place selling trips and they told us we wouldn’t get to the boat on time so we’d have to stay the night in Senggigi. We overpaid for a snorkeling trip and got a free night at a local inn. This was the place were things got weird. The strange little inn was inhabited by a few older couples, all enjoying the plentiful magic mushroom supply and reliving their youth. At dinner our waiter took Mia to the ATM on his scooter then came back and tried to rent us some bikes because people here don’t seem to just have one job! If they can make money on the side they will.
In the morning we jumped in our van and headed for the harbor. When we arrived we were ushered into a café full of other foreigners. Some guy tried to tell us that we needed a return ticket from the Gili’s and said that everyone around us had them. We insisted that we didn’t need them and had read several things that informed us NOT to purchase return tickets from these people. There was a Canadian guy sitting next to us and he told the guy to stop lying to us as no one had booked return tickets. I got angry and said some thing’s and we all stood our ground and then the guy trying to sell us stuff threw our ticket down and told us we couldn’t get on the boat to GO to the Gili’s and then called us bitches in Indonesian he was also very angry at Canadians saying Canadian’s were bad people! By this time we took the grand stand of grabbing our stuff and heading for the harbor without anyone else. I’m not going to lie we were all hoping to start a revolution but no one else followed!
In the end we arrived at the ticket office and got our tickets no problem! So the issues on Lombok turned out to be just another money grabbing ploy. On the island we have experienced a far nicer and quieter existence than we have for the past week. We snorkeled, checked out the sea turtle conservation tanks and got to know our perhaps overly friendly inn owner! I’m not sure if he doesn't have any friends or he was just happy to have girls around to talk to about all the "tall fit European guys!" I’d love to repeat the things he was saying but I just can’t bring myself to do it! I will say we were in a state of shock with a side of OMG laughter!
Tomorrow we’re heading out on a snorkeling trip and I think we’ll call the Gili’s home for a few more days!
On another note no Komodo’s for me. I just can’t deal with the suspect deals and money obsessed tour operators! One should not be so stressed out in an environment like this!
You know that place in movies where a car of friends breaks down and half of them are saying things like "Guy's we can't stay here." "It's weird we need to get out ASAP." And a couple others are saying, "Oh come on it's fine!" "Yeah nothing is going to happen, stop being babies!" and then they are all murdered in horrible ways, except for one that ends up laying on the side of the road all bloody from her daring escape, that's the place we ended up. We were all joking about the movie thing but I think deep down we really were a bit nervous! No transport out, no internet, probably no cell service and a volcano still decently active! I'd also come up with the scenario that in the night we"d be captured and sacrificed to some dinosaur like creature that stops the volcano from erupting and destroying the town, but that seems a bit more far-fetched!
Mia wanted to do a volcano trek so off to Toya Bungkah we went. We knew it was off-season but that hasn't stopped us from running into loads of travelers everywhere we go. So it was a bit shocking to discover that we were pretty much the only 4 foreigners in this little town that was probably a great place many, many years ago! Upon arriving we headed out for lunch and then decided to walk down to the lake. It wasn't long before a little girl was hot on our heels trying to cell us snacks and she wouldn't take no for an answer. At one point I even had to suppress an overwhelming urge to push her into the murky water. Other people half-assed trying sell us pictures or bracelets, they sort-of resembled zombies saying braaaceleeeets, paiiintiiings, maaaaaaaaaa as they slowly approached us.
Other than volcano trekking and fly swatting there appears to be absolutely nothing to do there. So we ended up partaking in what seems to be a local pastime, people watching from the porch of our bungalow. Mia's trek began at 4am and after she'd returned and rested for a couple hours we headed for Lovina to catch another ride to the port and onto a ferry bound for Java.
We stayed for one night in the city next to the port... I have no idea what it was called but we discovered an amazing pancake/cheese/crepe thing and have since been trying to locate more! In the morning we headed to the bus station and caught the "express" bus to Solo. We were told that if we left right away @ about 10:30am we'd arrive in Solo by 7,9 or 8... yes 7,9 or 8 that night AND it didn't stop it went STRAIGHT there. Well, we must have all had some kind of blackout because we forgot how good the people here are at telling you straight up what was about to happen!
The bus stopped several times to pick people up. It was pouring for most of the trip inside and outside of the bus. The AC was up full blast and by the end of our not 10 but 16 hour damp journey we all had the beginnings of a cold! LOVELY! It would have been great had they just said, yeah it's going to take 16 hours because we would have been prepared!
When we arrived in Solo we were ushered to a bemo that probably shouldn't have been allowed to carry fruit let alone people. Ally's door wouldn't shut, the guy couldn't get his open, then it wouldn't start and then it smoked and then we stopped to check the tires before he stopped outside a dark alley and pointed to it saying we had arrived at the homestay. It turned out that the alley did indeed lead to the homestay and after standing outside ringing the bell a weary little guy opened the door and took us to a couple rooms!
So far Java is proving to be far superior to Bali. People allow you to go about your business without hassling you. We found a place with internet for next to nothing, laundry service WITH a dryer and cheap food and drinks! Now if we could just find some fruit we'd all be beyond happy!
Soon we'll be heading up to Yogyakarta where we'll hopefully hit up some lovely temples before moving up to Jakarta and onto Singapore.
Photo Collection 19 Lombok Island of Indonesia
Posted by JAVA CANOPY Labels: Collection, Indonesia, Island, Lombok, Photo
We just stayed inside the hotel, Qunci Pool Villas Hotel (http://www.quncivillas.com/index.html) without heading our anywhere, because we didn’t have much enough time to explore the island. But we still had a great time out there.
Lombok Island has many interesting spots such as Gili Island (http://www.gili-paradise.com/). You should visit those places, if your itinerary isn’t tight and allows you to take some adventures.
It is not bad if you spoil your employee at least once a year. You can divide them into some groups. Each group does not have to go together at the same time. You can set a schedule so you can still run your business. For example, you can divide your employee into 10 groups. You can set the schedule so there’s only one group having days off at the same time.
After you divide the groups then you can just contact any trail-way company. You can ask for their service to do the accommodation. They usually offer you a bundle of service starting from charter bus rentals, list of favorite tourism destination, until the insurance. With a perfect plan, you can both run your company and make others happy.Photo Collection 18 Lombok Island of Indonesia
Posted by JAVA CANOPY Labels: Collection, Indonesia, Island, Lombok, Photo
Lombok Island is right next to Bali Island. Everything is slow and mellow on this rural island. It’s much much less commercial and touristy and much much better to spend your leisure time than Bali is.
We stayed at Qunci Pool Villas Hotel (http://www.quncivillas.com/index.html) which was really comfortable with the great atmosphere and hospitality.
Lombok Island websites;
(http://lombokislands.com) (http://www.lombok-network.com)
If you're stuck in a short weekend in Jakarta and Saturated just watch cable tv in the hotel room and find a fairly quiet place, why not to visit the Ragunan Wildlife Park?
In sunny Saturday march 12, 2011. I went to Ragunan zoo. Jakarta pride Wildlife Park has been established since 1864 on Cikini and moved to the Pasar Minggu district in 1966. Got more than 3122 kinds of animal collections from around the world. Some of them are threatened with extinction. Don't worry about getting lost if you have no idea about Jakarta. TransJakarta busway will deliver directly at the Ragunan zoo garden.
Saturday was a good day to come to the Wildlife Park Ragunan. Not many passengers are crammed on the busway TransJ that led Ragunan. In addition to school children. Ragunan is not a business or shopping areas such as the Sudirman-Tamrin or Glodok. Many homes and shady trees along the road to get there. Appear calm and refresh the eyes.
Ragunan zoo entrance fee is quite cheap. Only Rp. 5000, - for a single entry. Rp. 4000, - for the entrance fee plus Rp. 1000, - for insurance and donations.
After passing through the northern gate II. 50,000 shade trees in the garden area of ??147 hectares are somehow creating an atmosphere like in a fairy tale. Saturday is the best day to visit this zoo because saturday isn't school day off in Indonesia. Ragunan is crowded as during holidays. And this is the opportunity to enjoy the variety of flora and fauna that are here in peace.
On the left of the north gate II there is a pool that was occupied by dozens of Australian pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) and two black swan. Pelikan bird is the largest water bird that has a pouch under its beak bird Pelecanidae part of the family. This bird is quite large. As adults, the weight can reach 13 kilograms with a wingspan of approximately 2.5 meters. Although most birds have a long beak among others this can fly. In this pool, they only gathered under shady trees or in groups and sometimes a beautiful move like dancing when looking for fish. Black swan (Cygnus atratus), which comes from New Zealand. Mysterious animals of this beautiful red-billed as alienated among giant pelican birds on the pond. Two Black Swan was away and busy to play itself. And occasionally approached the visitor to ask for food.
Collection of various species of birds here are quite complete. There were three large cages containing variety of birds from around the world. Children are most happy to come here. Seeing the big birds such as eagles, peacocks and ranggong up close it's definitely different than just see on television.
Perhaps because of pity, perhaps also because of habit. What is certain to feed animals with which carry their own snacks is not good. As I see it in the cage of Orang Utan. In the first cage containing two young Orang Utan. The visitors looked scrambling throw peanuts or bread and even chewing gum! Just to draw attention to the poor primate. In the second cage containing an adult Orang Utan more poor old enough anymore. He is pelted with beans, bread, chewing gum and even drinks bottles! Just wanted to see the animals moving. It's boring to see who was sitting in an old animal could not do anything. But get it attention by throwing variety of snacks and even that was not good.
Every visitor should have sufficient knowledge. Orang Utan Indonesia is endemic animals that exist only in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The number continues to decrease because its habitat was destroyed for oil palm plantations. And feed the haphazardly even threw garbage isn't wise.
***
Inside the park there are wildlife parks that supposedly the largest primate in asia pacific. His name Schmutzer Primate Center. Is a grant from the late Mrs. Pauline Adeline Antoneitte Schmutzer and Gibbon Foundation (Prof.Dr.Ir.Willie Smits). A woman of German descent who was born and died in Indonesia. Once loved Indonesia and animal lover.
There are a lot of primates at the facility which was inaugurated in 2002. One of the favorite guests here are the Gorilla. The largest primate that comes from the African continent is riveting adults let alone children. It body is so big and sturdy. It was a different experience than just see it on television. In the main enclosure that is open, there are two gorillas. And a gorilla again which is still in the cage closed. I do not know why a gorilla is separated from the others. Maybe being in quarantine.
In addition to Gorilla, here too, there is Lemurs. Gorgeous furry animal that comes from Madagascar, although a small but aggressive look. When I saw it in the cage, never a minute the animal is sitting on a tree branch. There is also a proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Borneo endemic primates are quite large. High male proboscis monkey could reach 75 inches with a weight of 24 kilograms. Proboscis Monkey eating a variety of leaves, fruits and grains, which produce more gas when digested.
***
Because Ragunan Wildlife Park is so vast. The distance from one cage to cage other animals quite far. I got tired and confused when looking for a particular species. But here is provided by the vehicle-shaped tourist train that will take visitors around the parks without fatigue anymore. And if you want to just around without a route, can rent a bicycle that is on the north door II.
Many trees in Ragunan is the best thing. Take a rest in one of many parks after take a one day tour and enjoying the rare fresh air in Jakarta are the beautiful story ending.
If ever you find yourself in Sumatra you really must go to Pulau Weh. It is well worth the flights, boats and buses that are required to get there!! It is stunning; great scenery, people and food... and scuba diving... which is why I find myself here. The drive from the airport includes stunning vistas - locals working in the rice fields, coconut trees galore and simple towns rebuilt after the tsunami that devastated Banda Aceh in December 2004 (something like 20,000 people died here that day). After meeting 3 other people (from France, Germany and France) and all sharing a taxi from the airport to a hotel I finally feel like I’m back in the travel groove!! And I’m loving it!! The lovely Sandra (one of the aforementioned Frenchies!) is a gem. We get on well and have decided to travel together for a while which means cheaper hostel rooms, good banter on long journeys and a new friend.
Well what can I say about Pulau Weh other than everyone should experience this beautiful island to the north of Sumatra. I decided to stay on a few extra days to get in a few more dives and am so glad I did. Unfortunately Sandra spent 4 days out of the 6 ill in bed with a temperature of 39.7! I however had a fabulous time and in between checking on her I had a great time diving with Jim, Adam and Chris from Lanta. Jim was working there and part of the reason that I went. Adam and Chris arrived a couple of days after me and we made a brilliant little dive group. As you can imagine I loved being the only girl in the group (!) and the boys looked after me beautifully (or did I look after them?) I dived every day, a few times twice a day. I had been warned about the current on some of these dive sites and on my last dive I found myself clinging to rocks as we tried not be whisked off into the blue!- it was such fun. We also got the chance to do some deep deco dives. Which I LOVED!! Having come from Lanta where you had to be back on the boat after 60 minutes and most of the dives I did were no deeper than 25m it was a real thrill to go to 50m and to get an 80 minute dive. I also got the chance to dive the Sophie Rickmers Wreck. The top of the wreck is at 48m and it lies perfectly upright at the bottom of the sea having been scuttled in the bay in the war and so is perfectly intact down there. The day we dived it there wasn’t great visibility but this just seemed to add to the eerie quality of the wreck. We also did two beach dives. These were amazing. At 7 Euros a tank it was so cheap and the house reef was teeming with marine life... frog fish, pipe fish, octopus, nudibranch, leaf scorpion fish, baby lion fish, and so much more. It was heaven... and just a walk in from the beach!
Apart from diving, eating and socialising we also spent an hour or two whizzing around the island on a moped; once with Sandra on the back and once with Adam and me on the back of Chris’s bike. Unlike Thailand where you can find rental places everywhere you look, on tiny, remote Gapang Beach you just ask a local if you can pay him to use his! So after acquiring
Our diving gang!
Adam, me, Jim and Christophe... i couldn't have asked for better buddies to dive and party with!
When Jim left we saw him off in style with local banana rum, vodka and Bacardi – a weird mix but on a Muslim island with Sharia Law you take what you can get it would seem!! (and no, I didn’t drink any of them!!) I had intended to leave with Jim but as I mentioned earlier I decided to stay a little longer. So 3 days (and much diving, eating and fun) later Sandra and I left this gorgeous place.
We took the ferry to Banda Aceh where found a cheap and almost clean place to stay for
Diving was amazing..
So much to see.. (although my very expensive camera housing had a crack so i couldn't take it underwater much!)
The flight to Medan was uneventful, the minivan ride to Lake Toba was also uneventful although it was a joke! We had 8 adults in the car (it wasn’t technically a minivan, but a large car) but on the 3 ladies laps who sat in front of us were three small children. Now I like children, but not when I’m crammed in a car with them for 5 hours and they are under the age of 2. One was very sweet and didn’t make a peep the whole journey. The other two, however, could have made an appearance in a comedy sketch show. The one in front of me was just learning that if it opened its mouth it could make an extraordinarily high pitched noise that it’s mother didn’t seem to mind at all... it (for I don’t know whether it was a boy or girl!) did this the entire journey. Whilst the other one kept on being sick. Now baby sick is particularly smelly, especially when it is caught in the hands of the mum and then thrown out the window... smattering down the side of the car and a little flew back in the window onto Sandra... I kid you not... a light covering of sick on the very calm Sandra... I would have flipped!!
But we arrived. And Lake Toba is beautiful. It is not just a lake, but a lake within a super volcano. Let me explain; about 77000 years ago a huge volcano erupted on such a scale that they think it plunged the world into winter and is, they think, the largest eruption to have occurred in the last 25million years!! And it is beautiful... and huge. The lake itself is 110km long by 30 km wide and at its deepest is 505 metres deep! In the centre is an island called Samosir and this is where Sandra and I headed.
We stayed in a little guest house called Liberta which was vaguely clean and located close to the water’s edge. On the first day we hired bicycles and cycled around the little village of Tuk Tuk and to the nearby Tomok. It was an amazingly energetic decision on my part (having not done any real exercise for the past 5 months!) and one that I felt keenly the next day!!! (my poor bum!) Anyway it was picturesque and beautiful and I met a lovely lady called Rosa who had a little road side stall with whom I sat and chatted and ate for about 3 hours (whilst Sandra and another cycling companion continued exercising!!) Rosa was lovely and showed me how she made the different cakes and even shared her lunch with me!! It was lovely and exactly the kind of experience I adore and love travelling because of.
So the next day, both with sore bottoms, and aching thighs, we decided to continue our adventures, but this time on moped! Well, the rain tried to stop us but I managed to persuade Sandra that I could still drive in the rain and although we did witness one bike accident due to crazy Indonesian driving and wet roads, we set off on our journey.
Now you know that feeling you get when everything is not as it should be? Your pulse speeds up, your vision narrows; not necessarily literally but certainly in your head. You feel anxious and start considering (or worrying) about what options you have open to you... usually all of which are equally difficult to decide upon
Me and Rosa
I met Rosa in Tomok. She made and sold fried banana goodies!! .. i hung out with her for 3 hours (and ate a lot of fried food!)
The road had started off very nicely but as the road started climbing it got gradually more and more ropey. But none the less it was a road (of sorts) and whilst we had to dodge the massive holes, for the most part it some tarmac in places! We continued, climbing all the time up to Lake Sidihoni (a lake on an island in a lake!!.. if you see what I mean!) Just before reaching the lake we were rewarded with a stunning vista. We hit the lake and whilst it wasn’t the most impressive lake it was nonetheless impressive in it’s’ size and location (i.e. Very high up on the top of the mountain that forms Samosir) having come up a pretty shabby road we decided to try our luck on a different road on the decent. We had a hand drawn very simple map which our guest house had given us and it looked like we could follow the road and find our way down that way. So off we went. At this point I would like to point out that the map we used had a variety of roads marked that weren’t even on other maps that we looked at!! ... But since they were on ours we chanced it. So we headed on. It was about 1pm and we had half a tank of petrol. The people we passed all smiled and shouted hellos at us. The children put out their hands for high fives as we drove past and occasionally we checked that we were heading in the right direction – although to be fair there only seemed to be one road. At one point we found ourselves with the choice of either a right or left hand road. Having no idea which we wanted (we had no idea where we were on the map, or if this fork was even marked on the map!!) Luckily a motorcycle whizzed past and as they did we shouted to them for the direction of Tomok (the town at the bottom of the mountain) and off we went. And so we continued in this fashion for a good hour. The rain came and went, as did the sun but it was beautiful and we didn’t see another tourist the entire time. Well at this point we were feeling very happy with ourselves and our adventure. We continued. The road started to become less like tarmac and more like rubble. The rain was still starting and stopping and we were drenched! Then we hit a beautiful wood. It was full of trees of all different heights, colours, thickness... it was beautiful. The road slowly deteriorated. We continued. We realised that the trees were in fact part of a beautiful, but thick wood. The petrol gauge was now on ¼ and the road was more of a mass of stones and puddles. At one point we nearly fell of the bike as it skidded across the mud (I didn’t go more than 20km an hour... most of this time I was going 10!!) Suddenly there was a horrible, scraping sound. A spring had sprung off and the main stand was dragging on the ground. Shit. It was definitely repairable (simply a case of pulling the spring back into place ... but not a job we could do in the mud, rain and without some pliers!) so Sandra pulled the cord from her bag and we tied up the stand! By this time we realised we hadn’t seen anyone for quite some time and the road was more of a path, and even that description was a generous one! There were massive rocks which we could hear scraping on our bike, huge holes filled with muddy water and it was around this time that my flip flop broke!! Oh well... one less thing to try to squeeze into my rucksack!!
We continued but now I was beginning to feel a little concerned. The wood was in fact a forest and it didn’t look like it was ever going to end and on top of that we had no idea if the road we were on was going to lead anywhere ... and then I noticed that we were almost out of petrol. Okay. Stay calm. We couldn’t go back; we definitely wouldn’t have enough petrol to get to the last place we had been... and even if we had that was at the top of the mountain. We had also had to push the bike through some pretty big puddles and poor Sandra had been on and off the bike as I tried to negotiate it through the muddy tracks. No; we had to continue. We also realised that we hadn’t seen anyone or any sign of anyone for at least 40minutes now. I was praying that we were going to see some people soon... and the end of the forest. None came. We kept going. I was really getting worried now; calm but concerned.
We hit a fork in the road. A tree had fallen on the path that looked like a continuation of the one we were on, but the other one definitely looked smaller. Which one should we take? The map was less than useless. We had a fifty/fifty chance!! We navigated round the tree and continued. But still no signs of life. Suddenly we saw some cattle up ahead. Where there was cattle there must be a farmer surely? Nope, still no one around - then we came out of the trees and saw a ramshackle house followed by four or five very simple looking huts. We saw some children. I can’t tell you what a relief that was! At least if we ran out of petrol we could stay there!! At least if we had any problems we could try to communicate with them... maybe they had some petrol (Bensin as it is called in Sumatra). Well we found three men who bless them, managed to communicate that there was petrol 1km away and after we could take a road to Tomok. Oh My God. What a relief. That anxious feeling made me realise that we had taken a risk. It was fine. But it might not have been. I realise this happens a lot, especially when travelling, but usually we don’t realise the risks we take. In the end we had a brilliant adventure which we won’t forget... a little uncomfortable but ultimately exactly the kind of thing that takes you out of your comfort zone and is the reason for not staying behind a desk in a comfy job in London.
The next day we decided to move onto Berastagi. I was on a tight schedule now, having agreed to meet a friend in Malaysia in a week’s time to go sailing on his boat. I had managed to persuade Sandra to come with me. The journey from Lake Toba to Berastagi was an interesting one! After much stopping and starting we arrived in Berastagi along with an immense amount of fog and buckets of rain. (Typical British weather... how depressing!!) The journey involved some of the worst roads I’ve ever been on (which is saying something considering I’ve been in a lot of dodgy countries with even dodgier roads) they were ‘special’ to say the least. But arrive we did... and in one piece. We are only here for one full day which we wanted to use to climb the local volcano... however to do that we needed the rain to stop and the visability to clear... at this rate we would be leaving having seen the inside of our hostel and not a lot else!!
Well. I have decided that I am being looked after by a power greater than myself!! We met 3 lovely people at the guest house where we are staying. They have been waiting for the weather to clear enough to get up the volcano... Sandra and I arrive however, and the very next day we found ourselves in our hiking boots and sweating our way up to the crater. It was well worth the 3 hour climb. The views
on the plane
on the internal flight they had a little leaflet with prayers.. i am totally serious.. prayers for each religion translated into 4 different languages!! brilliant.
So That is Sumatra. After an afternoon in Medan – a city which I’m not too fond of (rain, traffic, noise etc) I am on my way to Malaysia and hopefully some sailing... although for that I need some nicer weather! I’ve said goodbye to Sandra who I’ve had a really lovely two weeks with, and who has been a great travelling companion and am ready for the next adventure!
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