Photo journals: Sumatra

Sumatra is the westernmost island of Indonesia. I was there with Maya for two months September-October 2007. But it felt too short and eversince I have a feeling I'll go back there soon. Indonesia is a great colorful place, almost like India but not as demanding perhaps. Sumatra is less crowded then the rest of Indonesia and still has some great nature. It is where I climbed my first volcano, did my first scuba dives, rowed an inner tube from a truck on a raging river for the first time in my life. It is so rich, sometimes it makes you just stop and inhale. There are places which are very hard to leave and people very easy to love. Indonasians are the most talented people I've seen, or at least they have the biggest percentage of talented people and guitars per household. And they play that guitar, paint that house, carve that wood. You are always welcome.

Main mosque in Medan
Medan is where we arrived Sumatra by boat during Ramadan. Around the mosque was a whole fast breaking food market for the evening. But it was not so great to have this room (where I took this photo from) because they really go at it on the loudspeakers and not all have a good voice, good thing to consider when traveling in Indonesia.



The place we stayed on Lake Toba.
The great tranquil lake welcomed us with this great peaceful place outside the touristic ghost town of Tuktuk.



Our house by Lake Toba. It's a very old Batak house which was transported here and has two floors and a veranda right by the lake. It looks and feels like a boat, especially when you're inside because of all the heavy wood, angled walls and small windows.



Every morning before sunrise I saw these fishermen putting their nets in the lake on their tiny single trunk canoes. They feel one with the lake.



Toba volcano is one of those mega volcanoes, it's so huge it is impossible to see it as a single mountain. And in its crater there is this Lake Toba which is the largest volcanic lake on earth (100x30 kms), the biggest lake on earth on an island. When the volcano erupted 75.000 years ago it reduced earths population to only 10.000 people through a sudden ice age and acid rain. When one sees how big and how tranquil it is, it's hard to imagine it exploding. Luckily, that kind of thing happened only once in in the last 2 million years.



Another view of Lake Toba with its warm waters and breath taking grandeur.



A Batak house by Lake Toba. These houses are famous with their unique design and the roof is a prestige symbol and appears even in little low cost houses like this one.



The main cathedral on Samosir island on Lake Toba. Batak people were not muslimized perhaps due to living up the mountain away from trade routes and vast agricultural lands. So later on they were christianized and they form one of the few Catholic tribes of Indonesia. This big church looks just like a batak house and the wood carvings on it depict local deities and spirits next to Jesus and Mary. Christianity here adopted much fromthe local animistic traditions.



Batak tombs are a whole different world. They are the ancestors' abode after death so the whole Batak land is full of very well made and maintained, very interesting tombs. This one, which has a common concept, has a perfect replica of a Batak house over a pyramidal tomb.



Another Batak tomb. These tombs are hardly christian and someof them like this depict the person who's resting there. The guy was perhaps a soldier.



Some people explain these intereting roofs with the horns of the carabao or water bufallo, but more in Minangkabau then in Toba. The church on the back is another tomb depicting a church.



A local deity or spirit protecting a Batak house. There is much magic mushroom around and the people were shamanic, of course.




Stone circle on royal burial ground in Toba.




Tomb of a Batak king.



School bus. Hard to believe but true, these vans compete to take more people and there is always space for more. This one possibly has close to 80 on it (with 10-12 seats inside)



A great thing about taking busses in Indonesia is the busking one hears. When the bus is stopping these people jump on with guitars and ukuleles and sing one song (usually very well) and collect their money and empty the space for the next busker. Indonesia is a very talented and musical country. I love it.



Canyon near Bukittinggi. This is the land of Minangkabau people who are muslim and matriarchal. This canyon lies between Merapi and Singgalang volcanos.



Minangkabau houses also have unique roofs. Minangkabau means "winner water buffalo" and it's said that the pointed ends of the roof reaching heavens represent the horns.



Another Minangkabau house. They usually follow the same design with the little storage for rice in the front and are very ornamented.



Many times Minangkabau houses are like gingerbread houses straight out of fairy tales.



Majestic tree with a cute fairy in a graveyard. Although most of Sumatra's jungles are extinct, it is possible to come across such ageless trees in places like this.



Playing the royal drum by a royal Minangkabau residence. Sometimes these huge drums have houses of their own.



Although cultural things and natural oddities are more photographed, in fact most of the land is covered with these: rice and coconuts.



Enjoying Padang food. Although it comes from the town of Padang on the south coast of Sumatra, Padang food is very popular and available all over indonesia. It is normally lots tastes from different foods, very spicy and oily and sometimes surprising.



Lake Maninjau, another volcanic crater lake where we went hiding during the Id-ul-fitri holiday time. This one was easier to perceive as a crater because it was smaller, still warm and nice to swim with lots of great fish.



Going up the Merapi volcano (Singglang volcano at the back). It took us 4-5 hours to come to the edge of the crater on the full moon night when the rainy season gave a 2 days break for us. It was really cold and energy consuming but well worth it.



Victorious climbers on the Merapi peak just before sunrise. The air changes, the feeling changes, all tiredness disappear. After a little inhalation of the sulphur smokes from the active volcano we are tripping.



Contamplating on being on another world on Merapi. Around us are many other volcanos, some still smoking, slowly receiving the first lights of the day.



Always wanted to be on the moon and here I am on the ash covered center of the Merapi crater.



Going down from Merapi to Bukittinggi facing Mount Singglalang, feeling very small.



Then we went all the way up to the northern tip of Sumatra, to Banda Aceh where an earthquake had triggered the devastating Tsunami of 2005. The only thing left of the old city is the old mosque. The seaside where I took this photo is still covered in debris but the seaside line has changed dramatically and there is building work everywhere. Now there are these signs everywhere with an accompanying sign showing the direction to the nearest high ground. But from where this sign is, nearest high ground is a few kilometers away.



Pulau Weh is a tiny island off the coast of Banda Aceh. It has great corals and very clear waters (visibility up to 40 meters). This Gapang beach is where I took my diving course and even on my first dives I saw such variety of fish, I'd be afraid to tell.



One of our neighbors on Iboih, Pulau Weh. I couldn't beleive it, when we rented this little bungalow with its veranda right on the water, that the whole coral in front of us was full of all colors of fish and other sea creatures. They were also quite friendly and we snorkeled a lot and made friends. Later they inspired me to learn diving.



Another neighbor, a gecko which looks like a leopard, looks stoned, and makes this really loud gek-koo sounds sometimes freaking us out.



Our last stop in Sumatra was the orangutan reserve in Bukit Lawang. These are some of the orangutans (forest people) reintroduced to the wild after being captured from illegal traders. They seem to be doing pretty well and happy about the attention (and the bananas) they are receiving.




But to reach the orangutans we had to cross this raging river on this tiny canoe which is tied to a cable overhead and pulled to eather side. This is because they cannot build a rope and let the orangutans out and the poachers in. Ok, I was scared a bit but I survived, even after the crazy tubing experience on the same river when I had my nearest-to-death experience.



Abdul, one big male orangutan giving us a private show after his banana and milk meal.




These guys really have the looks like they have some important things in their minds, even when they are peeling fruit.



Then we discovered a bat cave, a huge line of caves in fact. In in places where it opened we discovered vines and roots, just like those in Tarzan. I couldn't help but at least try the Indiana Jones moves on these roots, just before we leave this beautiful magical land of Sumatra.

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Maya's blog has more photos and impressions of this trip here.

Monkey business

Monkey business got a whole new meaning for us when we visited the Ulu Watu temple in Bali.

At the gates of the big seaside gardens of the temple complex we were firmly warned to keep our bags, cameras, glasses and other things safe in case they are grabbed by the monkeys. We were also told and later reminded by many signs around the temple that the monkeys could get aggressive and feeding them was not a good idea. That’s why it was surprising to see some people selling little portions of fruits and nuts to feed the monkeys around the gardens. After all the warnings none of the tourists seemed to dare to do that anyway but then we realized the fruits were a part of a more sophisticated business.

While we were enjoying the views of the high cliffs by the main temple we were aware that many monkeys were scrutinizing us in case we were carrying something interesting. That’s when we heard someone scream. A monkey had grabbed the glasses from the eyes of a Japanese tourist and was sitting on a rock by the high cliff staring back at us. One of the kids who were selling fruits quickly approached the owner of the glasses and asked if he needs his help to retrieve his glasses. Then he jumped on the rocks and approached the monkey waving a little bag of fruits towards him. The monkey holding the glasses tight on one hand approached the boy, and grabbed the fruit before the boy could snap and take the glasses back. Then he went a bit further where he felt safely away from the reach of any humans and ate his fruit, still holding the glasses on one hand. When he was finished he came back within the reach of the boy and got another portion of fruit. This scene repeated few more times while the boy got closer to the deadly heights of the rocky cliff, trying to imitate the agility of his rival. When the monkey was finally bored of the game or filled with fruit he let the boy take the glasses which were a mess of crushed metal with one lens missing. Nevertheless the boy was paid for his fruits and was tipped for his heroics.

This is the way we learned what the monkey mind was capable of. They had silently made a business deal with the fruit sellers of the temple and although it was surely a monkey business, it was profitable for everyone but the unsuspecting tourists.

The day we were grounded

Indonesia consists of thousands of island and to go from one to another used to require a long ferryboat journey until the cheaper airline companies took over the market. Today there are over 20 Indonesian economy airline companies who carry people within the archipelago. However none of them, even the national Garuda Airlines, are not permitted to fly to the West due to their weak security and history of accidents.

One strange thing about these flights is that, as oppose to buying in advance to make it cheaper, in Indonesia if you want to pay less you have to buy your ticket at the latest minute. Of course you take the risk of not finding a last minute ticket and that’s why we also played the auction game of booking flight tickets at the latest time they are available.

We were in Bali and wanted to fly to Indonesian side of Borneo and cross to the Malaysian side the day before our visas ended. For this we had to fly from Bali to Jakarta and from there to Pontianak on Indonesian Borneo. Although we were checking the internet everyday, suddenly it seemed like all the flights were getting booked. We wanted to fly with Adam Air which was offering the most reasonable prices but we missed the last tickets for the Jakarta – Pontianak flight. So instead we booked Adam Air from Bali to Jakarta and Lion Air from Jakarta to Pontianak.

8th of March 2008, early in the morning we went to Denpasar International Airport, checked our luggage in and went to the gate to wait for our flight. While waiting I read on the newspaper from the day before that Adam Air would reduce the number of it’s flights next week. From the waiting hall we watched our orange colored plane be taxied to the gate and our luggage get loaded onto it. Then the newspaper of the present day arrived and on the cover was the news that Adam Air is unable to pay the insurance fees due to the big number of crushes it had and was going to freeze operations within a week. Then we watched our luggage be unloaded and the plane be taxied away from the gate. “Please wait” was the only answer we received from the gate crew even after the flight seemed to be delayed an hour. Strange enough on the airport screens it was still written that the flight was on time. When we started to push for some more answers we realized we were not the only people getting anxious about their connecting flight from Jakarta. There was a Taiwanese couple bound for Taipei and a German guy with a long chain of connecting flights he was afraid to miss.

When we were taken to the office downstairs the personnel there were already in a hard situation trying to answer so many demands at the same time and quickly. I fixed all my attention on one person and became her shadow whichever corner she went to hide until I managed to make her buy for us tickets by Garuda Air to Jakarta, leaving now. We ended up literally running together with another guy to the ticket and check-in counters. Just when I started to run towards the gate for the new flight I was stopped by the same guy telling me that I had to go down with him to the baggage claim and fish our stuff from a large pile of stranded Adam Air luggage there.

Somehow this exercise took my anxiety a bit and we enjoyed the non-economy class flight with the big Garuda airliner. But there was a little problem. Because of this delay, we seemed to have only 40 minutes left between our arrival to and departure from Jakarta, which was a very risky amount of time considering that the check-out counters sometimes close half an hour before the flight. So we made a plan. As soon as we landed we would split and I would go down to pick our luggage while Maya would run to the Lion Air check-in counter and stop them from closing. This we did. The 10 minutes waiting in front of the carrier belt felt like an hour and but when I finally made it out of the gates I realized we still had 30 minutes. Then the information guy told me that this was the international terminal and the Lion Air was in the domestic terminal, few kilometers away and I had to take a taxi. I looked around to see if I could spot Maya in this crowds but of course it was impossible, she could have been even on a different floor. So I went ahead with our initial plan to meet at the check in counter and took a taxi. Surprisingly when I arrived at the Lion Air check in there were still a line of fellow passengers but no Maya.

Then I wanted to slow down the time, make it last longer so that Maya would arrive but she woudn’t. I sadly sat on my luggage trolley and watched the screen notification turn to “departed”. I had just missed my first flight.

I went to the Lion Air counter and told them that I had lost my wife. After the initial giggles one of them decided to be my assistant on this mission and took me to the first terminal where Maya was still waiting for me. She had thought that the plan would have changed because the terminals would have been far apart. It was the expensive taxi ride that had given her the idea that even if she took a taxi it wouldn’t arrive on time, although for me it didn’t take more than 5 minutes.

Sometimes, in times of crisis, accidents, or sudden loss of something, a weird sort of coolness takes over the emotions and tells one to stop. We didn’t talk. We knew it was very easy to start to argue and accuse each other for this situation. We sat and had a drink.

Now we had to find a way out of Indonesia before we ran out of visa within the next 2 days. Adam Air was fully grounded and all the stranded passengers have booked all the other tickets on other flights. It was practically impossible to find tickets to anywhere on the direction we wanted to go within 2 days. So we went back to the superstar of budget airlines and booked a flight by Air Asia back to Kuala Lumpur.

We wanted to travel all across Northern Borneo and Brunei and take a boat to Southern Philippines but it was not to happen. We ended up grounded in the heat of Kuala Lumpur and later flew to Philippines.