Once settled in Medan we dined in an old restaurant called Tip Top where we ate a gorgeous salad (goda-goda with peanut sauce). We were both surprised about the more-developed-than we-expected nature of Medan. We thought it would be more dilapidated than Calcutta, but that isn’t the case; and being a city of 2 million it also has a middle class! That shows how much preconceptions of a country or place can be shattered when we visit them.

On our second day in Indonesia, while waiting for an 8pm bus to take us on an overnight ride to Banda Aceh; we paid visits to the decrepit (and inhabited by locals) Maimoon Palace, the Raya Grand Mosque and the Museum of North Sumatra (as we arrived at closing time the curator kindly switched on the lights and waited until we had had a quick tour- where else in the world would people do that for you?!!).

We were delivered to Banda Aceh in Aceh Province, which forms the northern tip of Sumatra, by a surprisingly comfortable and spacious coach at about 6am. Bleary eyed, we pushed our way through the becak (motorbike rickshaw) drivers to reach a café where we had sweet tea before even contemplating the next step.

Aceh, unfortunately, is known for all of the wrong reasons. In 2006 GAM (Free Aceh Movement) signed a ceasefire with the government to end a 30 year independence struggle. Before 2004 Aceh was mostly closed to foreigners. The incredibly catastrophic 2004 Boxing Day Tsunamis that hit Sumatra and particularly Aceh the worst (Banda Aceh suffered the double whammy of being hit by the earthquake that triggered the Tsunamis and then being struck by the waves that followed), opening the door to international aid agencies and the event pushed the Indonesian government and GAM to the negotiating table, a kind of silver lining if you like.

While we waited for a ferry to take us to Pulau Weh, the tropical horseshoe-shaped island north of Banda Aceh, we visited the mosque that had taken the brunt of the Tsunami waves and a mass grave of 15-20,000 corpses. I spoke in pidgeon English with a father who had lost a son while his wife wept before the mass grave. His son had been swimming in a coastal lagoon when the first wave came. 170, 000 died in Indonesia, most of them in Aceh and 90,000 of them died in and around the city of Banda Aceh. A lot of rebuilding has already taken place but much more still needs top be done. Everyone we spoke to had lost a close relative. Once again we were astounded to witness the sheer force of human will, determination and perseverance in the face of a natural calamity that surpasses all imagination. People have picked up their shattered lives, started their businesses again and are getting on with their lives, hearts broken yet finding enjoyment where and whenever they can.

On the island of Pulau Weh we were driven first to Iboih where we checked out a couple of coastal cabins. The sea was crystal clear and Laure spotted a stripey water snake weaving its way through the water close to the rocks. Mr. Goteng described his home grown techniques of coral reef conservation. They basically include taking pieces of coral from areas where they would be otherwise be destroyed (harbours for example) and transplanting them elsewhere tied to a small concrete pole, over which the coral can grow and flourish. Mr. Goteng finances this project himself using his diving and guesthouse business.  

Laure and I ended up staying on Gapeng Beach, a quiet bay with plenty of coral to explore. On that afternoon we went snorkelling and to our amazement swam directly above a Hawksbill turtle!

We were in for a bit of an adventure the next day. We hired a motorbike (my first time with gears). I drove and Laure sat at the back. This doesn’t sound too exciting but add that to the world’s steepest roads with more than their fair share of potholes, petrol siphoning locals and dodgy brakes and with these ingredients we had one heck of a (perilous) day!

Down many a steep incline Laure would shout for me to use the brakes, not knowing I was already pressing them as hard as possible while using my flip flop clad feet as well! At the village of Pria Laot we left the bike to go traipsing in the direction of a waterfall. This turned out to be a minor mission through the rainforest. I had a quick dip in the plunge pool at the foot of the cascade then we made our way back to the bike. It had evidently been tampered with and a suspiciously large pool of petrol was underneath it. Half an hour later the motorbike conked out. We remembered a particularly sly looking fellow had followed us to the place where we had left our bike but had thought nothing of it at the time. He had almost certainly siphoned the petrol from the tank for there weren’t any leaks to be found when we eventually filled it up. Nonetheless, a kind young man took me on the back of his motorbike to get more petrol (carried in a black plastic bag). Within 15 minutes we were back on our own bike again. On the way to a mini-volcano just outside of Jaboi village the motorbike stopped halfway up a steep hill. Laure dismounted while I attempted to push it uphill. I turned the engine on and put the bike into first gear and immediately the engine roared and the bike (with me on it) sped off out of control until it skidded off the road. Laure ran to pull the bike off me and fortunately I wasn’t too badly hurt- a scraped arm and bruised leg. In Jaboi some islanders saw my arm bleeding and insisted on presenting a wise old healer who massaged my arm and helped Laure patch me up with our first aid kit.

We found the mini-volcano but didn’t stay too long as Laure found a snake slithering past us and we were in the middle of nowhere (not good in the event of a poisonous snakebite!). It was on the way to Uj Bau, the so called km0 (as this is officially where the Indonesian archipelago begins) when the second accident occurred (several others were narrowly avoided as we negotiated near vertical roads with sharp turns and gaping potholes). Again, halfway up a steep slope, the overly powerful first gear caused the bike to surge upwards and forwards. Laure hopped off the back and after trying to stay on for a few seconds I jumped off as well and left the bike to crash into the bushes, but not before it ripped a few layers of skin off my foot (thus ensuring a painful couple of weeks and it wasn’t until Malaysia a month later that it fully healed). Laure patched me up again in the middle of the forest and it wasn’t long before an Indonesian couple passed on their bike and helped us retrieve our motorbike from the bushes and to get it running again. Onwards to Km0! There was nothing really of interest there, and for the scenery (not the injuries sustained en route) the journey was worth it. Back in Gopeng I received a little medical attention and advice from an Irish nurse and divemaster and we booked a dive for the next morning. What a day!

Jeremy, our diving instructor, took us both for a morning beachdive. He taught Laure the basics and refreshed my memory in the process. After being initially freaked out by the sensation of breathing underwater, Laure got used to it and the three of us explored the bay. We saw many different species of marine life including the Many Toothed Garden Eel, Giant Moray, Trumpet Fish, Blue Dash Fusilier, Butterfly Fish, Clark’s Anemonefish, Parrot Fish and Moorish Idol (to name but a few!).

I decided to follow this up with an afternoon dive off the small island of Pulau Seulako (Laure had had enough for one day!). In the first minute I spotted a Hawksbill turtle and throughout the dive we came across Zebra Moray, Lizardfish, Coral Shrimpfish, Lionfish, Oriental Sweetlips, Golden Sergeant, Blue Spotted Ribbon Tail Ray, Titan Triggerfish, Porcupine Fish and Elegant Flatworm. The coral here was an explosion of colours and weird shapes. We searched for reef sharks but couldn’t find any. At the northern tip of the island strong currents dragged us away from the coast towards the deep sea. The coral covered slope of the island disappeared into the depths beneath. We were running out of air so we resurfaced and got picked up by the motor launch, which took us back to Gapeng.

The rest of our time there was spent in chilled out convalescence (for me) with Laure taking on the role of nurse. To avoid infection we got into the routine of cleaning my wounds and changing the dressings twice a day. We spoke to people who had been around at the time of the tsunamis and to locals, and it appears that between 7 and 20 people died on the island. Because the land rises sharply from the coast, many people were able to reach high ground- this accounts for the small death toll, but houses, belongings and business properties could not escape and therefore many had to start again from scratch with little or no help from the Indonesian government or international community.

We were back in Banda Aceh for the afternoon of 24^th April. On the ferry trip we had met some interesting people: one Austrailian woman working for an NGO that trains teachers and a Frenchman (and his Indonesian wife) who works for an NGO teaching locals to make tiles from local clay for home roofs.

In Banda Aceh our becak driver took us to see the power station barge - a huge vessel of great tonnage that had been uplifted by the Tsunami, taken on a path of destruction before landing further inland on three houses killing their inhabitants in the process. It’s hard to comprehend the power of Tsunamis until one sees a sight like this. Too heavy to move (therefore relatives still cannot retrieve the bodies of their loved ones), it now sits in a residential area because people have rebuilt their old neighbourhoods around it.

The following day we visited the elegant Grand Mosque (that survived the Tsunamis), ate Acehnese specialities including amongst other UFOs (Unidentified Food Objects) brain curry- of cow, sheep, goat, monkey, extra terrestrial, who knows?!! We also did a whirlwind tour of the Museum of Aceh. We had another night bus to catch because we wanted to go to Bukit Lewan via Medan to see the orang-utans and before we left we hired a becak to take us to another mass grave at Lambaro (46, 000 bodies buried here). This site doesn’t have any monuments to signify what lies beneath the soil; it looks like an uneven field with wild flowers growing here and there. It was hard to imagine so many people buried in this small area.

The people of Aceh were all incredibly nice to us. They left us with a lasting impression of kindness and hospitality. We had had an adventurous, enjoyable and profound experience here in this largely unvisited province.

 

Chapter 40 - North Sumatra

Most people are aware that Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters. In 2003 a flash flood consisting of a 10m high wall of water caused by heavy rains and a landslide, demolished the village of Bukit Lawang and swept 280 people to their deaths. Since then the village has been built higher up the slope and new flood defences have been installed. Bukit Lawang is the launch pad for visitng the Gunung Leuser National Park which has the world’s highest concentration of orangutans, those orange haired cousins of ours.

On the bus to Bukit Lawang, a smooth talking guide called Tambrin tried to get our custom by sitting as close as possible to us and telling us about the region. Tourism dropped after the flash flood and there is a lot of competition between guides therefore they go looking for the tourists, starting with the bus trip there. His tactics paid off because we ended up staying in his friend’s guesthouse and hired him as a guide. That afternoon we took a becak to another village to witness a Karo wedding, and were lucky enough to catch the end of the festivities.

Later we went to a small café adorned with funky wooden furniture and a nice view over the river and surrounding forest. We had planned to return to this café for a sundowner and evening meal but unfortunately for the owner, his emotionally intense barman arrived; a bigger customer repellant could not have been found and we quickly changed our minds!

We explored further upriver then turned back to find a local bat cave. This short expedition took us through some organic vegetable allotments, a small spice garden and a rubber plantation before passing a wheat field, palm trees and eventually we reached a small cave complex. It was a spooky place and we were spied on by monkeys lounging in the canopy. We made our way back to Bukit Lawang and ate delicious pizzas while listening to Sundanese music.

On the day of the jungle trek Tambrin and his mate Bob took us across the Sungai Bohorok River in a precarious canoe tied to a suspended overhead line. On the opposite bank we found ourselves in Gunung Leuser National Park. We soon passed a small feeding centre with several orangutans in cages. ‘Orang Utan’ is a Malay word that means forest man. They live generally for 30-40 years and females have a baby on average every 6 years (with a 9 month pregnancy like humans!). They eat fruit, shoots, leaves, nuts and tree bark as well as insects, eggs and small mammals. They need a large area of forest to find the variety of fruits they normally eat and are solitary in nature. Every night they build a new nest out of leaves high in the forest canopy so as to avoid roving predators.

A noisy group of Dutch trekkers scared away every animal within 100m of the feeding platform so Tambrin led us further into the rainforest. After half an hour of trekking through the undergrowth and along forest trails we came across a juvenile, a mother and baby orangutan. These were the first of 8 we were to see in the wild. We observed some intimate behaviour and the guides fed them some bananas (which they shouldn’t really do because this makes them dependent on humans) and the mother shared hers with the baby.

We shortly came across another female and Laure and I took turns to hand her bananas (naughty, we know), enjoying the contact as the orangutan’s fingers touched ours. Lunch was wolfed down in a jungle clearing at the top of a hill amongst mosquitoes, 2cm long ants and many other beasties. We spotted the same female we had fed earlier in the trees above then in the early afternoon we saw another female in the nearby branches. This one soon made a hasty exit when a huge adult male approached us. He came within 5m of us (the distance considered safe, after which, one has to retreat) and Bob plunged into the undergrowth with a bunch of bananas to draw him away. As the male left the trail we bounded past. Bob eventually ran out of bananas and rapidly joined us again. Seemingly this wide headed, big bellied ape was still hungry and began to follow us. A Polish couple with their guides joined us and also had to make a hasty retreat as the ginger king kong bounded gracefully after us hoping for more grub. I told Laure she should be used to dealing with hairy hungry primates (i.e. me!). He followed us for a good 20 minutes through the jungle before cutting his losses and foraging in a bamboo thicket. During our retreat we were observed by another (juvenile) female perched in the branches above our heads.

It had been another eventful day that we would never forget. By the evening we were in Medan where we spent the night and the following morning. From there we caught a bus to Berestagi, which is 70km from Medan and at 1300m above sea level. As the bus rolled into town we saw the smoking volcano called Gunung Sibayak (2094m). The clouds and rain did not wait long, so after getting a room in a hillside guesthouse we paid a visit to the local café to sip cappuccinos and eat garlic bread and salads. We stayed for 4 hours while it rained outside!

That evening the gauze dressing on my foot wound was stuck as if superglue had been applied. I had an excruciating time taking it off and decided to delay the hike up Gunung Sibayak that we had planned for the next day. Instead we lazed all morning and had lunch in our favourite local then finally set off for an afternoon excursion to the Karo village of Lingga. After a multi-opelet (opelets are basically minibus taxis that follow certain routs) journey we were dropped off at the Lingga Karo Museum where the curator kindly offered us lunch. We chatted with the curator and her son and daughters. Lingga itself was further down the road. Some old Karo houses are left intact here and a few are still lived in. We had a look around then headed back to Berestagi.

A lubricated synthetcic gauze patch allowed me to consider the trek up Mt. Sibayak. Most of the way up was on tarmac then after backtracking when we took a wrong turn; we found the path to the crater. A group of Indonesian students were hot on our heels when we reached a false crater (it looked like one but in fact wasn’t!). We heard what sounded like an aircraft taking off but was actually the sound of sulfur spewing out of the crust. The sharp tangy smell confirmed this. When we found it we felt awestruck by the turquoise crater lake surrounded by numerous other sulfurous geysers and decorated by stone names in the shallows. Laure had to wait for the right moment to take pictures as heavy clouds kept drifting past the view.

We chose an alternative route down the volcano that turned out to have an extremely steep gradient. The way was slippery and perilous on occasions and it was a difficult 2 ½ hour climb down through rainforest and bamboo thickets. Our reward was waiting at the bottom: Nasi Goreng (fried rice, vegetables and egg, spicy of course- the Indonesian national dish) and hot springs. We dipped in thermal springs for one hour with the volcano still in sight. We both became so relaxed that we felt drowsy afterwards.

On May Day we set off for Lake Toba. Danau Toba is the largest volcanic lake in Southeast Asia and has an island called Samosir in the middle of it. It was created between 30, 000 and 75, 000 years ago by a series of eruptions. The lake itself lies above a large caldera.

The bus dropped us off in Parapat, a lakeside town and jumping off point for the ferry to Tuk Tuk (that lies on a peninsula protruding into Lake Toba), our destination on Samosir Island. Here we stayed in a fantastically clean, spacious and cheap hotel. The staff were great, so were the views, it had the best swimming area and good quality chill out facilities complemented by delicious food and drink! What a bargain. It was difficult to tear ourselves away from this comfort zone. Most of the next 5 days were spent bathing in the lake, reading, card playing and watching the odd DVD. This time was not spent without an adventure or two though!

On our second day next to Lake Toba we went to a local market in Pangururan on the other side of Samosir. We browsed through a market and had an amusing chat with some cheerful schoolgirls who were happy to practice their English.

Our third day was spent strolling around Tuk Tuk, playing pool and searching for tribal crafts made by the local Bataks. They have their own architecture, language, art and system of writing and are mainly Christians. Many still have traditional animist beliefs. They used to practise ritual cannibalism by eating the flesh of enemies killed in battle and criminals condemned to death.

We judged the lakeside road to be safe enough to attempt another motorbike tour. We therefore sped off to Simanindo to visit the Batak museum and watch the cultural dances. They reflected various aspects of Batak traditional life such as omens from water buffalo, finding a wife, virtuous and harmful deeds.

In Lumban Suhi Suhi Laure drove a hard bargain to buy two hand woven Batik blankets that Bataks adorn themselves with. We then passed back along the lakeside road and stopped at Ambarita to see some Batak stone carvings that are about 300 years old. To finish off our day on the bike we drove to Soosortolong to see the views of the island’s escarpment from a height.

The fifth day was a bit more adventurous. I took the ferry to Parapet on mainland to withdraw money and book bus tickets (not too eventful). On my return we decided to cross the island by motorbike. The road up the escarpment became more and more rugged and potholed. We persevered and once on the plateau the road became even worse and more isolated, crossing through a remote forest. Luckily my driving skills had improved since Pulau Weh and we managed to get through unscathed although the going got tough at times! That night two Belgian women took the same route in the dark and damaged one bike in the forest and had to abandon it in the bushes. To attempt that trail in the dark when it was getting dark was stupid! They slipped away from the hotel early the next morning without paying for the damage and leaving a poor waiter (owner of the bike) to cop the cost.

On 6th May we took a night bus from Parapat to Bukkitinggi - yet another perilous journey that left us exhausted but thankful to be alive! Never before have I seen a bus perform such feats of gravity!