Photo trip report: North Sumatra, Indonesia

[buksida]

We happened across a traditional Batak funeral on the way back and stopped to have a look, this was the real deal, not a show for tourists.

To follow: Lake Toba

[buksida]

Since we only had a day remaining the only way to get to Lake Toba was to be a day trip from Berastagi. I’d always wanted to go there so couldn’t miss out being this close. Our driver took us through rustic villages and fertile fields until we arrived at Sipisopiso waterfall, Indonesia's highest at 110 meters, located in the Karo highlands it feeds into a gorge that leads to the north of Lake Toba.

To follow: Lake Toba

[lomuamart]

You were right not to go up Mount Sinabung:

[buksida]

Yeah, just missed that by a couple of weeks each way!

A few kilometers down into the valley was the lake itself. At 500 meters deep and over 100km long it is Southeast Asia's largest lake, formed 70,000 years ago from the eruption of a super volcano which caused a drop in global temperatures by 5 degrees celsius. We stopped at a lake side restaurant/fish farm and had fresh barbequed Toba fish.

The road from Tongging to Berastagi ...

It was time to head back and prematurely wrap up our Indonesian trip, I was sad to leave so quickly, there is so much more to this country and we’ve only seen two islands of it. I will definitely be back.

To follow: general observations and comparisons to Thailand

[Big Boy]

Was DSC_0457 a bridge or aquaduct?

[buksida]

Its a flooded bridge! They didnt think to put any drainage holes in it.

General observations and comparisons to Thailand

Taxis are inexplicably expensive here, I know we’re getting the tourist sting but still it costs a lot (relative to other things) to get about. Petrol prices I’m told were increased by 40% earlier this year – at the moment it costs 6500 rupiah per liter, that’s about about 18 baht. I’m sure the locals are not paying six figures to get from town to town!

Rubbish is a major problem in Indonesia, there are no collection services and they do not seem to burn it as in Thailand so piles of plastic trash just accumulate alongside the roads and in front of people’s homes. It was disheartening to see people mindlessly throwing plastic containers off the ferry into the ocean; I guess environmental awareness needs to start at school and here it obviously doesn’t.

The People
The locals seemed very friendly and genuinely curious, they want to talk to you and most of them had some English. There are not many westerners travelling in this region so you do tend to stand out, most tourists tend to be Malay or Singaporean (and of course the Chinese bus herds). At no time did we feel unsafe, in fact we felt welcome there, and it was all smiles, waves, and hellos.

Motoring
The traffic is chaotic and the roads diabolical. Most cars are at least ten years old unlike Thailand where everyone has a brand new wagon. The roads are single lane and seldom marked and although they officially drive on the left it usually works out to be wherever there are fewer potholes. The bus and truck drivers are absolute assholes with no consideration for anything else on the road. Police were also a rare sight; there were no roadblocks, no shakedowns, no packs of them hiding in bushes trying to pull over tourists and motorcyclists.

More to follow ...

[buksida]

Prices
Accommodation is cheaper than in Thailand, though standards are not as high in many places. We seldom paid more than a thousand baht per night for a room. Food is also a little cheaper, especially local and street food, you can get a fairly big meal for about 30-40 baht. As expected beer was more expensive, where it was sold it worked out at about 45 baht for a can of local Bintang, 60 baht for a can of Guinness. Prices were shocking in some of the hotels and I did not see any wine or whiskey. Fuel was a lot cheaper at around 18 baht per liter though for some reason taxis were relatively expensive. Groceries were similarly priced.

Environment
Sadly there is rubbish everywhere so it is not a pretty sight in many places. Indonesians have absolutely no respect for the environment and everything just goes straight out of the window. On the up side there were no packs of feral street dogs since the country is predominantly Muslim.

Tourism
Sumatra is not heavily touristic so the infrastructure is lacking somewhat. That said we had no problems getting around and visiting local attractions. The level of service is generally pretty good, you get the feeling that staff actually want to help you instead of just playing with their phones as they do in Thailand. The visa on arrival is one month, but you have to pay $25 for it – it seems from recent news reports that Thailand is also going down this route with its new “tourist tax”. You have to pay 200 baht departure tax also when you fly out.

Eating and drinking
The food was generally very tasty, Indonesians like it hot so chili and pepper is used in most dishes, even the nasi goreng (fried rice). They eat a lot of noodles, tofu and beef is popular obviously to make up for the absence of pork. Halal chicken is a lot more flavoursome! Unfortunately the food didn’t agree with me, I had a dodgy shrimp dish on the island one evening and spent the next 6 days suffering for it.

Shopping
There are little convenience stores all over the place and their version of 7-Eleven is called Indo-Mart. Occasionally we paid a little over the odds where things were not labeled but dual pricing was not as prevalent as it was in Vietnam.

Thanks for reading - will add the videos when I get round to editing and cutting them.

[Big Boy]

Thanks for reading - will add the videos when I get round to editing and cutting them.

And thank you for posting - it's been interesting.

[STEVE G]

Yes, it's been interesting and has brought back some memories; I was living and working in Indonesia before I moved to Thailand.
My thoughts are that it's a naturally more varied and interesting country than Thailand but there are a few things that making living there not so much fun. I've nothing against Muslims but I enjoy nightlife a bit too much to want to live in a country without it. It exists in large cities but outside of that, there is none. Indonesians aren't as much fun as Thais, I've had some glorious times at Thai weddings but in Indonesia it's a glass of orange juice and staring at a cone of cooked rice for hours.
Also the corruption is terrible and they make Thais look like amateurs, it's also hard to put up with people endlessly trying to scam you, all over Indonesia I was repeatedly approached by "businessmen" with grandiose plans that only required cash to make millions. I once had a seedy looking man on a bus in Sulawesi try to sell me an ocean-going tug and the director of an airline I worked for tried to lure me into buying a kilo ingot of "platinum" from WW2!
As stated in the posts above, the traffic is downright dangerous, I've driven the length of Java and Bali a couple of times and was always surprised to still be alive when I got home. I cycle and use a scooter in Thailand but I never even thought of doing anything so suicidal in Indonesia, almost every day you would see a crowd of people looking under the wheels of a bus to try and find the remains of a motorcyclist.

[buksida]

Full photo galleries and trip report can now be found online @ OTRA:

http://www.ontheroadasia.com/banda-aceh.php
http://www.ontheroadasia.com/pulau-weh.php
http://www.ontheroadasia.com/berastagi.php
http://www.ontheroadasia.com/mount-sibayak.php
http://www.ontheroadasia.com/lake-toba.php

Still editing the video ...

[buksida]

Started on the video, first one is of some crazy driving on the road out of Medan ...
This was a single lane road, the only one crossing Sumatra from the east coast.

[buksida]

Volcano climb video now online:

[buksida]

Here is the first of the dive videos ...

[hhfarang]

Nicely shot and edited Buksi.

In 25 years of diving I only ever saw one of those Blue Ribbon Eels. Nice find.

What video editing software do you use?

[buksida]

That's the first one I've ever seen also.

Vid was shot on a GoPro and cut with Windows Movie Maker.