A few photos - Cape York & on towards Asia

[The Bigfella]

OK, I said I'd post a photo of our Padang fish and prawns being cooked. Here it is...



Siri was happy



A couple more Padang shots

This one reminds me of being a kid in Coffs Harbour. The Jetty there was a regular haunt



This girl was quite scared of the gangplank... she was crawling down it until she saw me with the camera



One of the ferries that head out to the surfing mecca... the Mentawai Islands. Its a 12 hour trip... done at night.

[BrianW]

Just can't get enough! Keep'em coming!

[The Bigfella]

Thanks Brian... How about something different... a bit of the Sumatran bush.

Mur took me on that ride around the inside of the caldera, a 50km lap of the lake. She and her sister were concerned about her reputation, so her brother in law dropped her off 3km down the road and away we went. She picked up the best communications method pretty quickly and started thumping me on the shoulder whenever I went over 100kph.... but we hit the rough stuff soon enough.

Here's the detour we took onto a headland that juts out into Lake Maninjau



Warning... there is a swear word there, I had a bit of difficulty getting onto one section with some sharp-edged concrete on a particularly steep bit with overhanging sticks. It doesn't look nasty in the video, of course.... but such is life. The bit at the very end is me releasing the pressure from the fuel tank. Its a serious problem I have to fix. That's petrol spewing out everywhere past an o ring on the fuel level sensor. The new cap the tank manufacturer sent me is worse than the old one.

Mur had been telling me the tigers don't eat many people around here, but they are here. Two years ago one killed a farmer up the road a bit; just taking his heart and eyes apparently. I got some decent shots around the lake... with the little camera, so I'll go see if I can upload some now over brekkie. I'm hoping for a decent view of the big smoker volcano just near here. I've moved on to Bukittinggi and am heading for Lake Toba.

[The Bigfella]

I got asked an interesting question via PM earlier.... about how much of the hospitality I've received do I believe is genuine hospitality, not because I'm a "wealthy foreigner"?

I'd say the vast majority of it is genuine. I've had a couple of instances where people have tried to take advantage of that wealthy foreigner bit... jumped in on a dinner invite for someone else for example, but only a couple that I can genuinely recall... both in Bali, where its a real tourist town. Of all the guides I've used, I can only think of one that was chasing the dollar more than trying to make sure we saw what we wanted.

I can think of four occasions straight off the top of my head where people have refused money - and three of those were for commercial services (goods in a shop, guiding fees x 2) and the 4th was the family I stayed with in Baron, Java.

There's no doubt, I've had people ask for money... eg the kids with the Vespa racing machines. I've put money in the tin today several times... but none of them had anything to do with hospitality. For example, I put my 30c change from dinner in the mosque building fund.... but I do that a little bit conspicuously in towns like this one. Its very, very traditional Muslim. No beer. My Spanish friend here tonight, fortunately headed in the other direction isn't getting the same reaction... he's stamping around complaining about prices, wanting beer, etc. Its a dry town. Very dry... and he's made it clear he wants to get pissed. All he's doing is pissing people off. I'd rather leave people thankful that the infidel contributed something.

I threw 2,000 rupiah (20c) in the tin for some young guys clearing a fallen tree off the road today. He asked for more. I smiled said "no, no... need for others down the road" and got a smile and thank you from the guy - can't blame him for trying eh?

I've been warned time and again about criminals, etc... but I've not encountered a single problem to date. I've had the bike swamped with people when I've had bags open... and I've been worried about light fingers... but nope. By the same token, my bike is in the lobby tonight... the Spaniard's is outside.

I think I've said it before... people here take everyone at face value. You add value to the relationship (and I don't mean money... I mean attitude, interest, etc) and you get the same back. Its genuine.

So... that's as much as I can think of to try and come up with anything where money has dictated. Take Lake Maninjau. My guide (oops, that's three now) didn't ask for, or get, money. She did it because we got on well and I'd asked her if she'd show me around.... that's despite organising tours being part of her/her sister's business.... and she was happy to do it.

Things like that dinner with Siri and Putri... not their idea. Entirely my suggestion... I'd been genuinely impressed by their attitude. eg, they'd stored my bike and gear at no charge while I went to Malaysia.... they got up at 5am to cook me breakfast that day, etc. Siri and I got on really well (keep yer minds above yer navels) and she's asked me to keep in touch. That's genuine friendship in my book. It ain't gunna happen at this hotel though.

Another one... my visit to Smile's family. My "relationship" with Smile was based on her and Dianita being in a restaurant when I walked in with a mutual friend - and I discovered she was going out with an Australian guy I know, who is up there every couple of weeks. I ended up inviting the three of them to dinner later.... and a fourth person, who I didn't invite, tagged along ... but I didn't mind too much. I asked her about her kids. She told me the story. I asked if I could visit them. When I got there, I invited grandma and the kids out... I pushed some money into grandma's hand.... and had it returned. I stuffed it somewhere she couldn't reach without a chair... smiled at her and told her it was for the kids. Young Kiky had won my heart... she's a vibrant, intelligent 9 year old... and neither she nor grandma had been exposed to "wealthy foreigners".... and I wish I could have left more than the $30 that I did.

Does that answer the question? I hope so. There were some pretty vile comments made on another thread a while back about "worshipful little brown people"... which perhaps led to this question. It sure hasn't been my experience. I interact with as many of the local people I can every day. I end up on at least a dozen mobile phone cameras every day too. I'm guessing its my handsome face, my intelligence and my wit and humour that has all these ladies falling at my feet.... because it sure isn't my wallet.

OK.... while I've got a tad of bandwidth... Here's some of the infrastructure around Padang... Don't cut the corners... or, you'll drop a metre or so in a hurry



This security fence was in Padang too. Those spikes - many of them bent out at an angle - are about eye level



Jumping forward to yesterday now... here's a couple of bridges we encountered doing our lap of Lake Maninjau. There were dozens of these





This lady was smoking tiny fish out of the caldera lake (Maninjau)



This isn't dad or even granddad taking the kids home from school He's a commercial bike "taxi" and he's getting paid to drive them home. Most kids walk. Young ones like this always in pairs, holding hands. It seems to keep them safe

[The Bigfella]

Continuing on the lap of the lake theme... here's the lovely Mur. Her hand's nowhere near my wallet



I do believe she had difficulty seeing over my shoulder though.



If I'm not mistaken, this one shows some of the landslides from the earthquake 3 years ago



... and one of only two bridges we saw being rebuilt



House reconstruction



Damn... there goes Photobucket again. More tomorrow

[The Bigfella]

That wasn't the house reconstruction btw,

[The Bigfella]

A funny thing happened to me on the way to Lake Toba today. I couldn't get brekkie in Kotanoban - had to make do with a coffee... then another coffee on the road, and a water, and... so on. Finally, I spotted a restaurant that was packed. It'd just taken me about 90 minutes to go 25 km across some rather interesting "roads".... and I hadn't been dawdling.

Anyhow, I saw a packed restaurant in the middle of nowhere... up in the hills.... so I did a u turn and went back. I got mobbed and with appropriate sign language, plates of food appeared. Some sort of dead animal that had lots of arteries and gristle. Dark meat. - First thing I was offered was some home brew petrol of some sort.... with a smile and "Christian" but I said no... and got water. They kept wanting me to try it, given they knew I'd just come several thousand km through Muslim territory... but I held firm.

Anyhow, about 40 or so people - all adults - mobbed me... photos and "where from... how old... name... etc" I knocked back two plates of meat, a big one of rice, some soup and some veges - and two cups of water and one bottle of water. When all was said and done... I asked "brappa?".... how much? Much consternation... an exercise book was produced, but they wanted me to write in it... so I put my name and home town in.... Nope... that wasn't it. Then someone with a smidgen of English says "this a big party... no pay price... you give what you want" I could have walked out for 50c... and they'd have been fine... So - was that hospitality laid on for a wealthy foreigner? Not in the slightest. The last thing mentioned was money - and it was me that did it... Seriously... these people love meeting foreigners and it isn't for the money.

I'm on the ferry out to the island in the middle of Lake Toba at the moment. This from a review of the place elsewhere....


The world’s largest island within an island, set in the world’s largest volcanic lake, in the world’s largest volcano crater caused by the world’s largest volcanic eruption – enough said!!

[The Bigfella]

I pulled into the carpark at a hotel on the island in Lake Toba.... and there's three bikes in the carpark. Andrew, on a GS650 and Lisa and Simon Thomas on another one of them and a big beemer. Sheesh... 6 other bikes in 3 days. These guys had met El Conquistador too.... and we swapped some tales.

[The Bigfella]

OK... let's see if we can catch up a little. Its been an interesting few days with some hard riding and interesting sights.

So... back to my lap of Lake Maninjau. This is a new house going up in one of the earthquake affected areas



Some of the more intensive aquaculture developments on the Lake.



I've read that there are some pollution effects becoming apparent on this lake. Lake Toba has them too and we ate fish from one last night when some local fishermen we stopped to talk to plonked a couple of plates in front of us... and refused to let us pay for it. They said the Swiss introduced the aquaculture technique here.

The two Japanese chaps I met - one has ridden here from Finland, the other from Japan

[The Bigfella]

Those guys were on road tyres. You wouldn't catch me here on road tyres in a pink fit. I've had to head "bush" too many times. I've had my cruising face on when riding lately, rather than my race face... and even then, there's still some pretty quick stops required at times... and at others, you don't bother stopping... you just ride off the road.

I saw my first Korean car the other day... a Hyundai. The vast majority of cars here are Toyotas and the other Japanese brands. I don't know if they manufacture here, but Honda is opening its 4th motorcycle factory here. There were 8 million motorbikes sold in Indonesia last year and they are anticipating more sales... as Indo has 1 motorbike per 7 people and neighbouring countries have 1 per 3.

This thing, btw, is a Toyota. Cute eh



Back to Lake Maninjau. Here's fish being packed for shipping. Live. I presume the gas is oxygen... although it may just be air. Brownish cylinder top... that'd be air, wouldn't it? Oxy is blue IIRC. I saw a guy on a scooter carrying on of these large cylinders crossways on the footrest area... about 10" above the road.... any sort of incident and the valve would be gone.



This isn't a very good shot... but it gave me the heebie jeebies... Two guys in a sawmill. That log he's running through was about 8" square and I'd reckon over 20' long. One guy holding it... freehand. No fence or guards on the saw.... Ughh.



Nearly back to the start point... and time for Mur to get off and protect her reputation. Lovely lady, but unfortunately, she's decided she likes me and keeps sending me messages. I'd swapped phone numbers to arrange the pickup out of town. Hmmm.



Maybe I should have done one of the organised tours, rather than asking Mur to show me around and buying her lunch?

[ChrisBen]

Cool stuff Ian, thanks.

[The Bigfella]

Hmmm... just noticed the wording on that sign "We offer the one thing that everybody wants".... and seeing my missus (and kids) read this.... No Dear, she isn't following me home. There's no sin in this place!

A couple more Lake Maninjau shots from my hotel - Hotel Tan Dirih. Not a bad place btw.



Same view, wider out, in the morning




Checking the traps







I did a quick run to Bukittinggi



The hope was that the next day I could get a crack at one of the three volcanos that surround the town... one of which is a smoker, but it pelted down and the volcanoes were cloud-covered in the morning

[The Bigfella]

Nope... not riding up that one... nor this one



So, I headed north for Lake Toba. I wasn't expecting, nor trying to do it in one hit.... but I didn't have a clue where I'd find accomodation. I struck rain a couple of times and pulled in at this shop to wait one cloudburst out... and to rehydrate



... and found myself being entered onto numerous mobile phones again



There was a pretty grotty "house" opposite that place... with three little kids who were running away every time I pointed the camera their way. A very poor family. I grabbed three bottles of orange juice - I'm the last of the big spenders, that cost $1.80 - and took them over to the kids.... so all the adolescent girls started pointing at themselves, "me, me".... nah... smiled, shook my head - they laughed and off I went.

The road got grotty and on one of the slower mountain passes, I spotted this. A waterwheel genset - I took a nice video of it, but for some silly reason held the camera sideways. I'll post it if anyone wants to see it... with their head cranked over...



A couple on a nice new KTM (a local scooter brand... not the KTM I'm riding).. who I'd just passed, tooted as they went by. 200 metres and 3 corners later, I was second on the scene. She was up, he wasn't.... and he didn't look happy. I did the thumb up, thumb down, shoulder shrug... and got a thumb down. Busted leg from the look of it. Scooter was pretty well scraped up. Sign language continued and the passenger said they'd be OK... someone had gone for help. As it turned out, there was a small town a couple of km further up.... and there was a Red Cross sign there. I didn't take any photo... he was in enough pain without someone taking a photo of it. I'd had no trouble at all on that road btw. I ended up having a few, easily caught, slides... on both wet and dry roads... the latter with a smooth surface and a bit of sandy dust around. Nothing to worry about, but reason enough to keep the race face in the bag.

I spotted these guys in one of the rivers and thought at first it was a water pumping operation.



I realised later, in town, that it was a gold mining operation.

[The Bigfella]

I tried "nearest lodging" with Mr Garmin... and got a comedy show instead. What a hoot. Mr Garmin wanted me to go across this



The locals further up the road pointed up the road for a "losmen" (hotel)... and I eventually found one in a grotty little town. One of the few side roads on the way had this lot loading up for a trip into the hills. It was sure getting crowded on that truck



There were a lot of memorials on the ride through this part of Sumatra. All, I think, related to 1945 independence fighting..



Some guys, asking for money for clearing a tree off the road. I kicked in a little bit... the guy pointed to my stash of small notes (I'm not pulling out a wallet with more in it than these guys will see in a year...).... and asked for more. Hey... what's wrong with 20c?... I said "no... no... this for the next guys"... and the guy smiled and nodded and thanked me "Terimakasih"... I gave him a "same same" (you're welcome) and was off.



Found myself rather happy to find this five star establishment. $13 for my room. El Conquistador, the Spaniard who arrived later... a miserable sod who whinged and moaned about every price paid $12 for his much smaller room.



I took a photo of the "bathroom"... but don't seem to have uploaded it. I might later. It had a Turkish squat... in a tiny space that, well, you don't need the details... let's just say it was interesting... and the mandi (large water reservoir) was full of slime... and the floor was slime covered too. I had a bucket shower out of the tap.... with nice brown water.

[PeterSibley]

That is an almost identical scene to down town Bangalore in Southern India 25 years ago Ian ! Great photos ..... thanks a lot for the posting thereof .

Nice to see a little gold dredge on that river, the little guy getting a bit instead of some corporation doing an Ok Tedi.

[The Bigfella]

Thanks Peter. Yes, I'll get to the little guy in a minute... computer willing.

So... I stopped for the night in Kotanopan. Its a very conservative Muslim town. Vespa scooters with sidecars everywhere... the local taxis.



I didn't see a single other type of bike with these sidecars... in this town. The next town had all small motorbikes with these sidecars, then the next town again... back to Vespas, then the next... motorbikes.

Weird little things... but I guess it rains a lot



Most of them have some sort of car badge attached... mainly Mercedes Benz badges, but I also saw Suzuki and Toyota... all on Vespas



I took a photo of this miserable bitch for one reason only. She really pissed me off.



She was trying to attract my attention and was pointing to someone, something that I couldn't see and laughing and carrying on a treat. I went back to see... and it was a young bloke with Downs Syndrome... Poor bugger. I expressed my displeasure to Miss Bitch and smiled at the young bloke and said G'day. The poor bugger must get a real pasting from bitches like her. Truly though, I've seen many disabled people here (our waiter today had legs so twisted, he'd have been in a wheelchair in Oz... then again, they wouldn't be twisted.... they'd have been fixed)... and that's the first sign I've seen of nastiness. I hope that Karma proves to be a real pain in the arse for her.

... and gold mining... I wandered up the street the other way and saw a young bloke grinding up something in a small bowl. I figured he was a pharmacist. Nope. He was grinding up some alluvial gold and the other guy was weighing it up and calculating payments. I asked the guy on my side of the counter if he was a miner and got a nod. It reminded me of when I did a job in the horse racing industry though... and was in the weigh-in room with the racing steward watching the jockeys. Serious stuff. Don't intrude type of stuff. People cheat and if you intrude... watch out.

[PeterSibley]

Yep, watch the buyers ...all kind of tricks !

[The Bigfella]

OK ... here's one from today. Samosir Island on Lake Toba. A little Batak village that isn't on the tourist trail, we stumbled in after some wrong directions.... we'd been looking for something else.

We got invited in for coffee and a chat by a lovely family.

[The Bigfella]

I wandered around Katanopan a bit... my room wasn't that appealing. I was tempted to take a couple of hijabs home for the missus, but wasn't sure what colour to get her



I ate at a fairly large restaurant... the normal type you see on the roads - all the food prepared in the morning, then left on display in bowls out front. I tend to play it a bit safe with these and stick to Ayam (chicken). They'll give you a few bowls of stuff... I've had up to six plates put in front of me at times... and I ate them all until I figured out that they only charge you for what you eat. I had a mother raised in the Depression, who drummed into me stories about starving Biafrans... and always eating everything put in front of you. Sorry Mum....



There were some sad sacks sitting around this place.



The next morning, as I was leaving, the owner called me over for a photo with his family, which I hadn't expected because he'd been a bit cool. This town is pretty much the last Muslim strongpoint for a while... up the road a bit I spotted my first Christian church... and I think there's a bit of tension there. I'd walked in on the owner at just after 6:30 the previous evening, walked up to the counter and said something to him... and he disappeared... dropped to the floor behind the counter. Oops... he was mid prayer. I left my camera on the counter and buggered off outside for 10 minutes. He obviously appreciated my leaving him to it and he was friendlier after that.



El Conquistador, on the other hand... had stormed into the place and didn't seem too popular in any of the places I went with him that evening. He bitched and moaned about every price.... argued over every line item on his bill. His change went into his pocket. Mine had gone into the mosque building fund box. I'm willing to bet he doesn't know what that is. I first heard him when I was in my room uploading photos "Hey, you took my parking space in the lobby"... eh wot?... as he stomped through the place in his boots (mine were outside the front door). I'm sure he's having a wonderful time. He spent half of dinner videoing himself and his food. I ended up sharing stories about him the next day with an English couple who'd had the misfortune to actually ride with him. He doesn't own the bike apparently... its a sponsored ride

[The Bigfella]

I'm pointing at a broken video camera mount on El Conquistador's bike there. He'd lost a GoPro camera that day. Andras had problems with their mounts too. My Contour HD has been fine.

I really was struck by the size of his bike. It was just so fat-arsed that I couldn't believe it.



It would have to slow you down on these roads. I asked him what time he'd left Lake Toba. He did the trip down in 10 1/2 hours or so. I did it going the other way in 8... and I had my cruising face on, not my race face... and I stopped heaps of times... including a long lunch, several coffee stops, photo stops...

Here's El Conquistador 'imself.



Ahhh - here's the photo of my slimy dunny at that hotel. Photobucket has shuffled my photos for me.... I uploaded about 80 when I got to Lake Toba.



Appealing eh?

So... off I went, destination Lake Toba. I'd already missed getting a photo of me crossing the Equator the day before - apparently there's a line painted across the road, but I missed that... I did see a small memorial, but thought it was an early warning that it was coming up.... and I wasn't interested in turning back when I realised it wasn't

I did spot the first Christian church.



This was one of the last big mosques... but there is some crossover



I've mentioned to a couple of groups of Christians that I've been talking to since then that the Muslims I've met have all been good. They don't seem to agree.

I did spot an earthquake resettlement camp. Tiny shacks. I'd been told that most are 2 metres x 3 metres for a family... and that the toilets for the camp couldn't cope.



I spotted a naked kid - about 10 - 12 years old taking a dump into the gutter beside the road. The gutter had flowing water at least... but 50 metres down the road, there was a woman doing her washing in it too. Hmmm.

[The Bigfella]

I didn't stop... just shot some photos on the way through... I'm guessing this is the camp the German NGO guy was talking about. A lot of unhappy people, young girls being raped, etc.

The road varied quite a lot. I got the imperial ton happening in one stretch... and in others, I was picking my way through massive potholes in first gear. My Garmin decided to stuff my track for the day up... and I ended up with 3 tracks.... of around 80, 89 and 219 kilometres... with average moving speeds of 57, 53 and 40 kmh - but the last one included a slow ferry ride. The first 30km out of Silbolga took me about 1 1/2 hours. It was a really chopped out bit of road.

I snapped this shot of a dozen young kids on an outfit



.... but missed one with about 15 older boys on it going the other way. You couldn't have got another thing on it.

I had to stop plenty of times for trucks taking up all my bit of the road. Situation normal. The drivers like to know where their drivers side wheel is.... and everything else will sort itself out. I ended up diving to the other side of the road when I saw them on right hand corners (for me)... and passing them on their side of the road... because they never use it.



Oops. I stopped on the other side of the temporary bridge and threw some money in the rebuilding fund... and a cop I hadn't seen popped out from behind a rock and thanked me.



Same place... the locals down for a bath and to do the washing. You see this absolutely everywhere

[The Bigfella]

One of the better sections of road. I can guarantee you I was holding my breath here... This camera doesn't really pick up the smoke well.... but this truck was a belcher. I've got a video that shows it, but the bandwidth here's a bit narrow. I uploaded a short video last night and it took damn near 5 hours to do.



This was a lovely little inlet when I got out of the mountains and back to the coast near Silbolga.



As mentioned, the road back up the hill was fun.





This lovely ran a road stall where I grabbed a coffee and a couple of bread rolls.... there being no breakfast available back in Kotanopan



She asked me where I was going... "Danau Toba... you come too?" She laughed , shook her head and showed me she was pregnant. She kept trying to flog me some fruit

[The Bigfella]

Plenty of it around



This is just typical of how they drive here.... and why I scoot up the left so often. They haven't got a hope in hell of getting past, but they block it for everyone else too.



I've finally figured out what the right side indicator is for....

For guys like that... its "I'm going to pass... so bugger off if you are behind me"

For the truck in front its "It isn't safe to pass"... or "I'm overtaking" and sometimes its "It is safe to pass" ... and very occasionaly its "I'm turning right" Yep.... all of those

For a bike riding on the left side of the road its "I'm going slow... pass me"... or "I'm going to spear off across the road (but mostly not, because they mostly don't indicate when they are going to do that)... or "I've forgotten its on"... or whatever.

In other words... ignore them, use the horn... and smack their mirror if they squeeze you. The local response for guys who squeeze you is to face your hand backwards and give a few squeezing motions.... presumably its something to do with testicles. I prefer to bang their mirror... although there was one bus that I banged with my handlebars.

Lots of white water rivers

[The Bigfella]

Here's the guys in Christian land.... pissed, of course. This is the party where I stopped for lunch. I kept refusing the home brew hooch... I still had a long way to ride....





This lady didn't want her photo taken at first... and then eventually came over and threw her arms around me for a photo.



They kept throwing food at me... and I had to protest several times. Its some sort of dead animal... presumably buffalo



Quite nice, whatever it was... plenty of arteries and gristle though.


I ended up passing these guys a few times, what with various stops




Chilli, anyone?

[The Bigfella]

The other side of this hill was more interesting... but hey... that's two u-turns to get a photo. Its in-situ brick making on the hill.



More schoolkids on their way home. Try this in Oz or the US



More sh!tty roads



It started to rain again and I threw on the poncho and kept at it. It appears my poncho isn't designed for 120kph... its a tad shredded now. Eventually I spotted Lake Toba .... and an hour or so later, I was still not at the ferry out to Samosir island. I eventually got there and finally got a cop with a submachine gun to let me take his photo



Locally made gun apparently

I tried to roll onto one of the passenger ferries, but the skipper said "bike too big" and I got sent around to the vehicle ferry... and got to wait for an hour

[The Bigfella]

Nice ride over on the ferry... and I was first off... whilst the ferry was still moving. Should have turned the video on for that one.







Some girls from Banda Aceh on the ferry, down here for a holiday



The ferry crew, getting pissed on home brew hooch. They invited me in and passed the bottle, but I declined again. It isn't a bad brew.... but I'm not sure I want to share the bottle these days....



A bit of blurb about Toba. Pretty impressive place.



My Garmin failed the test again... I asked if for lodgings on the island... and it couldn't find any. The place is crawling with hotels and homestays. I'm at Caroline's... one of the most popular places.... and I'm in the top level room IIRC... at $15 a night. I just spoke to a bloke who's paying $3 elsewhere.

[The Bigfella]

I pulled into Caroline's and saw 3 bikes. This is Andy's, a Pom who got his licence 4 years ago and hit the road. That's a GS650 or whatever BMW was calling the single cylinder 650 then (I've got a '94 F650 Funduro... which I gave my son)



Andy's been getting around a bit



Also there... hiding their bikes under a tarpaulin.. were Lisa and Simon Thomas (2ridetheworld.com) who've been on the road for 10 years.

I had dinner and brekkie with them... and then they headed off towards Australia. Lisa and Simon have a deadline they have to be in Australia for, which I think is a pity... they won't have the chance to poke around some of the lovely parts of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. I've just decided today that I'm not heading for Malaysia yet. I've got a flight out of KL on April 8... but I'm leaving the bike here in Indonesia for another poke around the northern part of Sumatra when I get back here on May 8.

The three of them bolted together in the morning. I couldn't believe how much gear they were wearing... Lisa and Simon had full Touratech undersuits and oversuits on. They'd have been very comfortable I guess... but I'm happy running light and don't mind getting wet. I was cool when riding in here... wet and at a bit of altitude, but not shivering cold. Lisa's bike (another 650 BM) and Simon's (an 1100GS) weigh 320kg and 350kg. My 950SE is going to be a lot lighter than that when I eventually find a weighstation... I'm guessing around 250... 260 loaded and fueled.



.... and my road profile is one hell of a lot narrower



I really liked their carbonfibre helmets.... although I don't want to be riding in goggles.

[The Bigfella]

Oops. Found this shot of Sibolga from the climb up the hill.... looking back to the coast.



I'm loving it here at Caroline's... although my hot water isn't - its footy guernsey territory at times... and blanket at night sometimes too, so hot water would be nice.

One of the local birds, in the trees off the balcony. I'm sitting in the open restaurant, 30' above the lake and about 20' back from it. Went for a swim in it yesterday. Very pleasant temperature.

The day before yesterday was wet...



but I got some exploring in. Yesteray started out beautiful... and the American woman, Connie, who has braved the back of the Super Enduro and I did some great exploring... and then got totally drenched. Totally. No real worry, except I was wearing my shoes, not my boots... and they are still soaked.

We walked around the peninsular we are on at Tuk Tuk, on Samosir Island... and, of course, stayed drug free



Someone I know... not me... has tried the magic mushrooms here.... but I remember all my mates chucking their guts up on them when we were at school. No thanks. My friend said she had visions of zebras and the like. Nah... I'll stick to a couple of Bintangs

We called in at a salon and had a facial and head/shoulder massage each. I have to say, I appreciated the facial... there was a lot of diesel in my skin.

The local Batak houses are interesting. They are higher at the rear, where the children sleep, than at the front, where Dad sleeps... because the fathers want their children to rise higher in life than he did.






We took in a local dance show... which was mildly interesting. The girls looked a bit bored... and as soon as they finished, without exception, they dived for their mobile phones and Facebook

[B_B]

Keep trekking Ian, thanks for a wonderful thread.

Those chilies looked fantastic!

[The Bigfella]

We bolted at intermission



... and headed up to the Reggae Guesthouse. Nothing was happening... but we asked about live music... and all the local lads grabbed an instrument

... and five minutes later, about a dozen of them were at it. Fabulous.



No cover charge... but we had a Bintang or two.

Late in the afternoon, when the rain had gone, Connie and I decided to go find the tomb of King Sidabutar. We eventually made two unsuccessful expeditions, over two days before finally finding it. No signs... and a distinct lack of distance sense when locals talk to you. They point directions. That late afternoon trip, we found what we thought was a sign to the tomb and a +/- 9km distance on it. We were already 2km past it as it turned out... and we headed down this rugged track. Really rugged. 30' puddles... slippery mud, slippery smooth rocks... and so on. With us wearing street gear (and helmets). Connie told me yesterday that she'd been thinking that if she survived that trip she was never getting on the bike again... but now she's enjoying it.... and is really impressed with how the locals have a different attitude to us because we're on the bike.

So... 10km down the track... I pulled up at a local small Warung (pub/restaurant)... and asked about the tombs... as I'd done several times... with no luck on the way. "No... in Tomok". Oops. I did a u-turn and thought... bugger it, let's say G'day... so we slipped and slid our way up to the Warung and got welcomed in.

We ordered a Bintang... although the local guys had been thrusting cups of home brew at us... and it took a bit of organising to get the Bintang instead. I gave it to Connie and got into the local brew



Next thing we knew, there's a plate of the most delicious fish in front of us. These guys are local Batak fishermen.... working on aquaculture setups a few hundred metres away from the Warung. The Swiss introduced the aquaculture here a few years back. The fish we were eating was fresh out of one of the pens that afternoon.

That fish went south and another appeared. Bloody delicious with a lovely fresh chilli sauce



Great food, great company

[The Bigfella]

Plenty of guys there... and a couple of women - the cook, who I think owned the Warung and another woman (maybe she owned it?)



Here's the cook



One of the lads




He was a cool dude with his cigarette tucked in that gap

I don't know the story behind the Indian Turtledoves on platforms in the roof... I know I shoot the bastards at home ... they don't visit my place any more and the local, native pigeons have returned to my area. I hate these feral bastards



I asked "Brappa" (how much) and got a horrified look from the main man. No, no... no pay. I pointed at the Bintang and he shrugged and reluctantly said 30,000 rupiah ($3 for a 600ml, large bottle)... and pointed at the fish and said "no pay". OK, thanks mate. Much appreciated. Lovely hospitality. Interesting too, because he'd already asked me how much I paid for my camera... 27,000,000 rupiah. His jaw dropped on that one. Guaranteed more than he makes in a year.... maybe two (fishermen are poor here).

By this stage, it was dark outside... and we had the ride home, 10k on the track from hell and another 5-10k from there on local roads. I had one headlight hanging from a single bolt (I've got zero bolts holding my luggage rack on, I've lost tools because the tool bag has rubbed through and somehow they've escaped from under the seat and there's bound to be more.... I've lost my third left rear indicator... and so on.... Did I mention the roads here are rough?)... and it was an interesting trip back. I got sick of going sideways... I reckon because I was going too slow, so I got into it and caught up to a local guy and followed his lines through the puddles and potholes.... until he stopped at a Warung. Unbelievably, I then came up on a local guy riding with no lights. He appreciated mine... and got into it, and I followed him to his local Warung... and eventually we made town in one piece... albeit rather muddy.

... and that's where I'm up to with photos. I've got more to upload. We did the tourist bit yesterday... but we're off for a massage soon... and I want to go buy this bronze walking stick I saw yesterday.

Oops. Another out of order photo... the rest of the gang at the Reggae session later on

[The Bigfella]

A full update will have to wait, because I've got lots of Lake Toba photos to process and upload.

Lake Toba is a magical place, but its suffering in the tourism stakes by not having an airport. With cheap airfares these days, tourism is becoming driven by them... and a 6 hour bus ride on bumpy roads doesn't seem to figure these days.

Speaking of bumpy roads... here's one shot from today. I did the 177km (according to my GPS) in 3 hours 49 minutes moving... but a lot longer than that overall. I've moved from Lake Toba, after 4 nights there, to Berstagi.... and am in this strangely deserted hotel... there's just me and someone in the next room.... and there's also over 100 villas here... 1 of which is occupied. Weird. Nice location though... on the lower slopes of a nice volcano - with another one not far away.

Anyhow, I'd been warned the back way was broken and twisty... but I wasn't expecting to find a wormhole to another galaxy...



I'd picked that as just another pothole to jump and was concentrating on my line through the big puddle and broken road before it when I spotted some reinforcing rod sticking up... and went for the brakes. I stopped a metre short.... slid to a halt with the front wheel turned and locked and damn near dropped the bike.

I backed away to get the photo.... but that hole is about 18" wide and over 3 feet deep. It wouldn't have been nice.



There were some seriously busted bits of road out there.

[PeterSibley]

An excellent report Ian and really great photos . What camera are you using ?

[The Bigfella]

Thanks Peter. The videos are off a Contour HD mounted to my helmet... that last one the lens was muddy unfortunately... half yesterday's ride was wet and muddy

The majority of what I've been posting... shots made on the move, etc are with a little Nikon S6100 point and shoot. Its absolutely on its last legs. The elephant attack broke the rear screen, which, being a touch screen, means I can't make any adjustments to the camera... the lens protector is bent, so I've "persuaded" it to stay open.... and I get "lens error" messages from time to time. It was never designed for the abuse its getting.... It hangs on a lanyard off the front of my mesh armour and I use it left-handed on the move.

The other camera, for when I'm stonpping somewhere, is a Nikon D7000 with an 18-200mm Nikkor lens. I had my 80-400mm for the GP, but it went back to Oz with my son. I've learnt my weather lesson here.... so it stays in a dry bag inside my tank bag... with computer, passport - and when it rains, wallet. The tank bag is NOT waterproof... hence the dry bag, and I tuck my poncho over it to keep the map, etc dry. My poncho is pretty much had it... lost the left arm section yesterday and its pretty shredded. All footwear is wet to varying degrees (1 pair shoes, 1 pair boots)

I decided to stay an extra night in this deserted holiday camp… made easier by the fact I was on top of a volcano at checkout time, testing out my lungs on the sulphur fumes – its active, and a rather noisy beast too. I will head into Medan to arrange storing the bike tomorrow.... then chase Orangutans up north a tad and leave for home Easter Sunday..... oh joy, 22 hours of airports and planes... and no book. Will be interesting to see how I go with my bronze walking stick at the security desk.

[The Bigfella]

A non-visual update..... I'm having some internet access problems. One of the restaurant staff at Danua Toba picked up my dongle and, whilst I eventually got it back, I'm thinking she may have abused it. I lost internet access - put another 100,000 rupiah on it... supposed to be 5,000 a day for access (50c)... but its all gone 2 days later...

...so... I'm across the road from my guesthouse in Medan... at KFC, using the Colonel's freewifi. Not sure how long I can take sitting at a KFC....

Re cameras - I've upgraded from the near-dead S6100 Nikon point and shoot to a Nikon AW100 - which, funnily enough, is made in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the destruction manual is Indonesian only.... but it seems to be a ripper. Its waterproof to 33' and shockproof to 5'. I wonder how it stands up to bull elephants?
I’m in Medan. My bike is wedged into the living room at the guesthouse…. and that’s where I think I’ll leave it for the next month. That’s where the owner wants it…. and given we dragged it around on the tiles to get it there, I’d rather grab local transport than try and get it out again. He likes bikes and he absolutely insisted I bring it inside last night.
Yesterday’s ride was good… but nerve wracking, not because of all the buses running me off the road, but because I was carrying my bronze walking stick… and its wider than my handlebars. That I do not like one little bit. I seriously wouldn’t like riding a bike like El Conquistador’s or any of the others I’ve seen…where the panniers are a good 6-8” wider than the handlebars.
I ran with the wider part out on the left yesterday…. The “near side” as the English would say. That meant I had to give an extra 6” width to everyone I was overtaking… and given I clipped mirrors with a small truck I overtook the day before, it took some adjustment on my part. Riding here is all about gap management.... riding into and through small gaps.... I’m glad I changed the extra overhang to the left side compared to having it on the right, like the previous day… I was having a really good 90 – 100 kmh dice with a local when a bus going the other way decided to overtake. I squeezed past, hard on the brakes but still doing 45 kmh - three wide on the bitumen. I’d have gone bush if the overhang had been on the bus’s side… rather than risk getting smashed to pieces by the walking stick. I went bush for three army trucks on the run from Danua (Lake) Toba, where I bought this bronze monstrosity, to Berastagi. I never saw the local again after that bus, so I don’t know if he’s a bus mascot now or whether he went bush…. Or hopefully, just reached his destination.
So. Danau Toba. What a truly magnificent place. I posted a photo with the key statistics earlier IIRC. From when I first got to its shores – halfway across one end, until I reached the ferry to Samosir Island, which leaves from halfway up the lake, I rode hard for well over an hour. Its one big lake.... 87km long Its deep too… I’ve seen it listed as 450 metres deep and 525 m…. and so on. I believe the eruption that created it 74,000 years ago had a significant effect on the world’s population. I had a great time there. To use her words, I "hooked up" with an American woman, Connie... and we explored the island and its attractions together. I always thought 'hooked up' had a physical connotation... and apart from the fact that riding two-up on a big dirt bike on rough roads is about as close as you can get to having sex... without 'hooking up'... we made good travelling companions.

Connie commented at one stage on what a different reception we got from locals, with us being on the bike rather than the reception she normally got. She was amazed. She also said that she'd resolved on the first day... when we ended up slithering and sliding down a horrible road in the dark.... that if she lived through the experience, she was never getting on the KTM again. She relented, changed her riding style - and loved it from then on. She'd been tensing for bumps, rather than going with the flow.

I posted that video clip of the Batak village where Connie and I got invited into the house for coffee over on ADV and I've since had an offer from another Aussie to help get the guy's cataracts fixed. I'd like to add... there was not the slightest hint of solicitation from that family... and we only found out he was blind when I stuck the camera under his nose to show him a photo. I got their address on the pretext of sending them some photos. The only thing I need to resolve is how to make sure any $ we send up goes to that purpose. My guest house man may be the answer there, as I'm pretty sure the op would be done in Medan.

The back country ride I did from Danau Toba to Berastagi was interesting.... I stopped to get some chow in a small town - ended up getting a coffee... which turned out to be tea (can't win them all) and three boiled eggs (can't win many some days) and had a good, if stilted, "conversation" with the locals - two of whom were whallopers - one packing, in plain clothes. There was a guy there dressed in rags, filthy... really, really filthy - who stayed outside the cafe. He was very dark skinned... much darker than the others and they shunned him a bit. I don't know the whole story there... but he refused my offer of food... but asked for money. I tried to get into my gear, but couldn't get to any clothes without a total unpack in the rain and mud... so he missed out on a new shirt. I gave him some cash as I was leaving.... and got a lot of thumbs ups and nods from the locals.. the same ones who had been giving the guy a bit of a ribbing. Buggered if I know? I might try and upload his photo after I post this...
I'll upload the rest of my Lake Toba and Sibayak volcano photos... along with a few from Medan - when I get home early next week. I've "hooked up" with a young Dutch girl... tiny slip of a thing, Hanna.... and we, and two Dutch guys went out and got wet last night (big tropical dump of rain). Another friend of Hanna's is flying in about now, so we should have a bit of a Good Friday party happening tonight... although the other guys have flown out.

tbc...

[The Bigfella]

Wow... that KFC wifi is quick... I might try uploading some more... not that I want to sit here and write a report.

Here's the guys at that back country cafe...

[PeterSibley]

Keep it coming Ian .

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Ian, I am struck by the similarities with the Philippines - the sidecar taxis are called "tricycles" and are universal there - one of the commonest occupations for a young man is "tricycle driver" - in the heat people will pay a few coins to avoid walking. Sadly the drivers tend to end up doing drugs.

The people hanging off the back of a vehicle with the access at the rear are also familiar - that would be a "jeepney"...

[The Bigfella]

Yep... I'm sure the Philippines are similar. It was interesting that someone else used the same words to describe Malaysia the other day as had floated through my head when I was there.... "more civilised". They even stick to their lanes in the traffic.

Hanna, (Hannies really), Willemijn and I headed out to get an early meal and have a look around. It turned into a fascinating journey... we had a tidbit, then moved to another area, and ended up being dropped off at the main mosque here. Visiting was over, but one of the main guides grabbed us and took us around anyhow... showed us the Sultans graves, described the whole mosque / prayers bit.... got the girls going a bit by telling them that menstruating women aren't pure... and so on. Eddy (our guide) went to Islamic school for 3 years from the age of 8. At one stage, Willemijn bent over... and exposed her lower back / upper butt.... in the mosque grounds. Eddy had a look of horror... grabbed her shirt and pulled it down. Women praying in the mosque can only expose their face and the palms of their hands.

We ended up wandering through the grounds of the Sultan's Palace (the current Sultan is 14 years old)... and then going miles to a street restaurant. Dinner included fried pippies, boiled turtledove eggs, capcay, tempe, etc, etc. Washed down with avocado juice lashed with chocolate.

Quite a feast. $15 for 4 of us... well, 7 of us actually. Three 12 year old boys turned up looking for money for food... so I sat them down and handed them our left overs. They were still hungry, so they all polished off a Nasi Goreng each too.

Eddy was somewhat smitten with Willemijn... so we rescued her but buggered it up a bit. I slipped him some money.. and so did W. He did OK for himself. I'll get some photos up eventually.

I'm reminded of something Paladin posted. There's an 88 yo American guy here at the guesthouse... with his girlfriend... a local Muslim lady who'd be no older than 45 at a guess. He's well looked after and she looks content, if not happy.

[The Bigfella]

OK... I've wandered off to Sun Plaza here in Medan... its a major shopping centre and there's lots of affluence on display there. Lots. Medan is Indonesia's third largest city and according to Lonely Planet, around 30% of Indonesia's exports come from Northern Sumatra, so there's some wealth here to go with the poverty and beggars. I went there the other night with Hanna and the two Dutch guys. I shouted them a half beer each at the sushi bar. Yep... the last of the big spenders, Ian.... it cost me just shy of $30 for two German beers. I'll stick to the Bintang at $3 for a large bottle (around a pint).

Anyhow... I've stocked up on oil for when I return. Stanley, from the guesthouse told me where to go at the Plaza to get the good oil. Its damn hard to find decent oil here and I want to do an oil change, put a new chain on and fix a few things up when I get back. I know I'm missing at least 8 bolts.... some of which I won't replace. My luggage rack has been held on by precisely zero bolts for weeks now.... but its a ripper... it doesn't need them... although it moves around a bit when the luggage isn't on. My numberplate is ziptied on. Did I ever mention that the roads here are a little bit rough? I thought I was going to get decent mileage out of my Mitas E09 front tyre, but its showing significant wear now, at 4,500km - the blocks are worn down at the back, presumably from the hard braking. The rear is almost shot at the same mileage... which is 50% better than I got from the last one, perhaps because I've toned down the wheelies?

So, I got the girls at the Plaza to sort out my dongle... and I should be able to get a few Danau Toba pics up... Lessee

Lake (Danau) Toba.



The view from the restaurant/bar at Carolinas, where both Connie and I were staying



She was in the cheapest rooms at about $9. I spent up big and was in a big room with supposedly hot water at $15.50. At least the chill was off the water... we were at a bit over 800 metres altitude here.

This is the village we blundered into when lost, whilst looking for a tourist site.



The Batak house that the girls (17yo and 20yo) invited us into for coffee. Not exactly my sized door.



There was a dog in there btw... the girls said it climbs the stairs, but we didn't witness that. These Batak houses have an odd number of steps. Criminals used to be made to sleep in houses with an even number of steps. Apparently there's a reason....

The girls



The rest of the mob... including dad (the 58yo guy with cataracts). I've been making some enquiries here in Medan, but haven't pinned it down yet. I'll do some more investigations from Oz.



I'm pretty sure we can get him sorted out.

[The Bigfella]

Did I ever mention that I don't like Chupa Chups. Dunno why



Ahh, coffee.



Connie and I both though 14, but she says she's 17



Back at Carolinas, I heard a noise in the restaurant ceiling. I'm no cat fan... but apparently Hanna wants me to send her this photo



... bummer... net problems again.

Oh well, its off to Malaysia in the morning, then Sydney overnight. Guess the rest can wait.

[StevenBauer]

I had to look up Chupa Chups. Who knew?

Thanks again for making the effort to keep up with the pics and stories. Looking forward to more when you get back to it.


Steven

[The Bigfella]

Funny thing Steven, I just took another look at that photo and realised it wasn't a Chupa Chup.... there's plenty of kids running around here with a Chupa Chup stick hanging out of their mouth. What that girl has is a cigarette lolly.... they banned them in Oz decades ago... lollies made to look like a cigarette.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Yes, they used to have red sugar ends to look like real cigarettes. The Philippines has only recently banned tobacco companies from giving cigs away outside school gates. No doubt the same went on in Indonesia as well.

[purri]

Fine photos and narrative. (BTW the social bit on the malformed/ "others" is a touch OT as many faiths regard it as a touch of greatness)

[BrianW]

Yes, they used to have red sugar ends to look like real cigarettes.

I remember those too.

Crazy.

[The Bigfella]

Yeah - no red end on any that I saw, but they did have the yellow filter end.

[The Bigfella]

What a hoot.... I emailed the American Professor who called me the luckiest man on the planet. She really, really wants my elephant photos... she's promised never to use my name in lectures and to even put a black bar across my eyes.... "like human doctors do when they present lectures on their patients".

[PeterSibley]

Thanks for the Nikon AW100 recommendation Ian, it looks good .

BTW how do you go with language ? Do you speak any Bahasa ? Is English occasionally understood ?

and I really look forward to the same trip one day, slower and with wider gaps .

[The Bigfella]

Tidak Bahasa.... well, maybe a little bit.

I speak good sign language.... and the occasional word. Enough for me to not come over as totally rude and ignorant. It always helps if you can start a conversation with a few words.

If there's anyone around with a bit of English, they'll come forward. English is understood in the tourist areas and by plenty of the younger set. I've had people ring someone who can translate a bit at times, but I hate that.

... and jeez mate... don't do it slower.... that's half the fun. Seriously though... a narrow bike makes a huge difference. There weren't many times in the traffic where I had to hold back because I couldn't get through a gap that the locals got through.