This meal cost us the ridiculous sum of 400rs/person (22c). This place is pretty far out... Well, a man had arrived who spoke a bit English and he was very interested in helping us, as a matter of fact, so were the rest of the village. We were told to follow the dirt track until we reached the Pama village. It was 'Visit Indonesia Year', so he felt obligated to help us.
Start: 07:00am. We really got use of our camera; the mountains and the surroundings were just beautiful. We met two flocks of school-children from Pama on their way to school in Telegah. The girls and the boys. They walked the 4km in school uniforms every morning (and afternoon). They greeted us enthusiasticly.
Just outside Pama, we found their church - a big church for 20- 30 people, we thought. Made of wood and very open. It only had a pulpit, a table and the benches. We met a man a bit further on, and he showed us the mountain-path. Sometimes it was quite broad (a car could come through) and then it would narrow down to a small path. The path climbed a mountain gently. The vegetation was very lush, considering the high altitude. We also had a very good view over the area from the mountain side. Fairly many spider-webs, so we had to take turns walking in front. We walked upwards for about 3 hours and we were surrounded by all kinds of jungle sounds. We could hear the barking of flocks of monkeys nearby! Now the jungle started! It was a challenge; we were kind of scared for tripping on snakes and not finding our way. The path was easy to follow even though it was very narrow and we often had to squeeze through the vegetation. We could see that the branches had been cut some time ago. Often it was very swampy and we had to go around mud holes. Niels was attacked by a leech and we had to burn it away from his leg. We took a nice picture of the massacre. At 12:30pm, we find our first river - well, more like a small stream. We sat down with our feet in the water with the sun right above us, trees towering 70m (225ft) above us, the sound of the water, all the sounds from the jungle - and not to forget: our bread and jam - great! We rested for about an hour. A big crab wanted to taste my toes, but it found out that I was bigger than it and it scurried away. Well, we had to move on. 5 minutes away we found the next 'river'. Liana hung from the tall trees and I have always kind of felt like a Tarzan and wanted to swing over the river, but they were stuck to the trees - tough luck! Well, the path broadened again and after an hour, we found a dirt track. After another 1/2 hour, we met people; first lumber jacks and then we came to a big plantation where they had all kinds of vegetables and fruits.
This was the first time since the start of the trip, that we could see very far. We came to a village and after a bit of communication with the locals (and our phrase-book), we found out that a bus would come at 4pm (the time was now 3:40pm), so we had time for a glass of tea (100rs (5c)) in the local hangout place. We communicated with them and watched them play chess. We wanted to give the children some candy, but they were much too shy to take it; one of the men almost had to run after them to give it to them. The men ate the rest of the candy. The girls ran away and hid when we tried to take a picture of them, but we got a picture of the boys. Our book describes the behavior of the children as a reaction of watching TV. On the TV, they only know white people in connection with dead and murder. Not necessarily as killers but as strange people. 'Our' children were very curious, though.
At 4pm, precisely, our bus turns up and we have a beautiful trip to Kabanjahe. A very big volcano raised from the ground close by and during the one hour tip, we saw it from three views. It was a 12-person minibus we rode but we had to bring along a bit of everything - one place, we had to stop for a while and the poor ticket collector had to get out and put five big sacks of corn on the roof (which held a bike beforehand). Later he had to help the old woman again, getting the sacks off.
In Kabanjahe, the ticket collector helped us get on a local bus to the bus-terminal and when we arrived, 10 different people wanted to know where we were going and soon we were on a bus to Medan - it took off five minutes later - like hand in a glove. Total cost to get home: 600+1200rs/person (1$) - a bit cheaper than the taxi trip. The bus did not drive directly to Medan, we had to zig-zag between towns so the bus could optimize it's surplus. We were not in Medan until around 7pm.
We had only in mind to get back and get a bath as quick as possible. Halfway back, we had to stop and look at our city map and try to find our where we were. Some young people came to help us (and helped keeping becaks away). We had a very good conversation, and the 3 of them studied English at the university and were on their way home. Well, there were only five of them and we had to get something to eat anyway, so we invited them to join us and have something to drink. We made really good friends there and practiced English, Indonesian and Danish. Niels and I got Cumi-Cumi (pronounced: Tjummi-Tjummi) - octopus - very good actually. A.Zebar, 30 years old (looked like he was 24); studied English on his 6th year. Muslim. He dated Lucy, a quiet catholic girl - we later found out that she also studied English, but was a bit shy about practicing it. Her sister was here too, but we did not find out much about her. Niels talked much to Edison (Thomas) - he had a difficult name, so we called him Joe or Edison. Last (but not least), there was Lia (Dahlia, actually). Only 148cm tall, but very lively and wonderful to speak to. She had studied English for 4 years and was a Christian.
We could hear that they had not had too many possibilities practicing their English, but they were easy to understand. Zebar told me later that it was difficult to find people to speak with. They learn the grammar but don't speak it so much.
Well, we had a lovely evening. They ask us what we were doing tomorrow and we had not decided on anything special. Zebar had no lessons tomorrow (and Lia took off, I think), so they wanted to show us around a bit. What a great offer, so we arranged to meet at Zebar's place at 10am.
We said goodnight and walked home to our well deserved bath and we quickly fell a sleep. We had probably walked about 20km (12.5miles) today and a couple of hundred in cars - and we have learned so much more than what is written on the last 3 pages.
I have found out that most of the towns in northern Sumatra has several different religious communities. Even in small town, you would find Methodists, Catholics, Pentecostal and the Indonesian church. Each of the communities would have a church. One should think that there would be problems, since the government and most of the Indonesian population is Muslim, but it did not seem to be a problem here.
|
| Day 39: Wednesday 6 March - Medan |
Woke up, ready to take the jungle trip again - well, perhaps some other time; we had a date today. Got on our way at 10am and had to spend some time with a moped-becak driver. He only wanted to take two of us and if he should take all three, it would cost a lot more. After a long time of bargaining, we agreed on rs2000 (1.10$). We found Zebar's house at 10:30am. A nice place; he did not pay to stay and eat there. He stayed with his 'sister' (he called her his adopted sister). He told us that it was normal that Indonesians stayed with each other without paying rent - but well, they don't get SU there [we Danes are paid 500$ each month to study]. We were served tea and talked for an hour or so. Niels had to get to the Post Office, so we took a mini-bus and there was also time for a glass of ice (the ice is served in a glass) - at local price. The post office is nicely decorated - from the Dutch period - with messenger pigeons in tile up on the walls with the gold bugle, the Dutch postal emblem.
We had to take two mini-busses and a small walk, to get to Lucy's house - in the other end of town, in a more typical onelevel -house-area. Her father makes religious figures of plaster, crosses etc. Pretty neat, actually. They had a 1m (3ft2) tall figure of Christ in the living room. When she was ready, we continued on to Lia's house. She lived in the neighborhood in a house with her sister and brother-in-law (and their son, Jakob). They used to stay in a bigger house (where they could play soccer in the living room), but Jakob got often ill, so they moved - I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the big house. She and her sister were both from near Lake Toba. A nice house, only the kitchen and bath were a bit different from what we are used to. She had a girl visiting them, who also studied English. Rosita was her name. Lia and her sister made a superb lunch: breadfruit, rice, meat pieces, salad, omelet, watermelon and so on. We had to start thinking of how we could repay this.
Zebar was put to work. Their camera was in a locked closet and they could not find the key. He was put to unscrew the lock. Meanwhile, we showed our pictures to them, and we saw theirs. At last the camera was brought out in the open. A lot of pictures were taken. After tea, the time was about 4pm. We had discussed in Danish, if it would be proper to ask if they would go to a movie with us. We asked - Bulls Eye. They loved the idea. We were soon ready. First we went to visit Rosita's house.
Indonesians are very happy to show you your house. She lived by her grandparents together with 3 cousins. When we arrived, we were served some great 'cakes': bananas inside dough. We were a bit surprised, how they could be warm at the time we arrived ? They were really good. We choose to go and see 'Pretty Woman' since none of us had seen it.
We continued to our guesthouse to take a shower. It was now about dinner-time and we told them, that if they could find a fairly cheap place to eat, we would be glad to pay. Zebar thought it would be best to go to a place close to the theatre. So we took two taxis - and it was chocking ! One taxi:rs1200 (65c)! We had been paying exorbitant/tourist prices for becaks. Well, we tried to get over it. The place where we ate was of the kind where you are served a lot of different kinds of fish, meat, chicken, rice and fruit and then afterwards you count and pay according to what you have eaten. This was chocking too. Rs8000 (4.40$) for 8 people! When you are together with local people, it is really cheap. For the first time we learned how to eat rice with your fingers - the right way! It is a special technique. Orion21 was the theatre. The ticket said: Super 4 channel Dolby sound-system, A/C. The tickets cost rs4000/person (2.20$), but it was also the best theatre in town and a similar ticket would have cost five times as much at home. The film was okay. It was very funny to read the subtitles. In Indonesian you put a word in plural by repeating the word (e.g.: pisang (banana), pisang pisang (bananas)). In the subtitles they just wrote 'pisang2'. We had forgot our camera, but they took a whole film in just one day. We would like to have a copy of the pictures, so Zebar would try to have it developed. After the movie, the girls were tired and wanted to go home (Zebar only slept 3 hours every night, so he did not care). In the taxis back, I thought it was funny to watch the taximeter. When it clicks 1kr (17c) at home, it clicks rs20 (1c) here.
A kind of sad parting. We had met some real friends. Everything this evening had cost us less than rs50.000 (27.70$) for 8 persons! Zebar promised to come and help us on the bus the next morning. |
|
