Bispehavevej 31, 2.tv -
DK-8210 Aarhus V -
Tlf.:(+45)86150070
|
This is a continuation of my travelstory from Asia with my two friends: Kurt (my brother) and Niels. Previous to Indonesia, we have visited Pakistan (2 days), Sri Lanka (2 weeks), Thailand (3 weeks) and Malaysia (3 days). The money rates used are: 2.37DKR=1m$=rs696, that is 1US$=6.15DKR=rs1806. DKR=Danish Kroner, m$=Malaysian $, rs=Indonesian rupees. I have used $'ers and cents (c) so foreigners have an understanding of the costs.
|
| Day 36: Sunday 3 March 1991 - Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia |
Departure from Penang, Malaysia. After a flight on schedule, we arrived in Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. The flight took -20 minutes, because of the time difference. It was cloudy and the air was VERY humid and it felt very hot. Immigration: no problem. It was actually a very 'small' airport, considering that 2 million people live in Medan. We changed a few dollars (80 malaysian $ to rs52.000). We had withdrawn a lot of malaysian dollars on Penang because we were not sure if we could use our credit cards here on Sumatra.
In the airport of Penang, we had met a Dutch guy, Rene, who we had talked to in Thailand. He had got an address of a Guesthouse from the Airport Information and we decided to go along. We took a taxi - it was a fixed price of rs4500 (2.50$). The guesthouse was nice and clean and we got us established. We talked with Rene about our plans. His girlfriend was coming tomorrow and they were going to the most northern point of Sumatra. She studied biology and had previously worked with/studied orangutans there for half a year and now they were going back there - it implied a 3 day jungle-trip to get there! I had copied 100 pages from the 1000 pages big Indonesia Handbook (Lonely Planet) and had read about the Maimoon Palace. I convinced Kurt and Niels that we had to see it - and the time was only 1pm. We only had to walk 10m (32ft) before the first becak (trishaw - three-wheeled bike) came to us. Now, we were not quite familiar with the prices, but he asked for rs3000 and we talked him down to rs2000 (1.10$) - our book has a funny chapter about this phenomena. It also says that the number of becaks is a barometer of a city's poverty and unemployment level. The Maimoon palace is the historic Sultan of Deli's Palace. The architecture is a mixture of Oriental, Middle Eastern, and Western. Though the sultan has been pensioned off by the government, he and his family still live in the palace.
When we arrived, a guy quickly approaches us and says that he is a guide here, and we have to have one to get in (Bullshit, of course). He showed us around in the two halls available for the public: the throne room and the dining room. Meanwhile, a music-video was recorded in the throne-room. We walked a bit around on our own and listened to the Indonesian music. The lead singer was a very big name in Indonesia and along he had a drummer, a violinist, dancing girls and a guitarist - everyone dressed in old traditional clothes. Niels had forgot his camera at the guesthouse, but we could have our picture taken here with a Polaroid camera for rs2500 (1.38$) and Kurt and I would like to bring one home with us very much. We asked the photographer if he would ask the dancing girls if they wanted to be on the picture too. In one of the pauses, we had a great picture taken of the 3 of us, two beautiful girls, the guitarist and the drummer - sitting on the throne!
While we were looking around, we said hello to a lot of people. The film-people showed us their equipment and we spoke some time with two highschool-girls, who learned English there - it is very few who speak English besides educated people. We were amazed that we did not see any white people. We had not seen any since the guesthouse - but Sumatra don't have many tourists. Well, we had to move on. While we waited 5 minutes below a portal for a rain-shower to stop, we read about a market which also had a shopping-complex. A lot of becaks offered their help, but the one we took, didn't want to go there - we think it was what he said. It was probably closed (or too far away ?) He had a better suggestion, so we went there.
It was a very modern complex - very much like in the west, except no white people here. Very funny to walk around, all the boys greeted us with a 'hello Mister', and the girls giggled and waved to us; yes, the girls seemed very interested in us - but well, we know we are gorgeous. We end up in a big restaurant/ kitchen, where they had a lot of Indonesian food. We had a solid 2-dishes meal; soup and seafood for about rs4000 (2.20$). It was really good. I was looking in my phrase book for the word 'delicious' (and the waitress smiled when I told her), but I also found the phrase 'I'm full, I want a banana', in Indonesian: 'Saya sudah kenyang, Saya ingin pisang'. We thought it was very funny, so for the rest of the trip, we gave everybody this line and people were very amused.
Next, we went into a supermarket and when we passed the perfume department, we were really startled. They had all the well known stuff, like Chanel No.5 for rs3800 (2.10$) and so on. They were made under license in Indonesia, but had the right scent. We thought we did not understand the prices and had to have them confirmed a couple of times by the employees.
We take a becak back and talk with Rene and read a bit. An older German man comes. He had travelled for 2 months on his own and he had a lot of good tips to give us. Later an elder German woman (independent from the former) comes. She came directly from Lake Toba (a lake on Sumatra) of which she could tell a lot. She had travelled 7 horrible hours by train which she definitely did not like. We got Input; lots of Input.
|
| Day 37: Monday 4 March - Medan |
Breakfast at 9am. We took a becak to Bank Negara Indonesia - we'd better get our Malaysian dollars changed. The rate was 693, but we looked around a bit and the bank opposite, Lippo Bank, changed at rate 696. Our book told us that BNI should have the best rates, but be sure to look around for your self.
For the first time in our life, we were millionairs! We got rs1.200.000 !!! (665$) (we took a great picture of us playing with the money). We were a bit nervous walking around with all this money. Kurt wore them all in his waist-belt, so we let him walk between us - one can never be too careful. Bought a Sumatra map (I think the price was a bit high), and after some searching, we found the Tourist-bureau. We got some pieces of information we could use about volcanos and Lake Toba. Their English was very bad and we did not understand all of it.
Walking towards another complex, we met a couple of other young people practicing their English and one of them walked with us to the complex. He used his lunch-break from his work to practice his English. He had a small book in which he wrote several translations down. On the Ground-floor, there was an exhibition of keyboards and a kind of show was going on - one played keyboard and a female singer was helping him; very atmospheric. Browsed a bit; the theatre only had Indonesian movies. We had decided to go for a jungle-trek tomorrow, so we bought some supplies in a supermarket. The girls helping at the register were very interested in us and we had a good talk. All of them wanted our addresses and we felt much courted - why aren't the Danish girls like this to us ? This time we tried a motorized becak back. The only difference from the bike-becaks is that the bike is exchanged with a moped.
Kurt and Niels wanted to rest a bit; I went for a walk in the neighborhood. I passed a couple of beautiful parks, churches, etc. - and an uncountable amount of becaks and taxis which wanted me as their passenger. I had learned that when they asked: 'Were you go?', you just had to answer: 'Jalan, Jalan!'. It worked very good and the almost always smiled at the answer. It means something like 'just walking' or 'catching the wind'. In the evening, after having dinner, we were sitting at the guesthouse sweating. A taxi arrived with a couple of people and I gave the taxi-driver a very careful prepared note which said in Indonesian: Tomorrow, time 5:00, Benjei-Namo Ukur-Telegah. (translated with my Indonesian phrase-book). (besok, jam 5:00).
That was where we wanted to go trekking. We wanted to go early and the guesthouse-host said that no busses left until 7am. The driver said something and then wrote: pagi and sore. We asked in the reception and they said it meant 'morning' and 'evening'. After underlining 'morning', we had to haggle over the price. He did not know the village Telegah, so he was not sure how far it was away. We ended at rs30.000 (16.60$) but then we would come all the way out there and we could start early.
The trekking-route was mentioned in our book only as a small notice - where you should begin and where you would end up.
|
| Day 38: Tuesday 5 March - Medan-Benjei-Kabanjahe-Medan |
I had moved to a dormitory, so we only had to pay for one room. We had gone to sleep at 9pm (with earplugs and eyecovers) and had slept very well. At 4:20am Niels came and woke me up and the taxi-driver was here at 4:30! We had to have some water in our face first so we did not get on our way until around 5am. We did not bring much: a sweat suit (in case of mosquitoes etc.), our medic kit, water, bread, a map, the phrase-book and sunglasses. It was a very bumpy ride, but kind of nice anyway. In the suburbs of Medan, we saw young people walking along the road, hand in hand (at 5am!). Half of the way was through pitch dark jungle. The driver had to ask directions quite often after Benjei - but there never seemed to be any problems; people he asked were always ready to help. The road got more and more narrow and after 1 1/2 hour, we reached Telegah, our destination. It was a very small village in the mountains. We showed our 'map' to several people. The map showed that from Telegah there was 4km to a 0village, then a steep climb until the jungle starts. We would also cross two rivers and end up in another village and could get to Kabanjahe from there.
They pointed further on along the dirt track. The sun had started to rise and was very beautiful hidden behind the mountains. We kind of wanted to have some breakfast before our trek, so we tried with gesticulations to show we were hungry. They showed us inside the nearest building which seemed to be a native version of an inn. I looked up 'egg' in my phrase-book. They found some eggs for us. We then had to try to make them understand that we kind of wanted to eat then now and here. No problem, and then we were brought tea and boiled rice wrapped in leaves. We also found the word for salt, 'garam'. |
|
