Beautiful Sumatra

Sumatra is a hugh island!
The moment we stepped on, we felt the freedom and we knew what it was like riding a bike. unlike i Java, Hope Too's clutch cable nearly broke as there wasn't much chance for him to lift up till his last gear.

The locals in Java warned us about traveling in Sumatra. They told us that traveling at night must be avoided at all cost. There would be hidden bandits around. This is what they told us.

The second advise is that the road condition was bad as compared to Java. When we travel around, it wasn't so bad, as there were pot holes and some dirt road which doesn't really matter to us alot. Especially we had gone through the East Timor phase.

In Sumatra, we had to keep a look out for buses when we overtake them because the passengers on the bus would spit, throw rubbish or pour out unwanted fluid out of their bus onto the road. So we had to do a quick manoeuvre to escape being 'bomb'.

The first town we stepped on was a busy town. We stopped by a shop and took out our town map to digest. A few locals came over offered help. In the end, one of them escorted us to our destination and said goodbye after that. They were so helpful.

Typical Sumatra Taxi.

Sumatra styled building with curved roof.

Nice beach with good diving sites.

It's not uncommon to see buildings converted into swallow nest.

the very first time we had durian for 2 and half years. Also the first time we had sumatra durian. We were very surprise that the native Sumatra lady could speak Mandarin as she worked in Malacca for a few years in a kindergarten before she came back.

This reminded us of Chile.

The buses in Padang.

we had a quick meal with this lovely family stall by the road.

cool bike.

We crossed the equator again.

We took this picture just by the side of the road.

Sadly, we could not travel all the way north to Ache. We missed Lake Toba. We decided to ship our bike to Malaysia from Dumai because we wanted to meet Crystal, which is Samantha's best friend. She is stationed in Malacca and we would like to be there for her birthday. Meeting up with friends are more important that seeing things, especially those things that are dead!

Indonesia is such a lovely place with lovely people. It is so near Singapore and yet we had not explored it. The decision of traveling Indonesia had made our trip worthwhile.

Many said that Indonesia is messy and dangerous. I guess it is only Batam and Jakarta. Even Johor Barhu is not safe and yet many of the Singaporeans still visit.

There are still many things to see in Indonesia. So my friends out there, forget about going far far away place to visit, have you experience the beautiful Indonesia?