Traveling Sumatra

“You are eating Indonesian food?!?” “We thought foreigner only ate toast all day long!” This little scenario played out in a tiny warung somewhere in Sumatra where we duly sat eating very authentic local cuisine. A bunch of Indonesians were thoroughly amused and surprised by us “white people” sitting there eating their kind of food – and we even seemed to like it! Of course we liked it – Sumatra is renowned for its delicious, if a bit spicy, padang food.


Sumatra is one of the places in Indonesia that used to have loads of backpackers, but now after one catastrophe after another, Sumatra is well and truly off the beaten track. That just might be another good reason to visit… Other sound arguments for packing your backpack and start exploring Sumatra is the amazing nature that unfolds where ever you look, the chance to climb volcanoes, observe orangutans in their natural habitat (one of only two places left on earth where this is possible), kicking back on gorgeous beaches and incredible diving.



You don’t go to Sumatra for your regular sand’n’sun holiday – that would be Bali. Sumatra is adventure, experiences and challenges of the kind that needs the stamina to live through long, extremely bumpy bus rides, a small compact backpack and sensible shoes.



We went with way too much luggage including a laptop, the most sensible shoes I was carrying was a pair of kawasakis (which is a perfectly good pair of shoes, however they are not made for jungle trekking on muddy slopes in the Sumatran tropical forest – especially not since they were a light shade of yellow…). And as for the long, bumpy bus rides – we did do a few, but for the longest one (would have been at least 13 hours) we opted for a cheap flight instead. Still we had an amazing trip! In little under 3 weeks we tried to breathe through all the smog in Medan; Sumatra biggest city, we swam in Southeast Asias largest lake; Danau Toba, we jungle trekked and saw orangtuans in Bukit Lawang and hung out at the lovely beaches with the locals at Pulau Weh. You’d be hard pressed to squeeze much more in as getting from one place to another is a very time consuming affair in Sumatra. The beauty of that however means that there is still loads of things for us to see next time we venture to Sumatra :-)


Straddled by equator Sumatra is nearly 2000km long, stretching from Banda Aceh in the north to Bakauheni in the south, as slightly smaller than France. Sumatra is the proud owner of nearly 100 volcanoes, 15 of them still active and the tallest one being 3805 meters tall. In the jungles of Sumatra you may be so lucky to discover Rafflesia arnoldii; the world’s largest flower. You might also bump into the endangered Sumatran rhino, elephants and Sumatrans tigers. However the main attraction is the orangutan, they can be found in Gunung Leuser National Park – 5000 wild orangutans are believed to still roam the park.

Nusa Lembongan; a laid back island off Bali

Nusa Lembongan is an island off the southeast coast of the main island of Bali. We took the public boat to Nusa Lembongan early Saturday morning; it leaves daily from Sanur beach at around 08.00am. It doesn’t dock at a pier at Nusa Lembongan so you have to wade in through knee-high water, I was offered a piggyback ride by one of the crew member though, but politely refused :)



After having breakfast at one of the cute cafes along the water, we set out on foot south along the shore and the main beach, where fishing boats, seaweed farms and ferries crowd the shallow waters. Crossing the lush headlands that protrude into the blue sea, we found some smaller and more peaceful coves with white-sand-beaches and azure waters. Even in the smaller coves, fishing boats are not to be avoided though, but it doesn’t matter much, as they are actually often quite beautiful with their brightly painted hulls and spiderlike outriggers.



This is a nice place to walk. A rocky coastal path links nearly all the guest houses and hotels. Most trips will take you less than two hours. Bicycles can be rented at most places, and the mainly flat roads are quite well surfaced. Motorbikes are also available but may be unnecessary given the short distances involved, and they also charge outrageous for motorbike rental, one hour is 30.000rp, normally on the mainland you can rent a bike for 24 hours for the same amount. It is also possible to cross to the small island of Ceningan via a scenic suspension bridge.



We swam and relaxed on the beach the whole day, returning in the afternoon, when clouds slowly began to gather and a light shower reminded us that it is still rainy season. We headed back through the small Kampungs (villages) that dot the coasts and interior of Nusa Lembongan. The atmosphere on the island is much more relaxed than the big tourist areas of mainland Bali, and as many of the locals are employed in the Seaweed farming business, tourism is only a secondary income to most, making the locals less intrusive and pushy.



Mornings are a great time to people spot on the main beach; Jungutbatu. Here the locals were already busying themselves with seaweed farming, bringing in groceries from the boats coming from the morning markets in Bali or big baskets of fish caught earlier in the morning. Children were out catching sandworms to use for bait and a few women were putting out offerings at the edge of the water.
If you get up early you can also be lucky enough to get a good view of Gunung Agung, the tallest and holiest mountain on Bali before the clouds roll in an obscure the view. Most often than not it is shrouded in thick mist or clouds, so even though it dominates the landscape of eastern Bali, you don’t see it very often, especially not in the rainy season. But it is a beautiful and humbling sight!

A day in Makassar

Makassar is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was formally named Ujung Pandang.
A good choice of hotel in the budget category is Pondok Suada Indah, according to Lonely Planet the closest you get to a boutique hotel in Makassar, and it is kinda cute, with a slight air of times gone by. This was our base from which to explore the city.

We started the day with “nasi goreng” (fried rice with egg) for breakfast (breakfast included), and soon we were on our way to Fort Rotterdam, which is one of the best-preserved examples of Dutch architecture in Indonesia. A Gowanese (The Kingdom of Gowa) fort dating back to 1545 once stood here, first built in clay and later on upgraded to stone. Still it couldn’t keep out the Dutch, and their cannon balls, who took over the fort and rebuilt it in Dutch style in 1667.


It really was a nice place to walk around, the gardens around the buildings were nicely laid out with palm trees and pink flowers, the Dutch architectural style reminded us of Danish buildings from that period, but the baking sun, the lush palm trees and the Indonesian flag waving in the hot air above still made the place seem pretty exotic.