Indonesia

Les souvenirs s'agrippent a nos ames comme le lierre se cramponne a la pierre.

In one of our previous entries, You Can Have Your Apple Juice -And Eat It Too!, I mentioned that three major religions coexist in Malaysia peacefully. It's actually 4, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu. Makes it even that more impressive. Thanks to Hien for pointing it out to me.

I am currently here in Penang, Malaysia, having just returned from Sumatra, Indonesia, while Nadine is back in Omaha, Nebraska spending quality time with her family and obtaining some necessary commodities, one can of Dr. Pepper and a package of Reeses cups. Not too prevalent in SEA.

As soon as Nadine departed from Krabi International Airport heading back to Omaha, I was officially on my own to explore. Immediately, I went down to the highway and hailed down a sawngthaew in the rain. A sawngthaew is a small truck with two benches in the back that serve as a sort of taxi. I did arrive back to my hostel safely. First trip on my own completed safely!

Next morning, I jumped on a van that would take me back to Penang, Malaysia via Hat Yai in southern Thailand. This is the same van that we took less than a week earlier. What made this trip even more special is that I was sharing my seats with two really large Kazakastan guys living in Thailand learning Thai boxing. I am pretty sure that they aren't going to find anyone in their weight range as Thais tend to be pretty thin.

From Penang, I was going to jump on a ferry and scoot over to the sixth largest island in the world, Sumatra, answer to last weeks question, thus Hermano Domingo and Pepper's names in the title, and go visit a few orangutans. The entire reason I was going to Sumatra was see some orangutans in the wild Sumatran jungle.

Indonesia happens to be the fourth most populated country in the world with a population of 250 million people trailing only China, India, and the U.S. Indonesia is 90% Muslim, thus making it the largest Muslim country in the world. Ironcially, Sumatra has a large Christian population making it roughly 50/50 division between Muslim and Christian. Sumatra is one, and the largest, of 17,508 islands in the Indonesian archipelago. Sumatra has experienced alot of tragedy in the last 3 years though. In 2003, a flood ravaged the town of Bukit Lawang. In a span of 10 minutes, a large wall of water released from a broken mountain lake swept through taking 325 homes and 280 lives with it, 6 backpackers included. In December of 2004, the Christmas Day tsunami hit the northern Aceh region and killed many more people along the way. Combine this with the Bali bombings on the other half of Indonesia, and tourism has suffered. As a result, the island of Sumatra is practically void of tourists and backpackers. Thus, that is what held the appeal for me to go there, lack of people. Nadine was never eager to visit Sumatra, because of the possible presence of malaria, according to government websites we checked. Thus, while she was her family, that left me the opportunity to go to the "island."

Seated on a ferry for 6 hours, I looked around and noted that I was 1 of two tourists. Ironically, the other tourist was American. We haven't encountered many Americans in our travels, so finding one of this ferry was surprising. Arriving into the port of Belawasi, I was ushered, as the random tourist, to the front of the line to get my Indonesian tourist visa. From that point, I would be subjected to a very common discomfort, Indonesian public transport! I boarded a heated bus packed full of other passengers. The result was instant sweat, a sticky body, and a feeling of fatigue and exasperation. That wouldn't be the first time. Our bus took another 2 hours to get to Medan.

On the bus, I was approached by Adam, a friendly enough guy. He joked with these two unique foreigners about orangutans, the traffic we were stuck in, and Indonesians. Adam was a tout. Being a travel veteran, I never saw it coming. I went with him to visit a nice hostel, exchange money, buy a mosquito net, because there wasn't any mosquito nets where I was going (there was!), and a place to eat. In the end, I was ready to get away from him. When I woke up at 7:30 in the morning, guess who is waiting for me down in the lobby, yep, Adam. If you see Adam in Sumatra, don't ask him to sell you a mosquito net.

Finally away from Adam and his buddies, I was on my first, of way too many on this 5 day trip, mini-van to Bukit Lawang and subsequent orangutans. Let me explain these mini-vans. These mini-vans stop often to pick-up and drop off passengers along the way. These mini-vans are not air conditioned, that's not really expected, but they are crammed full of people. Just imagine your small Chryselor van with an extra row of torn plush seats. Now put an extra person in that row for the amount of seats, hang a few from the door, and a couple more on top for safety, and now you have an accurate picture of this mini-van. Just add 4 hours and quite possibly the worst road ever, and you have the making of a good story. I can't say for sure that it is the worst road ever, because on our honeymoon, Nadine and I rode with Gonzo to the village of Cusmapa in Nicaragua and bounced around the entire time there too. At least then, we didn't have 18 people in the van. This road ressembled an area where several bombs fell recently. Our van jumped around it like had some pumped up hydros combined with a love for pop music and disco.

Is this bridge really safe to cross with my big pack?

Life in Bukit Lawang was slow. Noone was around. All there was to do was watch the river flow by. AND sign up for a morning trek into the jungle.

Next morning at 7, I took off with Siyan into the jungle. We had made an agreement that if I didn't see any orangutans I didn't have to pay. As we walked, I heard gibbon monkeys in the distant, saw gray mohawk monkeys passing overhead, and the calls of birds, but no orangutans.

This is the friendlier female Sasah

After an hour and a half Siyan found what he was looking for, a set of orangutans. In order to actually see these animals, we had to part from the trail and tramp through the jungle floor. There in front of us, a female orangutan was hanging from a tree branch in all its hairy glory. Siyan told me that there were two orangutans. Oh, the other one was a male. And it's mating season. After my first photo of the female, I then saw the male. Suddenly, Siyan told me to run as the male was coming after us. You can imagine this situation, excitement of seeing my first orangutan in the wild, alarm in having to flee from the "jungle people" with a backpack across my chest and camera fumbling in my hands. As we backtracked, now on the trail, we saw the male in full form with his arms hanging the length of his torso. Once again, he began making his way towards us and once again we backtracked. As this all transpired, I have to say that I had immediate respect for this creature. Amazing, yet powerful. Unique and at the same time similar to a few people I know back in New Mexico. We continued this cat and mouse game until Siyan took out three of the mangos he picked up along the way and threw them to Abdul and Sasah. This kept the male at bay for the next 20 minutes.

So that is Abdul

After the male was pacified, it was time for the female to show off for two hairless monkeys. She climbed up trees, swung from branches, slid down tree trucks upside down. I just sat there and soaked it all up and tried to get in a few decent photos. That was until the female was 5 feet in front of us and hanging from a branch. Suddenly the branch broke and this female orangutan fell on its back and sulked over to the male while Siyan and I had a good laugh. A couple of minutes later, Sayah came back towards us and hanging from a different branch took a swipe at my head. Fortunately she missed. Alright, 30 minutes of studying the actions of the orangutans and noting thier physical similiarities to us humans, feet, hands, arms, head, and for a few, a body covered in hair, we began our track back to town and the chance for another mini-van to Berstagi. It was definitely worth the money Siyan earned and much more.

Abdul coming towards us the second time

Along the way back to my hostel, we saw 3 more orangutans. A mother with a young child and an infant orangutan. By the way, if you didn't know, the word "orangutan" comes from the Bahasa language. Orang means person or people while utan means jungle. Jungle people. The whole experience made the trip to Sumatra, Indonesia worth it.

On the 4 and a half hour mini-van back to Medan, at one point, I counted a total of 25 people in, on, and around our mini-van. Once in Medan, I was on another crowded bus to the town of Berastagi and its large green statue of a cabbage dedicated to their ability to grow this vegetable. I'd be proud too. I also attended mass at one of the most unique looking Catholic churches I've ever seen. At Saint Francisco Assisi, this church was a combo of Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian architecture, while the interior had wooden pews on the far left, plastic blue chairs on the far right, and mats down the middle. I pulled up a seat next to locals directly on the mat.

Our confused transport to Tuk Tuk

From Berastagi, I rode 3 mini-vans to the port town of Parapat. From Parapat, I would jump on a ferry and leave the next morning to Tuk Tuk, a small town on Samosir Island in the middle of Lake Toba. Of note, Indonesia has an alarming rate of man made destruction of their forests and there are forest fires that are currently blanketing parts of Indonesia and well as countries east of Indonesia. It has been in the international news. Because of that, the sky was gray. In the morning, aboard the ferry, our ferry captain got lost in the cloudy atmosphere. He was literally swerving across the lake trying to find land. Eventually he saw it. Tuk Tuk gave me a chance to relax and swim in the gray horizon for a day.

Where does the sky end and the water begin? Take the plunge! I dare ya.

My time here has come to an end and I can characterize my solo adventure to Indonesia with three unique items, grandeur of seeing orangutans in the jungles of Bukit Lawang, solitude of Lake Toba, and the horrible act of taking public transport daily in Indonesia in 5 rushed days. I finished my time in Indonesia by scrapping my return ticket by ferry to Malaysia and splurging for a $35 Air Asia plane ticket. Well worth the price.

To complete my adventure and stories from Indonesia, as I waited at the Medan airport, a security guard walked over to a souvenir shop and picked up a chess set. As he was walking back to his security station, I offered to play him. I sat there playing chess with a security guard while people passed the security checkpoint unchecked. There were more important things going on. We finally played to a draw and he was able to return to work and insure the safety of the airport terminal.

Life is good. Nadine is still in Omaha until the 24th when she comes back to Thailand. I am going to make my way back to Thailand, so I can be waiting for her with open arms and a big kool-aid smile.

Question - What is the fifth most populous country in the world?

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.

Peace
JW