August 2011
8 posts
Reflections on Indonesia
Stuck in Jakarta for a few days. I’d intended to stay two nights here, but the next train I can get to Jogyakarta is on Tuesday morning, so I am experiencing the lazy days where inertia sets in, where we swear off beer every morning as a false cure from boredom, where we count down the minutes to when we can next eat, where we wake full of intentions to visit some tourist or cultural site...
Goodbye Sumatra
For years and years I wanted to visit Sumatra. Even before I knew that it wasn’t a separate country, or even where it was.
Sumatra.
The name alone sounded exotic, distant, teeming with secrets and jungle heat.
And now I’ve been. A small two week tour around its most touristy part, the 3-point line of Lake Toba - Berastagi - Bukit Lawang, the lake, the volcano and the orang utans.
...
Keep running up that hill
Monday 22nd August
Travel to the volcano town of Berastagi.
My days in Lake Toba were very relaxing, despite managing to sun burn my feet and ankles (I took a wrong turn while going for a 20 minute walk, not having put sunblock on, and ended up on a 2.5hr walk in blazing sunshine. Oops.).
I finished reading all of my books and downloaded White Tiger onto my Kindle via one of the many free wifi...
...'scuse me while I kiss the sky...
Wednesday 17th August
Indonesian Independence Day, when they celebrate throwing off the shexy shackles of the Dutch.
Journey day. I headed to the bus-taxi which was going to whisk me from Bukit Lawang, and was fortunate enough to see Tommy & Tessa, and give them an apology for my vomit-enforced disappearance on Monday night. They too were leaving that morning, heading back to Jakarta and a...
From a lake, backwards
Opening with irony today: I’m at a lake where you can swim to your heart’s content. But this massive burn on my leg, having been treated by a local clinic, now has to stay dry. I have anti-hystamines to reduce the leg swelling, and some anti-bionics to stop flies feeding on it and infecting me with nanotechnology, so I don’t slowly turn into a robot.
Following my description of...
You give me fever...
Last diary entry I described my journey from London to northern Sumatra, and hinted at tales of monkeys and injuries and adventures. So without further ado…
One of the immediate impressions I have of Indonesia, and which has only strengthened in the week I’ve been here, is how friendly people are. Everyone, no matter their age or gender or even how busy they are, will pause and shout...
East of Java
This first travel diary finds me sitting looking over the Sumatran mountains, which are wreathed in forest and mist and rain, and my right leg is burned and peeling in an injury shaped like a grimace of pain.
But let’s rewind a bit.
Tuesday 09 August The flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi went well. I made friends with a middle-aged Indonesian lady who spoke little English and read even...
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I'm off to Indonesia
Hi all, welcome to my mini Indonesia travel diary.
I am flying to Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday 9th August. Why Indonesia? What’s the attraction for me?
There are a number of reasons, with the primary one being orang utans. Many years ago I decided that I wanted to see the great apes in the wild. There are four great apes - humans, gorillas, chimpanzees and orang utans. In 2007 I was...
