Our path from Thailand to Indonesia was to consist of a train ride from Bangkok to Butterworth, Malaysia, where we’d take a ferry to Penang Island, spend a couple days on the island, then take another ferry to Sumatra. There were only two uncomfortable issues we ran into on the 24-hour train ride from Bangkok to Butterworth, Malaysia. We woke up in our comfortable bunks after a fairly good night of sleep except for the fact that the air conditioning was running full-blast and the place felt like a refrigerator. I faired ok, but Elise remains temperature-challenged and froze. That was issue #1. Issue #2: After a not so tasty and overpriced dinner on the train the night before, we elected to not purchase the overpriced breakfast and otherwise rely on the vendors roaming the train. Little did we know that after the last stop in Hat Yai, Thailand after a lone fried chicken vendor passed through (for some reason fried chicken didn’t sound that good at 6:30am), the dining car would be disconnected after crossing the Malaysian border, and no more vendors would come aboard the train. So after we passed through the normal border check and received our passport stamps, we had to fast for the rest of the morning until the early afternoon. If I could describe Elise(while travelling) as an animal, she would be a squirrel. This is because before every train or bus ride, she is so fearful that there will not be food available when she is hungry that she goes rummaging through convenience stores to stock up on snacks just in case. I give her a lot of grief for this because up until this point because there is so much available food in southeast Asia, that all you have to do is stop when you’re hungry, turn left or right, and there will be food to purchase in some form (convenience stores, roadside street vendors, fruit stands, restaurants…everywhere). But this time was different and next time I will not say anything when the squirrel wants to bury a lot more nuts for a train or bus ride.
Immediately after crossing the Malaysia border, we could clearly see that we left the land of Buddha and entered one of Islam. Over the landscape we could see the domed tops of many Mosques and many women wear the head coverings. We arrived in Butterworth about 24-hours after we left Bangkok, quickly raided the only street stand between the train and ferry terminal for food, then boarded the passenger ferry to Georgetown. Georgetown is on the island of Penang and a major trading port back in the British Colonial days with quite a bit of history. It has always been a place that has a good melting pot of cultures: ethnic Chinese, Indian, Malay, Europeans. It turns out this means interesting architecture, high standard of living, and absolutely incredible food. We received a free flyer explaining many types of local food and where to find them. The streets were lined with vendors so basically we could graze all day tasting unbelievable food for dirt cheap prices. Our mouths are still watering thinking about all the fried noodle dishes and soups, Chinese steamed buns filled with savory veggies and meat, and cendol, this funky dessert made with shaved ice, beans (like kidney beans), green jellies, and coconut milk. We stayed in Chinatown, which also happens to be very near “Little India”, where one night we splurged on an large Indian meal of Chapati and several curries recommended by our friendly servers. Everyone there is fully fluent in English so it was very easy to get around.
We hiked to the top of Penang Hill for some exercise and good views, and did a walking tour of Georgetown. On the walking tour we decided to visit a local Mosque and were greeted by a very friendly man who gave us a free tour. He explained some of the basic principles of Islam and explained how it is an extension of Christianity (we are all descendents from Adam; and Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are considered prophets of God), and of course stressed that Islam is intended to be a peaceful and non-discriminating religion which has billions of members – not a religion like it is practiced by the relatively smaller group of fanatics in the world who have caused friction with Western countries. We were given a heartfelt invitation to learn more about Islam, even to join, and were presented a copy of an English translation of the Quran. This was much like any invitation I have heard to join any Christian church. It is easy to be lost in the stereotypes caused by negative media and violence in the world so it was nice to have this very open, friendly, and educational experience. My only complaint about Muslim countries so far: the beer is three or more times the cost of the rest of Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, it is very heavily taxed and four to five times pricier.
Our goal on this trip is to travel on the ground (by bus, train, or boat) as much as possible. Not only is airfare generally more expensive, staying on the ground provides more interesting cultural experiences and we see a lot more of the countryside. So the reason we visited Penang (other than the food) was that it is a path to Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. There used to be a ferry from Penang to Medan but we were hearing rumors that it had recently been cancelled. We confirmed that this was the case (it appears that high gas prices finally caught up and made flying a more economical option). So we booked a cheap flight on a budget airline and flew into Medan, Indonesia.
Medan is a dirty, crowded city with not much to see. So we crashed at a guesthouse one night and got out of town immediately the next day. After more than a month in steamy, hot weather, we were anxious to get somewhere cooler so our first destination in Indonesia was Berastagi. In the highlands of North Sumatra, it is pleasantly cool - comfortable during the day and jackets needed at night. There are two nearby volcanoes and we figured there would be no better way to start a visit to Indonesia than to climb one of the thousands of volcanoes in this country, the most seismically active area of the world. We climbed Mt. Sibayak (2094 m) and enjoyed sunny weather, incredible landscape views, and close-up looks at the many steam vents as the mountain is venting a sulfur-smelling mixture constantly. On the way down we stopped at hot springs which was very near a geothermal power plant - both of course fueled by the volcano. The climb was very nice and a nice change from the recent super-muggy hiking we had been doing in Laos and Malaysia. We are also finding out that the people of Sumatra are some of the most friendly and helpful we have encountered yet. There are very few tourists and we feel like celebrities walking down the streets with all the hellos and being stopped constantly for pictures.
Next we moved on to Danau Toba (Lake Toba). We originally planned to stay three nights but that turned into a week because it is paradise. If there is a place on this planet designed for Elise and I, it is Lake Toba. This gigantic turquoise-blue fresh water lake was formed by an enormous sunken ancient volcano caldron. It is about 3000 feet above sea level which means low humidity and perfect warm temperatures that I would describe much like the summer in Colorado or eastern Washington. Surrounded by mountains and littered with coconut palms, there is a huge island in the middle of the lake which is the size of Singapore. We had a lakeside room for slightly less than $6 per night with a balcony overlooking the lake. We sleep perfectly each night listening to the wind-driven waves crash into the shore. For us it is like the perfect beach destination without the negative stuff that comes with it: humidity, the dirty feeling of salt water caked to your skin, sand dragged into your room. The people are extremely friendly. We have spent the days relaxing, motor biking the beautiful scenery around the island, visiting and soaking in the nearby hot springs, swimming, reading, and hanging out with the friendly staff who play guitar around the campfire at night.
Next we moved on to Danau Toba (Lake Toba). We originally planned to stay three nights but that turned into a week because it is paradise. If there is a place on this planet designed for Elise and I, it is Lake Toba. This gigantic turquoise-blue fresh water lake was formed by an enormous sunken ancient volcano caldron. It is about 3000 feet above sea level which means low humidity and perfect warm temperatures that I would describe much like the summer in Colorado or eastern Washington. Surrounded by mountains and littered with coconut palms, there is a huge island in the middle of the lake which is the size of Singapore. We had a lakeside room for slightly less than $6 per night with a balcony overlooking the lake. We sleep perfectly each night listening to the wind-driven waves crash into the shore. For us it is like the perfect beach destination without the negative stuff that comes with it: humidity, the dirty feeling of salt water caked to your skin, sand dragged into your room. The people are extremely friendly. We have spent the days relaxing, motor biking the beautiful scenery around the island, visiting and soaking in the nearby hot springs, swimming, reading, and hanging out with the friendly staff who play guitar around the campfire at night.
The first motorbike ride we took was an adventure around the island. We found out this is an exhausting trip that takes all day over some pretty crappy roads (10am to 6:30pm with only a stop for lunch and a few photo breaks and short rests). However the scenery is amazing and it was well worth the trip. We were hit by an afternoon rain storm and had to duck quickly into the nearest roadside shop where the locals were waving at us to come in. While trying to park the motorbike, I lost traction in the loose dirt and we took a spill falling over in front of the many bystanders. After hearing loud gasps and chattering in Indonesian (probably talking about the idiot westerners who cannot ride a motorbike) we picked up the bike and embarrassingly expressed that we were ok and that there was no harm done (to us or the bike). We then were wholeheartedly welcomed in to sit out the rain with a group of mostly old men who were playing chess and having a few drinks of the local brew which in English is called “jungle juice.” The best I can tell, it is a liquid that is naturally alcoholic and harvested directly from palm trees. Very little English was spoken with this group, but our presence and participation in drinking the jungle juice appeared to be much appreciated. One old man told Elise that she is very beautiful. Of course I agree, but for some reason my response was, “jungle juice make everyone beautiful!” This must have translated fairly well because they thought that was pretty funny. The man who told Elise she was beautiful even wanted to buy our drinks and would not let us pay! The rain stopped and we continued on barely making our way back to the guesthouse before dark.
Our favorite restaurant is Joe’s Café, just down the street from our guesthouse (Mas Cottages), where we have been enjoying home-cooked meals (Indonesian-style taco smothered in guacamole, gado-gado, a very good chicken curry, and barbeque wild pork) and great conversation with Joe and his family. We continue to be stopped by locals and asked to pose for photographs or practice conversing in English. The schools from Medan and surrounding villages are sending kids on field trips to Lake Toba with an assignment. The kids are to strike up conversation with tourists to practice English. We were asked to sign sheets with our impression of how well they did and any recommendations obviously to prove that they actually did the homework. This was fun at first but also became overwhelming and time consuming one day because there seemed to be hundreds of kids and Elise and I were the only tourists walking the street. Great idea by the teachers though. Apparently Lake Toba had a lot more tourists in the mid-nineties, but has very few these days. Rumor has it that there used to be some airline flights that brought tourists to Medan from Malaysia or even Europe that no longer exist. Whatever the case, in my opinion Lake Toba is a completely underdeveloped and underutilized tourist destination. In other words: Perfect.
It is time for an update on the overall logistics plan for the remainder of our trip. As Elise mentioned in the previous blog post, we are now over half way through the year and having trouble fitting everything in we want to do. We continue to be amazed at the amount of time we spend planning, re-planning, prioritizing, cramming, adding, deleting, and engineering this trip to maximize the value of this trip to us and fit in as much as possible. Before we left, we were questioned by many people back home about the duration. “What are you going to do in Asia for a whole year?” and “If you are planning a whole year, why are you just staying in Asia and not seeing the more of the world?” were a few examples of questions we were asked. I can now honestly say that two years might not be enough to see our original planned line-up of countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, China/Tibet, India, and Nepal). We, of course, added Myanmar (Burma) to the line-up back in February which compressed our schedule. But now that we have arrived in Indonesia and see what it is like and realize how large it is, we had to make some tough choices. While we can technically still afford one month in each of Indonesia, China, and India, still hold on to seven weeks in Nepal, and be back in the US for Thanksgiving, that scenario just feels too tight. Indonesia, China, and India are all very large countries, and only a month in each would not do them justice. After such great experiences so far in Indonesia, we know we want to stay longer. We also know China will be more expensive and somewhat of a hassle for us because there’s not a great way to get into India without another flight or a long journey overland through Tibet to get to Kathmandu, where we could get an India visa and then travel overland into India. While we would love to see Tibet (and still possibly can via an excursion to/from Nepal), we figure without spending a lot on flights, we’d use up half our visa to get in and out of Lhasa, and wouldn’t see much else of China. India is a must-see for us on this trip. Because of these reasons, China has been on the bubble for the entire trip - in and out of our planned itinerary. We finally decided any visit to China for us will have to wait until another time. It also appears we can solve the getting-the-India-visa problem by going first to Sri Lanka and getting it there. So, here is the new plan: six weeks in Indonesia, two weeks in Sri Lanka, six weeks in India, seven in Nepal. Top that off with a week on a beach (or maybe another visit to Lake Toba, Indonesia) on the way home to unwind - and then it will be Thanksgiving and time to visit family at home. That is the plan for now – still subject to change pending whatever logistical challenges we run into, or something better we dream up along the way.
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