INDONESIA: OFF TO BORNEO VIA JAKARTA AND SOME THOUGHTS ON SUMATRA

 July 4, 2023

Our second night in Bukit Lawang was much quieter than the first as all the partiers appeared to have left, but it was still unbearably hot. We woke up at about 5:00 AM, and at 7:00 Bob got up to walk the grounds to look for birds and other animals. It was a beautiful morning.

I took a shower, then tried to get my hair to dry on its own. I eventually unplugged everything in the room and used my hair dryer on its lowest setting. The power stayed on and eventually I was able to dry my hair. It was my first day in Indonesia I didn't start the day with a wet ponytail.

Bob didn't see much on the property. When he got back, we went down for breakfast at about 8:00. Bob, worried about how much he had been sweating and possible dehydration, ordered a large bottle (~ 64 oz.) of water, a Coke Zero, and some juice. He drank at least 80 oz. of liquid, hoping to restore the equilibrium in his body. 

By the way, check out the cool lighting in the main dining area--dozens of woven baskets with lightbulbs inside.

We both ordered the crepe I'd had the day before, but this time with bananas in the batter in addition to the chocolate sauce. We also had passion fruit/tamarind juice that was beautiful to look at but not anything special to drink. 

We had been charging everything to our room, and when I went to the front desk to pay our bill for the extras (dinner, drinks, laundry), the total was less than $35, and that included FIVE dinners as we had been there two nights and one night we had treated Ardian.

This was an amazing lodge, and we would recommend it, even though the power kept going out and the room didn't have AC. I'd be surprised if you can get AC anywhere in this region. We really loved all the small ecotourism touches, such as these garbage cans made from the rubber tires that put Indonesia on the map.

If we had been able to stay one more night, we probably would have made it to the bat cave. Oh darn.

At about 10:00 AM we got on the road to go back to the airport in Medan. Our plan was to fly to Jakarta (on the island of Java), get a few hours of sleep in a nearby hotel, then take an early flight to Borneo. That was the most efficient plan the tour company we were using could come up with for getting us to Borneo.

The road was pretty good for most of the drive, no long stretches of rocky, unpaved roads like we had experienced on our way in to the interior of Sumatra via a different route. But the best part was that the car had AC, which I'd take over the wind-in-your-face version of AC offered by the motorcycles most people were riding.

There were many interesting things to see during our long drive to the airport.  This woman was drying some kind of nut in her driveway.

The tropical vegetation and simple buildings often reminded me of parts of Hawaii.

Lots and lots and lots of mosques, each one unique and all beautiful:

Houses with roadstop eating areas and very large satellite dishes:

This is what a palm oil factory looks like:

An interesting battle memorial embellishes the center of a roundabout:

A cute jalopy bounces along on a side road:

The view from my window was always interesting:

We made one stop to buy a bunch of rambutan for Bob. He had seen it for sale at the side of the road and was anxious to try some. It was worth the stop.

We finally made it to the Kualanamu International Airport, the third largest airport in Indonesia. The name means "meeting point."

Inside, there was a very long queue for getting luggage scanned, but Ardian just walked to the front and butted in line. It was embarrassing. We felt like the stereotypical entitled Americans that are so ubiquitous and disliked abroad. After Ardian got us checked in, he gave us a bag of food for our lunch (yet more nasi goreng--fried rice with egg--a dish we had almost every day), and hugged us good bye. 

We had given most of our cash out in tips, so we needed more. We found an ATM machine that would give us a maximum of 500,000 rupia, or about $33. We used it four times in a row for a total withdrawal of $138 (and, unbeknownst to us at the time, fees of $28). 

We sat down to eat our lunch, which didn't look good at all to me. I guiltily threw most of mine away. Then we went through security and got to our gate a full two hours early. We couldn't figure out why Ardian felt the need to so rudely push to the front of the line to get us inside the airport. Maybe he had other clients waiting.

Anyway, we had plenty of time to walk around and have a snack before our flight. I was stunned to see A&W in the airport for a couple of reasons: 1) I hardly ever see it in the United States anymore, and 2) I know most Europeans hate root beer, so I guess I thought that was true for most of the rest of the world as well. In any case, our lunch had been so unappetizing that a chocolate sundae sounded (and tasted) divine.

I got a kick out of this sign in the bathroom stall. I guess when you are used to a squat toilet, that might be the preferred method for any kind of toilet.

Here are a few final thoughts on Sumatra that I wrote in my journal as we waited for our flight to Jakarta:

• There are mosques on every corner, like LDS chapels in Utah or Catholic cathedrals in Rome.
• Families of four or five can fit on a single motorcycle.
• My ankles swelled up on the first day and stayed swollen. Bob sweat an abnormal amount. We are getting older.
• Satellite dishes are not uncommon, but they are huge--maybe 5' across?
• It is amazing that we've had internet everywhere but Tangkahan, where it was very spotty.
• Indonesians are generally attractive and clean. I have not really seen the equivalent of the "sloppy American."
• So far none of our guides has spoken very good English. Their travel monologue is okay, but they misunderstand questions and are much less fluent with unrehearsed material

Our flight to Jakarta on Garuda Airlines was about two hours long, but they served a full meal of rice, chunks of chicken, steamed carrots, and cake. It was very mediocre and not helping our growing aversion to Indonesian cuisine.

The Jakarta airport is the largest in the country. I was surprised to see  these two metallic balloon dogs, the iconic sculpture by Jeff Koons. I can't find them online, so I assume these are copies.

We were met at the airport by a very cheerful, talkative young man and taken to the FM7 Resort Hotel, about a ten minute drive. It was a nice hotel, but check-in was a pain. We had to give them a $50 cash deposit, and they wrote down all the serial numbers on the bills. We were on the 2nd floor and there was no elevator--also a pain. Then the room was very hot when we got there, but the bellhop turned on the AC and set it to 15℃ (59℉-cold!). The final flaw was there was no outlet near the bed, so setting up Bob's CPAP was tricky. I travel with a 3' extension cord, and between that and the long-ish CPAP cord, he could just reach the outlet on the desk.

We went to bed as fast as we could at about 9:30 or 9:45, then got up at 2:30 AM and were picked up at 3:00 for transport to the airport. The Sukarno-Hatta International Airport is the largest airport in the country and is full of interesting Indonesian art and culture references.

We waited in several long lines, and than sat in the waiting area for an hour or so before boarding our next flight, this time on Nam Airline.

It had been a very long 24 hours.

READING

I scouted out a great book for this trip. The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata is a beautifully-written autobiographical novel that tells the story of a school on the very poor Indonesian island of Belitong off the east coast of Sumatra. Ten students are required to establish a school, and the ten at this school have to go through unimaginable trials to be able to attend. 

The story begins when the school begins. The teacher is a 15-year-old girl with a passion for education and the principal is a man who will not give up. There are many triumphs in the ensuing years, but when the school has to close, the results are devastating for each of the students.  

When this book was published in Indonesia in 2005, it became the best-selling novel in the country’s history. In the final pages, the author writes, “The poor Pak Harfan [the principal] and Bu Mus [the teacher] had given me the most beautiful childhood, friendships, and rich souls, something priceless. Perhaps I am mistaken, but in my opinion, this is actually the breath of education and the soul of an institution called school.”