Steven Raucher's World Tour
2001-10-10 in Dumai, Indonesia
Arriving in Indonesia, and farewell to Malaysia
Well, the adventure has really started again. Off into the unknown against all advice from everyone who knows me. Arriving in Dumai, Sumatra had me feeling like I had landed back in India. The customs and immigration offices resembled a wendy house rather than a government building and of course there is, my favourite in Asia, the queue jumpers! Why do people always push in front of a queue in Asia?
Luckily the captain of the cargo boat that was due to arrive that evening had arranged for his son to meet us at the port in case there was any hostility towards foreigners. In truth, I have experienced none. There is of course the occasional bloke who comes up to you and asks what country you are from and you should see the disappointment in his face as I reply in Indonesian that I am from South Africa. Then typically the �bloke� then smiles and says something about Mandela and hobbles off. Quite funny really.
Ok, back to the story, so in a procession of three mopeds, one carrying me, one carrying Louise and one carrying our bags we head off to the captains house to wait for his arrival. Of course, once we are off the bikes and our shoes are stashed neatly in a pile of flip flops outside, the son informs me that he does not expect his father back before midnight. Immediately we thanked them him for his hospitality and made a move to find a hotel. Finally installed a real flea-bag hotel in a filthy town (Dumai is not a resort town!), and only after I had made the son promise to come and get me the moment his father came into port so I could orchestrate the unloading of my bike to shore, we went for a lovely dinner across the road and collapsed into bed waiting for the son to arrive.
Naturally by midnight I had heard nothing, so I got dressed and walked down the road; finally found someone in the middle of a serious game of dominoes and convinced him that I needed to get to the port. Upon arriving at the captain�s house 200 metres from port I was told by his wife that he was down at the boat. Five minutes later I find the captain pissed out of his tree smiling happily at me and offering me some of the local brew. Once I had finished ranting the captain explained
through three different translators that I should come back tomorrow morning at 8am.
Finally convinced that my bike was safe I headed back to my hotel for some well needed sleep. No surprise really that at 6:10 am there was a bang on my door and the local school teacher/translator was there to collect me and take me to port. The look on my face must have said it all when I saw the captain�s boat. During the course of the night the tide had dropped to such an extent the deck of the captain�s boat was six feet lower than the jetty! After careful thought I threw caution to the wind and rounded up a crowd and we successfully lifted the bike above our heads and passed it to the second team on the jetty. Phew, just customs and police clearance to go and I will be free.
The customs officers in Dumai are the friendliest on the planet! Such a great bunch of guys, I finally managed to get my documents signed after prying the officer in charge off the bike and after several rounds of back-slapping. A quick stop at the police station to give them my itinerary and off we went.
The first 150 kms out of Dumai were rather unpleasant over-crowded roads and very bad tarmac surfaces as there are many petrol tankers plying this route because Caltex has about four refineries here. Suddenly, after a spot of lunch with a very friendly chief of police and a local reporter we headed into the most beautiful scenery I have seen since Laos. I am still reeling from the incredible landscape. We rested one night in Bukkitingi before continuing up to Lake Toba where we are now.
Getting to Toba was a fairly exhausting experience, and needless to say it all began with some exhaustingly friendly locals giving us completely incorrect directions. (see pic), all told it took 11.5 hours of driving to get here in one day. Samosir Island is the size of Singapore and almost completely undeveloped; Lake Toba is the second largest lake in the world and a very beautiful place to begin one�s journey into Indonesia.
 the smile only new countries and exotic landscapes can bring me |
 getting into the groove(s) |
 the happy locals who sent me on a wild-goose-chase around the mountains of Sumatra |
 almost there, Steve and Louise on the ferry to Samosir Island |
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