overview of travels to indo…

In the village of Busung, on the Southwestern coast of Simeulue. Where waves patrol the coves edge and coral is sharp as razors, there is a life in the fringe. A community, a village, a people. Lacking luxury; they live life than many cannot imagine. Life here demands community.

Taipei, Taiwan
On our first leg of the journey to Indonesia, we had a refueling in Taipei, Taiwan. A mere 12 hours after leaving LAX… it was a sleepy flight as we were lucky enough to Joe and I each got a middle row of seats in the back of the plane for ourselves. This allowed us to put the armrests up, pop an Advil PM, and lounge across the empty seats to find some rest. In the refueling stop in Taipei, we had just enough time to order some rice noodles, take some pictures of some AIDS awareness ads and stretch our tired legs, then it was back on the plane. Destination: the city of Medan, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Medan, Indonesia
We landed in Medan, Sumatra after a quick change of planes in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after an incredibly long 28-hour travel day. The first thing that struck me was that I was a giant in this new land, and secondly… well, Indonesia is sometimes referred to as the ‘land that left logic behind’ and this was my initial observation as a 50 passenger bus pulled up to the plane to transport us to the terminal, which was no more than 20 yards away. We could have walked to the terminal and back 20 times, in the time it took for the bus to transport us to the passenger let-off area. R for ridiculous.

We were picked up by Jim and Laura, two of the directors for the NGO (non-governmental organization), IBI. They were gracious and were excited to talk to Joe and catch up on the news from the States. Jim was a surgeon as he dissected his way through Medan traffic were dotted white lines mean nothing and the horn is used to say hello, tell them your turning, warning the car next to you that they are too close, and all other sorts of times for reasons I could not figure. It was a trip. Picture this: two lanes of road but being used like it was a five lane road, with motorbikes zooming in and out, and a complete lack of organization… Road rules seemed to be loose suggestions rather than sort of mandate.

We spent a total of two days in Medan, one when we arrived and one before we departed… Joe’s friend Gabe met us in Medan before we departed and his company was exceptional, as he added a bit of comic relief as well as some perspective on life in Indonesia. After our first day in Medan we hopped on a prop plane and headed to the island of Simeulue, 1-hour west of Sumatra and only recently equipped with a modern airport facility. Joe told me stories of his first arrival, landing in a field on an old jalopy two-prop plane, praying that the rivets stay together on the bumpy landing.

Points of interest: Sun Plaza - a mega-mall in the heart of Medan, five stories tall and a plethora of stores to choose from, including a full grocery store and a movie theatre; a $7 foot massage, head massage and hair tonic at a Salon in the Mall; a $13 two-hour full body massage at a spa close to our hotel; Tim-Tam Slam’s; Indian food that did a work on my digestive system and fresh Sumatran coffee at $2 per Kilo.

Simeulue, Indonesia
The flight to Simeulue was beautiful, we passed over the uninhabited western region of Sumatra that was staggering in its lush highland rainforests and white sandy beaches along the western coast. The weather was clear on the approach to Simeulue, so we were able to see the islands of Nias and other smaller islands that make up chain of western islands. After landing in Sinnebon, Simeulue, Scott (the director of IBI on Simeulue), picked us up and took us on the 5 km drive to camp, a drive that took over 30 minutes as the potholes in the road made driving over 10 mph impossible. It looked as if the island had sustained heavy mortar fire as the road was dented with potholes and dips that threw you in around the car and made the most steel of stomachs sour. The drive from the airport took us through a couple of small villages, to IBI’s home village of Busung (Boo-sue) which was located on the Southwestern coast on the edge of a cove with two very large waves patrolling the edges. The cove itself was beautiful with clear blue water and a postcard-esque view of the sunset.

IBI’s camp was located on about 2 acres of land with the back side of the property consisting of a rainforest rising into a small mount. About a third of the camp was being utilized for gardening, with Jas and Jufinar as the head gardeners and Juel and C-Par rounding out the crew. Most days were spent with these four, doing gardening practicums, making compost, preparing and planting melons, and we even made a worm factory which will hopefully add to their variety of compost techniques.

Most nights were spent in camp with Brooke (Scott’s wife) cooking up a delicious meal, followed by time of conversations, debates and stories. Joe spent 6 months with these two before he left for the states in December, preparing them to take over the NGO’s daily operations on the island. So there was no shortage of stories and antidotes on island living. Stories ranging from catching monkeys and other wild beasts to skinning snakes and many techniques or best practices when using a squatty potty… think hole in the ground with nothing but a bucket of water to clean up with…. sick.

Highlights from Simeulue: Mea Ache and Kopi (noodles and coffee) at the smoke filled Kopi shop; painting a house with a termite killing mix of diesel, motor oil and diaoxinol (a pesticide which has been illegal in the states since the 90’s); bogey boarding in Alos Alos; drinking an chocolate avocado smoothie; cleaning and grilling red fish (one of the favorite locally caught fish); playing Friday night soccer with the fellas in the village; and hanging out with the crew in the garden (Jas, Jufinar, Juel, and C-par).

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
While we only spent a total of 6 hours in KL, I will say this would be a place I would like to visit more extensively. Not only was the airport top-notch (cleanest and most modern airport I have ever been in), it was beautiful outside. KL seems to be a city on the rise one that will probably be tracking close to Singapore in the next 10 years.