Indonesia: Sumatra y Sulawesi

Gijon, 

Empece mi viaje por Indonesia, y lo que seria mi ultimo mes de aventura, volando a Medan, la cuidad mas poblada de Sumatra, isla mas meridional del Pais y sexta isla mas grande del mundo. Pensaba haber cogido un barco desde Penang, pero en el hostel me comentaron que ya no habia, cosa que me extraño, pero siendo el vuelo tan barato no le di mas vueltas.

Maninjau Lake

Habia leido que para ir de Medan a Lake Toba, lo mejor era pillar transporte privado ya que ir en autobus suponia desrecorrer 1 hora de trayecto para llegar a la estacion, y que nunca podias fiarte mucho de los horarios. Por otro lado, parecia que coger un taxi saldria carisimo si no se encontraba gente para compartirlo. Pues fue una chorrada, pregunte a los unicos viajeros que habia  y resulto que estaban igual que yo y compartimos una fugo que nos salio a 90000 rupias (menos de 6 euros)por persona, asi que fue fenomenal, facilisimo.

Habia encontrado un guesthouse para quedarme, investigando en Tripadvisor, y creo que fue el alojamiento mas barato de todo mi viaje. Lake toba es un lago hacia el centro de Sumatra, que tiene una isla en medio, Samosir. Se cruza en barco en un trayecto de unos 45 minutos. Me quede alli 3 noches. Lo ideal es alquilar una moto para recorrer la Isla que, aparentemente, tiene lugares preciosos que visitar. Yo no estaba muy de humor porque aun no habia curado mi quemadura y estaba preocupada, asi que me tome esos dias con calma, y visite las áreas mas cercanas en bici.

Bagus Bay

De ahi me dirigi a Bukittinggi, en un bus infernal de 17 horas a 15 grados, lloviendo, con un conductor loco y a pesar de pagar precio de turista el autobus parecia un cargo de todo tipo de material, incluida una moto en parte del trayecto. 

 On the road...

Llegue a Bukittinggi a las 7 de la mañana y me pase una hora dando vueltas para encontrar el hotel, cuando llegue estaba tan desesperado que ya odiaba el lugar, pero el hombre del homestay fue tan amable, mi habitación tan cómoda que volví a ver la luz al final del tunel. Decidi, por fin, que era el momento de dejar mi herida al aire y ese dia empezo a cicatrizar correctamente, y me preparé para el dia siguiente hacer un tour por la zona en moto con un guia: no estaba de humor para buses y buscarme la vida, quería algo cómodo. Me equivoqué. Cierto que vi un montón de sitios que no hubiera visto de otro modo, pero el chico vino con una moto de cross, o algo asi, que, aparte de ser incomodisima ( y estuve 6 horas e ella), tenía el tubo de escape directamente debajo del asiento, así que al agarrarme podia echarle mano si me descuidaba. Iba muerta de miedo a volver a quemarme. 

Fuimos a ver una de las flores mas grandes que existen, la Refflesia, y visitamos los alrededores, llenos de arrozales, del lago Maninjau. Lo cierto es que fue bonito, pero muy extresante en la situación en la que me encontraba.  Solo queria curarme para los dias de buceo que tenia por delante.

Al día siguiente me fui a Padang en una furgoneta, en la que obviamente no había cinturones, pero el conductor conducía al teléfono y moviendo el volante con el codo, a todo esto añadir como conducen en estos sitios, sin importarles si vienen coches de frente o las señales de la via, solo a golpe de claxon…Otras veces no me fijo tanto pero iba de copiloto y aluciné.

Llegué tarde al hostel, no había prácticamente nadie. Salí a dar una vuelta y cenar algo y a la cama. Al día siguiente visité un poco la ciudad, tiene una zona al cruzar el rio que es fotogénica, pero nada que reseñar.

De ahí volaría a Sulawesi, por fin a bucear, en uno de los sitos top.

Contraté con un centro de Buceo, tras surfear la web y comparar precios. Me ofrecían la posibilidad de hacer un combo Bunaken y Lembeh, que era lo que me interesaba, así que me quedaban 5 días intensos de buceo por delante.

Llegue tarde a Manado, a donde volé desde Padang con una escala en Jakarta. Me hice una amiga indonesia al salir del avión y como la iban a buscar me llevaron también a mi hotel.

Al día siguiente me vinieron a buscar para llevarme a Bunaken. El viaje en barco fue corto, como 40 minutos y el Resort estaba muy bien, me hicieron un upgrade y me tocó un bungalow chulísimo. Por la noche en la cena conocí a dos chicas super simpáticas, una filipina y otra indonesia. Solo pase dos noches allí, bucee 2 dias, un total de 4 inmersiones, pero fue divertido.

De ahí, todo organizado me llevaron a su otro resort, en Lembeh, donde me quedé 3 noches y también buceé 2 días. Esta zona es diferente y es muy conocida por el muck diving. Normalmente las inmersiones son en fondos de arena y lo que se va buscando son las cosas mas raras y pequeñas que os podáis imaginar. El lugar es el paraíso de los critters.

El resort era muy parecido, esta vez sin piscina, pero la organización era igual, con comidas todos juntos, mis inmersiones por las mañanas y relax por la tarde, aunque el tiempo aquí no acompañó mucho. De Manado volaría a Bali, última parada de mi viaje.

I started my trip in Indonesia, and my last month of traveling, flying to Medan, Sumatra’s capital (the northener island in Indonesia and the sixth biggest island in the world). I was going to take a boat form Penang, but in the hostel I was told that there were no boats anymore in that route, so I took a flight. It sounded weird, but the flight was really cheap so I didn’t insist.
Before flying, I read lots of things about the difficulties to get to lake Toba, as taking a bus meant to go for an hour in opposite direction to the lake, and bus timetables weren’t very reliable. I was prepared for hearing about really high prices for private transport when I got to the airport but it probed to be really easy: I share a taxi with 4 other travelers and we paid like 6 euros each.
Through Tripadvisor I found a place to stay. Lake Toba is a lake in the middle of Sumatra, that has an Island in the middle, Samosir. To get there you take a boat from Parapat, it takes 45 minutes. I stayed in Samosir for 3 nights. The best way to visit the island is by motorbike. I rent a bicicle one day to visit the surroundings closer to my place, and rested the rest of the time to heal the burn on my leg.
From there I went to Bukittinggi, in another bus so close to hell, 17 hours at 15 degrees, raining and with a mad driver. I paid a tourist price for a cargo bus loaded to the full with plastic buckets and even a motorbike.

I got to the town at 7 am and it took me to find the guesthouse more than an hour. I got there so tired and desperate, hating the place already, but the manager at the guesthouse was so nice, my room so comfy, that I started to feel better soon. I decided it was time to let the burn out to dry, and that day it started to form a scab. Next day I decided to go on a tour by bike with a guide: I didn’t feel like looking for more buses and lose time, I wanted something easy and straightforward. The motorbike ended being just like hell, so uncomfortable, and with the exhaust just at arm length, so I was so scared to get burnt again. On the other hand, in just 6 hours I got to visit a lot of places, that I couldn’t have seen just going by public transport. We visited a forest and saw one of the biggest flowers on earth, the Refflesia, we visited some viewpoints and Lake Maninjau, surrounded by rice terraces.

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The next day I headed to Padang in a van. As a normal thing they did not have seat belt, but in this case, also the driver liked to talk on his phone the whole time using his elbow to drive. This all, added to the normal way they drive there in Asia, not caring if there are cars coming the other way or abiding to the signs, just horn driving! Other times I didn’t mind, but this time I was sitting at the front and it was crazy!

I got to the hostel late, and I was practically the only guest. I went for a walk and diner and early to bed. The next day I visited the city, there is an area on the other side of the river nice for taking photos, but nothing else aside.

From there I took a flight to Sulawesi, to dive in a top site!

I surfed the web and found a dive center that offered combos Bunaken/Lembeh and I went there for 5 intensive diving days! From Padang I flew to Manado with a stopover in Jakarta. I met a girl from Indonesia and her friends that went to pick her up took me to my hotel. On the next day I was taken to Bunaken on a van and a short boat trip. The resort was great, and I got an upgrade to a super nice bungalow. At night I met 2 really funny girls, one from Philippines and one from Indonesia. I just stayed there for 2 nights: a total of 4 dives. It was great fun.

After divinig the second day I was taken to the resort in Lembeh, where I stayed for 3 nights to dive the Lembeh strait. This area is a different diving experience. It is call muck diving, all are sandy bottoms and you can find there the smallest and weirdest “critters” ever. The resort was quite similar to the one in Bunaken, not pool this time, and no upgrade, but same organization: meals all together, dives for me in the morning and relax in the afternoons, although the weather was not good during my stay. From Manado I would fly to Bali, last call of my trip.

Tips:

www.flyonward.com a really useful web to buy a flight tiket only for a day, for 9.5 euros, in order to get to some countries: To get to Indo you need to show a flight out of the country, as sometimes you don't know the next destination, or the date you want to fly, this si so useful. The ticket is not confirmed but "works" as a real ticket in the next 24h to the purchase, so you can show that in the boarder with no problem as probe of your onward ticket. It is totally legal.

At Medan airport, bargain for the price of the private taxis, go to the exit, and you will find them to the left. We got a car for 5 people for 90000 ruppies each to go to Parapat (from there you take to boat to Samosir).

simPATI simcard: 75000 ruppies (5 eruos) at the airport: 2GB for 2 months.

I seam to recall the last boat to Samosir is at 17h. I believe the price was 50000 ruppies (3.4 euros). It left me at my guesthouse in the Village of Tuktuk.

Bagus Bay guesthouse. 50000 single room. 200000 with bathroom. It is an average place, it has some sunbeds near the lake, and a restaurant open the whole day. On Saturday night the offer a show of Batak dance.

From there you can rent a motorbike to visit the Island. I rented a bike and just went around TukTuk. I rented it for 3 hours and payed something around 20000 ruppies, a bit more than 1 euro.

Carefull with the bus from Parapat to Bukittinggi. It was most expensive bus I paid in Asia, and probably one of the worst. I paid 20 euros (300000 ruppies), you can probably get it for 260000 straight at the bus station, but the bus schedule is triky as they change it according to demand, so careful.

It took 17 hours (they will tell you it is 14 hours). It was so cold, they said they couldn’t turn off the AC without turning off the engine. The bus was so old, all seats broken, and full of cargo they were taking from one stop to another, from plastic buckets stored in the aisle to a motorbike blocking the entry to the toilet (not that you wanted to use it).

Bamboosa Guesthouse in Bukittinggi. It was a really nice place, a bit far from the center but so comfy after a long trip. I paid 13.5 euros for a single room with double bed, ensuite and great breakfast included. The guy that managed the site was so nice. Thye offered laundry for 10000 ruppies and also a tour service. There are some little shops nearby, and a little warung to eat 5 minutes far in the main road.

I took a tour to Maninjau Lake (a volcanic crater lake), it was a bit expensive, 250000 ruppies, but it was quite complete.

A good idea is to stay in Maninjau, instead of Bukittinggi, you can try Bagus Hostel there, straight in the lake.

For a van to Padang I paid only 45000 ruppies (3 euros) and it takes a bit more than 3 hours, picking you up and taking you to your hostel at both sides.

In Padang I stayed in New House Padang: 50000 for the night in a shared room (I was on my own), with breakfast.  Also an average place. I also got recommended Yani Homestay.

In manado, Sulawesi, Instanaku Guesthouse, I didn’t find a hostel in the city so I went to this new guesthouse. The room was expensive but the place was really nice, 15 euros for a cool ensuite room so big. Breakfast is included but is bad, only toast but no butter or jam, you can always eat rice!

Twofish divers. Really well organice diving in Bunaken and Lembeh and also in Lembongan (I didn’t dive with them in Lembongan as there were much cheaper dive centers there). They make your budget according to your preferences: type of room, number of dives, they also have courses.