Frank Sumatra
Not NY and Hoboken, but Padang in Indonesia was my first step of searching for Frank Sumatra, one of the greatest singers of the 20th century! Great singer, from the great Island – the sixth largest in the world.
I am kind of aware of not admitting it, BUT before coming there, I had no clue, how many people is living on the archipelago… 45 millions means Poland and Baltic countries all together on the app. same size and must say, that there were more similarities than anyone would expect.
People of Sumatra love hiking and are extremely religious – as Polish are; traveling there is extremely slow, therefore some bus rides take 15+ hours and the distance is hardly visible on the small scale map – still remember the exhausting journey in Poland in 2010 :)
My known facts about Sumatra before coming there and the reasons of picking up this destination: The western axis of the Island is covered by volcanoes, forests and post-volcanic activity; in 2004 it was Banda Aceh region, the northest part of Sumatra and the autonomous region of Indonesia, which was struck and destroyed by tsunami in 2004; the people are considered as super friendly and the tourism has not changed the country and the people´s minds like in Thailand, yet.
The following photos are from Padang, the town with surprisingly high population (1 million) in western Sumatra, Bukittingi – the town among volcanoes, canyons and lakes; and Harrau valley a picturesque countryside with rice fields, great waterfalls and lovely village people, located 50 km northeast of Bukittinggi.
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Laying in a bed on antibiotics for last few days, drinking ginger tea and keep sweating – this is not the way I wanted to spend even a single day during my limited time here in Czech. Shit happens and I definitely blame lack of avocado juices in Czech restaurants.
Lets travel in time a bit. Its last friday of April and my alarmclock´s buzzing at 23.30, packing up some stuff for a night climb such as cookies, spare clothes, headlamp… jumping on my rented scooter and together with M. heading towards Mt.Marapi – one of the greatest volcanoes in the region. The hike should not take more than 4 hours one way if everything goes well…
My question at the starting point, whether we are first or one of the first was completely lame due to the later discover…I definitely did not expect hundreds of teenagers camping around the trail. Till now, I had no clue how locals love outdoor. Camping tents, guitars, bonfires.. like in Europe, but only not leaving trash behind they have to learn.
All the guys were superpolite. We were probably only two foreigners that night there, and everyone (literally everyone from those hundreds) greeted me: “Hello mister” and hati-hati (take care). When we nearly got lost, a bunch of young guys with flip flops(!) helped us to find the way up and followed us to the top. When we left the jungle trail behind, rocks and strong chilling wind accompanied us for next two hours. The view was stunning!
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I am such a lazy ass. Really. Weeks and weeks home, and still no new layout for my page. Sorry for that guys, but procrastination is damn mighty bitch. My six weeks in Czech has gone and I will be in less than 48 hours on German and Danish highways. My destination is Hjartdal in Telemark – fourth summer in row. Tusen Takk Ken!
So before I upload some photos of our lovely living museum in Norwegian countryside, I should definitely tell you more about Sumatra. About lake Toba for instance, as I did 18/6 during my exhibition and presentation in one cozy café in Slaný town.
Have you ever heard about Toba catastrophe theory, folks?
Neither did I, until I had spent there few awesome days. Lake Toba is a largest volcanic lake in South east Asia, 100km long and 30km wide, located in west Sumatra with a quite large island called Samosir in the middle. On that Samosir Island is a little peninsula called Tuk-tuk, where I was sitting on the porch having no clue what happened there – just below my ass, app. 70 000 years ago.
A massive volcanic eruption emitted vast amount of material (2800 sq km), so the climate on the planet Earth had been changed for following thousand years. Also the layer of ash scattered around is impressive. In the whole SE Asia, Indian ocean and neighboring regions were covered with 15 cm thick layer of ash. The result of the explosion is the greatest caldera lake in the world, extended ice age and the last great extinction of thousands of animals.
More about the theory here, but be careful, my head is still spinning from the numbers!
To drive around Samosir island took us whole day on scooter. Picturesque forests, villages, curves, both nice and bumpy roady, amazing views, friendly locals, clouds passing through us…no wonder that during the high season is Tuk-tuk peninsula and Samosir island one of the Sumatran highlights for European tourists – signs offering magic mushroom shakes prove that…But being there in the beginning of May means complete chill cuz EU kids are still desperately awaiting summer holidays. No mushroom shakes for them, sir!
Below: Samosir, Lake Toba and Sipiso Piso (waterfall) in the North of Lake Toba and accessible from Berastagi.