Across The Equator

Sumatra was our last Indonesian island that we would be travelling across. Our journey so far has been simple and taken us across all the islands that were in our path.

Sumatra spans the equator, and so is about as tropical as you can get. It was hot and humid, but we’d worked out that the rains tended to come after lunch, so set off early (6-7) every day and rode to a town where there might be a hotel, or until our bums hurt too much or it looked like rain. We were getting concerned about overstaying our visa so took about 10 days to get up to Medan - our departure point. We still had time to stop for a few days here and there, and the roads were surprisingly good.



Another day, another market.



Bamboo is a universal building material here - used even as scaffolding and shuttering support.



A common sight - 2 lorries coming straight at us and nowhere to go. It's alright though, they flash their lights to let us know that they're being stupid.



I was tempted to ride the bike across for the photo but common sense won.





These ladies were very sweet and friendly.





I took this pic to show how hard it was raining. The Muslim girl getting in the pool fully clothed with a headscarf on just happened to be in the background, honest



This young lad was one of the few beggars that we'd come across but wasn't pushy. We got him some grub from the bakery.





I've no idea what they were, but the locals had laid out nuts on the road for people to drive over.



This pic was just to remind us what a s***hole Solok was. It was filthy, crowded, smelly, and there was a Mosque next door to the only (rip off) hotel which woke us with its wailing at 4.30am.







We stopped for a drink and I don't think the stallholder's daughter had seen white poeple before.



Amazingly, Sumatra had some good roads.



These lads were great fun. As soon as we pulled up for fuel there were half a dozen around us out of nowhere selling food. I munched on deep-fried tofu stuffed with spicy noodles while they took the mickey out of us.



Minang architecture in this area.



One of 3 huge lakes in the hollow tops of volcanoes. The explosion when lake Toba blew is thought to be one of the largest on earth.



We planned to go up this still-smoking volcano near Bukittinggi but the weather was against us.





Going to Bukittinggi zoo was a mistake. It was dreadful. This poor thing was as sad as could be.



The guys running Bedudal cafe in Bukittinggi were good fun, especially Budi. Every night was a singing session.







A dried fish stall in Bukittinggi market. It was like a maze and easy to get lost in there, and all the tarpaulins were too low for a 6 foot westerner like me.



The beloved and hated durian fruit. It tastes great but stinks, and there are signs in hotels and so on that it's not allowed on the premises.



These friendly guys were from the Mentawai islands that had just been swamped by a tsunami and were collecting what they could to help. Even though they were poor, the stallholders were giving what they could.





Shaln't be taking that bridge then...



This is roughly at the equator. No signs, no fanfares, no welcoming dancing girls, just a bit of road...





If you click on this pic a couple of times to zoom in you might see the madmen chipping away at stone at the top of the picture.



This is Dumai. It's a big, sprawling dump. We'd been hearing rumours of a ferry that ran from Dumai to Malaysia that would save us days of travel if it existed. We took the detour and there was the ferry. A passenger ferry. No vehicles. The harbourmaster refused to be persuaded that we could fit on easily, so we turned around and went back down the rough road that we'd taken. Every cloud has a silver lining though, and someone told us not to take the route that was on the map, but there was a new road. There was indeed. Nearly 100 miles of smooth, wide blacktop taken at 80mph got us a lot furthr than we'd hoped.






As far as the eye could see for hundreds of miles was palm oil and rubber plantation. Slash and burn, plant a crop. There's huge money to be made, and the divide between the rich and poor is very wide up here.



Palm nuts on the way to the refinery.





We're gluttons for punishment, and had heard of another ferry that might save us some time. It wasn't far out of the way so we went to have a look. We're glad that we did because Tangungbalai is a bonkers place. The ferry was another foot ferry, but the quayside was great fun and complete bedlam.





Heading up towards Medan, our last point in Indonesia, we came across another biker gang like the ones on Java. It would have been rude to have just riden by...

They were really friendly, and made a presentation to us of club badges. Like the other gang we met, they had a police escort. I counted 20 police. We got an address of a club that they hang out in in Medan but weren't there on the right night unfortunately.



More gigly girls.





Medan was (probably still is) huge and very busy.





Having sorted shipping for the bike on a vegetable boat and dropped it off at the port 20 miles away, we had to get back. We took a bemo - a minibus - that dropped us off in the wrong place, so had to take a motorcycle rickshaw the rest of the way.



No reason for this pic, I jst like it.



The bike gets craned onto the boat.



And by the magic of photography, it's instantly in Malaysia. We've flown across meanwhile.





First priority was replace the bald rear tyre. Mr. Chin Ki Lim (!) at the car tyre store found, collected and fitted a tyre for us. What a star.



The choice of food on Penang is wonderful.



And the diversity of religions refreshing.





Food is a bit of an obsession on Penang, and street food stalls are very common. You make an order and the food's cooked while you wait.





Thes were some of the seafood on offer - huge mantis prawns.



As well as frog porridge.

Penang is a strange place. ‘Discovered’ by an Englishman (Francis Light) in the 18th century, it still has a strong British influence. The residents are a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indians with a few Indonesians, Burmese and other races. It’s historically an important port, and is quite prosperous, with everyone fiercly proud of it’s heritage. Skyscrapers, Mosques, Chinese, Thai and Hindu temples all coexist and the island is protected by it’s heritage status. For us though, the best part is the food. After so long eating Indonesian food it’s bliss. The number of street stalls is unbelievable, serving Indian, Chinese and Thai food freshly cooked while you watch, all for a few pence. We gave the frog porridge a miss though……

So, here we are in Georgetown, Penang, and will head off to see Ann and Lucas ½ an hour up the road on the way into Thailand. Penang is so relaxed and civilised that it’ll be sad to leave, but the road is calling, and we’ll have been here for a week by then.