Well, that was Indonesia (Java and Sumatra) by Will

It has been a pretty intense 2 weeks getting from Bali to Medan (Sumatra). The day we started driving out of Bali, we were on the ferry to Java. I found Java and Sumatra to be pretty much the same as the rest of Indonesia, but less touristy…which was good, and more of a Muslim presence. Hardly anyone spoke English either.
It felt like we had driven on these roads 100 times before. All the towns and villages looked the same and so was the scenery. I am looking for to a change in Malaysia and Thailand. [Dad: the monotony of some of the days has been relieved by our two iPods - on one day we had Leonard Cohen (now then Rosie!) singing for us for almost the whole day.]

At the start of Indo. we were having Bakso (noodle soup with meat balls-probably dog). But we got sick of Bakso quickly after Bali and have now moved on to ‘nusi dan ayam’ (rice with chicken). We have been having 3 meals of this pretty much every day…it was great for a week, but we are looking forward to the change to Pad Thai!

The roads were generally a lot better than the roads in the rest of Indo. But we found it harder to navigate. There are more roads so there are different ways of getting to certain places, which makes the signage hard to decipher. But the locals were very helpful if we asked for directions…well the males were at least. Every time we asked a women or a group of chicks, for directions, they all just laughed at us and didn’t even acknowledge that we were talking to them. This must be a cultural thing. It sounds and probably is sexist, but that’s what I experienced. It was highly frustrating when you are hot, tired and lost!

We also realised not to take the ‘By pass’ around small towns and cities. It just took you through a maze of shockingly bad back roads that got us well lost. [Dad adds: on a number of occasions the locals have got in their car or on a motor bike and lead us to the road we were trying to find. We have been very grateful for this.]

The other lesson we learned was to stay well away from Jakarta (the capital of Indo.). The whole time we were in Indo, dad was telling me that there was no chance we were going to go anywhere near Jakarta…but once we compared the 2 options: taking one day, going 80 kph on a flat good road or going 40 kph on crappy roads and taking 2 days…..we thought it might be worth going through Jakarta.

But it wasn’t! We got to Jakarta on the toll road, then got lost and ended up doing 5 or 6 U-turns to get back on a bloody toll road!
Dad was driving and I was navigating. By the third U-turn [Dad: in sometimes intense traffic] there were expletives being yelled, phones, maps and wallets being thrown in all directions….But we eventually got out of that bloody place and got to the port the same day. [Dad: Will had a very bad navigating day that day - worse than the others! At one point he pointed up two or three road levels above us in a cloverleaf type junction of toll roads and told me we should be up there!]

[Dad: as you may imagine we have seen the insides of bad and a very few, good hotels. We got to Hotel Putra in Kebumen, central Java, and soon after we had shifted our stuff in Will assessed this as the best yet. In the morning we came out at 6am for breakfast only to find ours, as well as the other cars parked in front, had been washed! Asking for an explanation the smiling attendants uttered one word: “servis”. We had no difficulty in understanding the meaning. Room and excellent hot breakfast cost just over AUD13.]

The rain has been fairly consistent recently. Nearly every afternoon these huge black clouds form and rain comes pissing down for a good hour. Most of the locals don’t seem to mind and continue riding their scooters in the wet. [Dad: on the day we drove into Medan the huge storm brought trees down across sections of the road as well as flooded roads.]

We are now in Medan sorting out stuff for the next leg. We met the shipping agent ‘Infinity’ and Charlie yesterday. They were very genuine and more than helpful. We are going to try get the car serviced here. We went to a huge mesjid (mosque Raya) today. The building was amazing but dad was getting hassled for money in the middle of it…There are a fair few tourists in Medan. This morning Dad was talking to an English chick that had been through China.

I am currently sitting in the hotel room listening to the blaring call to prayer from the mosque right next to the hotel. It sounds kinda cool but feels a bit invasive. But I am a guest in their country…

Photos: intense green rice paddies were everywhere; strange vehicles (Q: junk heap on wheels, or someone’s motor home? A: the latter!) and one of many market towns thronging with unconcerned locals spilling over the road lined with colourful stalls.