01- Riding from Tuktuk

Yesterday was my first day of real cycling in a very long time, and it shows this morning. (I rode from Tuktuk to Pangururan on the other side of Samosir Island.) I’d forgotten, for example, that prickly heat is a big problem. It developed overnight, and I found myself unable to sleep. And this was at a time when I desperately needed the sleep.

Panic! – Phishing Emails Give Me a Heart Attack

I got an email claiming to be from PayPal saying that there was a problem with my account. They detected invalid information, and I needed to clear it up or they would limit my account. I was immediately suspicious, of course, because there was a log-in link included in the email. As far as I understand these things, official emails from large companies never include log-in links.

The Morality Police Raid My Hotel

It was a Saturday night. This hotel never gets very busy, but Saturday night is probably the busiest night. That’s the one night I might hear some noise and commotion and some rather odd characters (usually half-dressed men) might be spotted prowling the dark balcony. So I didn’t pay much attention when I heard some banging and crashing and loud voices.

Siantar Errand Run

I needed to buy a couple of things, and I took my camera with me as I walked around the city of Siantar, Sumatra. It’s a very long video, I suppose, but I wanted it to show what it feels like to just the walk the streets amidst all the activity.

Siantar Zoo Trip – Sleepy Animals

Lacking a GoPro, I used a GorillaPod to attach my tiny Canon point-and-shoot camera to my bike’s handlebars. The Canon doesn’t really focus anymore (and little else works on it), but it does capture video of a sort.
With the Canon point-and-shoot on my handlebars, I rode my bike to the Siantar Zoo and wandered around for a bit. I’d been to this zoo before and …

Getting a 30-Day Tourist Visa Extension in Indonesia

I’m no expert in the process of getting Indonesian tourist visas and visa extensions, but I thought I’d share my most recent experience in case it might help someone else go through the process.( I don’t know anything about the 30-day visa on arrival. The following applies only to the 60-day tourist visa.)
Here are the brief facts:

Staring at the Camera Like a Buffoon

Today is the big day. I was told I can pick up my passport, and it should contain my 30-day extension. Technically, it will be a 28-day extension because my last visa expired two days ago. This extension should date from my previous visa’s expiry date, so it will be two days old by the time I receive it.

Later: Got the visa extension, but it wasn’t easy. I had been told to just return on Wednesday to pick up my passport. But there was more to it than that. First, I had to have my picture taken. And this has to be done as a live insert with one of their cameras tethered to a computer and logged into the national immigration website/database. You can just imagine how that went.

Successful But Predictably Weird

My trip to immigration for the interviews ended up being successful but predictably weird. I got there on my bike, of course. My sponsor, Stephani, was going to get there on her own. I assumed she would be on a scooter. I showed up a few minutes before my scheduled interview time of 10 a.m. The usual woman was sitting behind the main counter, and I went up to her just to let her know that I had arrived but my sponsor wasn’t there yet. Then I sat to wait.