Articles tagged with: Sumatra
05 – A Wet, Wet Day from Subulussalam to the Ocean
The distance from Subulussalam to the next town that I knew contained some form of accommodation was 152 kilometers. There was no possibility of covering that distance in one day, so I knew I would be spending the night in my tent, and hopefully on the ocean. I carefully calculated the distances down out of the mountains and to the beginning of the ocean. The …
04 – Nantampukmas Hotel and the Road to Subulussalam
Despite practicing hundreds of times while I rode my bike, I simply could not pronounce the name Subulussalam when someone asked me where I was going or where I was coming from. That name defeated my tongue, but it was my destination for the day when I left from my tiny room in Sidikalang.
03 – Downhill to Sidikalang
FROM THE TRUCK STOP TO SIDIKALANG
As I anticipated, the first part of this day involved pushing my bike up a few hundred more meters of altitude. The truck stop was about two thirds of the way up the volcano, and I had to go up the final third until I reached where this smaller road met up with a larger one. I had no idea …
02 – A Night at a Truck Stop
I woke up in my rather rough room in Pangururan with a fairly difficult climb ahead of me. I didn’t have perfect facts at my disposal, but according to the Plotaroute website, I would need to climb 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) before I made my way out of the caldera of Lake Toba. That gives another idea (if one were needed) of the vastness of …
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.
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.
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: