Is Sumatra Worth Exploring? – Part 1

To this day, my most adventurous trip remains to Sumatra, the largest island in Indonesia. It has been a long time since then. I was there in 2015, but I would like to see more countries like this, non-touristic and authentic.

Why go to Sumatra? Because I have already visited three Indonesian islands (Flores, Komodo and Bali), and because I wanted to go somewhere where there is less tourism. Sumatra is massive, and I only managed to see less than a third of the island in three weeks. In addition, tourism was still in its early stages at the time, which meant a lot more ingenuity on the road, and at the same time a lot more authenticity with the locals. The trip was even more adventurous because it was the first time I went on a trip with a stranger, whom I met with the intention of going on this trip together.

But I will not write about how we got to know each other (you can ask me that on Facebook), I will start right from the moment we arrived in Jakarta with international flights. From here on, we had a paid domestic flight to Medan, the capital of Sumatra. We had about six hours in Jakarta before our next flight, and the time passed quickly as we quickly coordinated what we wanted to see and where we wanted to go first. During this time, we were also kept company by roaches, which you can occasionally see scurrying down the corridor.

Time passed quickly and we were already in Medan. As soon as we got out of the airport, we were surprised to find out that this is a city of millions - yes, I know, we could have made sure earlier. Well, the result was that we walked up and down the busiest road, even the guys in the auto repair shop were laughing at us. We were looking for a bus, van or something similar to transport to bring us to the town of Berastagi. After less than an hour, we found someone who could help us and guide us to the van.

Finally, after long hours of flying, waiting and transportation, we arrived at 1300 m above sea level in the town of Berastagi. The town is famous for its cabbage, and a large monument to it has been built in the middle of the town. We found a place to stay in the city centre and decided to rest a bit before exploring.

Let the exploration begin

First, we went for a bit of hill climbing on Mount Sibayak. At 2,212 metres, it is the most easily accessible volcano in Sumatra. In the city, we found a van that drove us to the starting point at the foot, and there was a small house, where we had to pay a symbolic entrance fee. Outside, however, there were some locals who wanted to be hired as guides, as the way to the mountain was supposed to be dangerous. They already informed us at the place we were staying at, that we did not need any help and that the climb itself was not difficult.

Immediately after the gate, we began our hike. The path was wide and flat at first, and after a few hundred metres it became narrower, steeper, and going through a forest. Along the way, we were accompanied by colourful birds, and every now and then we met a farmer who was going back to the valley. Each of them smiled kindly and waved hello.

I cannot remember whether it was after one and a half or two hours that we managed to get to the top. The last part of the trail was in pretty bad condition and difficult to walk, as the trail was destroyed by the rain. The closer we got to the crater, the more there was the smell of rotten eggs. The landscape beneath the peak changes completely, as if you had landed on another planet. We also saw a tent, but we did not understand why anyone would want to spend the night in this atmosphere of lovely smells.

Click and click, we took a few pictures and went back down the road, but before the hike, we decided to go down the mountain on the other side to make it more interesting. On the way down from the summit it started to rain lightly, and we had to wait under the roof of the stalls which were closed because it was not the high season. The hour-long wait was over quickly as we waited with a group of students from Sumatra, the very ones who wanted to camp at the bottom of the peak but were surprised by the weather. Once the boys had a bit of courage, they asked if they could take a picture with us. Why not? And then it began - first one of us with one in each of them, then the other one with each... well, you can kind of imagine how long that took and how we finally had enough of it all and went on our way while it was still raining lightly.

Along the way, we looked at various gardens and their small houses, but we did not meet many people. But towards the end of the hike, we found hot springs. This is what we were looking for, away from everything and a little pampering in beautiful nature. Even better was that we were completely alone in them, not a single visitor was there.

Berastagi - adventures continue after returning to town

After returning from the Sibayak volcano, we had to walk slowly back to our accommodation, so as not to get lost in the night. We quickly got a ride and were back in town. However, the adventures continued over dinner. After a short walk around the town, we decided to choose a local restaurant rather than street food.

As soon as we sat in the restaurant, we were already spoken to by a kind gentleman, but unfortunately he could not speak a word of English. He pointed to a wall with a menu, but this did not help us because we did not know the dishes. We started laughing and ordered the food recommended by the guys from the mountain. Hmmm, well, we got some kind of muddy water with meatballs and rice noodles. That is all I remember. When you are hungry, you eat almost everything.

Our experience was enhanced by this same waiter, who asked us where we were from when we paid. Yes, he suddenly knew one sentence in English. When he returned to the table with a refund, he said “thank you very much” in our language - Slovene. Our jaws dropped to the floor. How nice and he really made an effort. On his phone, he translated it on Google Translate. That was really nice of him.

We returned to the front of the home and oops, the steel door to the front yard was locked. Now what? We shouted and screamed for someone to come and open the door, but they did not hear us. I guess we will have to climb over the two-metre-high fence. Uh, we are two foreign girls, and we are entering in a very strange way. It is a good thing that none of the people walking down the main street reported us to the police. The next morning, of course, we said this at the reception, and they started apologising for not telling us when they were closing the main door.

Berastagi goodbye, we must go on. We are going to an island. Wait a minute, we are already on the island. Where are we going?