Beach Bums

We spent another lazy weekend on the beautiful island of Pulau Weh. This time instead of Freddie's, we stayed next door at Casa Nemo. It was even better than the same trip two weeks ago! The big activities were eating (the food was great), sipping on gin and tonics, and snorkeling in the water in front of our bungalow. The relaxation turned into celebration when, after several attempts to get internet access, A discovered that he got accepted into the program at Widener University! It looks like we're going to be Philadelphia bound.

S, A, & K celebrating A's acceptance

K taking a little nap


Rather than give you the blow by blow of our naps and walks down the beach, we'll tell you a couple of funny little animal occurrences over the weekend:

When A was on his way to the hotel in Banda Aceh (the main city on the northern tip of Sumatra), the taxi he was riding in nearly hit a big cow. They were speeding down the main road from the airport, when a cow stepped into the street from the middle divider. The livestock in Banda Aceh seem to really enjoy grazing on grass found in road dividers. Anyway, the cow stepped out, brakes were applied, the taxi swerved, A dug his nails into the seat in front of him, and then a small crunch could be heard on the side of the car. We had avoided the accident! Sort of. A and the driver laughed nervously afterward. A avoided looking behind him at the cow or at the side of the taxi when he got out. Let's hope the cow is ok!

When A and K checked into their bungalow at Casa Nemo, there was a tailless, pregnant cat sleeping on our back deck. Many cats in SE Asia have stumps for tails. Supposedly it's a genetic defect. A opened the doors to check out the view from the deck and give the cat a little petting. Big mistake, as it was instant love. It was too hot to keep the doors closed, so we had a permanent house guest over the weekend. At first K didn't like the idea of a mangy, tailless kitty rubbing against all of our stuff, but keeping it out was hopeless. As soon as we settled into bed the first night, the cat came running in to join us. It slept on the bed platform next to A all night. Luckily, we had a mosquito net to separate us a little from the local wildlife.



A's cat friend Stumpy





Mmmm...sate and all the fixins

Fire and Brimstone

Hello to all of our faithful readers! We hope all 17 of you are doing well. In the extended time between postings, K has been very busy with work and A has been busy doing...well, dishes and laundry. Somehow we found time in our busy schedules to escape for another hike up and down a mountain. However, this was no ordinary mountain.

K and S rest at the top of the mountain

This past Friday, we went for a little adventure with the Australians and our friend S, who is visiting from NYC, to the town of Berastagi. We stayed the night at an old, deserted resort that reminded us of the big Catskill's hotels from the '70s. Not that either of us is old enough to remember the Catskills in the '70s, but you get the picture. Friday night we went out to a karaoke bar at the hotel. We were the only ones there. It was bizarre. A and K can always sniff out a microphone!

A and K at the top

Saturday morning we tackled the volcano known as Gunung Sibayak. It was only a four hour trek up and over, but our out-of-shape bodies took a beating. Steam, beauty, and the smell of sulfur were abundant. When it was all over, the volcano offered us the gift of hot springs to rest our weary bodies.

Relaxing in the hot springs pool

Before we headed home, we hit the local market. The mountain town of Berastagi is known for its produce, so we stocked up on our fruit and vegetables for the week. A experimented with some fresh marquisa (passion fruit) by making a frozen dessert out of it.

The market

We're back off to Sabang this weekend, because K is working in Banda Aceh. We'll keep you updated!

K wonders why we like to hike up mountains

For the view of course

Sunny Sabang

We were lucky enough to get away again this weekend. This time we decided to take it really easy by laying around at the beach on Pulau Weh, a.k.a. Sabang Island, off of the northern tip of Sumatra. We checked into a little bungalow resort kind of place named Santai Sumur Tiga , a.k.a. Freddie's (yes, it got a little confusing with all of the a.k.a.s.), and checked out from the everyday world.

It was all too short, but we had a great time. We read, we snorkeled, we napped in a hammock, and we scarfed down Freddie's interesting cuisine. Eating there was kind of like being at a two day picnic hosted by the widow's club at the local church, but it was nice to get some western cuisine.

The water was incredibly blue and warm. It was beautiful! We decided to keep this post short on words and heavy on pictures. We'll talk to you soon!

The inside of our bungalow

Isn't she pretty?

That's why he's so happy!

The beach was full of hermit crabs

There were a lot of clouds at sunrise, but it was still beautiful

Us Crazy Bule

All of the Indonesians we told our plan to looked at us like we were crazy. "We're going to walk over the mountain," we said. "Why?", most replied. "For fun and exercise!", we retorted back. A little smile and a chuckle was all we got in return. Were we really that crazy for hiking over the mountain? About only 45 minutes into the trek, we answered that question with a resounding, "YES!"

We decided to spend Muhammad's 1439th birthday (K had a three day weekend for the holiday) by taking a little trip to Danau Toba. Danau Toba is one of the largest crater lakes in the world, and the prevailing theory is that it was created by a supervalcanic eruption so large, that it covered the entire subcontinent of India with 15cm of ash. In the middle of Danau Toba is Samosir Island. Samosir is home to the Batak people, and a small portion of the island is dedicated to a long row of fancy guest houses for tourists. Deciding that we needed a little exercise, we shunned a weekend of sitting on the lake and instead planned a trek from one side of Samosir (Ambarita) to the other (Pangururan).

Our journey began Friday evening at about 5pm. Being a holiday weekend, we sat in traffic for much of the way. We arrived in Parapat, the ferry launching point for Samosir, at 11pm and checked into a guesthouse. The owner of the place was sleeping, so a security guard showed us to a room. It was about as basic as you get, but we just needed some sleep. Unfortunately, sleep did not come easily. There was a red headed Australian dude sitting outside of our room downing beers and clipping his toenails. Every time we left the room for the toilet, he engaged us in conversation. The topics ran from mind control to the caged serpent that was in charge of everything. CREEPY.

We woke up early the next morning to take the ferry to Samosir. Everything went somewhat according to plan, and we were in Ambarita by 11:30am for a late delicious breakfast of nasi goreng (fried rice) before starting on our trek. We were about 15 minutes into the hike when the camera battery died. Yeah...A forgot to charge it before we left, and where we were going to be staying, power outlets would be hard to find.K starts the trek

The view just before the camera died

The trek up the mountain took us about four hours, but it was one of the hardest four hours we had experienced in quite some time. About half way up the mountain, the rain started to fall, and visions of leeches and mud slides flashed through our heads. It felt familiar, but without a well marked trail and a guide to tell us how close we were, it was all a little unsettling. Our fears subsided when shortly after we crossed a small stream, a sign appeared pointing toward Jenny's Guesthouse. We would find shelter soon.

The town we found ourselves in was the true definition of a one horse town. Okay, it was a five water buffalo town, but it was tiny. About six traditional Batak houses lined a flat area. One of them was Jenny's Guesthouse. Upon our arrival, three children greeted us and led us to the right house. Our accommodations at Jenny's consisted of a thin mattress in an unlit room. We would spend the rest of our day playing chess and play-fighting with our new young friends on the front balcony.

A traditional Batak house

As night began to fall, two more boule (Indonesian for white people), made the same broken crawl across the field that we made to Jenny's. It was two Swiss girls who had been trekking since 9am and had gotten lost. We thought our day was rough! Shortly behind them was Jenny, who had spent a long day working in the rice and coffee fields. She was the mother of one of the seven year old children we had made friends with, but she looked old enough to be his grandmother. She couldn't hear very well or see out of one eye. Her reward for her long day was to cook the four of us dinner. She had the roughest day of all of us, but it was of course just another day for her.

Bedtime came early that night. The limited power supply had run out, and we needed to get up early the next morning for an even longer trek. The Lonely Planet told us we would be hiking for five hours on this next leg. The Swiss girls would be joining us, and we all hoped that the rain would hold off until late afternoon.

The last portion of the trek was difficult. The sun beat down on us, and we were all still beat up from the day before. However, the path was clearly marked, and the beauty of what came over each hill fanned the fire of curiosity to discover what was next. Plus, we needed this to be over with. We pushed ourselves through coffee and rice fields. We saw water buffalo rolling around in tiny lakes. Children from every house ran out to yell, "hello mister!" It was the only English they knew. Churches were alive with Sunday afternoon choirs. It was as if we were living out a chapter in a story book from long ago. Sorry...our words will have to suffice. The camera battery was still not charged.

Just as it was about to rain, we reached our destination. We had completed the trek, and it was time to hit the tourist area of Tuk-Tuk to recharge our batteries and take a much needed hot shower. We checked into one of the nicest hotels in the area and got a room for less than $15. It's hard to spend money in Indonesia!

K and A at Tabo Cottages

We had a nice big meal of fish, rice, and fresh vegetables. We then sampled some local whiskey with dessert. Unlike most people in Indonesia, the Bataks are Christian, so alcohol and pork are allowed to be consumed. That makes for a heavenly combination for K and A! After our feast, A charged the camera battewe drifted off into a deep sleep in our lofty bedroom.K drinking morning coffee

The next day consisted of sitting, and more sitting. The line of cars was so long, it was hopeless to get back to the mainland on the 1pm ferry.The scene at the ferry port

The only other option was to drive through several mountain ranges from the other side of the island. Samosir isn't actually an island. A small strip of land connects it in one place to the mainland. The drive was extremely rough and slow going. We drove through little town after little town. Nine hours later we arrived home in Medan.

What a journey!

When it rains...

They say it's the dry season here in Medan, but we have had torrential downpours the past couple of days. Yesterday, both the house that we live in and the office where K works got flooded. Outdoor drains at both places were clogged with leaves, so the water found its own level indoors. Of course this all happened the day after A scrubbed and mopped all of the floors. The flood at K's work started on the second floor, so you can imagine the mess.

Apparently someone had time during the cleanup to take a photo ;)



Other than mopping up water, we kept busy by attending the grand opening luncheon of the J.W. Marriott Medan. It's Medan's first five-star hotel, and they pulled out all of the stops. We were treated to two live bands, a six-course meal, boring speeches, a video montage set to the Star War's theme song, and a dramatic entrance by the governor of Sumatra and the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. We don't really know why we were invited, but we were VIP guests. It was all quite surreal.

The ambassador plays the drums.



That has pretty much been the excitement of the week. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we're going to get to Singapore this weekend. We don't have the right kind of visas to leave the country yet. Instead, we're going to celebrate Muhammad's birthday (that's why we have a long weekend) by trekking around Danau Toba. Home to the Batak people, Danau Toba is one of the largest crater lakes in the world, and it's the site of the largest volcanic eruption in the last 25 million years. It should be a blast!

Suburbanesia

We've lived in our house for a few weeks now, but the reality of living in Indonesia still hasn't quite settled in. Unfortunately, with K starting a new job and A finishing up his scholarship application, we haven't been able to explore the city as much as we would have liked. Oh well...there's plenty of time for exploring! We plan on getting bikes this week to get a little exercise while we do it.

We have seen quite a few shiny new malls and been to several grocery stores. We have yet to find a traditional market, but we know there's one out there. The produce here is so fresh and beautiful! We bring home a lot of fruit and vegetables we're not used to seeing in the U.S.. K is obsessed with pineapple (ok, that's a lame example) and we eat lychees for a snack while we watch television (yes, we have cable). We brought home mangosteens today.

We're getting bold with our fish selections as well. Tonight we have two little wholefish "kakap put" on the menu. We've been trying to figure out what the hell it is. We think it's some kind of bream. We'll let you know how it tastes.

It was really good!


We have access to a lot of the products and comforts we have back in the U.S., but there are still some items we miss. It's always the things you don't expect.

A misses: Trash bags - Everyone uses the little plastic grocery bags for their garbage. They fill up too quickly!; Winter - The only person who misses below freezing temperatures; Subways - Everyone drives here, and we don't have a car; Good beer - Being a predominantly Muslim country, the beer options are limited, and they all taste identical.

Bali Hai...our beer of choice.


K misses: mostly good cheese and wine and olives. and friends and family. and a shower stall. and urban planning.

We had a fun weekend. A finally finished his scholarship proposal. We had our first big night on the town after that. We had dinner with our Australian friends and we headed over to the Cava Lounge. It was pretty swank. It almost looked like a place you'd find in NYC. Additional activities included joining a gym (we have yet to work out of course) and buying $1 Dvds. A is obsessed with the Dvds, because they all cost $1, are of high quality, and all of the current movie titles are available. We're catching up on all of the Oscar movies now.

This week A is thinking of getting an outdoor chair and sitting on the front porch, from which he'll read his paper, drink his coffee, and yell at those damn kids as they walk by. Ahh retirement! K got a temporary promotion, so she'll be working harder than ever. We have some fun trips planned though: Singapore this coming weekend, and Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, the next.

A couple of random photos:


A Rainstorm




One of the many super-market giveaways we've received...A Valentine's Day cake!