Aryaduta Pekanbaru Hotel

Getting out of the city and into some countryside was in order and we had been looking forward to the Harau Valley for quite awhile. It didn't disappoint. The air was crisp and clean, the countryside beautiful, and the local people some of the friendliest yet.

Enjoy the sights and sounds in this entry!

Until next time,
Jon and Liz

All i had for breakfast was some banana porridge. Not very good, if truth be told. But you really can't expect much from something called porridge now, can you. Except for a cup of coffee at Herman's Mother's house, I was running on empty by the time we got back to town. I stopped at a travel agent to buy a ticket to Bali and as usual it took way longer than it should have. But worth it to get the last leg of the trip figured out. Next step ...

To one of our camps to meet with management to catch the helicopter up to the fields in Duri. They flew the chopper down on a special mission to pick the two of us up. Much nicer than the multi-hour adventure by car/bus. Special flights don't happen that often - really felt like a VIP.

... Main roads in Pha-Ngan are not runner-friendly. However, there are some paths near the beach that have the coconut tree lines which are absolutely peaceful. One must beware of a drunk driver any time of the day. Yes, this is a place where people always get drunk or high on drugs. Pha-Ngan is famous for that but if you know a local like me, very few do this kind of stuff. Most of the crazy people are tourists (especially those who came from cold ...

The morning ferry was packed (it only goes three times a week) and we soon realised that Indonesia is going to be something different... There were three other backpackers on the ferry and once in the Indonesian harbour, we all got ushered to the top of the mile-long immigration queue. It was embarrassing to walk past all the people queueing, knowing it's the fact we've got dollars in our pockets that speeds the service for us. The ...

Pekanbaru... Salah satu kota minyak di Indonesia... Orang-orang bilang, kau gali tanah di Pekanbaru, pastilah keluar minyak... Itu menggambarkan betapa kayanya kota tersebut akan kandungan minyak mentah disana... Saya ke Pekanbaru untuk memberikan pelatihan menganai Hazard Communication (HazCom) untuk Bahan Kimia bagi klien saya yaitu Kondur Petroleum... Saya bersama dr Sudjoko (moderator milis ...

... about it in my journal: Riding a long distance bus through Indonesia is the same as most other countries. If there were boulders on the side of the road, it's be Vietnam. If there were random, vegetation-covered cliffs, it'd be southern China. If the vegetation there is had been brown, dry, and dying it would've been Cambodia. If the roads were wider, smoother, and the buses luxurious, it'd be like Thailand. If the roads were disintegrated down to no pavement, and the bus half its size ...

... by corrugated aluminum and full of vendors who would should out their few English words to us: "hello" and "good morning miss"! No more harassment today! We must have assimilated. After the market we stopped by the nearby Chinese temple, returned to our hotel for an interesting breakfast of ride and noodles and toast (which was included with our room) and confirmed our return ferry tickets for 10am. During our ferry ride home I thought that there might be some ...

... and get it. I took some pictures of them so I will share them later. Next stop was little India. Here the most striking thing was the smells. I saw many women getting fitted for their Indian outfits in some of the stores. Next stop was china town. We spent only a small amount there because we only popped in to see the temple. I wasn't to distraught though because I was going to return later that evening. Well after that I went to the boat to change. We then ...

Getting to Lake Toba involved our longest bus journey yet - a whopping 14 hours on the Trans-Sumatran highway (actually a very long country road complete with wheelbarrows, carts and animals crossing the road randomly at every turn!) Our last meal in Bukittinggi before we left was some lovely satay and an extremely strong cup of coffee which was horrible! The woman serving the food though basically made the bus wait until we'd ...