Soechi Intl Medan

Most story's tell tales of rags to riches, this one seems to be the opposite. 5am Sunday morning we left the opulence of our lifestyle in Jakarta and boarded a plane to Medan. A plane flight riddled with turbulence, it proved to be an omen of the things to come.
9am we arrived in Medan Airport, the sole purpose of being here so Danielle can...

Still living in Medan and not doing much but working and planning for my next adventure to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia in December. I did buy a new netbook though, and have been spending a lot of time with it writing stories in the garden under my thatched palm roof.

I've been inspired a lot by the people I've come to know here in S...

I think one d*y when P*trick is *ll grown up, he should run for president of Indonesi*. At the very le*st, I expect th*t wh*tever this young boy does with his life, it will be extr*ordin*ry.

I first met P*trick * little over two ye*rs *go when I beg*n te*ching English *t the Austr*li* Centre in Med*n. P*trick w*s * sm*ll, chubby kid in ...

We left Lake Toba early in the morning and caught the ferry from Tuk Tuk to Parapat. Our travel agent was waiting for us at the harbour and was very apologetic that he would be unable to accompany us to Bukit Lawang as planned. We both breathed a huge sigh of relief as we had been dreading a long car journey with him barking into his mobile phon...

Since I haven't been traveling much outside Medan lately I've been writing a lot of short stories that have been inspired by the natural world of Indonesia, its culture and people. This is a short story that I wrote based on my research on the traditional medicine of Indonesia, called jamu. Made from natural plant extracts, jamu is used both int...

As the birthday treats continued and thanks to Michelle's generosity we all upgraded for one night to a luxurious hotel in Jakarta...swimming pool, sauna, steam room and private karaoke kept us entertained well and was an exuberant treat indeed!

We said a sad goodbye to Michelle at the airport as she flew south to Bali and we continued no...

Tangkahan is a little known wondrous place out in the Sumatran jungle that has so far escaped the grubby paws of the Lonely planet, hopefully for a while yet too as it is gorgeous.

We only found out about it through Tom and Charlie, and they say most of the locals they work with in Medan have never even hear of it.

We missed t...

I have done lots of stupid things in my travels and taken a lot of risks. But this move beats out bungee jumping in India and almost cost me my life. The day started off wonderfully...

We had asked Tomin for a shorter, less strenuous trek. Apparently, crossing two mountains in six hours is less strenuous. We hadn't been hiking more than...

Sept. 3

Carrie, Jonathan, Heather and I flew to Sumatra where Tomin, Karmelle's friend, was waiting for us at the airport. Driving to Bukit Lawang, the scenery did not change for three hours. We past row after row of perfectly lined trees planted for the palm oil trade. Tomin explained how the trees are completely changing the habitat s...

Panama Red

Panama Red, Panama Red
He'll steal your woman then he'll rob your head
Panama Red, Panama Red
On his white horse Mescalito
He come breezin' through the town
I'll bet your woman's up in bed with
Panama Red

By The Grateful Dead

SUMATRA
By 9 am of the third day at sea we had reached ...