Long trip in a mini bus

Trip Start Mar 10, 2007
1
95
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Trip End ??? ??, 2007


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Flag of Indonesia  ,
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Soaking wet, i arrive in Bukittinggi, where i annoying lose my poncho on the way to the bus depot. There they tell me there is no economy class bus, before trying to overprice me on the air con one )this is Asia after all, and its pretty obvious I'm in a hurry). Finally they agree on a price, before telling me the bus is full )whats the fucking in ripping me off over a price for a bus i can't even get on anyway, you fucking idiots!, obviously I'm not too happy at this point). Now my prospects are grim, so when this shady guy who looks like he's homeless comes over and begins talking about buses I'm inclined to listen. He tells me there is a bus tonight and that i have to wait 'over there'. Over there turns out to be this even shadier looking 'coffee stand', where hygiene is a word they have never heard of and i believe to be served you have to be either:- a) homeless, b)dealing drugs or c)taking the drugs the guy is dealing. I was told there would be a bus at 10pm, its now 6pm. Oh joy.
        At 11pm, a tiny minibus comes along, and stuttering like mad )he's been drinking homemade alcohol the whole time we sat there) the shady guy tells me now there is no bus and this is my only way to get to Medan tonight. Pretty pissed off with being bullshitted though desperate to get away from here tonight, i but up a brief protest before giving up and getting in. Driving 200m down the road, we change drivers )someone is evidently getting screwed out of some money here, and i think its my new driver) before my long, long  journey to Medan begins. Its about a 19 hr drives and as i still have about 24hrs before the ferry I'm not too worried.
        The journey doesn't start too well, Ian my driver runs over a dog, shaking my confidence a little, but we persevere anyway. There are 4 of us in the minibus, including me and Ian and thankfully he's a really nice guy and speaks good English, as otherwise this could have been a much worse journey than it was, though being too big for these minibuses it wasn't exactly a great journey anyway.
       After a nights non sleep, our morning stop is very, very welcome. Even more so when it turns out we are stopping at one of his children's houses, where we are fed breakfast and invited to shower and sleep for a bit whilst Ian rests for a while. I'm too anxious as time is getting on to sleep, then sods law when i finally decide to join the others and sleep, I'm now too awake to do so!
        We set off again for the still very long journey to Medan via Sibolga and long story short )thanks for the phrase mum!) we arrive in Medan about 2am Thursday morning.
              Once in Medan, i decide against getting a room for the 6hrs or so i would be in it, instead opting to sit at an all night coffee shop and drink tea telor )tea white an egg in it, pretty good actually) and eating salat with becak drivers until about 8am when, absolutely shattered and awake purely due to caffeine i feel, i make my way to the ferry office. Couldn't stay awake for the life of me on the bus to the ferry, and wasn't much better on the ferry itself either, so it was a huge relief to arrive back in Penang, get to the guest house i usually frequent )its like my fourth time there now) and just crash for the night.
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