The road ahead
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2004
1
45
50
Trip End
Nov 27, 2004
Medan,
Sumatra,
Indonesia
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
10th November
As I wave goodbye to Helga from the roof of the boat, I know I shall be back again. Lake Toba is an oasis of stillness where time itself almost seems to stop ticking. Hidden from the rest of the country beyond the walls of the volcano - where politics, religion and corruption rage like a furnace. For now, I sit aboard the large ' Executiv ' bus from Siantar which ploughs along at speed. Alarmingly, beginning to inch further and further onto the unstable zone of tarmac and earth to our left. As the impatient driver tries to create a new bus lane and race up the inside of slower moving traffic. Predictably, the rough shoulder crumbles away under the weight of the bus. Suddenly we have stopped at a 45 degree angle with the drivers side wheels pointing in the air.
Bloody marvellous. Luckily, I am sitting near the back and exit quickly using a rear door which is now almost under the bus. I have my bag with me, others attempt to drag theirs out through the long flaps of the luggage hold while the bus is poised to fall on top of them. We wait beside the road in the boiling heat as traffic slows to pass. Naturally being as this is public transport, I am the only foreigner onboard - and I am offered a ride by passing vans and trucks. I decline for the meanwhile believing I am much safer with the general public here at the roadside. I render no assistance whatsoever to the idiot bus driver and do not wish to get involved in this caper. Sure enough, other trucks are flagged down and with several tow ropes, the bus is dragged back onto its wheels. We continue on to Medan as before.
Because this is Indonesia, the Police will never file a report about a passenger bus on two wheels. The driver will never be breathalysed or made to file a report either. The bus company will never inspect the bus for defect or damage. The highways authorities will never shore up the crumbling edges of the road. The passengers ( other than me ) will never even mention it - it's just normality. In Britain, the bus driver would most likely be either in custody or ' helping the police with their enquiries '. Passengers would be preparing lawsuits. The highways agency would be preparing their legal defence. The bus itself would be jacked up on a ramp somewhere being inspected by experts in space suits. Tony Blair might be considering an independent public enquiry...
Next ; The mosque collector
