After teaching for just three short weeks, I had my first October break (I guess some things don’t change after Vassar). I took the opportunity to travel to the Indonesian Wild Wild West, aka Sumatera, which is possibly the furthest point I could have gotten form West Timor in this country. The trip was everything I had hoped for and more. Sumatera has got this vibe that I have yet encountered anywhere else in Indonesia… that ‘west coast’ vibe, I guess you could say.
But before Sumatera, I pit stopped in Jakarta for a weekend to see some friends. While it was another in-transit visit, I felt like I was beginning to get a better grasp on what Jakarta is about. Really, it is the Asian megacity that I know and…love? It’s got great street foods and convenient stores. Its architecture and landscape resembled images I have of Taipei from when I was young, and its hard-to-navigate small streets reminded me of good ol’ Saigon.
In Medan, Sumatera, Talya (another ETA based in East Kalimantan) and I went on a jungle trek in Bukit Lawang to do some hiking and see orangutans. Fun fact: ‘Orangutan’ is an Indonesian word and literally means ‘forest people.’ Like that? I did. Folks we met in Bukit Lawang were super fun and generous. Before we left, two of our new friends, Agus and Dodi, even took us to their village on their motorcycles before sending us off at the bus station.
After the trek, we went to chill at Danau Toba, a volcano lake. We were staying on Samsosir island, which sits in the middle of Lake Toba, which also sits in the middle of Sumatera island. Some inception shit right there. Toba was a gem: beautiful, quiet and delicious.
