Going to Sumatra Tomorrow
Going to Sumatra Tomorrow | On the Road - D1 | D2 | D3 (Motor Accident) | D4 (Last Day in Samosir) | D5 | D6 | D7 (Reached Weh Island) | D8 | D9 | D10 (Last Day) | Back From Sumatra (My Feeling) | Sumatra Trip Expenses & Itinerary | Photo Albums
It's already March 2012. I find it unbelievable that 1/6 of the year 2012 is already gone.
Honestly, I didn't really plan to visit Sumatra at this time. If you know me well enough, you'd have known that once, I use to fly Indonesia very often. Basically I've lost count of how many rounds I went to Jakarta, but I remember I visited Bandung twice, Anyer once, Bali once. Most of them happened between 2008 and 2009, when I was still with my previous company. Anyway, I've never stepped on the land of Sumatra.
After I came back from Hong Kong in mid Feb, it's time to clear my leaves. I brought forward 6 days from last year. These leaves were accumulated for certain reasons but the plan has to be temporarily postponed for the moment. In order not to have the leaves forfeited (sorry, this will never happen to me), I've gotta plan for something. The best times for long holiday had just passed - Chinese New Year and Thaipusam. What a waste~~
I wrote to my dive buddies asking them if they would like to have a diving trip to Tioman, since the island is now open and most of us are suffering from dive bug. This trip was not to clear my leaves. Coincidently, a dive mate (Mr Steering) told that he's going to dive Pulau Weh and asked if I'm interested to join him. I confirmed to join him not long after seeing his message - not even knowing who else are going together, how much is the trip, the exact itinerary etc.
Since I've to spend 3-day leave for the dive trip, I thought it's easier that I prolong the trip to explore some nearby places. It's better than planning to go another country, where the entire duration can't be long. Normally my backpack trip is more than 14 days, which I feel is only sufficient for me to know a new place well. Short trip is not really my cup of tea. Checking the website didn't actually get me much info about too many interesting places around Bandar Aceh, so I started to write to local couchsurfers to ask for off-the-beaten-track suggestions.
Meanwhile, before I actually booked my flight tickets, I checked the Sumatra map again. Then Lake Toba came into my mind. I remember I saw a lot of nice photos taken around Lake Toba by various people. I browsed through some travelogues shared in forum, and confirmed that yes, with extra 5 days, it's enough for me to explore the place then only travel north for diving. When Mr Steering suggested me maybe can consider Lake Toba, actually I already almost made up my mind to purchase a flight ticket to Medan, and a coming back ticket from Bandar Aceh.
Another thanks to Mr Steering to tell me that Firefly does fly to Medan. Finally I bought the first Firefly ticket in my life :D Wish to try something new again. Also because the airport is not so faraway.
Some time after I sent the enquiry emails to the couchsurfers in Bandar Aceh, I received their replies. Among them, there is a girl called Mawar. By first introducing me the places around Bandar Aceh and invited me to surf her couch, she then told me she's interested to join me to Toba, a place which she has longed to visit but has not realized.
I browsed through her CS profile and read the references given to her by a lot of other people. Intuition told me that she would be an okay person to travel with. Therefore I shared with her my planned schedule - on which days I'd be visiting Lake Toba (or Samosir Island). She then applied leaves at work and everything went smoothly. Starting with a plan to travel alone, now I have a travel mate. A dive buddy has shown his worry with my plan, coz he said almost 20 years ago, he travelled the area often due to work, but not having very much good impression with those places.
I was not too worried actually. I look like Indonesian and an Indonesian client used to say that I particularly look like a Medanese. So, in their eyes, I'm just going back to my own village. LOL.
Though this trip is really out of expectation, I'm okay with it. I'm very simple. No matter where I go, I will still enjoy it. Even going to a country like Pakistan, people did not believe I also had friend there to stay with (thanks to Couchsurfing) and would like to extend my stay to go around. Travelling to Lake Toba is indeed very much easier than a lot of my previous trips. Hope that everything will be smooth. If unexpectancies does kick in, I still believe I've the ability to conquer whatever challenge that comes to me.
This is my brief plan:
I'm bringing along a small HP Mini laptop (travel with it for the first time). Hope I will have chance to write "on the road" series again. Till then, see ya!
It's already March 2012. I find it unbelievable that 1/6 of the year 2012 is already gone.
Honestly, I didn't really plan to visit Sumatra at this time. If you know me well enough, you'd have known that once, I use to fly Indonesia very often. Basically I've lost count of how many rounds I went to Jakarta, but I remember I visited Bandung twice, Anyer once, Bali once. Most of them happened between 2008 and 2009, when I was still with my previous company. Anyway, I've never stepped on the land of Sumatra.
I wrote to my dive buddies asking them if they would like to have a diving trip to Tioman, since the island is now open and most of us are suffering from dive bug. This trip was not to clear my leaves. Coincidently, a dive mate (Mr Steering) told that he's going to dive Pulau Weh and asked if I'm interested to join him. I confirmed to join him not long after seeing his message - not even knowing who else are going together, how much is the trip, the exact itinerary etc.
Since I've to spend 3-day leave for the dive trip, I thought it's easier that I prolong the trip to explore some nearby places. It's better than planning to go another country, where the entire duration can't be long. Normally my backpack trip is more than 14 days, which I feel is only sufficient for me to know a new place well. Short trip is not really my cup of tea. Checking the website didn't actually get me much info about too many interesting places around Bandar Aceh, so I started to write to local couchsurfers to ask for off-the-beaten-track suggestions.
Meanwhile, before I actually booked my flight tickets, I checked the Sumatra map again. Then Lake Toba came into my mind. I remember I saw a lot of nice photos taken around Lake Toba by various people. I browsed through some travelogues shared in forum, and confirmed that yes, with extra 5 days, it's enough for me to explore the place then only travel north for diving. When Mr Steering suggested me maybe can consider Lake Toba, actually I already almost made up my mind to purchase a flight ticket to Medan, and a coming back ticket from Bandar Aceh.
Another thanks to Mr Steering to tell me that Firefly does fly to Medan. Finally I bought the first Firefly ticket in my life :D Wish to try something new again. Also because the airport is not so faraway.
Some time after I sent the enquiry emails to the couchsurfers in Bandar Aceh, I received their replies. Among them, there is a girl called Mawar. By first introducing me the places around Bandar Aceh and invited me to surf her couch, she then told me she's interested to join me to Toba, a place which she has longed to visit but has not realized.
I browsed through her CS profile and read the references given to her by a lot of other people. Intuition told me that she would be an okay person to travel with. Therefore I shared with her my planned schedule - on which days I'd be visiting Lake Toba (or Samosir Island). She then applied leaves at work and everything went smoothly. Starting with a plan to travel alone, now I have a travel mate. A dive buddy has shown his worry with my plan, coz he said almost 20 years ago, he travelled the area often due to work, but not having very much good impression with those places.
I was not too worried actually. I look like Indonesian and an Indonesian client used to say that I particularly look like a Medanese. So, in their eyes, I'm just going back to my own village. LOL.
Though this trip is really out of expectation, I'm okay with it. I'm very simple. No matter where I go, I will still enjoy it. Even going to a country like Pakistan, people did not believe I also had friend there to stay with (thanks to Couchsurfing) and would like to extend my stay to go around. Travelling to Lake Toba is indeed very much easier than a lot of my previous trips. Hope that everything will be smooth. If unexpectancies does kick in, I still believe I've the ability to conquer whatever challenge that comes to me.
This is my brief plan:
- 2 Mar (Fri) - Fly to Medan, proceed to Samosir Island.
- 3 Mar (Sat) - Round island by motorcycle.
- 4 Mar (Sun) - Round island by motorcycle.
- 5 Mar (Mon) - Stay for another day or leave for Berastagi. See where my mood leads me to :)
- 6 Mar (Tue) - No matter where am I, I shall reach Medan and catch the night bus to Bandar Aceh.
- 7 Mar (Wed) - Reach Bandar Aceh in the morning. Meet with Mr Steering and his friends upon their arrival. Will have a little tour around the town before going into Weh Island.
- 8 Mar (Thu) - Dive Weh Island (3 dives).
- 9 Mar (Fri) - Dive Weh Island (3 dives).
- 10 Mar (Sat) - Dive Weh Island (3 dives).
- 11 Mar (Sun) - Leave Weh Island, Bandar Aceh and reach home. Prepare to work again next day.
I'm bringing along a small HP Mini laptop (travel with it for the first time). Hope I will have chance to write "on the road" series again. Till then, see ya!
2 comments:
taking the front seat with popcorns...:)
popcorns.. long time never eat already.. :)
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