The Magic Tour Bus

Food for Thought:

"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt. " -Anthony Bourdain

Going into this trip I was shocked to hear Anthony Bourdain passed, so, a few of his written works have been keeping me entertained during our down time. At any rate, this quote has been somewhat of a guiding principle for me during the trip: at all costs try to see these figurative and literal marks of self growth. Last summer I chased this elusive, 'growth,' but never found it. I spent time at National Outdoor Leadership School backpacking, as well as on a Navy ship in Bahrain, however, I did not notice any significant changes as I had hoped. Perhaps I was being too ambitious, too needy, or I'd read one too many coming of age novels. With this in mind, I set out on this trip with the bar set fairly low. I wanted to attempt to do a couple of things really well: Remain curious and try everything. To my surprise, these simple goals have led me to remarkable encounters. I've jumped into soccer games with some local kids, shared a language free moment with a proud fisherman and his boat, and a local drink with some Jakartans eager to see how I would react to the taste.

(1) The Proud Fisherman, who insisted I photograph him (2) One of the Jakartans and I (3) Our guide from Ijen Crater, Selemat (4) A cemetery I stumbled upon in Banyuwangi

Running or walking through streets, off the beaten path, I've attempted to get lost. Often I've unknowingly been trespassing, nevertheless, I've almost always been greeted with beaming grins, waves, or greetings as people watch this Jolly White Giant enter their lives, if only for a brief moment. Self growth cannot be forced, to my disdain, but with open arms and an open heart, people met along the path can change you.

The Island of Sumatra

Just over a week has passed since we arrived in Jakarta and began this adventure. To be frank, I've fallen in love with the people of Indonesia, which has been an unexpected but extremely welcome surprise. My Indonesian language ability is still that of an infant, but, I've picked up enough to scare local kids when I ask them questions or exclaim phrases in their own language. Flying from Surabaya -->Jakarta-->Medan we find ourselves on an entirely new island of Indonesia, Sumatra.

Right off the bat, the city does not feel too different from those previously, though, it is smaller than Jakarta or Surabaya. The same rules seem to apply on the roads, none. This city has furthermore cemented the moped as the family station wagon of Indonesia. Need a ride? Just one of you? I've got the solution for you, just order up a Grab-bike (Uber moped equivalent) and a moped along with personal chauffeur will show up in no time. Two people sharing a moped is quite spacious compared to the family's of four I've seen packed like a can of sardines on a moped.

Surprisingly, I'm beginning to become more proficient in the language that is used between cars in this nation. Of note, never beep or flash brights in an aggressive or retaliatory manner, only do so to notify cars around you of your intentions. For you golf aficionados, there is even a driving range roughly two blocks from our hotel, it's no Top Golf but it's better than nothing At a relaxing 0800 this morning we hit the road on our charted tour bus to Lake Toba, roughly 2 hours away. Oddly enough, waking up early during this trip has been an easy task. It's as if waking up for things you are eager to do is effortless, strange I know. At any rate, the ample time spent on the road gave plenty of time to see the city and its surroundings. After some slow traffic, and terrifying passing moves by our driver, we entered the green foothills of the outskirts of the city. Snaking up many side-winding roads we gained elevation rather quickly. One hill overlooking the city was embellished by restaurants with niche paint jobs ranging from Soccer club logos to Sponge Bob characters.

Breaking on through to the other side, we entered a valley full of rural homes and conjoined farms. Corn, tobacco, and tomato plants were just a few of the many things that I saw growing. Mopeds were just as popular out in this area, rigged out with just as creative of ways to carry anywhere from fridges, to fresh produce. As I attempted to fade from consciousness during the drive, I had somewhat of an identity crisis. I pride myself on being able to sleep at any time, any place, no questions asked. Sleep was impossible for me on this drive. The windy, bumpy roads in conjunction with our drivers constant braking, swerving, and passing made things interesting. Good luck reading and keeping your lunch down on a road like this, these roads are not for the faint of heart. Along the fury road, I was perplexed by many sights. One of which were the many lavish grave pavilions which seemed to be planted in the middle of many farm fields. Who were these people? What lives did they live? What warranted such beautifully tiled tombs? I have no answers, but I appreciated being a part of their legacy and paying some respects, even if in passing.

One of the many grave structures we saw

After roughly 2 hours we reached our destination, Lake Toba and the Sipiso Piso falls. Was it very touristy? Absolutely. Did we enjoy it nevertheless? Absolutely. At 120 m high, the waterfall had no shortage of majesty. The hike down was about a mile, slightly under. This trail was not quite as clean as the one taken for Ijen Crater as it was sadly littered with trash from numerous visitors over the years. Similar to Ijen, this trail had multiple stopping points with refreshments available for purchase. I am impressed by the entrepreneurs who ran these, 'concession stands.' They live in bare bones shelters in what can't be an easy way of making a living. Upon reaching the waterfall, mist was suspended in the air creating some beautiful rainbows when viewed just right. We all approached the falls and I was in awe of the awesome power of the waterfall. Another thing I pride myself on is my eagerness to jump in any body of water, but, the brownish water pigment gave me pause so I settled with just dunking my feet in the pool of the falls. Still, I got soaked just from mist constantly spraying me while scurrying down the slippery rocks encasing the water.

(1) The gang at the bottom after getting soaked (2) Lake Toba (3) Concession stand and Bule's in their natural habitat (4) The waterfall

We did not go down to Lake Toba but just from viewing from afar my jaw dropped from the immense amount of water. It is the largest volcanic lake in the world and covers 1707 square kilometers of area. To put that in perspective, it is 1000 square kilometers greater in area than Singapore. With the end of the hike we made our long and windy way back to Medan. Naturally we had to stop for one of our favorite meals on the way back, Mie Goreng (fried noodle), and no stop would be complete without locals wanting to take photos with us outsiders.

Overall, another fantastic day full of new things (even a couple of monkeys). I lay to rest full of gratitude both for this group and for all the small things we get so easy in America, such as the opening of a faucet for clean, purified water. Bon voyage, until next time...