After spending a few days in Melakka normalising - English
spoken, proper food, English cinemas, proper toilets etc. I'm now back on the
traveller thing again.
Yesterday, got the boat from Melakka to Dumai and then the
bus from there to Bukattingi, the tourist / traveller capital of Sumatra. And
it's not bad here, not many tourists / travellers as most are scared off by the
news reports about Indonesia. Most of which is pretty much irrelevant out here
as the trouble spots are generally pretty isolated and doesn't really affect any
of the main sights to see.
En route here this Indonesian guy (Edward) decided to
befriend me and insisted I stay with his family last night so he could show me a
bit of Bukattingi today. On arriving (at his parents in-laws place in a small
village outside of town) the conversation was strained to say the least as none
of them really spoke English and thus far I haven't picked up any Indonesian of
note, but we got along fine and they brought out a mattress and blankets etc.
for me to sleep in the lounge which was fine. Very comfortable in fact. Only
thing was they got up before dawn this morning and when I asked where there was
somewhere to brush my teeth, he took me on a walk down the hill to a bit of
water cordoned off by screens and explained that that was where I shower etc.
You could practically see the cholera oozing out the water so I changed, brushed
my teeth and thought bugger the shower. Then had breakfast, which wasn't bad and
sorted out my hotel, then they showed me the zoo, where hundreds of school kids
rushed me for my address and to have their photo taken with me. Then onto the
panorama which kind of speaks for itself, nice view etc. Then back to the hotel
where we parted company. Decent folk.
This afternoon I've been finding out about the treks to
the Mentawai islands - some mixed reports from travellers. Does anyone know the
score, whether they are worth while or not - if so please tell me soon.
Anyway, that's my lot for today, I'm knackered and have
been forced to drink beer for two hours whilst waiting for a computer to become
available.
_______________
Here
is another update to tell you of the adventures of the past fortnight or
whatever.
Since
then I booked on the Mentawai trek, which was originally going to leave on the
Thursday but due to an engine fire the previous week on the boat the schedule
was still screwed so the boat wasn't going until the Saturday, as a result Ben
(an Ozzie who was also going to do the trek) and I went to Lake Meninjao, a
chilled out place where I met a French Canadian couple who have been living in
Meninjao for a couple of months, Dominique and Sylvan whom I'd originally met in
Melacca (Malaysia). Dominique made sure we stayed at a good hotel (price,
location, people, etc. taken into consideration) and told us where the best
whatever was in town - which took about 3 minutes as its only a small place. We
chilled out in a big way for a few days, mainly playing Jonklak (a game played
with holes and stones popular across Asia and Africa), Tock (another game, with
cards and a board), chatting and drinking beer.
On
the Saturday we returned to Bukattingi to meet the group and prepare for the
trek, I bought some crappy T-shirts at the market that could get ruined. I also
borrowed a small backpack from the hotel and got things like cheap cigarettes
(for the tribesmen) etc. I then met the rest of the group who seemed like a
decent bunch. Them being :- Chris a Brit who's being working in Hong Kong for
four years, Damien and Matt brothers from Nottingham who have been in Oz for a year, Helen and Henri a Dutch couple who have
been travelling for a few months, Tom a Belgian who's been in New Zealand for a
few months, Diana a French woman who has been living in Indonesia for a couple
of years, Ben the aforementioned Tasmanian Devil and myself.
The
guide Jimmy a clever guy who speaks fluent English, French, Dutch, German and
Mentawai - not bad for an Indonesian. He could also do great magic tricks and so
forth. Finally the assistant guide Afiz - an expert martial artist who trained
the police in self defence.
So
on the Saturday we got a bus down to Padang where we were getting the boat to
Siberut, the largest of the three Mentawai islands. The journey was pretty
uneventful, just playing cards etc. also met Agun who is the head of the mafia
in west Sumatra, a really nice guy, just not to be on the wrong side of. During
the journey Damien was feeling feverish so upon arrival in Siberut he and Matt
went to the doctor who told him it was nothing and gave him some paracetamol.
After that we set off trekking, for five hours - through rivers, waist deep mud,
up and down steep wet hillsides, in the thick of a real jungle. Towards the end
everyone had finished the water we were carrying and I was starting to feel a
little dehydrated, but I survived
and on arrival drank plenty of water. We were all given Mentawai names, mine
being Buchit Keray. We met Salomo (Aman Baiga) and Cleopatri two Mentawai
Shamans, we were staying in Salomos house. Jimmy gave us an interesting talk
about the Mentawai and asked Cleopatri and Salomo to demonstrate certain things
such as the tribal singing and showed us parts of the traditional house decor,
their tattoos, dress (loincloths for most, and head dresses and necklaces for
shamans only). He explained the Mentawai religion and when asked why they did
certain things he said they don't know and to prove it he asked them and they
always replied Gaya Gayanya - meaning "that is the way my ancestors did
it". We had the opportunity to talk to the Mentawai, using Jimmy as
translator and Gustan a Mentawai who was coming along as cook and general
dogsbody made a great dinner. Jimmy did a couple of magic tricks and then Salomo
did so as well, just fun stuff. Jimmy who regards Salomo as another father
taught him some English so we could have a limited conversation with him which
was cool. It was quite amusing because when asking him what a series of shaped
logs in the rafters were, he said it was a drum, but I didn't understand his
pronunciation so he called it a monkey telephone, we asked what happens if you
get a wrong number, do you get a giraffe. It was explained that the drums can be
heard for miles through the jungle to tell other villages of births deaths,
successful hunts and what was caught and how many. Salomo also showed us his
photo album, as he had a Japanese film crew do a documentary about him and then
was taken to Japan with
his
family to appear on television there. He asked us why it was that when he left
Indonesia it was 12 o'clock and when he arrived in Japan it was also 12 o'clock,
as he doesn't understand time differences or the fact that there are two 12
o'clocks. Jimmy said he has tried for several years to explain but it is a lost
cause.
The
following day we had another five hour trek through the jungle and I went with
Henri and Helen a bit earlier at a slower pace as I was worried about
dehydrating but it wasn't a problem as there were a couple of government
villages where we could get more water. Afiz drove us a bit mad but he was just
being overly friendly, in a nice but too enthusiastic way. That evening Jimmy
gave us another talk about the Mentawai ways and so on. We were actually staying
in Cleopatris house now, where Salomos second wife still lives with her parents.
The following morning we woke up with the dog moaning and went to see
Sagu (the main Mentawai food) processing, a strange, lengthy and surprisingly
interesting process, whereby the Sagu palm is chopped down, ground into pulp,
then filtered, wrapped in banana leaves and buried for three months to get rid
of the bad bacteria. Something that begs the question, how the hell did they
work all that out. That evening we played cards and chatted and Salomo had a go
on the bong Matt had made.
THEN THAT EVENING EVERYTHING GOT STRANGE.
The following events actually happened and I will try to relate them to
you as best as possible.
Unknown to the group Afiz was mentally unstable, he
started having paranoid delusions about the Mentawai and was convinced that
Jimmy was screwing Salomos daughter and that all the Mentawai wanted to kill us
all. He took one of their poisoned arrows and took Jimmy under the house by
force (all Mentawai houses are on stilts) by this point the Mentawai were not
only mortally offended but feared for the safety of them and their families. So
whilst Jimmy and Afiz were under the house the five Mentawai warriors staying
there had pulled up several floorboards and were ready to shoot him with
poisoned arrows and hack him to pieces with their machetes. Jimmy had to pacify
both the Mentawai and Afiz as he was also stuck their and could probably be
caught in the crossfire. After controlling the situation he put Afiz to bed with
Chris and Ben and explained to Salomo that Afiz was mentally ill, Salomo
explained that in the Mentawai way Afiz should be dead already, Jimmy realised
that having Afiz with the Mentawai would probably mean someone would be dead by
mid morning so he had to get Afiz out of the village and to the harbour where he
would be safe. He woke the Dutch couple and explained to them in Dutch what had
happened and that he needed Henri to pretend he was ill so that they had to go
to the port. Something Henri did extremely well, these two were the perfect
choice for several reasons, Afiz already had a good relationship with them and
Jimmy could speak to them in Dutch so Afiz wouldn't understand. Unknown to Jimmy
Helen had experience working with mentally handicapped people and Henri's sister
is also mentally handicapped so they knew how to deal with the mentally ill. So
they went back to the port and chilled out on the beach for a couple of days,
staying with Jimmy's brother.
Salomo acted as guide for the day took us to Aman Lao
Lao's house and even cooked lunch for us (not something a Mentawai Shaman /
warrior does) he explained to us that the Mentawai way was such that Afiz will
die if he ever returns to Siberut but he didn't have a problem with any of the
group or Jimmy.
On Jimmy's return he explained the situation in greater
detail and then we chatted with Aman Lao Lao and asked him questions such as -
does he mind when people come and take photos of him and his house and family
etc., he replied that as long as we give him some cigarettes or rice he doesn't
mind at all. We then asked if he found it funny that his three year old child
moves quicker through the jungle than we do - to which he replied that it makes
him laugh a lot. Aman Lao Lao had a go on the bong as well and we just chilled
that evening.
The following day we walked a couple of hours to a
government village where Jimmy's brother was waiting with a boat to take us back
to the harbour as Afiz had trashed his shop. So three hours later we got to the
harbour where there wasn't a lot to do but just chill out drank some beer and
played some cards.
The following day (last day of the trek) we went to the
beach and saw the Dutch couple and Afiz played some cricket on the beach and
swam. That evening we got the boat back to Padang and then in the morning the
bus to Bukittingi.
All in all I had a marvellous time - saw what I wanted to
see and really interacted with the Mentawai which is why I went. I strongly
believe Jimmy was an excellent guide and that there aren't many people who could
have handled the situation as he did. Get hold of the book - "Mentawai
Shaman - keeper of the rainforest" by Charles Lindsay (1992). it will show
just what we saw as it is a photographic journal of Lindsays time he spent with
Aman Lao Lao.
Anyway today, Matt, Damien, Ben, Chris and I are going to
go and climb Merapi, the live volcano down the road to see the sunset and stay
the night to see the sunrise as well.
____________________
Starting from the beginning, I went to Djogjakarta (Java)
and had a good time seeing things around the city itself (sultans palace, water
palace and bird market) which was all interesting, although the bird market was
rather repugnant as they dye the chicks strange lurid colours so that children
find them more amusing and all the birds are in horrible conditions. In the
evening there was a concert literally over the main road, suspended by
scaffolding, the music was crap but it still managed to bring most of the
traffic to a standstill, probably not the best place for a concert I reckon.
The following day I went to see Borubdur, the biggest
Buddhist temple in the world - quite impressive really, it's a kind of pyramid
(on the 10,000 rp note). After that onto Prambanan another Hindu complex that
was also interesting.
The following day I got a bus from djogdja to Bali via
Bromo - another active volcano. at 4ish in the morning we got a jeep to a great
view point where it looks like a moonscape, and Simmeru the big volcano in the
background kept hiccuping.
Then got the bus the rest of the way to Bali. arriving
late in the evening in Kuta which is a vile place filled with tourists and the
detritus of Indonesian society attracted by them. As you may gather I'm not too
keen. It was just strange that these Indonesians who have been decent across the
rest to Indonesia were so mercenary and trying to be so duplicitous. I was
supposed to fly from Bali to Flores on the Thursday but it being Merpati the
shit internal airline here, they cancelled and lived up to their theme son
"It's Merpati and I'll fly if I want to". As I bought the ticket on my Amex card they paid for me to stay in a five
star hotel + food etc. until the flight left on the Saturday, not too bad
really, but still a pain in the arse.
On the Saturday flight I met up with a couple of English
lads I'd previously met on the way from djogdja to Bali. Between ourselves and another English couple we chartered a minibus
from Maumere (where we arrived ) to Moni, for Keli Mutu, a volcano with three
different coloured lakes in the top - also the 5,000rp note. The day after
arriving we got up early and went up to see the sunrise and the lakes. It was
impressive but two of the lakes were very similar colours - dark blue and black.
Still, now I've completed the sights on all the Indonesian bank notes. From Moni
- Rob, Stu and I went to Bajawa, in the evening a guy called Theodore invited
the three of us to his engagement party a couple of days later in a town near
Riung called Wangka (yup, that's right - a place full of wankers). Around Bajawa
there were some interesting traditional villages with buffalo and chicken
sacrificing etc. The guy who showed us round then took us to his place for
lunch, the meal disagreed with him - he was throwing up all the way to Riung our
next stop, Rob was also feeling ill and on our arrival in Riung I yacked more
than you would think possible. The following day we went on a boat to a island
full of fruit bats and then did some snorkelling with spectacular coral and
interesting fishes, starfish, anemones, I even saw a seahorse. At one point some
dolphins were swimming not far from us and rob and I tried to catch up with them
to play with them, but they're good swimmers those dolphins. The following day
we went back to Bajawa - missed the
engagement p[art as there was only one bus a day - and chilled out and then the
day after that got a bus to Labuanbajo. In Labuanbajo, we arranged for a boat
from Flores to Lombok, via Rinca, Komodo and Sumbawa. We also chilled out for a
while. A Dutch guy called Sjot hooked up with us (I call him shorty as the real
pronunciation is odd). Did the boat trip - saw dragons on both Rinca and Komodo
as well as deer, monkeys and the like and did some snorkelling. In the evening
whilst looking at the sea at the side of the boat, a 2.5m Ray went past the boat
that I wasn't quite sure what it was at first so called to Shorty to look and he
and one of the crew confirmed it. Anyway I've now just arrived in Lombok and
sorting out my affairs re. e-mailing etc. the four of us are heading up to Gili
Meno to chill out for a while.
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