At first, I thought that going to Indonesia would be filled
with surfing and chilling on the beach. Little did I know that we would be
traversing through rice fields, swimming with sea turtles, and jamming to
electro/house music on a party bus.
We went to Padang in West Sumatra, Indonesia and stayed at
Brigitte’s House, owned by an
awesome woman, Brigitte, who made really good breakfasts and helped us out with
everything once we landed in Padang.
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| At Brigitte's House [Brigitte is the woman sitting] |
We stayed there the first night, and at
around 5am we were woken up by the call to prayer to the mosques (and almost
every subsequent morning). The first day we went island hopping to different
small islands off the coast of West Sumatra. We took a very small boat for an
hour and a half until we got to the islands. It was extremely beautiful until
it started raining! Our guide said that we might have to stay on the island the
night until it stopped…I was
so down,
but not everyone else was so we trekked back in the rain to Padang.
We didn’t have any plans (or places to stay…) for the next
two days, and we heard a recommendation of
Ricky’s House, which was 2 hours
away from Padang. So, after the island hopping tour a driver took us to Ricky’s.
It ended up being a village far from any civilization, so the road to get there
was a
bit bumpy. But we finally
arrived safe and sound to Ricky’s, located in a small village called
Nagari Sungai Pinang. They
welcomed us with open arms, ushering us out of the rain and giving us an
amazing meal.
Looking around, I soon realized that everyone at Ricky’s
were only kids! One of them couldn’t be more than 15 years old, and he was the
one wearing the apron and giving us the food. Ricky himself was only 20 years
old. They just decided to start a business I guess, and a very successful one
at that. It was awesome to be talking to people our age from across the world.
After a full stomach we went to bed in bungalows right on the beach.
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| Our 3-person bungalow |
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| View of the beach from the bungalow |
The next morning we toured the village, everyone was so
friendly and wanted to take pictures with us, especially the children. They followed
us wherever we went screaming “hello!” They were so fun to play with. Life in
the village was simple, but everyone worked together to make it work.
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| This kid = future photographer |
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| Another UNC student and I with some of the children |
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| Group of kids riding on a motorbike |
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| Everyone working together to clean caught fish |
That day we also wanted to trek to waterfalls that were near
the village. Unfortunately, it was too rainy the previous night for us to get
there, but we still made it to a beautiful river past the rice fields! Getting
there was the hardest (yet most fun) part. We had to walk through the rice fields to get there.
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| Rice Fields |
Everything was just so muddy and we saw first-hand how the Indonesians
harvest the rice. After getting my shoes filthy, we finally made it to the
river where we just chilled and cooled off in the fresh water.
That night we just ended up playing cards (a ton of Kemps
and Presidents) and went back to Brigitte’s the next morning. We walked around
Padang, and took these minivans/taxis to get around. Now this was one of the
coolest things in Padang. The drivers completely trick out these vans and then
drive around certain routes based on the color. They have sick sound systems
and play the best music. So, people just get in these minivans and pay 200,000
rupiah (only about 20 cents) to get from one place to the next. There are also
these party buses which are even bigger and better versions of the minivans.
Additionally, I found it interesting how many people stared
at us whenever we walked around. Padang was not
a tourist destination, so we were probably the only white people in the city.
Whenever we would enter a restaurant, everyone would stop eating and stare at
us. A ton of people wanted to take their pictures with us too. But everyone was
so nice and helpful, definitely different than Kuala Lumpur. I also noticed
that every woman was dressed very conservatively, never wearing any
shorts/skirts above the knee (most of them also wore hijabs).
So, overall, this trip to Indonesia was fantastic. Ricky’s
was an unforgettable experience, and I would definitely go back to Nagari
Sungai Pinang if I have the time.
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| Road in the village |
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| Goats roaming the town |
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| Moo |
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| Inside of Ricky's House |
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| View of the village from the road |
What is so great about this semester is that I am traveling
to different places but always get to come back to Singapore, which is still an
amazing city with so much to do! So I’m back, safe and sound (hopefully without
malaria) and can’t wait to head off to The Philippines for recess week.
