Did a six-day work-related road-trip on the fucking huge island called Sumatra, Indonesia. Sixth largest in da world.
The default beverage, but surprisingly not many Sumatrans drink it. They prefer the cheaper local moonshine
Landed in Medan but was on da road most of d time for work with my local contact Heri. Started well, as dinner at his place was ubi leaves and babi panggang. Awesome shit! Thin strips of lean charcoal-bbq pork.
Lots of them in north Sumatra are Christians.
Dats da shit right there. Aka BPK - babi panggang Karo. D sambal on d left is in some pig blood / chili cocktail
Probably more churches there than here. In every village
Medan is a typical Indon city – noisy, dusty, crowded.
Sorait. Aint my scene.
Plannin our route. There're blackouts almost every damn day in Medan
We headed south to Berastagi, up in the hills at 2,000m+ above sea level. Nice.
Cold place. Main thing goin down here is vegetable & fruit farming. Stayed at a joint called Bamboe Hill or sumtin. Pretty cheap at about 44 bucks, if u excuse d goddam mosquitoes!
With Heri after a night of little sleep thanks to crazy mozzies
View from bed, with accompaniment for d cold night in white box
The backyard area of our accommodation leading to a romantic lil bench
View from hut
One of the three mountains near Berastagi
Berastagi is the only place i liked among all the ones we were at, like Kabanjahe, Medan & Siantar.
Fruit feast, Berastagi market
Same market. D dude said the white ones "Paling enak." Haha
Poser. The mountain at d back is volcanic, and was brewing clouds of vapour
Veg farms, Berastagi
Pretty tiring being on d road so much. The dust, heat, noise, diesel smoke, etc gets to u. There was a point on d road where we didnt shower for two days! Dirty cowboys. So dam good to see a mirror & a proper toilet when i got back to KL!
Our ride for d trip, aka The Tank
Of course no trip is complete without sampling the local talent. They got sumin called tuak there. Had it during a bbq at Heri’s chicken farm. He’s got 10,000 birds almost ready to be sold & slaughtered. So they just grabbed a few to burn.
Talk about convenience.
Chicas lined up, to layan the sunset i guess
Lookin cute...
cuter...
...cutest. Haha
Their so-called tuak is nutin like d one here. Theirs is made from coconut sap, like regular toddy. It looks n smells like toddy but tastes like bland tuak.
Not a good combo. I switched back to Scotch.
Local brew (in black bucket)
Also gobbled some Nasi Padang in a hill town called Siantar
Final day breakfast - pack of Nasi Gurih - local version of Nasi Lemak. Some spicy-ass noodles thrown in as well
Havin 'kopi ginseng' with a coupla local boys
Poser, at Heri's huuge guava farm
Heri with a new buddy . Maybe coz of d cold weather, all dogs in Berastagi are furrier
Even ol' Bill is in on the babi panggang gig
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Brain damage: None. Minimal drinkin!
