Tag: Sumatra road trip
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Touring Indonesia Harmoni #22: The Emergency Bus Journey Home to a Dying Brother
So concludes the story of Touring Indonesia Harmoni across the island of Sumatra. It must be admitted that this route did not present any truly significant obstacles. But it should be added that we also once traveled by bus, from Java back to our hometown of Krueng Mane, and by bus again from…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #21: The Homecoming to Banda Aceh After Four Months on the Road
As the late afternoon carried us into Aceh province, I began to feel torn over where we should spend the night. There were at least three options: Langsa, Idi, and Lhokseumawe. We were racing against the clock for the following day, aiming to reach Banda Aceh earlier in the afternoon. We kept…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #20: Riding Through Chaotic Medan to the Gateway of Aceh
That night we stayed at the Gotong Royong hotel in Labuhan Batu Utara, precisely in Pinang Lombang. As it turned out, the ride from Pekanbaru to the city of Medan ended up taking three full days. The next morning we set off again toward Medan. Here, once more, I felt that familiar…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #19: From Pekanbaru to Bagan Batu, Racing the Rain Toward Medan
After finishing up at Greentech, we searched for a place to stay the night in Pekanbaru. The city we were aiming for next was Medan. Once again, the distance was quite considerable. From my several long-distance journeys, I always split the distance between these two cities into two, which is why Bagan Batu…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #18: A Warm Welcome at Greentech Kawasaki Pekanbaru
Together with the owner of Greentech Kawasaki Pekanbaru The Trans-Sumatra Highway tends to be quiet in the morning and midday. This is because the trucks have not yet set off early in the morning, or they are having lunch by the roadside as noon approaches. That meant we had to read this pattern,…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #17: Riding the Trans-Sumatra Highway from Palembang to Jambi
At night, I also studied the Palembang–Jambi route. This route is fairly busy, because there is no toll road between the two provinces. Buses, trucks, and other vehicles are certain to crawl along this East Coast route of Sumatra. For that reason, we chose to set off before Palembang’s traffic began to crawl. But…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #16: The Tense East Coast Ride from Bakauheni to Palembang
On 26 November 2021, Nyak Ver’s tyres touched the asphalt of Sumatra once again. This homeward route still required several more days. Because we set off fairly early from Cilegon, we caught the ferry crossing at 8 a.m. local time. After a two-hour crossing, as soon as we reached Bakauheni we headed straight for…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #15: Crossing the Sunda Strait from Bakauheni to Java
The next morning, we woke up and planned to set off a little later in the day so we could rest a bit more. What was on our minds here was the Bakauheni–Merak ferry crossing. Naturally, to cross we had to be tested with an Anti-Gen test. In the middle of the…
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Sumatra Route Diaries #14: From Padang to Lampung, Battling Rain, Rough Roads, and Illness
But once we entered the West Sumatra border route, we chose not to follow the road toward Bukittinggi. Instead, we passed through Lubuk Basung, then into Pariaman, and arrived directly in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra. Riding on the asphalt in West Sumatra was a genuine pleasure, thanks to smooth roads with…