Indonesia gives most western tourists a 60 day visa automatically when they enter the country. After the 60 days, you must leave the country or face stiff fines. But it's OK if you simply fly to Singapore or some other country and fly back again. When you return you automatically get another 60 days.

In Yogyakarta we realized we had just about two weeks to spend in Sumatra before our visas expired and we had to ride over 500 miles. We considered flying out of the country and back but that would cost at least US$300. So we decided to just go for it, and ride the 500 miles in the time we had left. People who bike a lot know that a strong bike tourist can go 1,400 miles in two weeks--but we like to go slowly, so for us, 500 miles in that time is a big rush.

From Bukittinggi we had another 700km or so to Medan. We would have to ride 100km every day. Actually, we didn't have much choice anyway because the hotels are about 100km apart.

The first day out of Bukittinggi was one of those days that makes us really glad we were biking and not bus riding. Though we would cross the equator in a few hours, that morning was one of coolest we've had since New Zealand. We spent most of the first 40km or so losing the 900 meter altitude we earned the day before. We descended though lush green jungles and rice padis. The air was clearer than we had seen since Australia - no haze at all in the morning. Traffic was amazingly light and the road in great condition, although occasionally so narrow we thought we had made a wrong turn. Much of the Trans-Sumatra highway looks like a back road in Appalachia.

We didn't pass many people either just a few quaint little villages now and then with friendly waving people. This was a big relief from Java. It's not that we don't like people but when almost everyone we pass insists on yelling something like, "Hey Meestir! What's your name?" it gets a little old. On this part of Sumatra, however, we saw few enough people that it just seemed friendly.

We passed lots of water buffalo who seem to stand around looking even more bored and still than cows, though I'm not sure how this is possible. Sometimes we see them standing a couple feet of mud; sometimes in water so deep only their head sticks out; sometimes standing beside the road tied to a tree trimming the burm; sometimes being pulled by people, even children; sometimes they're covered with mud. Once we saw a family washing a water buffalo with a hose. The buffalo didn't like it either.

We also see people washing buses and cars a lot. Usually they just drive the vehicle into a shallow river and wash it there.

The highlight of a great day was crossing the equator just north of Bonjol. They built a monument and a foot bridge across the road and painted a white line marking the spot. We stopped for a picture and a middle-aged man literally came running towards us with a handful of T-shirts. That was OK with us, for once we actually wanted a souvenir. (Days later we saw another person wearing the same shirt). Some younger, thug looking guy wanted to change US$8 for rupiah. I don't understand why he was doing this but I don't trust anyone who flashes dollars in front of me.

(Note about money: Our biggest problem with the rupiah is finding a good place to buy them. We mostly make withdrawals from bank machines, letting our bank negotiate the rate. The trouble with this is that we can only withdraw 400,000 rupiah (about $40) at a time and still we pay a $4 (we think) transaction fee. Banks here don't give very good rates for cash or traveller's checks and we don't carry that much of either anyway. On Sumatra we could not find a bank machine that would accept our card. Recommendation to other travelers - get an ATM card with Cirrus not Plus).

After the photos and fending off a few more sales people, we stopped at a warung for a cold drink. A women came by and tried to sell us another T-shirt. She was very friendly and was patient enough to try to deal with our broken Indonesian. She thought that California has a lot of accidents because she watches a lot of TV and we couldn't convince her otherwise. Regardless, we liked her and bought a tiny baby sized "I crossed the equator" T-shirt for friends.

I was disappointed that no one had a basin to show me which way water went down the drain at the equator. That morning I carefully watched the drain in the bathtub and it definitely went counter-clockwise. I hoped to see a demonstration at the equator but no one we attempted to communicate with understood what I was talking about.

We rode just about 20km further north to Lubuksikaping. Before we left we started calling this town Mayberry. It is one of the cleanest town in Indonesia. The streets are wide and there's not much traffic anyway. The houses literally have white picket fences.

We had a little trouble finding a restaurant. We checked out several warungs before picking one with clean tables and something edible looking. The warungs usually have several dishes in a glass case displayed toward the street. You look at the dishes and decide which ones you want. We can't identify most of the dishes, but we're getting better. We passed up a place that had beef satay (probably water buffalo beef) for a place that had chicken.

The chicken was not good but we enjoyed talking to a 17-year-old girl who wanted to practice English with us. Anita was a little unusual for Indonesia girls because she was not at all shy. She asked us at one point, "Can I go to America?" A young man, perhaps her brother, snickered. Anita turned around and gave him an, "oh shut up" look. Joan and I just looked at each other, thinking, "What does she mean?" Then Joan said, "Of course you can." She laughed. I guess she really wanted us to take her home with us.

She planned to go to a university next year then get a job at a bank in Padang. We told her to save her money then she can come to America and visit us.

Lots of giggling young women worked the desk at our hotel. We seemed to be the only guests. A blaring full blast TV woke us in the morning. They were watching MTV and the volume switch didn't work. It only would go full on.

Next: Kotanopan 

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