fa rambles on ...: Sweet Torture : Malindo Sumut Tour 11

When Che Gu Mat called to ask sometime in January if I was interested to join him ride in North Sumatera , Indonesia, I must say I was intrigued. I was tired of all the makan-makan, wedding and charity rides in Malaysia and Thailand. The thought of participating in an off road event made it interesting as I’ve never in my life done that.

I will be riding with people I've never met before - that in itself was a challenge. Two days before departure, we met at a restaurant in Gombak. At the end of the meeting, I still couldnt remember the names of all my team mates nor the places we will be riding to.

Friday, Mar 11, 2011 :

At the airport, I remember leaving for Medan with Che Gu Mat and spouse, Dahlan and spouse, Kamarudin, Emma and Rush.

Anyway, from Polonia International Airport, Medan we all trouped over across the road to a Petronas Petrol Station – I felt like I was in Malaysia. Many bikers were already waiting for us there since 3 pm!!.

One guy was walking using his hands even – I was touched at their perseverance. Our bikes finally came at about 7pm. When I rode it, I thought I was gonna crash into something – it was so light – the brakes and clutch didn’t seem ok but I daren't say anything when the bike is sponsored???

Many Djarum Black Bikers were waiting for us when we arrived at the Garuda Plaza hotel. After sorting out our rooming arrangements, we went up to put our things. Emma and I will be sharing rooms throughout the tour - I couldnt have asked for a better room mate. We seem to have a lot in common :)

At dinner, we met Wak Gaul , Edy & Julie who would be our guide/out rider and medical team throughout the ride. 5 bikers took 2 days to ride out to Medan to meet us and extend their invitation to visit Acheh. Many came from Tebing Tinggi - 2 hours ride from Medan.

We were then taken on a ride round Medan – some of us threw cautions to the winds and rode 'helmetless' – we had a very easy going ride, before calling it a night.

Saturday, Mar 12, 2011 :

After breakfast, we rode to Djarum Black Office where we met up with Pak Hadi. Traffic was heavy but we made it without losing anyone...

After all the introduction and speeches of course we had a photography session.

On the way to Bajaj Dealer’s shop my bike stalled twice. It was sweltering hot and Idris the mechanic demonstrated how to use a bike with a clutch. I assured him my bike back home has a similar clutch. I could imagine his frustration but I was sure he couldnt imagine mine ....

Though my bike had been fixed, the key was no where to be found. So I ended up a pillion on Djoko’s bike. Djoko was the Marshall who would be taking us around town that night. It took us forever to have dinner – I wasn’t in the mood to eat by the time it was ready.

After dinner we were brought to the ‘headquarters’ – a place where bikers from all over Sumatera get together – regardless of which club they come from. They took all the trouble to provide us refreshment and more food – we couldn’t do justice after just having had dinner!! Luckily, the local bikers who came in droves to see us, gobbled up on our behalf. We headed back to the hotel after picture taking sessions were over. It was way after midnight, but everyone was excited and stayed in the lobby to look at pictures taken and upload them in the internet.

Sunday, Mar 13, 2011

Emma and I had an early breakfast as we were heading off to Brastagi. After briefing and picture taking, we started our journey. Traffic was murder!! We managed to ride in our group and after riding along roads winding uphill and some pretty bad patches, we arrived at Greenhill.

We stopped for a breather. Then we continued further uphill and stopped to buy/eat grilled and roasted corns. My bike couldn’t start . Idris fixed a wire that came off – probably from all the jolts!!

While waiting, I had roasted corn . Many busses passed by and I was wishing I could climb up on them like the locals were doing.

We had lunch at a tourist spot before checking in at the Brastagi Hotel. I actually rode on a pretty horse named Zoe. She knew I could ride but the owner didn’t so when Zoe and I cantered off the poor guy was worried in case I took off with his precious horse :) Lunch wasn’t ready even after my horse riding escapade. It was way past 4pm by the time we had lunch!! So it was a relief when we finally checked into Enasti Hotel.

Emma and I were wondering why our room had no air conditioning nor fan. When we voiced our concern, everyone had a good laugh at us!! The place is colder than Genting Highlands, a heater would be more appropriate, ha ha and ha…..

Again my bike had to be checked as it had to be pushed to start. Poor Idris couldn’t rest that evening. All of us had a snooze. When Emma and I got up, others had gone to eat durians. Burn, Rush, and Kamar were left behind too. We stuck together and from then we were the ‘haluan kiri’

After dinner, we were told that Nor York and her group were stranded on the way to Brastagi. Haluan Kiri decided to follow the rescue pick up. It was such a hilarious ride in the back of the pick up. The seat that Emma, Rush and Kamar were sitting on collapsed twice!! We laughed till tears rolled down our faces… Upon reaching Nor’s group, we found out that they had gotten a truck to drive their bikes to Enasti Hotel. So it was a wasted trip after all.... In view of that, Haluan Kiri decided to go look for a Karaoke Place. We were taken to one – the place was so badly managed that we didn’t even get the drinks we ordered nor sing the songs requested. What a disappointment that was – but we had a good laugh again on the way back to our hotel.

Monday, Mar 14, 2011 :

While riding out of Enasti hotel Brastagi to have breakfast, we lost our out rider – due to the heavy traffic. The 7 of us went round and round 3 times looking for the other bikers. Finally, after more than an hour of going round the mulberry bush, we decided to have breakfast cum lunch at a Minang/Padang restaurant.

Eventually we caught up with the others on the road to Prapat. The road to Danau toba was bad – some stretches were extremely muddy with large holes and heavy traffic. My bike stalled twice – I panicked because everyone else left me and Idris was struggling to get the bike started and couldn’t. I had to help him push it to the side before he managed to get it started again.

The view near Danau Toba Lake was spectacular .I couldn’t appreciate much as going up and down hill required my full attention.

We rode on to Permatang Purba to see the Palace of Raja Batak Purba. The Batak King’s palace is still being preserved and we took pictures of the very primitive but interesting abode of people before our time….I was appalled at the dingy and tiny mating room the King used as compared to his massive palace to keep his 12 wives!! Ha... ha... eat your hearts out modern people!!

From Permatang Purba we rode to Siantar where the Black Djarum staff treated us to lunch before taking us to their office. We didn’t stay long as we needed to reach Prapat before nightfall. After all the speeches, picture taking and souvenir giving ended, we left.

But 10 minutes after riding, the rain started. Those who brought raincoats stayed dry but I was soaked to the knickers by the time we reached Prapat Hotel. It was after 7pm and we were too tired to go out for dinner. My bike had to be pushed to start at every stop made – it was very frustrating for me. It was tiring for Idris for sure!!

That night we were too tired to go anywhere or do anything else - we just " lepak lepak" and 'borak-borak" till lights out....

Tuesday, Mar 15, 2011

We left for Samosir Island. We had to board a ferry. While waiting for the ferry to fill up and move, we had fun watching the young divers dive to catch coins thrown into the sea water. While the ferry was moving we were busy taking pictures and making noise like nobody’s business. I managed to climb on the roof of a bus and coaxed Emma to climb up too. We posed for some pictures of course!!

The ride around Samosir Island was so breathtaking – the steam from the volcano can be seen so clearly and the ride was very therapeutic, for me at least.

We went to the Batak Museum and watched them do a traditional dance for the audience. Mohdi and I participated in the dance before we all gave some donation and then headed back to the ferry. The journey back via ferry was rather boring as the novelty had gone and we were all tired and hungry.

We had lunch at PosIndonesia’s restaurant. It was the best lunch for me as I hadn’t been eating well since being on the ride tour. My bike was acting up on me as usual and everyone left me and Idris behind again. By the time the bike could start, I rushed to catch up with everyone else only to take the wrong way. The hotel was merely 100 meters away from where we lunched…..

We had a meeting that night and slept early as we had to leave before 7am for Labuhan Batu.

Wednesday, Mar 16, 2011

The road was extremely windy with sudden bad stretches. I was worried as my rear brakes weren’t functioning. At Tarutung, you could see the ravines and I must’ve lost focus for a split second and before I knew it I was sprawled on the road. My knees , shoulder and body hurt. The world was spinning as I got up. Everyone stopped at a clearing and it took more than an hour to repair my bike. The petrol pipe leaked due to the fall and the exhaust had to be tightened using steel wires. Budi of Djarum Black rode my bike and I sat in the car that was driven by Topan since we left Medan. In the car all I could think of was “what a waste” – that was the most challenging stretch and I missed it!!!

After the tunnel, I decided to continue riding. We stopped for lunch somewhere near Sibolga. On the way to Sidempuan, Ustad’s bike had a puncture. Emma, Cik Gu Mat, Ustad , Khalid and I waited by the road side for more than an hour. The owner of the house where we parked our bikes took pity on us and offered us plain water. My kness, arm and body hurt like crazy but I wasn’t telling.

We reached Sidempuan at about 8 pm. It rained and I skidded again trying to avoid a car. I was pretty sure everyone was fed up of me by then.

At Sidempuan, Haluan Kiri took rooms near each other. We went for dinner. I pillioned on Kamar’s bike and Emma pillioned on Rush’s bike. Dinner wasn’t very good but can do.

That night, while others were still talking or riding around town, I was suffering in pain. Julie gave me 2 injections, massaged all my black and blue knees, arm, shoulder and ribs. She practically put me to bed. I was so grateful to her ministrations. This picture of my knees was taken 1 week after incident. Imagine the actual color on the 1st day! If Ricardo had seen, I'd never be allowed to ride again.......;)

Thursday, Mar 17 2011:
I wasn’t feeling as much pain as I did the day before. The pain killers Julie gave me was fantastic. After taking pictures at Sidempuan's hotel and a brief stop at Sidempuan’s Djarum Black office, we rode on to Labuhan Batu.

Again Ustad’s tire punctured. Emma, Khalid, Cik Gu Mat and I waited at a junction of a palm oil estate. We even bought ice creams. The wait was more than an hour. We went ahead to have lunch 50km from Labuhan Batu. The others caught up with us and after lunch we were escorted by many Black Djarum riders to their office.

After that we were brought to the place where we had to sleep. Emma and I were stricken when we were told to share a room with 3 other pillion riders as there weren't enough rooms to go round. But in the end we managed to get a room to ourselves.

It was an extremely humbling experience for all of us I must say. There wasn’t enough water to bathe. There were no bedsheets nor pillow slips nor blankets/comforters. But we were much obliged as it was the best our host could provide us.

That night, my bike was being thoroughly repaired by Idris and Dian, the owner of the bike I have been riding.

Dinner was a grand affair. A stage was especially set up for us. Many bikers from all over Labuhan Batu came to greet us. We sang, we danced and we made many friends that night. I even got 50,000 rupiah from the manager of Djarum Black, Pak Baharum for doing the Batak Dance – eat your heart out people ;)

When we came back from dinner I tested my bike but it still couldn’t start – oh dear.... am I going to have to push it at every stop again????. So I went to bed while others had a meeting. Julie gave me 2 jabs and tended to my swollen knees and bruises again some time that night.

Friday, Mar 18, 2011

Emma told me that everyone didn’t want me to ride as I’d fallen twice. I felt sad/bad because despite my bike giving me problems from day one, I bore with the situation as best I could. Anyway, Emma must’ve told them how I felt. Che Gu Mat offered to exchange bikes as the starter had been changed. So I rode on without creating a scene though I wished my Lanunbikerz group was with me instead of this one. Lanunbikerz would have made sure the bike I got was a good one instead of making me feel like I was hampering everyone every time the bike wouldn’t start.

After a courtesy stop at Pak Hadi's shop Benteng Motor we pushed off towards Tebing Tinggi.

We stopped at Tanjung Balai for lunch and the police there gave us an overwhelming welcome. It seemed that we were ‘kidnapped’ as we had no intention of stopping there. But we didn’t want to appear ungrateful so we left as soon as we could and managed not to be kidnapped into stopping at Kisaran. The traffic to Tebing tinggi was horrendous. We were given a red carpet welcome at Tebing Tinggi by the founder of North Sumatera Bikers.

After checking into the hotel and freshening up, we had dinner at CFC – similar to our KFC. That was for me the best dinner in a long time!! After dinner, haluan kiri went to a karaoke place. It was disastrous again but at least Rush and Burn managed to sing a few songs. Kamar, Emma and I were for the most part observers.

Saturday, Mar 19, 2011

The ride to Medan from Tebing Tinggi was boring. We Left the hotel though it was raining. Along the way we had to stop as the rain pelted heavier. When the rain let up we continued our ride monotonously. We arrived at the last hotel we were to stay that night just after noon. After securing our rooms, we all went our own different ways. Emma and I went to wash our hair and did facial at a nearby salon. In the middle of it, the lights blacked out. Only my right hand nails got varnished. My hair was blown in the hotel room – the salon girl followed me with the dryer and all her pins!!

As I was waiting to go for dinner, I saw someone who looked like “Safwan” (a Lanun biker) so I called out his name and lo and behold….. it WAS Safwan in person. In fact Ayu his other half was with him too. Fancy meeting him in Medan of all places!!. They were on holiday with their parents. I told Safwan about my tumble at Tarutung but Che Gu Mat made an unbecoming joke out of it instead .....

Almost everyone had something to say at our last dinner together. I didn’t want to say much. I couldn’t wait to go home. After dinner, many Medan bikers came to give certificates and stickers and to take pictures. We ended up talking away till the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday , Mar 20, 2011

Emma and I took our time packing our laundered clothing. We even had our jackets and pants cleaned. We weren’t planning to go anywhere but ended up following Ustad Radzi and Khalid, to the ‘market’. I’m not a shopper by nature but I followed just the same. Ustad Radzi and Khalid were going back on the earlier flight so the rush to shop for their spouses and kids.

When we got back to the hotel, I realized my wedding band was missing. My heart stopped for a while. What would Ricardo say when I get back with bruises and aches and a missing wedding band?? Oh no…. Then I remembered that the lights blacked out just as I was being manicured. So I rushed back to that salon and when the owner showed me my wedding band I gave her such a big hug of gratitude….Phew…!!

The rest of the day was spent with Emma, Kamar and Burn . Rush had to go to Jakarta for a meeting. Emma and Kamar wanted to go along with him but couldn’t get their tickets changed at the last minute.

Waiting to get to the airport was an endless picture taking session. I was glad to finally get to the airport. It was a relief to eventually land on the Malaysian runaway. The airport was so welcoming…. After collecting my new bag that I'd bought just to stuff my helmet into, bade my goodbyes to Emma and Burn that were still walking side by side with me. The sight of Ricardo and my kids was the best sight in a long time…. I’ve missed them so. Missed everything in Malaysia….

I’ve had the adventure that I wanted. It will remain a good part of motor biking. The hospitality, kindness and sincerity of many Indonesians I’d met over the 10 days there will remain in my memory bank for a long , long time. I have hundreds of pictures to smile over in days when I can no longer ride….