Geografika Nusantara: The Journey South (Part 5)

Almost home...

This is the fifth and last post describing a long motorcycle trip I took around the southern part of Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park. I started from my base in Sungai Penuh, drove through Kerinci district into West Sumatra, then down through Bengkulu province passing the districts of Mukomuko, Bengkulu Utara, Kepahiang, Lebong, and Rejang Lebong before moving into South Sumatra and then returning to Sungai Penuh via Lubuk Linggau, Sarolangun, and Bangko in Jambi province. All in all the trip was 2600 kilometers, which on Sumatra is a long, long way.

The Highwaymen Came Riding, Riding...

Descending into no-man's-land...

After my business in Curup, I departed my forest policeman friend's house, where I spent the night, at just before 1pm. The next stop on the road was to be Lubuk Linggau, about an hour and a half away, before heading through Sarolangun to Bangko, where I was planning on spending the night with friends before making the final 5-hour push to Sungai Penuh. Although it doesn't seem like a long stretch, I'd been warned about the road in advance because there are bands of robbers that terrorize travelers, sometimes setting up obstacles in the road to cause them to fall. I'd heard from most people that the ride is okay during the day, but when I was in Curup my buddy told me that some people have been robbed during the day, including an army general that was travelling with his wife through the area. Indeed just a week before an elite mobile police brigade had been sent into the area to arrest the bandits, but after clashes which left a couple of officers injured the police were forced to retreat empty-handed. But most people were of the opinion that I should be okay during the day, so I decided to chance it. One friend advised me to "gas up, keep the hammer down, and don't stop". My forest police buddy and his wife both expressed apprehension about me going, but stopped short of forcing me to go back to Kerinci the way I came. I only half jokingly asked him if I could borrow his service .32.

"No I'm sorry I can't let you take it without a permit. Besides, do you know how to use one of these?" he asked.

"I grew up in the South, Pak", I said, knowing it would be lost on him.

"Huh?"

"Aiming a gun is like pointing a finger, Pak...."

Instead of a gun I took my parang from my bag and attached it to my belt, not sure if this was actually a good idea or not. I followed the advice to keep the hammer down because fortunately the road is in excellent condition and so you can make good time. I was cutting turns like Fast Freddie Spencer, taking as much as my little tires would give, and not looking back. During the day the local toughs (who by night become bandits) man a series of 5 "posts", which are really just tents and huts, where they (from what I understand) extort money from passing motorists, but when I went through I didn't see anyone get stopped. As I passed the posts I put my sun-visor down so it wouldn't be so obvious I'm a foreigner, but by one post I was a little late lowering the tinted plastic and one of the thugs noticed me. I saw his eyes widen and face light up in a way I've seen before just before bad things happen, so I floored it. When I looked back no one was chasing me.

I arrived in Lubuk Linggau on the edge of South Sumatra province after about an hour. Relieved, I pulled into town, which is actually a pretty large city that serves as a transit stop on both the east-west and north-south routes across Sumatra. After a quick lunch, I headed north.

Road Conditions

The road from Curup to Lubuk Linggau is very good asphalt, winding through some nice scenery. But if you opt to take this road do it during the day and keep your eyes on the road. Make sure you hide your valuables as well as you can, and keep a wad of bills handy in case you do get robbed.

Making Time...

From Lubuk Linggau I headed north towards Sarolangun, the first largeish town in Jambi province, where I live. You've probably heard the expression "as the crow flies"; well, if the crow was in a wheelchair or had his flying license suspended, this is the road he'd take. This 130 kilometer stretch is almost arrow straight, smooth as a baby's bottom, and relatively free of heavy traffic. You can go full speed for almost the whole stretch and it would be possible to do it in an hour. I didn't do it in an hour because it was raining, so I had to slow down a bit. After a while I came out of the rain, and the blue skies really lifted my spirits. Until I hit the rain again. Heavy rain. Then into the clear again. Just as my pants were drying, I hit another massive cloudburst. By the time I hit Sarolangun I was soaked to the bones, and instead of pushing on another hour-hour and a half to Bangko I decided to bed down for the night since I was tired and wet.

The rain kept getting worse and worse, and so I pulled into the first hotel I could find. I could here the rain intensifying even more, and so even though at first glance the room was less than clean, I took it because once you're in out of the rain you don't want to go back out. After paying and heading back to the room and getting a closer look, I realized that I had made a mistake, but it was too late to turn back. The room turned out to be the dirtiest room I've ever stayed in, and that's saying a lot. Although I didn't notice it at first (because I've never thought to look; I will from now on though) it turns out there was no way to lock the door, so I made a makeshift barricade and hunkered down for the night. Then the bedbugs set in. I've encountered bedbugs on a number of occasions, but they always suck. It's almost impossible to get to sleep because of the itching, and when you do fall asleep from exhaustion you're back up again in an hour or so. I passed the night like that, probably managing a total of four hours of sleep.

The next morning I skipped the complementary breakfast, figuring any food from a hotel this nasty would make me sick. I drove the hour to Bangko, passed though and started on the final 4-5 hour leg to Sungai Penuh. By this time I was in familiar territory and so I felt more relaxed. I stopped at a little town called Sungai Manau, because that's where the road goes from nice asphalt to kidney-rupturing roughness. I had breakfast at a roadside stall and was quickly joined by some soldiers from the local barracks. We had a pretty interesting conversation, which culminating in them asking me for military aid.

"Hey what's that big tank you guys used to destroy Saddam?" a sergeant asked.

"You mean the M1A1 Abrams?" I said, remembering all the newspaper graphics from Gulf I and II.

"Yeah that one. Do you think you could help us get some of those?"

"What are you guys going to do with tanks in the mountainous rain forest", I asked.

"Probably nothing, but tanks are cool".

So if you are reading this and happen to work at the Pentagon, please send some M1AI Abrams tanks to Kodim post 342 in Sungai Manau, Merangin.

Road Conditions

Scene on Batang Merangin. Water wheels are for irrigation

As I mentioned, the road from Lubuk Linggau is the best road I've seen on Sumatra. All blacktop all the way. There are some trucks but you won't have any trouble getting around them. It's 130 kilometers to Sarolangun, and there you can find food and lodging (other than the lodging I describe below). From Bangko to Sarolangun it takes an hour or less, and you can also stop in Bangko as it is a reasonably large town. Follow the nice winding blacktop out of Merangin towards Sungai Manau through some beautiful scenery. Then from Sungai Manau the road is really rough in patches and gets worse as you move towards Sungai Penuh, about 2-3 hours away. I was pleased to see that some new blacktop has been laid down, which triples your speed in some places, but there is a lot of work to do. Again the scenery here is really nice, and from Bangko to Sungai Penuh you'll pass through the park. The first time I passed through here I fell in love with the park. There are nice valleys and beautiful primary forest. Watch where you stop to pee, because it's tiger country. Once you get into Kerinci Valley you'll ride around Lake Kerinci, which is touted as a tourist attraction, but it's pretty much just a lake.

North to Padang

On the road to Padang

I got back into Sungai Penuh at about 2pm. I went to pay my bills, handled some correspondence, and went to work hand washing some clothes so that hopefully they would be dry by the time I had to leave in the morning. The next day I set out for Padang, about 7 hours away. Normally I take a travel-car (1) to and from Padang when i have to go there, but they manage to add 2-3 hours to the length of the trip due to the amount of fooling around they do. The drivers for the most part don't really seem to care about passenger comfort, so I figured that since I'd already driven 2000 kilometers, what was 500 more? It's cheaper and the task of driving oneself is a small price to pay for controlling your own destiny.

The journey from Sungai Penuh, although long, is quite picturesque in most places. You get to cruise past Mt. Kerinci, the highest active volcano in Indonesia, and pass through the giant tea plantation in Kayu Aro, which is really worth the trip. As you head north you'll pass through villages and beautiful rural landscape, following several rivers through various valleys. Once you get to Muara Labuh in Solok Selatan district in West Sumatra you are firmly in Minangkabau country, and so you start to see Minang architecture, which is neat.

Padang Cement's "Anti-Mountain"

The road really starts to go to hell once you move into Solok district about an hour north of Muara Labuh. I'm going to write a future post about just how crappy Solok is, but to make a long story short they have a lot of mining there which has decimated the landscape and the road. But you will get to pass by Danau Di Atas, a large and somewhat picturesque lake an hour or so south of Padang. The road through here skirts the ridges around the lake, and pretty much every time I've been through it's been raining (approximately 20 times). Then you begin the gradual decent into Padang, which has some nice views but you really have to keep your eye on the road because there is a great deal of traffic along with a lot of hairpin turns. They are currently doing some construction work on the road, resurfacing it with concrete, and so they only let one direction go through at a time. So you might get stuck for up to an hour. Either way but especially heading up the hills out of Padang is slow going because of the truck traffic that crawls along the road at less than 10 kph, so if you are in a car it's rough. A motorcycle allows you to cut through pretty quick. Along the way you can stop and check out the mountain that Padang Cement has dissected. As far as I can tell, Padang Cement is the biggest industry in Padang (a city of over one-million), and they do a pretty good business. The city's soccer team is even named after the company rather than the city.

Road conditions

Out of Sungai Penuh the road is pretty rough and there is a lot of town traffic until you get 10-20 kilometers north. The road is reasonably good until you get past Muara Labuh in Solok Selatan. Nice scenery along the way. Expect delays heading down into Padang. There are a number of good restaurants along the way, but I normally stop at Sunga Kalu in Padang Aro, Solok Selatan for a meal since they have great dendeng and excellent soup. Definitely worth a stop if you pass through.

To Jogja and Back

I flew out of Padang for Jogja bound for an international academic conference. I spent 3 nights there with my good friend Danu, who has a great setup with hot water and wifi. He even lent me a scooter with which to get around town. I had to burn the midnight oil preparing my presentation on roads at Kerinci Seblat National Park because I had a lot of new data from the road trip but hadn't had time to put it together. The presentation went over really well and I had the nice feeling that I've actually become an expert in the field. I also got to see some other good work, enjoy time with friends, and eat some non-rice. I've posted an edited form of the powerpoint I used for my talk; if you are interested in the notes that go along with it (which make it much more meaningful), drop me a line at geografikanusantara(at)gmail.com.

Death by a thousand cuts for slideshare 1

View more presentations from kisu1492.

Pounding out the old bearings

I took the red-eye flight out of Jogja and spent the night in Padang after chatting with some park staff in the regional office there. The next morning I set out for home, stopping at a village in Solok to visit a friend. He told me that the farmers in the area, who grow the passionfruit that is locally famous, are encroaching into the park to farm because as the climate shifts (presumably due to global warming) they are forced to grow the fruit at higher and higher elevations because to the increasing average temperatures. After a couple more hours on the road I stopped to visit some NGO friends in Padang Aro. When I passed through the park between Padang Aro and Kerinci district I noticed some play in my back wheel, which usually means one of two things: 1) your back tire is under-inflated or 2) your bearings are bad, which can eventually cause a pretty bad accident. It wasn't the first, so I slowly rode through the hills and into Pelompek, a town in Kerinci district, and stopped at a local garage. The mechanic agreed with my diagnosis, went to work, and within 45 minutes had new bearings on my bike. The part cost me US$3 with the labor running a grand total of US$1. Back on the road the ride was so much smoother and easier, and I headed for Sungai Penuh and home, slightly more than an hour away.

Three weeks and a total of 2600 kilometers. Lots of interviews and observation, some misadventures, and an international conference. What a trip.

A Little Lagniappe...

Just south of Padang Aro I stopped by a new ecotourism venture and talked with the operators a bit. They gave me a brochure which I've posted below. When I get a chance I'll translate it into English. It's nice to see this kind of thing popping up around the park. It's a nice place, and you can stay overnight there. Definitely another reason to make the trip down this way.