Well, I got to Batam, got my flight (and into a heated argument with a queue-jumper) and got to Pekanbaru ok.
I've been stuffed with rice, tofu (they call it tahu here), tempeh and sambal until I felt nine months pregnant with triplets and learnt how to use a mandi (a squat toilet with attached water tank which is somehow a bit nicer than a south indian equivalent, mainly because you can shelter behind the tank when 'flushing' the toilet and so avoid splashing yourself with unmentionables).
I spent a day shopping in and seeing around Pekanbaru, then was taken by Adriani's brother to his logging kampung in Siak area of Riau province: I've spent three days there, thinking that text messages were getting out but no, apparently not.
Yesterday we got by bashed-up rental car, minibus and motorbike via Kerinci (not the famous Kerinci but another one) to Pekanbaru, then around 5am this morning to BatuSangkar where Nova's wife and daughter live. The nearest big town is Padang, in West Sumatra. Just now I'm in a cybercafe in Bukitinggi, also in West Sumatra.
The plan is as follows:
Of course, I'm sure it will go wrong somewhere and that the latest security thingies will land me in deep shit. So look out for blog entries entitled 'Got those old kozmik-incarceration-with-a-kris-up-my-arse blues again mama!'
Last time I blogged, I was briefly in Bukitinggi, a fairly popular tourist destination in the Bukit Barisan mountains of west Sumatra. I'd been taken there by Nova, along with his daughter, Nurul, who wanted to get a new skin for her 'handphone' (bahasa Indonesia for 'cellphone').
Bukitinggi is a pretty town with a fantastic bridge across the main drag. An open-air rock gig was in progress in the clock-tower square when we arrived. Not really Nova or Nurul's thing so we ate at a local restaurant, I blogged and burnt piccies to CD (the CD is back at my lodging, so I don't have many of the pix of Bukitinggi with me just now) and then went to Danau Singkara so I could swim in an Indonesian lake. It's so lovely to be able to swim in warm open water. Then we went back to Batu Sangkar (bahasa Indonesia for 'stone cage') and crashed out very early.
Somewhere along the way our travel wagon broke down. I think it got a puncture and the spare wheel was unuseable. I recall a long wait for another to come out to rescue us and a very late arrival in Batu Sangkar, where Nova's wife (Bertin) and daughter (Nurul) live, at about 5 am. I recall even more blissfully sinking into Nova and Bertin's guest bed and nothing more.
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006