We caught a Bemo from Batutumonga straight after breakfast, which today was 4 banana pancakes! The Bemo ride was comfortable, even though the road was terrible. We did however use our amazingly versatile boogie boards supported by our bags to make Darryl a backrest, as his was missing. Our cheap boogie boards have really been a valuable addition to our trip. Maybe every one should travel with them!
Arriving in Rantepao, we went straight to the bus office to check the times. There was one leaving in 10 mins! We quickly said goodbye to our English travel buddies and boarded the bus.
The journey was long! 10 hours but along reasonable roads. There was plenty of comfort stops and food stops, maybe a few too many! We stopped at some places with beautiful views of the countryside. The bus was air conditioned but we had the backseats over the engine. The heat rose from the engine and blasted us like a furnace. It was hot!
We arrived frazzled and it took so long that it was dark. A taxi was the easiest way to reach the city so we grabbed one. A friendly taxi driver with pumping music sparked us up a little. He dropped us at a hotel after enduring horrendous traffic but no one was home.....
There were no lights on but the front door was open. We went inside. It was pitch black so we used a torch to see if we could find anyone upstairs. Nope, there was obviously a power cut in the building and maybe they had gone to repair it. We waited a while but no one came, so we checked-in the hotel opposite.
We were now really hungry and we found a small stall selling a delicious beef soup. Still not full up, we entered a very strange restaurant, or so we thought. In fact it turned out to be a rather dark and dingy bar, though the owner told us he did have food (but we could see no kitchen!) He said that we could either have fried rice or fried noodles and that was all the food served ...
By now we were becoming a little suspicious. The owner had already given us a plate of peanuts and some local spicy vegetables - 'on the house'. He even used this phrase in his Indonesian accent!
To our astonishment a huge plate of noodles arrived at our table with seafood, meat, the works! It tasted amazing and was one of the best dishes we've tried in Indonesia.
Arriving in Rantepao, we went straight to the bus office to check the times. There was one leaving in 10 mins! We quickly said goodbye to our English travel buddies and boarded the bus.
The journey was long! 10 hours but along reasonable roads. There was plenty of comfort stops and food stops, maybe a few too many! We stopped at some places with beautiful views of the countryside. The bus was air conditioned but we had the backseats over the engine. The heat rose from the engine and blasted us like a furnace. It was hot!
We arrived frazzled and it took so long that it was dark. A taxi was the easiest way to reach the city so we grabbed one. A friendly taxi driver with pumping music sparked us up a little. He dropped us at a hotel after enduring horrendous traffic but no one was home.....
There were no lights on but the front door was open. We went inside. It was pitch black so we used a torch to see if we could find anyone upstairs. Nope, there was obviously a power cut in the building and maybe they had gone to repair it. We waited a while but no one came, so we checked-in the hotel opposite.
We were now really hungry and we found a small stall selling a delicious beef soup. Still not full up, we entered a very strange restaurant, or so we thought. In fact it turned out to be a rather dark and dingy bar, though the owner told us he did have food (but we could see no kitchen!) He said that we could either have fried rice or fried noodles and that was all the food served ...
By now we were becoming a little suspicious. The owner had already given us a plate of peanuts and some local spicy vegetables - 'on the house'. He even used this phrase in his Indonesian accent!
To our astonishment a huge plate of noodles arrived at our table with seafood, meat, the works! It tasted amazing and was one of the best dishes we've tried in Indonesia.
