We were woken during the night by a large group of Indonesian men. They arrived at the losmen quite late and all stayed up for the world cup game which is shown live in Indonesia at 2am! Unfortunately the walls in the losmen were very thin and the tv quite close to our room. Earplugs helped reduce the noise and meant we could sleep whilst they continued having fun.
Around 5am, we discovered we were very close to a mosque. The 'Call to Prayer' woke us as it was sooo loud.
After falling back asleep, at around 6am, one of the large group of men, who was a self confessed pop star, proceeded to sing a variety of songs along to his radio!
It was no good ... sleep would have to wait. We clambered out of bed and joined the party. By now the men were eating breakfast. They welcomed us to join them and offered us tasty snacks and coffee. The next hour was spent taking photos, chatting about England's World Cup performance, or lack of it and general 'chit chat'. A few of the group spoke a little English but one man none. However, that didn't stop him getting his point home with actions! He completed a wonderful mime of the England team with 'weak knees' boarding a plane home! We couldn't stop laughing as it was hilarious.
It turned out the men were a film crew from Banda Aceh. Camera men, sound and lighting engineers and their drivers. They were a wonderful crowd, they may have been a little noisey by our ill founded 'western' expectations but hey, we are in Indonesia and they were having fun. Their hospitality was incredible and who needs sleep anyway!
We ate more food across from the losmen at the busiest restaurant in Takengon. It was no surprise as the 'peanut curry on noodles' was out of this world. We grabbed 2 lunch packets to take with us on our bus.
The bus was scheduled for 10am and would take 10 hours. But, we were collected at 9.15am and driven from the agents office to the bus terminal where we waited for more passengers to fill the bus. We left at 10.40am!
The minibus was in quite good condition compared to the bigger buses at the bus station which were 'falling apart'. We drove though the most beautiful mountain scenery along mainly sealed roads with short sections of unsealed patches. Halfway through the journey we hit a problem ...
The road was closed for the next 2 hours. We were stuck, in the middle of the jungle and had to wait. As did everyone else. We chatted to a young girl who was very kind and gave us both hand embroiderd friendship bands. They were gifts and she would not take any money. Darryl offered her one of his friendship bands to say thank you which she accepted. We had our photos taken with some friendly teenage boys whilst they lit a small fire to keep warm. We must have been quite high in the mountains as it was getting cold! In the background we could hear dynamite blasting and that was why we were held up. They were working on the road ...
2 hours later our journey continued. It appeared our young driver needed to try and make up time. We have never experienced back seat rally driving but now was the time! Quite incredibly, he drove the bus at top speed through windy mountain roads, up hill, down hill, through small villages and avoided giant pot holes. The engine continued to perform at maximum revs, hour after hour! This young driver could certainly drive and seemed to know the lay of the road like the back of his hand.
We stopped for food. The local lads on the bus took care of us, as they had done all day. They had shared their sweets, they paid for our coffee and even let us use their phone to tell our guesthouse we'd be late. Again we had witnessed incredible hospitality!
We were eventually dropped at our hotel door and our 'friends' continued their journey into the darkness. We were exhausted and went straight to bed in our wooden hut in the jungle of Ketambe.
Around 5am, we discovered we were very close to a mosque. The 'Call to Prayer' woke us as it was sooo loud.
After falling back asleep, at around 6am, one of the large group of men, who was a self confessed pop star, proceeded to sing a variety of songs along to his radio!
It was no good ... sleep would have to wait. We clambered out of bed and joined the party. By now the men were eating breakfast. They welcomed us to join them and offered us tasty snacks and coffee. The next hour was spent taking photos, chatting about England's World Cup performance, or lack of it and general 'chit chat'. A few of the group spoke a little English but one man none. However, that didn't stop him getting his point home with actions! He completed a wonderful mime of the England team with 'weak knees' boarding a plane home! We couldn't stop laughing as it was hilarious.
It turned out the men were a film crew from Banda Aceh. Camera men, sound and lighting engineers and their drivers. They were a wonderful crowd, they may have been a little noisey by our ill founded 'western' expectations but hey, we are in Indonesia and they were having fun. Their hospitality was incredible and who needs sleep anyway!
We ate more food across from the losmen at the busiest restaurant in Takengon. It was no surprise as the 'peanut curry on noodles' was out of this world. We grabbed 2 lunch packets to take with us on our bus.
The bus was scheduled for 10am and would take 10 hours. But, we were collected at 9.15am and driven from the agents office to the bus terminal where we waited for more passengers to fill the bus. We left at 10.40am!
The minibus was in quite good condition compared to the bigger buses at the bus station which were 'falling apart'. We drove though the most beautiful mountain scenery along mainly sealed roads with short sections of unsealed patches. Halfway through the journey we hit a problem ...
The road was closed for the next 2 hours. We were stuck, in the middle of the jungle and had to wait. As did everyone else. We chatted to a young girl who was very kind and gave us both hand embroiderd friendship bands. They were gifts and she would not take any money. Darryl offered her one of his friendship bands to say thank you which she accepted. We had our photos taken with some friendly teenage boys whilst they lit a small fire to keep warm. We must have been quite high in the mountains as it was getting cold! In the background we could hear dynamite blasting and that was why we were held up. They were working on the road ...
2 hours later our journey continued. It appeared our young driver needed to try and make up time. We have never experienced back seat rally driving but now was the time! Quite incredibly, he drove the bus at top speed through windy mountain roads, up hill, down hill, through small villages and avoided giant pot holes. The engine continued to perform at maximum revs, hour after hour! This young driver could certainly drive and seemed to know the lay of the road like the back of his hand.
We stopped for food. The local lads on the bus took care of us, as they had done all day. They had shared their sweets, they paid for our coffee and even let us use their phone to tell our guesthouse we'd be late. Again we had witnessed incredible hospitality!
We were eventually dropped at our hotel door and our 'friends' continued their journey into the darkness. We were exhausted and went straight to bed in our wooden hut in the jungle of Ketambe.
