We are eating in the Padang, the local cafe. A window display full of plates of cold chicken pieces, sardines, potato croquettes, spinach and assorted other delicacies that vary from province to province. Flies optional. Rice obligatory. Initial surprise that “bule” [pronounced 'bull-aye', meaning 'whitey'] would wander in to this decidely un-touristy venue.
Until our arrival, all eyes were glued to the Olympics. The badminton is the national favourite and represented Indonesias best medal hope. Gasps, cries, cheers - the cafe came alive. The rest of the Olympics are ignored.
Showing interest in the two young badminton players out in the carpark, we are press-ganged into playing doubles, Jon teamed with Almet and Jack with Rizar. Jacks hand eye co-ordination comes to the fore and Jon hopelessly keeps trying to play squash shots- too wristy. Our coaches are too polite to comment on our novice form.
It is nothing like as colourful or graceful as the kite competition we stumbled into at Sanur, Bali. Melbourne near neighbours Kym and Diane have made a new life in Bali and overwhelmed us with hospitality at their new home. The kite flying was despite the tourists, not for them. Teams of mostly kids compete for local honours and then can go on to compete nationally.
We are, um, how do you say, argh, stuck in Sumatra. Arrogantly assuming that there had to be some sort of sea transport between Sumatra and Malaysia, we are today perilously close to returning to Jakarta, tail between the legs, contrite and exhausted. In my defence, Indonesia is a very difficult place to get reliable information. Many people have assured us that we will find sea transport for our car between Medan [Sumatra] and Penang [Malaysia] or between Dumai [Indon] and Melaka [Malaysia].
But all local inquiries have failed to find said ferry. If it exists, it is a very closely guarded secret. Several days were devoted to making phone calls and searching out of date websites. Jan volunteered to help from Melbourne and started making phone calls to travel contacts in Sumatra from home. We even spent all day at the Jakarta docks, asking around as people scratched their heads and even giggled at our requests. No one takes a car between Indonesia and Malaysia even though they are so close together. We are a source of constant amusement.
So while we wait, we will go to Way Kambas National Park this weekend to see elephants, maybe Sumatra Tigers and rhinos. Maybe we will find the endangered and very rare ‘indon ferryoseros’.
