Merak > Bakauheni (30km by ferry)

Well, I have spent the last 12 hours in a bus travelling from Kutoarjo to Merak. I did not really noticed which road we took. I did not really care about it because there was nothing to see at night. I’ve been half asleep the whole way expecting to be recharged and fresh when I would arrive to Merak. I was the last guy in the bus at the end and the driver had a moment of hesitation when he saw that I was still in the bus. Actually I was confused too. Did I miss the stop? I know it was the last stop so it should be ok. We clarified the situation and soon I had my feet on the ground and my bike to assemble again. The staff was looking at me and even helped me. They were very nice. Later on, I’ve been looking for a place where to get some breakfast. I knew the ferry here run 24/24 so time is not so important. I met a guy who was working not far away and spoke a bit of English. I had my breakfast and we chat maybe during an hour. He told me he has a friend who work in the ferry station and could help me. Well, OK, thank you. Finally I followed him and his friend who were driving a scooter. We passed across different entrances, I did not see any queue. When we arrived front of the “bridge” that goes to the ferry the guy told me “you can go”. “But where do I pay?” “This is OK”.

Map.

This is how I got here and for free.

I parked my bike on the right spot.

Some other ferries are waiting.

maybe more than “some”…

Quickly, few guys who work on board came to me. One of them is actually trying my bike haha. It’s funny because the saddle is too high for him and I guess it’s not that easy :-)

I’ve spent the rest of the time with the crew, sitting around a coffee that they offered to me. I tried to remember all my Indonesian words and for them some English. My phone was quite useful to make some translation that would explain things with more details when needed. Here the questions I get all the time:

• where are you from? Prancis as they say here.
• Where do you go? I need to reapeat twice the city because they don’t beleive me :-)
• Are you married? No! (Girls look at each other smiling)
• Do you have kids? No!
• How old are you? 32, you should be married with at least two kids say their eyes.
• Why you don’t have any girlfriend? That’s a good question haha
• Do you like Indonesia?
• Do you like the food?
• Do you like Indonesian woman?

It was funny until a guy, an Indonesian who speak a good English came along and cut our messy but funny conversation. Of course I can tell more things more quickly but the team did not understood us. Then the guy drag me around the boat to take picture with his son. He was certainly happy to be able to speak English but I had fun with the group. We have been in the captain room to have a picture with him haha. Then the guy left and I lost the crew… There is good and bad side when you speak English, you attract English speakers :-)

After maybe 30min of travelling, the ferry is approaching the coast very slowly. As I knew already, the crossing last 30 minutes but the waiting time, the loading and the unloading take about an hour. I’ve got time to observe around though.

This is the first view from Sumatra island where I am going to spend the rest of my trip.

What is that strange building? A temple? A mosq? A church? An hotel? No idea…

Here I am :-) Two feet and three wheels had touched the ground of Sumatra!

Now starts the adventure. When I got out of the ferry, I asked to a security guy where I could get a bus. He laughed, talk quickly in Indonesian with his mates, then asked for a photo, then left to call someone.

A minute later, I guy who spoke good enough English came to me, asking me where I wanted to go. Well I don’t really know in fact haha. Maybe Jambi? The guy said that there is no bus here but he knows how to get one. OK…

So here, there is not any official travelling agency. People organise there trip from Java or somewhere else in Sumatra but not from here obviously… That’s a problem… Normally I should have pay a ticket from Java to Sumatra. But at this time I did not know if I would start cycling from here or not. When I was in the bus I decided that I would catch another one to go about halfway in Sumatra. That way, I would have time to visit the area in details more than to rush like doing 100km per days during two weeks which would be difficult I think.

The guy told me that I will have to wait until 4 or 5pm to catch a  bus. Now it’s 11am… So I took my time and went to the toilets, got some water and washed my bike. A kid, maybe 7 years old, came and sat at 30 cm away, then watched me silently.

I came back an hour later and the guy told me that I missed one bus. What? You told me I should wait until 4pm! How does it work here? Then the guy told me to stay next to the road where there is not any bus stop and he left… I love the organisation here… How can I find a bus this way? After 30 minutes, I left the place and decide to find another solution. I met some other guys but their answer about the bus system was not clear enough. It looks like the actual official bus station is kilometres away. But where? What is the problem with Sumatra?

Few minute later, the guy came to me and said: “why are you here?, I told you to stay their. If you want to get a bus, you must listen to me”. Hmmm, I don’t like this… “How does it work here? Why there is no bus station?” The guy answered “there is bus but you need to wait”. That is VERY clear… No it’s not! Well, looks like I don’t have any other solution for now…

It is around 3pm now and my bike was still in one piece. I could not get any clear answer from the guy and I feel like a bus could come the next minute. So I started disassemble my bike again to be ready until the next event.

Finally, after few hours, I got what he is doing. He is waiting for bus that go out of the ferry, stop them and ask if there is a space for me. We discuss about the price: 400.000 IDR to go to Jambi or 700.000 IDR to go to padang which is further. This is the price for two tickets because of my bike… It sounds expensive to me. After another hour of waiting, a bus that was going to Jambi came along. The price was 700.000. I said “no” (tidak). The driver said straight away 550.000. “No, No more than 500.000”. For the next hour, no more bus was going to the direction I wanted. Maybe I should have get the last one…

Finally I said to the guy that the next bus for Jambi or Padang would be OK. Between that time, some more security guy came and asked for “selfy” (I hate that word). Around 5:30, lots of buses came out of a ferry. The guy run after an Interesting one, came back to me and said “Padang”. As soon as I said ” OK” two guys helped me to fit my bike in the bus (with the passengers at the back of the bus). I asked the price and completely forgot to bargain. “700.000”. I gave the money to the guy and saw that he put like half in his own pocket, gave the rest to the bus driver. Rah, Shit! I got riped off again! That’s too late, time is catching up and I must go. I fit myself in the bus and before I was sit down the bus was already on his way to Padang for another 1200 km…