Tag Archives: homestay

Day 201 – Southern swing

The light is starting to file through

The light is starting to file through

We paid for a room with sunrise view, so we should better gotten out of bed to see the sunrise – right? Well, we did, actually. Getting out of bed, that is. Concerning the sunrise though, we were mildly out of luck. The cloud cover made it only nice instead of spectacular, but on the other hand we got to observe the Lao people go about their insistently early morning routines.

The fishermen, almost ghost-like and silent on the calm Mekong. The towns people getting up and preparing the little shrines. The monks doing their rounds and collecting alms, giving a blessing in return. The culturally insensitive tourists following the monks way too closely with cameras shoved in their faces … a normal calm morning in this sleepy tourist town.

Laos differs greatly from Cambodia: Much greener, many more rivers and most importantly, mountains

Laos differs greatly from Cambodia: Much greener, many more rivers and most importantly, mountains

A side benefit of getting up so early was that we also got on the road nice and early, while it was still relatively cool. The plan was to do the Southern Swing loop, a motorcycle tour through the Bolaven plateau recommended by the Lonely Planet. Since we found both a SIM card and new shampoo along the way, we skipped going to the regional capital of Pakse and turned off straight for the mountains.

We wavered only briefly whether to follow the advised loop back to Pakse or try to modify the route to come along a different way north. In the end we decided to stick to the suggestion. There will be plenty of opportunity to go off the beaten track further north.

A place to chill and sip organic coffee

A place to chill and sip organic coffee

Not willing to fork over yet another $5 for a waterfall, we skipped the first stop to go and pay Mr. Vieng’s Coffee and Homestay a visit. It was lunch time now and we had the small hope that we might find lunch there as well. Our hope for food was disappointed, but for once we were still quite happy with that. Mr. Vieng’s place was amazing – hitting that super narrow space of feeling authentic while still being spic-and-span in our spoiled western eyes. It was all wood and dirt floor, very calm and super cozy. The coffee was great, only topped by the complimentary home roasted peanuts. We even considered calling it a day right there and stay in the homestay, but food called.

Rocinante gets to see the waterfall as well from this wooden bridge

Rocinante gets to see the waterfall as well from this wooden bridge

The next stop was the natural stopping point for the day, and there were some lovely guesthouses to look out for, according to the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately, all the nice ones already had the signs out telling us that there were no rooms available. The cute restaurants were closed as well. Slightly defeated, we took a meal at the touristy place with a view of the Tat Hang waterfall to consider what to do next. The waterfall was nice, but nothing special. Although it was late for lunch, it was actually still relatively early in the day.

Lunch took forever to arrive – not for the first time in Cambodia and Laos, which gave us ample of time to come up with a plan. We decided to go on for a bit more and go to Sekong, the next town on the southern swing, where very reasonably priced guesthouses were available via Agoda.

Rocinante parked at our guest house where we stayed despite the Agoda scam

Rocinante parked at our guest house where we stayed despite the Agoda scam

Just an hour later, we were in for our final surprise for the day. The guest house we booked was nowhere to be found at the given coordinates. Some probing led us about 2km further, where the guest house from the photos could be found. There, they denied any association with Agoda and asked to be payed in cash. The place was nice enough, so we did it and started to sort out a refund for the weird scam from Agoda. The room was massive and the night was calm – everything else could be sorted out … tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Day 133 – Sumatran Roads

This is a construction site. The cars are heading towards each other because everything off to the sides is utter shit. Timely reminder that it's the rainy season

This is a construction site. The cars are heading towards each other because everything off to the sides is utter shit. Timely reminder that it’s the rainy season

We have said of Java that it was very binary, either amazing or ugly, with little space in between. Today, once again we have found such a dichotomy about Indonesia. Sumatran roads, and I am talking mostly about the condition of the road surface, are either amazing or abysmal. The good ones have no traffic, a smooth layer of new tarmac and mostly stunning view. But from one meter to the next, this can all change and you end up with a torn up, truck infested nightmare rivalled by and sometimes on par with East Timorese roads. As a bonus, now that the rainy season has started, every bit where the seal is missing turns into a soapy quagmire of slippery doom.

Crossing the first bridge in the morning, we saw a bunch of water buffaloes wade through the river. I was just a tiny bit too slow

Crossing the first bridge in the morning, we saw a bunch of water buffaloes wade through the river. I was just a tiny bit too slow

This said, we loved today’s ride. There were good sections and bad, but the landscape made up for most hardship. The rest was covered by the heart-warming and friendly Sumatrans we continue to encounter.  The road roughly followed the coastline up to a town called Muko-Muko. Most of it through palm oil plantations, and a couple of villages. The rest of the way the road was right up the shore, with plantations and further on the horizon the peaks of Bukit Barisan covered with the rainforests of the national parks.

A word on palm plantations, rainforest and morals. Sumatra’s rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Both international resource giants as well as internal population pressure play their part. Personally, it saddens me to see the incursions humans make into these beautiful habitats. But as a westerner, I have not an inch of high ground to preach from. First, because we buy the exported goods that are produced on these soils. But more importantly, because neither of my homes has much to show for with regards to conservation. Europe plain and simple has done it all already. There are no native oak forests to speak of. On the other side is a country that lost 2/3 of its remaining bush in only 100 years, with it all having been converted to monocultures to produce an exportable product. Sounds familiar? Only that we think sheep farming looks cute and palm plantations are disgusting. Cutting your own little farm into rainforest is backbreaking work. No one who is offered a better alternative will ever do so. I can only hope with education and international pressure, Sumatrans manage to stop at a point similar to New Zealand.

But then the road turned to custard...made worse by the rainy season

But then the road turned to custard…made worse by the rainy season

After leaving the coast, we cut across a “tertiary road” trough a national park into the highlands ending in Sungaipenuh. The road was fantastic, the air got cooler and we thoroughly enjoyed the lush bush in this narrow gorge in the national park. Well, until the brand new seal ended and turned into 10 km of mud and broken bits of tarmac. This did not actually reduce our good mood though. We had plenty of time and really liked the bush.

About half way through, we got rewarded with another cool little encounter. Three young guys were standing next to their Hillux in the middle of the road, staring up. One held a remote control with a smartphone strapped to it. I was intrigued, so we stopped. It turned out they were mapping the area with a FX drone and a self-mounted digital camera to plan the roadworks to upgrade this road to a highway. Apparently this is an order of magnitude cheaper than any western measurement equipment and still precise enough for the job. Cool stuff.

Clear views down into the valley

Clear views down into the valley

Our GPS, although told to avoid unsealed roads, tried to lead us down a shortcut around Sungaipenuh that was just a little bit too optimistic to take us to the valley. The road turned from single track to gravel to mud before I turned the bike around. No drop this time though.

With plenty of time still we arrived in Sungaipenuh and decide to push on 40 km more to reach the next accommodation, a homestay at the foot of Mount Kerinci. Once again we were glad to have made the call. The homestay was in a quiet little village just at the southern slope of Mount Kerinici surrounded by green tea plantations. The owner was extremely nice. We sat on the porch for a while for a chat, even though he spoke not a word of English. Google Translate did its thing where my Bahasa Indonesia and sign language ended.