The mountains never far

Sumatra and New Zealand have some similarities. Or at least the NZ South Island and Sumatra have things in common. Both islands have a mountain range running through them lengthwise, creating a west and an east coast. As in New Zealand, so is here the west coast wetter but probably prettier. This formed part of our reasoning while deciding on our route. Also, the Trans-Sumatra-Highway goes up on the east of the mountain range which might mean more kilometres per day but it is also the route that all the trucks will take. To spare us the traffic and to avoid the possibility of highway robbers (there were warnings of that), we plan to go up the west coast before heading right into the mountains. With this plan, we have the possibility of a whole lot of rain during our time on Sumatra. In the last couple of days, we recognized a pattern: It is never raining in the mornings, starts to cloud up around lunch and either starts raining then or in the afternoon. The path was clear…we had to be on the road as early as possible. Continue reading →