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A Postcard From Indonesia: The Family 'Sabbatical' Begins.

It's been a month to the day that we left for Indonesia. Now in Bukit Lawang, in the heart of Sumatra, we spent the majority of January on a little unknown island named Simeulue (Sim-ooh-loo). Here's the beginning of a (not so) brief snapshot of our time so far - a woman, her husband, four young kids, her mother and a dream to find a new way of sensing the world.


Can we give the family the perspective and adventure that we long for without adding to the Planet's problems? We're giving it a go. By supporting impact-led projects and not flying to Europe, perhaps we can increase our world view by taking a longer time to explore, enrich our lives and give something back too? Yet to be determined, but we are certainly making the most of our time away on what we've been calling the 'family sabbatical'. So here's a little snapshot so far:


29th Jan - After a mad rush getting the house ready and organised for our friends to stay and packing 'lightly' we leave for the coach from Exeter to Heathrow. The start of a VERY long journey.


30th Dec - A night in the airport at Heathrow means that the early wake up to get to our flight is much more manageable. The children are tired but excited as we run along the moving walkways and enjoy watching the planes at the airport. A quick stop in Singapore, after very little food on the flight, and amazingly no tantrums. Sadly we have to run through the airport so didn't have time to explore the wonders of the place - it was my first time feeling that 'Home Alone' feeling this trip. Head count? Bags in place? At the right gate? Argh! Our names are being called!


31st Dec - A shortish hop over to Medan and we arrive! Where are we again?! We make our way to our hotel, a flat in part of a complex attached to a big mall in Medan. The hustle and bustle of the drive to the hotel keeps our eyes open as we launch into a completely different world. Hooting, all stuffed in a small car, motorbikes with five people, including small children and even sleeping babies on board! We get there and the hotel won't let us check in. The children are fast asleep in the hotel foyer - there's still a Christmas tree at reception. We are spaced out and without a place to go. We tried to hang out in the mall, but with the children sleeping wherever we put them, we weren't allowed to rest. At one point I looked up to see security staff on each of the four or five floors above us looking down - like snipers from a spy film. They wanted us to move on, but to where?! Eventually we got into the hotel but our flat was not yet cleaned. We waited by the pool and all was well. Exhausted, we found ourselves a corner and the children conked out! Needless to say, an early night was had by all as we found our way to the 11th floor. We didn't stay up for fireworks, and when I could hear them from my bed, I couldn't bring myself to head to the balcony even.


1st Jan - The New Year has started and we're still getting our bearings. Where in the world are we?! We heard that our flight to Simeulue due to go out that day had been delayed by two days. What to do. We took our time to briefly explore Medan, heading to the big mosque (Masjid Raja) and a palace. I had to make a quick costume change outside the mosque to be allowed in - leggings on, headscarf adorned, and I am sure on the Facebook account of every passing Indonesian. All very strange experiences, the rubbish overwhelming, not a western-looking person in sight. We bump into a family of Danish people who say they have just visited a place outside Medan. They gave us the name of a homestay and the number of the host, and that evening a few WhatsApp messages later and we had a plan! Off we're heading to Berastagi and Lake Toba. We haven't much idea of what to expect, but we have a plan.


2nd Jan - After a few hours of driving fast on bendy roads, watching as sinkholes and landslides appear on the journey - motorbikes draped in ponchos and busy bustling roads. Our eyes are on stalks. A vanload of eggs on the bumpy journey, motorbike sidecars loaded to fuller than full with sacks of rice or water supplies, whole families and all sorts. Eventually after consistently busy traffic and several toilet and snack stops demanded by the children, we pull in to a back lane. The bricks are broken, it's dirty. What have we done?! Thankfully, just around the bend was the warm welcome and informative briefing from Meri and her family. Her house is huge, white polished floors and steep stairs. The views go all around opening out to smallholder plots and surrounded by volcanoes. This was Berastagi - the adventure begins. We decide not to push it too far, the children have already been pretty awesome, but as tempting as a sunrise walk to the top of the volcano is, we reluctantly rein ourselves back and explore a bit closer.



The view from our Berastagi Homestay
The view from our Berastagi Homestay


We head to a point of interest nearby and return via the market where Oliver is insistent on finding a starfruit ('belimbing'). By this point I have been trying hard to dust off my best Indonesian, which has been lying dormant for over 14 years and despite practicing on Duolingo each night for several months beforehand, I seem to have forgotten almost everything! Anyway, a goosechase to find a starfruit helped. Everyone we saw shouted, "ooh kembar!" at us - yes, yes, they are twins.. selfies and videos ensued. We kept moving to stop crowds from building. And no, no starfruit. Every stallholder we asked told us a different place to look and despite the mounds of fresh fruit, it was nowhere to be seen!



Berastagi Market
Berastagi Market


In the evening we found some food and sat on the rooftop terrace - we were awake, happy and it was the first time we could draw breath and enjoy eachother's company with a torchlit feast (mainly of crisps and fruit!) whilst we heard the buzzing of the insects, the call to prayer reverberating around the ring of volcanoes, karaoke and fireworks. Jet lag was simmering, but we were happy and we were together. Tomorrow was a new day.



Twins get good at sharing!
Twins get good at sharing!


3rd Jan - We had some sleep, a bit of musical beds, a bit of excitement too early in the morning which led to some alone time watching the sun come up on the roof terrace and then off we go! We wish farewell to our Berastagi friends and head on.


First we stopped at the waterfall - it's boiling, the children are still tired, and it's a pretty long walk to the bottom. Needless to say, Mum stayed at the top whilst people approached her and commented on her beautifully pointy nose (!!), whilst the twins trundled on and we weren't quite sure how far to push our luck. We did almost get there, and did see our first monkeys - although sadly one was sucking a lollipop and another was playing with a plastic bottle - but we thought we'd play it safe and get everyone back up before we had to carry the lot!


On to Lake Toba where the driver stopped so that we could have lunch in the floating restaurant. The fish were one minute swimming in a net just below where we were sitting, off a sort of pier, and next minute they were on our plate. All very hand to mouth, but thankfully we thought better of opting for the only outdoor table as the heavens opened and there was 'hujan' (rain!) galore!


With lunch finished, we headed to the lake beach for a swim - the beach was tiny, everyone was staring at us and Rowan was going to explode if he didn't swim. I was not going to get changed into my cozzie with the eyes of the whole beach firmly fixed on me and selfies at the ready. Instead, Rowan leapt in the murky lake water and swam to a small family, refusing to come out of the water. At all times on show, we had to keep our cool. We washed everyone off at the Indo loo - a bucket and scoop was provided and the water was cold. Thankfully somewhere a generator was on so the twins' screams melted into silence with each scoopful of water trickling down their backs. They had been splashing it what was essentially a bog, so we had to wash them off. After finally using every empty threat we could muster, we got them off the beach and made the journey back to Medan winding down the road that we had arrived on for miles and miles. As it got darker, the driver was finding his way as if by braille as motorbikes with no headlights and seriously hard rain thwarted the journey. It was busy with big trucks and dodging bikes but eventually we made it to the safety of the airport hotel. Phewph! We had certainly made the most of our couple of days to marvel at Medan and be astounded by a dip in a totally different culture. Full immersion.


Swimming at Lake Toba - the largest volcanic lake in the world.
Swimming at Lake Toba - the largest volcanic lake in the world.
Fishing for our lunch
Fishing for our lunch
Waterfall walk
Waterfall walk

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