26 March 2008 – Wednesday
We were up early for our trip to Sumatra. I am not going into much detail about the trip so here are the highlights. It takes 5 hours from our house to the docks of Sumatra. That is about 2 hours in the car to the ferry port, an hour that somehow gets lost and two hours from the port to Sumatra. The trip across the strait was fine and was made better by a breeze. Unfortunately it was over cast and so we could not see the islands that dot the straits very well.
Once at Sumatra we had a 2 hour drive to Lampung. We took a couple of side roads and got to see some lovely rice fields, lots of yards that were filled with flowers, and the true back country of Indonesia that is found along small roads. We even got to go onto a beach where Mary got her feet wet and picked up some shells.
In Lampung we met the young brother Kencanna who showed us his new business – analyzing blood – and then took us on a non-guided tour of the city. We had an exotic lunch at McDonalds – it was that or eat off the street – before wandering around for hour into areas he had never seen. We again got on some smaller roads and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a smaller city suburbs.
We only had two hours in Lampung and then started the 7 hour trip back to our apartment. The reason it takes two hours to get to the port from Lampung is because it is a two lane road that is filled with slow moving trucks. But we did get to see two truck loads of elephants and met a couple of young men on a modified scooter that had water buffalo horns tied to the handle bars. We would meet them again on the ferry home.
The ferry home was great fun. After being driven off the back of the boat by very loud music we went to the front where we became the main attraction. Some people I am sure laughed at us but others wanted to have their pictures taken with us. I gave out two pass-along cards and one business card. We met a man who spoke excellent English and we had a nice talk about what we were doing and his business.
The sunset went from nice to gorgeous and we pulled into the Java port in the dark but surrounded by the multitude of lights both on the sea and the shore. Once we got past a section of road that has been completely destroyed by all the heavy trucks that pass over it, the trip back to the apartment went well.
So all in all the experience was good but I would not do it again. I would take one day to get there, one day to tour the sights of the Southern tip of the island, and then the next day head home. In that way you could leave at a reasonable time – like 9 a.m. and have a relaxing time on Sumatra.
The Lord was kind to us. The seas were calm, the car ran well, and we were able to do some missionary work. All of these are the Lord’s tender mercies of this day.