Saturday, June 23, 2007

Sumatran School Dayz

Our first solo drive on Indonesia's crazy motorways was to see Lake Maninjau, about 2 hours from home. Once off the main truck roads, driving really isn't so bad. The biggest problem is that the countryside is so incredible that keeping my eyes on the road was really tough. The lake is down in a crater which makes for great views, and a windy windy road. There's a sign at each of the 42 'acknowledged' hairpins letting you know just how far you still have to go. Funny. From up the hill, we had noticed what looked like fisheries all along the lake's edge, so we stopped to check one out. We got permission from some random kid to raft out and walk on one. It's quite a setup, dozens of net tanks filled with thousands of fish. Later, we saw the lucky fish being tossed into clear trashbags half filled with water, just like the goldfish you got from the store as a kid full sized. But these were heading back into town on a flatbed truck for our dinner.Our plan to circumnavigate the lake and be home in time for tea was derailed early on when a couple kids on a scooter pulled up and started chatting. Long story short, it was their turn to capture tourists to bring back to their English school. We really had nothing better to do, so we followed them to a nearby town and let their mates quiz us with stock questions on our age, favorite color and food, job, etc. Mary got the smart ones; I got the 2nd month students who could only read the questions in their notebooks. We eventually escaped to face the harrowing drive UP the crater wall and back to town for dinner.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What's with all the boys on the left and girls on the right dealie in the photo?