Sumatra - truly Indonesia - Das wahre Indonesien



Many people are saying that Sumatra is the real Indonesia. In that case, we are very glad to experience this. On the other hand, I would avoid a second journey. Why??? There are many reason. One of them is the rubbish. On my travels, Indonesia is one of the dirtiest country so far. Packages, plastic bags, cans and bottles were found everywhere. On the beach, in the river, in the ocean, on the road and in the wood. It seems that locals have no relationship to trash at all. One day we were witnessing that a lady emptied a full trash bin into the river. If they don’t throw the trash into the river, they are burning it. Nobody is worried about the smoke from the plastic which is actually not really healthy. A friend told us that boats going out to the ocean to throw trash aboard. The rubbish get separated. One place is just for tires and another one is for oil barrels. Awesome, isn’t it.
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A normal beach
Don't know the name but beautiful
Ines likes fruit stalls
It’s already normal to rip tourist off. They try to increase the prices for something, hitch hiking is non-sense (everyone want to earn some money), people were stealing who we liked and trusted and national parks rose entrance fees for over 300 percent (to keep the parks clean LOL). Try to obey every rule like wearing a helmet. The locals don’t do this but the police will be glad to catch a tourist. I just can advice you to learn a little bit Indonesian. People will treat and respect you in a different way.
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More trash
A slippery act
Sunset in Padang
Sumatra is quite similar to a big zoo. Money is more important to tour agencies than mother nature itself. Riding on an elephant, hugging and kissing orang-utans or tracing a tiger didn’t feel right to us. Some people will say that we are overacting, but we think that we should respect animals like humans. Travelling has always something to do with responsibly.
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Minangkabau house
Local market
A little brave kid
Of course not every person or place is like this. I’m just writing about places where we have actual been. Between all the doom-mongering, there were still nice people and awesome places like Krui, Padang, Gunung Sibayak or Lake Toba. Anyway, the important thing is to be ready for Sumatra like it is. The truly Indonesia! Are you doing this, you will never have problems.
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Krui beach 
No room in the car - anyway
Push, Push little man

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