Arrival Adventures

Left Tucson on Friday, June 24th and it is now Monday, June 27th (in Indonesia) and what a great adventure it has been already...in just this short time and with only one day in Sumatra actually.  Read "Three Cups of Tea" (which had been sitting on my bookshelf begging to be read for a while now) on my flights to San Francisco and Narita and that made those flights go so quickly and smoothly.  It was a great read to start this trip - had some important messages for me.  And, then, I slept most of the flight from Narita to Singapore (much needed sleep!) and arrived in that amazing airport rested and ready to find my Dustin-y.  It was so wonderful to ride the tram from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, exit, walk no more than 300 feet and find him coming from his gate.  Yeah!  Just amazing the way things work out some times.  We passed the seven hour layover in Singapore walking around all three terminals (and riding the travellators), playing with puzzles and stamps set up by a local Asian art museum, walking through a butterfly garden, an orchid garden, and resting near a koi pond in the fern garden.  Surprisingly, those seven hours passed so quickly and so nicely!

Then, we boarded our flight for Medan and the real adventures began.  It has been so much fun here already and the learning curve has been steep - but  we are doing well.  We arrived around 8am in the tiny and simple Medan airport where we gave our fingerprints and smiles to the immigration officials and then gathered our bags...all except for Dustin's blue bag which had been left behind in Singapore.  He was quickly swept up by a nice official who knew all about the missing bag, but knew nothing at the same time.  After some talk and much paperwork, we were sent on our way with some cash and a number to call in the evening to see if the bag arrived on the next flight.  Good news is that it did and what a happy reunion D and the blue bag had at about 9pm yesterday. 

Meanwhile, there was another bag incident to be dealt with and that involved me getting my huge, heavy suitcase (full of books and clothes for teaching and that sort of work stuff) to Zulfah's house so that I could backpack it for the two weeks of travel and discovery with Dustin.  Zulfah had graciously given me her daughter's cell phone numbers which I called after having slept deeply for a few hours.  I got a hold of one daughter, but she was in a very noisy place and we couldn't hear each other well...that, plus language barriers, made the conversation difficult and then the call was lost.  So, I tried the other daughter...and I got this very nice young woman on the phone who explained she was working...a receptionist...what did I need...she couldn't really take my bag as she lived in a dorm...she couldn't get it to her mom's house as she lived 4 hours away from her mom...and it took a while, but I finally realized that I was talking to the receptionist of the hotel, not Zulfah's daughter, and that I had asked her to do me this huge favor which she was in no position to do, but which she also felt obliged to help me with in some way.  It was totally funny and embarassing and once I figured out what I was doing and how I had done it ("You must dial 9, Miss Julie.") I thanked her and apologized and tried calling Zulfah's daughter back.  In the meantime, Zulfah herself called and when we finally connected it turned out that her daughter would be able to come by and pick up the bag in the evening.  She is so nice and it was great to meet her and to get that big, heavy bag out of my life for a while.  Yeah!

Other adventures thus far include riding in a metered taxi (nice! - Blue Bird is the recommended company), a becak (poor little bike and side car laboring with all of our weight), and a really beat up, unmetered taxi - all in our journies back and forth to the airport yesterday.  I studied my Bahasa Indonesia numbers while in Narita and that has proven useful...but I have much language study to do!  I feel so uncivilized not being able to greet people properly or ask complete questions.  I will definitely work on that.  And, there is a banking problem which I have to sort out today...but at least Dustin's ATM card works :-)

All in all, I am so happy and loving this journey so far.  We ate a delicious dinner last night and an amazing breakfast today and soon we'll head out to a shopping area, a bank, and then off to the bus depot to get a ride to Bukit Lawang to see the Orangutans.  Can't post pictures at this free hotel computer...but will add some later.

Here to There

Leaving soon...a long and winding path to get from Tucson, Arizona to Medan, Indonesia.  I'll be "in transit" for about 36 hours...passing through San Francisco (hi Steph!), Narita, Japan (hi Yamanakas!), and Singapore.  From the dry desert heat to the tropical heat and green of Sumatra!

Home - Tucson, Arizona


Medan, Sumatra