Sumatra: Off the Beaten Path in Asia (page 2 of 3)

Great!

Thanks for the website address! I thought I might find some info on South Africa there. Almost! ;)

Kyrgyzstan is amazing... we loved that country!

I also went to check out your site—bravo, it’s really well done and beautifully written!

Thanks, Regis! It’s true that we really like writing... And congrats on your animal photos on your site! ;)

I really love the writing style. So much talent, bravo!

Congrats on your trip report! Bravo! It’s well-written, very clear, and packed with great practical tips.

I went to Lake Toba in the early 80s! I imagine it’s still just as beautiful... though I’ll still miss the Batak house roofs where corrugated iron has now replaced woven palm...

As for the lobster tasting—that’s new to me. More like langoustines, right? Do they really bring them all the way there? From Padang? With the transport, freshness isn’t guaranteed ;) I’m a little surprised.

I checked out your blog, especially the Georgia section, and it’s made me want to go and do a trek like yours there.

Thanks so much for your comment!

About the lobster: good catch! I actually wrote "lobster" to keep things simple, but they’re really big crayfish! I’ll correct that in the Lake Toba article... ;)

Hello and a big thank you for this feedback! Fascinating! I’m heading to Sumatra in January, and your insights really interest me. I plan to meet the Flower Men as well.

Thanks, and happy travels ahead! Florence

Awesome!

I'm glad you liked the Sumatra travel journal. Have a great trip!

Awesome!

I'm glad you liked the Sumatra report. Have a great trip!

Thanks for this great report. I’d forgotten about the Batak roofs and how beautiful it was. I spent two months there 20 years ago—almost makes me want to go back!

The Mentawai area is really nice if you love hiking in primary forest.

Will you be traveling alone?

Sumatra as a solo woman can be really, really tough. I traveled there for 2 months and was never so on edge—constant come-ons, worse than in India, where I’d lived before that trip. Guys are often looking for a woman who can support them (that was the case with several couples I met), and it’s exhausting.

After that, I traveled with another woman, and it was better. Then with a guy, and I really enjoyed it more—I became invisible :)

Will you be all alone?

Well no, she’ll be with the flower men ;)

: Sumatra, as beautiful as it is, only reveals itself to backpackers / adventurers who can do without cozy, comfortable 3-star hotels

It’s nice to try to preserve the island from mass tourism, but that’s not entirely true. 😉

If Sumatra only offered spartan comfort for adventurers, I never would’ve gone...

It's nice to try to preserve the island from mass tourism, but that's not entirely true. 😉

If Sumatra offered only spartan comfort for adventurers, I never would've gone...

If you stick to the classic well-marked routes like Medan-Berastagi-Bukit Lawang-Lake Toba... You can indeed find a cozy hotel at every stop, and that’s been the case since the '90s. It’s true that compared to the vast size of Sumatra, it’s not much, and it’s a bit like those who come to France and first visit Paris to see the Louvre, go up the Eiffel Tower, then spend an hour at the Palace of Versailles before visiting one or two châteaux in the Loire Valley, the Puy du Fou in Vendée, or Futuroscope in Poitiers, then take a quick trip to an Atlantic beach before catching their return flight from Bordeaux/Paris😏

hi it's true that you can find comfortable accommodations in the spots Djalma mentioned, as well as in Bukittinggi. But what "classy" places have you found in Harau Valley or around Lake Maninjau (which are still tourist sites... here it's more like mandi toilets, mosquito nets patched up with multi-colored tape, only cold water, rusty nails for your towel and washcloth, chickens running around and pooping on your bungalow terrace...) cheers jean-louis

Great travel journal—it really inspired us! I think we’re heading to Sumatra this summer (after a lot of back-and-forth).

We’d considered Sumatra + Java, but Sumatra is so diverse that there’s plenty to keep us busy while keeping a relaxed pace...

You could compare Bali to a highway, Sumatra to a country road—the title of the travel journal really reflects reality.

But in both cases, we're far from adventure. Unless we're trivializing the word.

Adventure is more like the conquest of the West or the first steps on the moon. The truly unreasonable.

What "classy" accommodations did you find in Harau Valley?

A quick search on Maps, Booking, and Airbnb turns up several places that are far from your apocalyptic description... Places where I could sleep well even as a regular tourist, not some adventurer.

Same in Maninjau.

If I ruled out the big Sumatra crossing 10 years ago, it was because of the long bus ride between the island’s two main attractions—not because of a lack of decent places to stay.

Honestly, I’ll be with a partner, so there’ll be two of us. Your message made me laugh! I think once you’re over 60, you’re a bit more protected! 😄 But it can happen anywhere—I’ve experienced it in Latin America. Luckily, there’ll be the flower men 🌺🌺

You could compare Bali to a highway, Sumatra to a country road—the title of the travel journal reflects reality.

Sumatra is almost the size of France! While there may be a country road from Medan to Sibolga, there are also vast areas that are practically unexplored, at least by adventure seekers. And if you haven’t found what you’re looking for in Sumatra, there are still the Mentawai Islands. A few daring travelers are starting to take an interest in Siberut, even though it’s been accessible for over 35 years. Now, it’s being coveted by agencies that have added it to their programs for photo safaris with the "Flower Men," but in the other three islands, I’d be surprised if you ran into many visitors.

Just to remind you what was written:

Sumatra, as beautiful as it is, is only for backpackers / adventurers who can do without cozy and comfortable 3-star hotels

This travel journal isn’t about remote spots at all. All the places mentioned have accommodations listed on Booking, Airbnb, etc. It’s about Sumatra, an island off the beaten path but accessible to any traveler like me. You don’t need to be an adventurer, backpacker, or rough traveler to go there.