It all seemed so easy... a 3.5 hour bus to Medan, then a 3 hour bus to Bewkit Lewang. But the journey, via public transit, was an experience in and of itself. The local buses should have only cost 26,000 rupiah, which is about 3 US dollars. It was the only way, as private transport would have cost more like 700,000 ($80) and a tourist bus with delayed times, was 80,000 ($9). It started with the ferry back across the lake (7,000 rp).
It was 9 am and for once the sun was shining over the lake. I new a local bus would be waiting when I stepped off the 20 minute boat ride. There were abot 15 other tourists going in the same direction so I was not too worried. But when the boat "docked," which is to say it nose ended into the cement wall and we all jumped off the front, everyone scattered. I saw a bus and headed towards it. A local man said that bus was not going to Medan, but he had a bus that was for 18,000 rp... the price I already had been quoted. But I had to wait "just 5 minutes." As I waited, I learned the bus that was already there was going to Medan, so I got on it. A huge argument broke out between all of the bus opperators over who would drive the American to Medan. The man tried to pull, litterally, me off the bus twice. They started throwing luggaage off the bottom of the bus. I had taken both my backpacks with me onto the bus. There was an Austrailan man with his new Indonesian bride (they were on their honeymoon) sitting on the bus watching. She tried to politely tell the man that we had the choice to go on whichever bus we wanted. They had to go get their luggage off the ground, as theirs was pulled off too. Finally, the bus left, the man accepted that he lost a customer, and I was on my way to Medan. The bus was 18,000 rp in the end.
(to be continued...)
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