The island of Sumatra is home to over 50 million inhabitants and is the 6th biggest island in the world. It's dense rain forests in the Northern half provide a home for wild orangutans with only one other place on planet earth taking claim to such a beautiful creature and that being the island of Borneo. Sumatra takes on a different breed of travellers. Ones seeking adventure and a challenge, even more so for the ones doing it alone. Here are a few troubles a solo traveller can run into.
Language barriers are set for backpackers all over the world but Sumatra definitely sets the barrier higher. This is something I caught wind of before evening setting foot on the island itself. A few weeks prior I ran into a Malaysian backpacker in India named Alex who told me he even had trouble with conversational exchanges. The language of Malay has official status in four of the ten countries in South East Asia, two of which are Indonesia and Malaysia. With that being said even Alex ran into situations where the barrier was just too much. He said he would place an order at a restaurant and he would receive something completely different. Something I found very interesting and a issue many backpackers (like myself) have run into well before Alex. Thanks to him I went there knowing this and kept my patience as best as I could during any "conversation(s)" during my stay. No reason to get heated when it's neither the fault of the local for not knowing English or myself for not knowing the local tongue.
In Sumatra's more favored destinations, such as the island of Paulo Weh off the Northern tip, there has actually been cliques of western tourists formed which provides another intriguing challenge for solo travellers. It reminded me of situations in high school when new students arrivedand they simply would try to make friends but the others were put off by the "new kid". They thought to themselves who the heck is this person and why are they here? Or at least that's the impression I got from a few handful of the western-locals there. Some of the western-locals are long stayers on extended holiday, some moved from their homeland to start a new beginning, some met a Indonesian-local to start a family and others just sold what they had at home and made Paulo Weh a permanent residency due to it's captivating laid back lifestyle. Fortunately for backpackers Paulo Weh is a massive scuba diving and snorkeling destination so one could use their respective dive centre as an inlet into a social group. While it's not the traditional way for backpackers to gain companions at a particular destination it's nice to have common ground such as diving or snorkeling to break into the clique. Once you're "accepted" the island feels like family, something I figured out first hand. The breaking in took a few days but it made me understand why people permanently live there. It goes deeper then the diving (pun intended). The locals are out of this world friendly and island lifestyle grabs you tight with no intentions of letting go.
Another issue with hitting Sumatra solo is it attacks your wallet just a little bit harder then a couple or group of friends on holiday. This is reflected mostly in accommodation. For example, a decent bungalow/room with a queen size bed runs at about 8 USD on Paulo Weh (There are cheaper ones and more expensive ones but we'll try try and find a happy medium here). For a serious diver who might want to stay up to two weeks not being able to split that in half with a partner or the option of a dorm bed, because they're nonexistent, at half the cost the USD's really add up. 14 days X 4 USD = 56 USD. That 56 USD could be put towards a few tasty cocktails and meals or three more dives, with all the gear! I paid just under 19 USD per dive at my dive centre which amounts to almost exactly 56 USD. Luckily for me I found a fellow diver on the ferry over to the island and we split a room for 10 nights but it's definitely an issue anyone can run into. I just happen to be on the right ferry at the right time.
Sumatra is just one of the many places around the world not necessarily tailored towards solo travellers. But with a tad bit of patience and social interaction between backpackers along the way these issues can be lessoned and even eliminated.
Just as usual I threw together some of my favorite pictures from my five weeks on Sumatra. A little mixture of everything!
Language barriers are set for backpackers all over the world but Sumatra definitely sets the barrier higher. This is something I caught wind of before evening setting foot on the island itself. A few weeks prior I ran into a Malaysian backpacker in India named Alex who told me he even had trouble with conversational exchanges. The language of Malay has official status in four of the ten countries in South East Asia, two of which are Indonesia and Malaysia. With that being said even Alex ran into situations where the barrier was just too much. He said he would place an order at a restaurant and he would receive something completely different. Something I found very interesting and a issue many backpackers (like myself) have run into well before Alex. Thanks to him I went there knowing this and kept my patience as best as I could during any "conversation(s)" during my stay. No reason to get heated when it's neither the fault of the local for not knowing English or myself for not knowing the local tongue.
In Sumatra's more favored destinations, such as the island of Paulo Weh off the Northern tip, there has actually been cliques of western tourists formed which provides another intriguing challenge for solo travellers. It reminded me of situations in high school when new students arrivedand they simply would try to make friends but the others were put off by the "new kid". They thought to themselves who the heck is this person and why are they here? Or at least that's the impression I got from a few handful of the western-locals there. Some of the western-locals are long stayers on extended holiday, some moved from their homeland to start a new beginning, some met a Indonesian-local to start a family and others just sold what they had at home and made Paulo Weh a permanent residency due to it's captivating laid back lifestyle. Fortunately for backpackers Paulo Weh is a massive scuba diving and snorkeling destination so one could use their respective dive centre as an inlet into a social group. While it's not the traditional way for backpackers to gain companions at a particular destination it's nice to have common ground such as diving or snorkeling to break into the clique. Once you're "accepted" the island feels like family, something I figured out first hand. The breaking in took a few days but it made me understand why people permanently live there. It goes deeper then the diving (pun intended). The locals are out of this world friendly and island lifestyle grabs you tight with no intentions of letting go.
Another issue with hitting Sumatra solo is it attacks your wallet just a little bit harder then a couple or group of friends on holiday. This is reflected mostly in accommodation. For example, a decent bungalow/room with a queen size bed runs at about 8 USD on Paulo Weh (There are cheaper ones and more expensive ones but we'll try try and find a happy medium here). For a serious diver who might want to stay up to two weeks not being able to split that in half with a partner or the option of a dorm bed, because they're nonexistent, at half the cost the USD's really add up. 14 days X 4 USD = 56 USD. That 56 USD could be put towards a few tasty cocktails and meals or three more dives, with all the gear! I paid just under 19 USD per dive at my dive centre which amounts to almost exactly 56 USD. Luckily for me I found a fellow diver on the ferry over to the island and we split a room for 10 nights but it's definitely an issue anyone can run into. I just happen to be on the right ferry at the right time.
Sumatra is just one of the many places around the world not necessarily tailored towards solo travellers. But with a tad bit of patience and social interaction between backpackers along the way these issues can be lessoned and even eliminated.
Just as usual I threw together some of my favorite pictures from my five weeks on Sumatra. A little mixture of everything!
