Bengkulu to Sungai Penuh (Sumatra, Indonesia)

For an updated version of this post, go here.

I am starting to have a rough idea of what it would be like to be famous. Not five minutes after sitting down in a restaurant I was surrounded by four young Indonesians (three males, one female). One of the males politely asked (in English) if him and his friends could join but before the ‘y’ in yes escaped my lips I had three new friends.

Not two seconds after they sat down a young female came to our table and pulled up a chair next to me. She was very sweet (nice eyes, pretty smile)....and hellbent on getting a photo. She handed her camera phone to one of the gents and the photo session began. One photo was taken with her standing and me sitting but she decided that this did not properly showcase my mutanthood.

I was ordered to stand so a more accurate representation of our height discrepancy could be obtained. She thanked me and went back to her table. I am fairly sure she never took her eyes off me right up until she left. Of course the males jumped on the bandwagon and started their own photo session. The only thing missing was a request for an autograph.

After the photo session it was time for English practice. Mister, what your name? Where you from? How long in Indonesia? What your phone number? What your e-mail? Tell me your unforgettable experience in Indonesia? What your parents still alive? What job your parents? Do you have suggestion to effectively study English? How you understand problem with my English? How many days you stay here? I’m stay Bukittinggi. You come Bukittinggi? Want stay my house? When you come? I call you. Sorry for disturb you. I want come to visit country like America. You have girlfriend? What religion are you?

What the hell is Orang Pendek? (Sumatra, Indonesia)

For a revised version of this post, go here.

June 24^th, 2009 – I've been strategizing, planning, and getting sick . . . . again. This time I think the culprit was fried chicken. Damn Colonel Sanders!!! I’ve been trying to make jungle plans and have met with the usual amount of frustration. At my last hotel I inquired into the possibility of doing some trekking. The gentleman behind the desk made a couple of calls and a guide met me at the hotel.

Well, Yan is a former guide as I soon discovered but an extremely nice guy. We soon became friends. He told me that although he no longer conducted guided tours he did have a friend who would help me out. This friend (Sahar) had some interesting experience. Apparently, he assisted some folks working under the aegis of National Geographic and their search for the mysterious orang pendek.

What the hell is orang pendek you ask? That would be Sumatra’s version of bigfoot, albeit a scaled down version (about 3ft tall – Littlefoot?). There have been rumors for many years of a small hairy humanoid creature roaming the junglein Kerinci National Park. Sahar helped set up and maintain motion activated cameras in certain areas of the jungle. The experiment proved fruitless. The little hairy bastard is an allusive bugger (Check out the Orang Pendek Project homepage). I was also told that Sahar assists a professional photographer that periodically visits the area. I found this most propitious and agreed to meet him in his village after leaving Sungai Penuh.