One hit too many
Just as we were making an effort to get the blog up to date, a woman in a Toyota 4x4 decides to take John out, resulting in all the data (new MacBook, and hard drives) drowning in a swamp in north western Sumatra, Indonesia. It has been a busy past few weeks, and we have decided to tell the story while it is fresh in our minds.
We had just spent 5 days diving on Pulau Weh, an island off of the northern tip of Sumatra. On the ferry on the way back to the mainland, the month old, YSS custom-made rear shock decided to collapse when the bike was moved, without our knowledge, on the vehicle deck. We were not impressed, and even less so when the crew wouldn’t own up to it, or help us out. They were more interested in posing for pics on the bike, which infuriated us. Admittedly, they did help us by organising a small flat bed truck to transport the bike to our guest house in Banda Aceh, at our own expense of course. Now another problem to solve, after only 1 month the shock has given way and now Kelly is pushed for time as she has a job to start back home in Australia in October. We had organised an itinerary to get her as far as eastern Java on the bike, from where she would have had to make her own way home. We knew that getting a new shock to us in Banda Aceh would take time, so the planned route would now no longer happen.
We made a few phonecalls and sent a few emails to all that could help us and a Mr Grattianno from Jakarta could help us out with a second hand BMW original shock to get us on our way. By the time we had arranged this, we had already been in Banda Aceh for 7 days. The part arrived and was fitted immediately, but we both felt that it wouldn’t be able to carry a rider, pillion and luggage, so all of a sudden, that was the end of Kelly and John’s adventure. We had met over two years ago in India and to have to part like this was a real kick in the guts. Kelly would now head south towards home through Indonesia and East Timor backpacker style, definitely a shock to the system after all this time on the bike. After an emotional farewell I set off down the west coast, hoping to catch Kelly at Lake Toba. The first section out of Banda Aceh was roadworks, and this stretch seemed to go on forever but no problems were had going through the fresh sand and gravel. Due to the late start I only made it 100km from Banda Aceh, to a place called Calang.
The next morning I set off, hoping to get as far as possible. The road was good (totally rebuilt since the 2004 tsunami) and the coastal views of small islands made it a pleasant ride, that was until a lady in a Toyota 4x4 decided to take me out.
Passing through a village just 7km north of Meulaboh, the road had a series of small bridges. The road didn't change in width with the bridges, but this woman obviously thought it did and as I passed by she swerved in my right rear pannier causing it to explode and launch itself 15ft up across the bike and land down the embankment into a stream/swamp. I had a bit of a tank slapper which sent me down the embankment, I tried to recover to go back up but the rear end just slid away. Time for an adrenalin rush as I got off the bike and examined the poor thing lying there. I took a few snaps as the camera was around my neck, then with the help of the locals we pushed it up the bank onto the road. Noticing that the pannier was missing I went back to the bridge where one of the guys had picked up a few items and was just about to wade into the swampy undergrowth to recover a pannier box in the water. It was on its side and my new laptop was still in it under the water. He pulled it up the bank and returned to look for more items, we piled all the bits of kit up and then pushed the bike into a shop forecourt. I turned around to thank and reward the young guy who pulled my kit out of the swamp only to find he had run off to the Mosque as he was late for prayers. The woman driver turned up then, all happy and smiley - whether this was seeing me ok or the shock I couldn't tell. Next a little inspection of the poor old bike, the rear pannier rack had folded back and up, this sent me another shock as I thought about what would have happened if Kelly had been on the bike, it wouldn't bear thinking about.
The police turned up and as no one could speak English I was a little unsure of what was going to happen, normally foreigners are always to blame and always have to pay out. The ribs by now were starting to hurt along with a bit of groin strain and when I took the jacket off I also had a friction burn on my right elbow, which was also becoming a little stiff. We picked up the gear and loaded it onto the police wagon and went off to the cop shop. The wet gear was spread out there to dry and the Mac which took the full brunt of the impact was stuck in its case by a broken zip, so having cut the zip we emptied the water out. It is only a month old and so I wasn't impressed with the woman. I kicked up a bit of a stink as the evidence of the collision proved it to be her fault, I made this point several times while we waited for an interpreter to come out of the mosque. When he arrived, he explained that normally with things like this, each party pays for their own damage. Me being stubborn and a bit p***ed didn’t agree, they also told me that she like most people do not have insurance. So now it was time to involve the Chief of Police of the traffic division. This involved going back to the crash scene then heading further on to Meulaboh. The bike was rideable and didn't sound too bad, the master cylinder was leaking some fluid so after a little bending of framework we set off to see the Chief.
On arrival we got out all the gear to dry again and then waited for the boss, he turned out to be a good guy. Initially he suggested that each party pays for itself, I declined this and was still adamant that as it was her fault she was to pay, or at least pay for the mechanic’s bill. I also made a fuss over my new broken laptop. He called in the mechanics from the Yamaha dealership and after 20 mins we took the bike off to their workshop. More metal bending and they'd got the frame back into a reasonable shape. The pannier I thought was a write off, I'd be back in the morning to collect whatever they could do with it. Back to the police compound to pick up my gear then they took me off to a good hotel to rest and we'd carry on the discussion tomorrow.
The ribs that evening played up so not much sleep was had, then just as I nodded off my bike alarm went off, I ran out of the room only to catch the culprit riding off on his scooter, me in a towel in great pain - what could I really do if someone wanted the bike?! Next morning I got to the workshop when after 20 minutes they turned up with a nearly as good as new box, only thing lacking was hinges and a lock but as I wanted to get to Kelly asap I said I'd sort that later. The police turned up and said it was time to see the Chief and off we went. In his office were a few extra people: an interpreter and his friend. I explained that I'd thought the mechanics bill should be settled and at least a donation given for me to send my Mac back to Singapore for repairs. The Chief told me that a request for anything more was possible as it was her fault, but may take several months in the courts, so I just settled for being a little necky. The woman and her husband were briefed about my request and then brought into the office. This method they call the village or family way and keeps it all very informal. They agreed and offered 120 GBP towards the postal costs and the Chief said he had paid for the mechanics himself as a goodwill gesture and that he hoped I was happy with the outcome. He said he hoped that I would still enjoy the rest of my time in Indonesia, and after lots of handshakes and photographs it was time to head off. I was actually quite impressed with the outcome, as I was expecting to pay for it all myself. Just goes to show that not all police are bad or corrupt.
I got back to the hotel, packed up and headed off for a 200km ride down to Tapaktuan. On arriving I thought the pain I was in warranted a couple of days rest. This town doesn't really have much going for it apart from some lovely beaches to the north. Checking these out made me realise that this country has to be the most smiley country I have visited, everyone sees you coming and greets with a big smile or for those curious but shy, you always get one back after a little grin. The only confusing issue I've had here was on arrival checking out some guesthouses you ask if they have vacancies and they reply “sorry full“, even though it's clear they aren't. Maybe it's a foreigner thing? After a little rest it was time to get to Lake Toba. The distance or time quotes you get off of everybody are always different so I just go at my own pace and stop once the sun begins to set.
The next day and another close call, this place is getting more like India everyday. The ribs are killing me but as Kelly is up at Lake Toba I made it my mission to make it there and have a little rest. Unbeknownst to me that it was going to be another close call.
It had just stopped raining and I was heading up a steep incline with a minivan not too far ahead of me when a car came sliding around the bend all out of control fishtailing downhill towards me and the van. Rock cliff face one side or a steep drop into the unknown the other. It was a bit of twitcher. Thankfully the car hit the minivan first then came to a stop on the other side. The van started rolling backwards towards me out of control as the driver looked out of the window with a look of horror on his face. He then threw himself out of the window and landed in a snotty heap. The van carried on swerving over the edge of the embankment into a big ravine never to be seen again.
I raced up to level ground to park the bike up and ran down to help the fella, then a hysterical blood soaked woman made her way up to the top. I ran back to get a towel to help stem the blood flow from a gaping wound to her head (it looked like a seat belt bolt had pierced the side of her skull). I tried to calm her down and stem the blood flow while others just watched on. The ambulance wasn't coming so when a fruit truck came by it was commandeered to take them to hospital. The man was just lifted without concern for his injuries and they wanted to do the same to the woman. I negotiated with my gestures as my Indonesian is pretty non existent that we will get her in without just picking her up like a rag doll as I didn't know if she had jumped out of the van or crawled out of a wreck (the van was out of sight and could have been up to 50 or 100ft or more down the hillside). The idiot driver of the fruit truck also tried to pull away as we were just getting the lady into the back and the person who volunteered to go in was also just hanging off, when the driver tried to pull away a second time.
One of the car crew helps the injured lady up the embankment
This is the poor bloke who threw himself out of the window
The items you see are the supplies that had fallen out of the van, the van is no longer visible, I presume the lady also jumped out here before it was too late
The police turned up a few minutes later and weren't too concerned about a statement - a bit like the drivers and passengers in the other car, they were not too concerned either, looks like just another day on the roads of Indonesia.
Hopefully they will be ok, I've just contacted my mate the Chief of Police who helped out with my accident, to find out if he can help.
Thankfully, I made it to Lake Toba and Kelly, without any more incidents, and look forward to resting here for a while with no more dramas to be had.