Stuck again, waiting for ferries
We got to Jakarta and expected to get a ferry to Singapore. Ought to be simple, but many things that ought to be straight forward in Indonesia turn out not to be. We spent an entire day at the Jakarta Harbour talking to people who all thought we were crazy, funny, difficult ... anything but customers!!
We decided to drive to Sumatra and look for ferries here. To cut the long story short, we have found a shipping company that will containerise our car to Singapore, but we will have to return to Jakarta to catch the people ferries. There simply is no car traffic between Java / Sumatra and Singapore or Malaysia.
So we are enjoying an enforced break here in Bandar Lampung. We have had the car serviced, to the amusement of the local car dealer ... they were amazed we had driven an Australian car here. Bandar Lampung is a tourist free zone, but elephants and the elusive Sumatra tiger live in the nearby National Park at Way Kambas which we will visit tomorrow.
The locals get about in rickshaw style bikes, modelled for us here by a friendly local. A ride costs about Rupiah 2,000 which is about $0.20cents !!!
UPDATE: Jon and Jack have a close encounter with a Sumatran Elephant
A massive gorgeous creature, grazing about two km into the jungle whilst resting between taking kids for rides.
I offered him a banana, and if you go to www.MelbourneToLondon.com you can see what happens when you tempt an elephant with a banana...
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