Sumatrapop 50.37 MILLION
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd SumatraPOP 50.37 MILLION Includes ¨ Why Go? Medan ........................494 Few isles tempt the imagination with the lure of adventure Bukit Lawang ............. 501 quite like the fierce land of Sumatra. An island of extraor- Danau Toba ................508 dinary beauty, it bubbles with life and vibrates under the Pulau Nias ...................515 power of nature. Eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis are Sumatran headline grabbers. Steaming volcanoes brew and Banda Aceh .................521 bluster while standing guard over lakes that sleepily lap the Pulau Weh ..................526 edges of craters. Orangutan-filled jungles host not only our Banyak Islands ............531 red-haired cousins, but also tigers, rhinos and elephants. And Padang ....................... 537 down at sea level, idyllic deserted beaches are bombarded by Mentawai Islands .......544 clear barrels of surf. As varied as the land, the people of Sumatra are a spicy Bukittinggi .................550 broth of mixed cultures, from the devout Muslims in Aceh Kerinci Valley .............560 to the hedonistic Batak Christians around Danau Toba and Riau ............................568 the matrilineal Minangkabau of Padang. All are unified by Palembang ................. 577 a fear, respect and love of the wild and wondrous land of Lampung ....................580 Sumatra. Best Places to When to Go Eat Padang ¨ Bixio Cafe (p529) °C/°F Te mp Rainfall inches/mm ¨ Pak Tri’s (p541) 40/104 20/500 16/400 ¨ Marola (p567) 30/86 ¨ Jenny’s Restaurant (p512) 12/300 20/68 ¨ Pondok Kelapa (p576) 8/200 10/50 4/100 -0/32 0 Best Places to J FDM A M J J A S O N Stay Hit the Take in Travel- ¨ Horas Family Home (p512) Apr–Oct Mid–Jun Feb–Aug waves on the Men- the chaotic canoe ling during the dry ¨ Pondok Tailana (p533) tawais, Nias and races at the Danau season maximises ¨ Freddies (p527) the Banyaks. Toba Festival. wildlife sightings in the jungle. ¨ Abdi Homestay (p558) ¨ Nachelle Homestay (p507) 491 History triggered a region-wide tsunami, killing over Pre-Islamic history is often more myth than 170,000 people, mainly in Aceh. The one silver fact, but archaeological evidence suggests lining to the disaster was that the rescue and that Sumatra was the gateway for migrating reconstruction efforts have brought peace to tribes from mainland Southeast Asia. region and it largely holds to date. The Strait of Melaka, an important trade 8 SUMATRA route between China and India, exposed the Getting There & Away east coast of Sumatra to the region’s super- These days, most travellers reach Sumatra via powers and cultural influences such as Islam. budget airline flight or ferry from Java. The old The kingdom of Sriwijaya emerged as a local sea routes are largely redundant. Keep in mind that Sumatra is one hour behind player at the end of the 7th century, with its GEHISTOR capital presumably based near the modern Singapore and Malaysia. tting city of Palembang. After Sriwijaya’s influence AIR waned, Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, Medan is Sumatra’s primary international hub, Y assumed control of trade through the strait. with frequent flights from its new airport to T The era of Aceh’s sultanate prevailed until the H mainland Southeast Asian cities such as Singa- E beginning of the 17th century, when Dutch pore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang with Silk Air R E& A traders claimed a piece of the spice trade. (www.silkair.com), AirAsia (www.airasia.com) The most influential port of the day, Sam- and Malaysia Airlines (www.malaysia udra, near Lhokseumawe, eventually became airlines.com), respectively. In West Sumatra, Pa- WA the name that traders used to refer to the en- dang receives flights from Kuala Lumpur. Banda Y tire island. It was Marco Polo who corrupted Aceh, Palembang, Pulau Batam and Pekanbaru the name to ‘Sumatra’ in his 1292 report on also receive international flights from mainland the area. Southeast Asia. Throughout the colonial era, Sumatra saw You can hop on a plane from Jakarta to every many foreign powers stake a claim in its re- major Sumatran city aboard Garuda (www. garuda-indonesia.com), (www.lionair. sources: the Dutch based themselves in the Lion Air co.id) or Sriwijaya Air (www.sriwijayaair.co.id), west Sumatran port of Padang, the British among others. Flights from Sumatra to other ruled in Bencoolen (now Bengkulu), Ameri- parts of Indonesia typically connect through can traders monopolised pepper exports from Jakarta. Aceh, and the Chinese exploited the reserves A word of warning: when oil-palm plantations on the islands of Bangka and Belitung, east of on Sumatra’s east coast are burned (annually, Palembang. usually during dry season), the smoke frequently In the early 19th century, the Dutch at- results in the closure of Pekanbaru and Jambi tempted to assert military control over all of airports. Sumatra, a move met with resistance by its disparate tribes. In 1863 the Dutch finally es- BOAT tablished authority over Pulau Nias. Treaties Ferries run between Dumai on Sumatra’s east and alliances brought other areas of Sumatra coast and Melaka and Klang (for Kuala Lumpur) in Malaysia, Singapore and Pulau Batam, but under Dutch rule. Dumai is only useful if you have your heart set The Dutch were never welcomed in Suma- on an international boat journey or if you’re tra, which contributed several key figures to transporting a motorbike between Sumatra and the independence struggle. Yet Sumatra was Malaysia. dissatisfied with Jakarta’s rule. Between 1958 From Singapore, ferries make the quick hop and 1961, rebel groups based in Bukittinggi to Pulau Batam and Pulau Bintan, the primary and the mountains of south Sumatra resisted islands in the Riau archipelago. From Batam, centralisation, which led to clashes with the boats set sail for Dumai, Palembang and Pekan- Indonesian military. Fiercely independent baru, but few travellers use these routes. Aceh proved to be Jakarta’s most troublesome Ferries cross the narrow Sunda Strait, which region. Aceh’s separatist movement started in links the southeastern tip of Sumatra at Bakau- the late 1970s and continued until 2006. heni to Java’s westernmost point of Merak. The No human conflict could compare to the sea crossing is a brief dip in a day-long voyage destruction that occurred on Boxing Day that requires several hours’ worth of bus trans- in 2004, when a 9.0-plus-magnitude earth- port from both ports to Jakarta and, on the quake off the northwestern coast of Sumatra Sumatra side, Bandarlampung..