Once upon a time, surf pioneers explored the Sumatran coast in search of the perfect wave. No crowds, blue water and a coastline full of coconut trees. No schedule and no real plan. It sounds like a dream, but we can tell you it’s not. In the last few weeks, we did our own surf search and it’s not that easy. Not even in an era where you can do most exploration online. It was maybe not a dream, but it was a true adventure! 🤙🏻

Padang

Our search for good waves started in Padang. We had found a beach break online, but on site no sign of any surf scene. A small village, fishing boats, coconut trees, a turtle sanctuary and a few guys on their quads-for-rent was all. The idea of hitting submerged rocks made us decide to be wise and hope for the better at the next spot.

The next spot had to wait. It took us five days and many Grab rides (like Uber but way better) to the immigration office to extend our visa. On day one we filled in a form and handed over the required documents. On day two and three nothing happened due to the weekend. On day four we paid the money and they took a picture and on day five we picked-up our passports which was enriched with, jawohl… 🥁🥁🥁 a tiny little stamp.

Bengkulu

In Bengkulu we had booked a surf camp. Being surrounded with surf-a-likes, boards and local insight would ensure us to catch some waves. The surf camp turned out to be a local chicken restaurant that was transforming itself into Nick’s coffee place. A few old boards and a cubicle with a mattress on the ground were the left overs of what was once the initiative of building a surf camp. It made sense, there were no good waves. And so we spent our time crossing around on a scooter to explore the area and concluded: Bengkulu is just an ordinary little Sumatran town.

Krui

After another long beautiful ride along the coast (Sumatra is gorgeous!) we ended up in a small surf camp in Krui. A fantastic place. In between coconut trees, a reef break at our doorstep, some more breaks close by, nice bunch of people and delicious food. A surf camp without parties and where everyone goes to bed after dinner in order to catch the best waves at dawn. At 20:00 it was completely silent, apart from the mosque and the 12 puppies who lived in the garden.

>>> Quick Story for a look around <<<

It was nice to hang out with the other guests and being taken along in the surf dedication. Checking the waves, tides, watch surf videos, yoga and surf as much as possible in between sleep, breakfast, lunch and dinner. They were the kind of guys who learned to surf a long time ago, take barrels as if it’s nothing, have no fear (or act?) for steep drop-ins above a reef and start to get excited when the wave is twice over head.

The reef cuts on their back and legs testified a shallow reef break and hence, we planned our first session at a nearby beach break. A beach break with close-out waves and a very strong current. Not the best condition to surf. The next day I tried another beach break. I paddled out and instead of me catching waves, big waves caught me including crazy washing machine treatments. My hair looked like a birds nest, when I decided that the Krui waves were not my waves. One step too far. Wouter gave it a couple of more goes, even that shallow reef break, but the perfect wave for us? Not yet.

It was the perfect place though to “wait” for the end of Ramadan (eid al fitr). Just before and after eid al fitr, the roads and public transport are overloaded with people travelling to family or their getaway.

Krui is a laid-back village and pretty unspoiled. It’s surrounded by jungle and rice paddies which makes it lovely to scooter around. People cheer you up with ‘Hey Mister!’. At first, I felt offended. Why they ignore me?! Until I drove on my own and was greeted with “Hello mister!” as well. Everyone is a mister! It’s not always as it seems…

Road to Java

Our next surf destination waits for us in Java. Overland it takes a few days of travelling with stop-overs in cities we normally would not choose as a place of interest. Like, Bandur Lampung. Bandur Lampung is a dirty busy town and clearly not used to two tall blond people wandering around to find transport to Jakarta. “Hey Mister!, Hi!, Where you from?, Picture?”. We felt like movie stars. 🤩 Movie star or not, all bus tickets were sold-out, the shared car company was closed and the guys at the hostel smiled when we asked in our best Google Translate Bahasa for a private car.

The next day we hoped for the best, took a Grab to the ferry terminal and were introduced to e-money. E-money is an attempt of the government to move towards a cashless lifestyle. It’s a chip-based system, provided by local banks. It sounds wonderful but is a pain if you don’t have a local bank account. In that case it’s basically impossible to buy tickets at toll roads, ferries or train stations. And so, we couldn’t take the faster toll road and to make it worse we were stuck at the ferry terminal. No e-money = no tickets. And now what?! Luckily we met a remarkable nice man who insisted to pay our tickets. We were surprised afterwards, when he told us he – as a ferry employee – was not allowed to accept our cash. Amazing, so kind, just to help us out. 🙏🏻

Across the Sunda strait, another hassle awaited us. After checking out busses, vans, and a dozen Grab attempts we had no transport to Jakarta… And now what!? Finally, persistence paid off and a Grab driver accepted our request. On the way he told us he couldn’t bring us to Jakarta…🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♂️ …but he had a friend who could. Hmmm okeee… We were somewhat sceptical but also out of options. 🤔 He happily chatted about all kind of things and appeared to be a nice guy who wanted to help. He dropped us at his friend’s house and after we had waved goodbye to his full family we finally drove our way to Jakarta. Hello Java! 😃

We wanted adventure, well we got it. You may wonder by now why we take all this effort. If we want to surf, go to Bali. There is a wave for everyone, every day. Maybe because it’s too easy, and most likely we will wind up in Bali anyway. I guess, we’re just too curious to explore what Sumatra and Java holds for us.

A bit of an adventure. An experience. It’s the overland travelling and the non-obvious places we’ve visited what made it an adventure. Experience the unexpected. It turned out to be great way to get to know Sumatra in a different manner, enjoy the beautiful nature and moreover meeting its lovely people. 🙏🏻