06/07: The Ferry From Hell...Indonesian public transport over sea.
I arrived last night to Padegat, a 21 hour journey from Padang via ferry. And what a ferry ride it was, a solid initiation to public waterway transport. I met some fellow surfers Alex and Uli at the port in Padang, i was sitting at the front to the ferry, just in front of the wheel house, with my boards, so stoked to be sitting on some mattresses wrapped in plastic to keep them dry. I was thinking this is great, I can stay with my boards AND have a bed to sleep on... Well, one hour out of Padang, the wind has picked up out of the south and the windswell was beginning to become a factor as the bow of the boat smashed the swells, throwing the spray in to the air, which was then carried up andover onto me, my boardbag, and the mattresses, so wisely wrapped in plastic.
So i decide that i must take shelter, we have a long way to go yet. In my haste to get below, i forgot to tie down mine and Alex's boards as i had intended to do, climbing down from my perch to the wooden deck to open the hatch to the below storage/sleeping area. I stepped in some noodles openning the hatch, thinking, what a strange place for noodles, someone must have spilt their dinner...
Upon opening the hatch I saw the ailing military Indonesian man, dressed in camo, and face looking sick, and i immediately knew who had spilled their dinner and how. I climbed down the steep steps and quickly realized my predicament. Not and inch of floor space lay available. I had to laugh at my naivete. When i had told Alex and Uli that i did not have a compartment, they both looked down and let out a sigh of pity. I was not phased, I knew i could take anything for one night, it's all just part of the traveller's game.
So i tried to sit where i was, but 3 more Indonesians who were on the front deck of the boat openned the hatch to come inside too, so now there was 3 of us sitting on the small stairwell. So i grabbed my bag to check out the rest of the boat, removing my sandals to step on the sleeping mats that everyone had spread out on the floor of pallets. The sides of the space were filled with cargo, and the middle full of people, laying on the pallets to keep them off of the trash and stink of the actual floor of the boat. I used my hands on the ceiling to hold onto the beams while i steped around the sleeping people to reach the back of the boat. On my way i found a spot on the cargo that looked OK, solid enough to lay on anyway, so i began to organize it to accomodate a bed, but was quickly halted by a man i recognized as part of the crew of the boat and he made it very clear that i was not to use the cargo as a resting place. I continued farther to the back of the boat, near to the toilet and the engine room, smelling of diesel, so i went up the steps to the second level where all the compartments were. There were people everywhere, every compartment and even their floors were taken, as well as all of the floor space in the corridors. I turned to the back of the boat and found that there was a back deck. a small walkway beside the stairs to the back of the boat was even occupied, so i had to step carefully over two sleeping men to reach the back deck, where i was immediately greeted by a gentleman who seemed to know a little bit of English..."Full, full, full..." he yelled at me, encouraging me to go somewhere else to find a place to sit for the night... And he was right, i peered outside and saw that the 2 storage boxes, one on each side of the door, the benches all the way around the back, and the floor were all as equally occupied as the rest of the boat.
I had to laugh again at my predicament, there was nothing else to do. I walked back down to the bottom, still nothing had opened up, so back upstairs. This time when i go to the back deck, the man who had yelled at me was laying asleep and his wife next to him caught my eye and pointed to my left, to one of the storage containers. I peered around the corner and saw to my delight that the Portuguese boogy boarder who had been hoarding one of the storage boxes all to himself, while 3 Indos shared the one on the other side of the door, was hanging himself over the rail of the boat, wretching with sea sickness and had thus opened up a small portion of the container, enough to set myself down on. I quickly sat down, legs crossed and found that i could wedge my shoulders between a life saving ring mounted to my left and the doorway trim to my right. After further inspection I found an overhanging beam above me and to the right that i was able to hang my backpack from with a climbing carribeener, providing further support on my right side for a place to rest my bobbing head.
I assumed this seated position for the next 6 hours, from 9 pm to 3 am, adjusting my legs and seated position regularly for some relief from the discomfort. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, meditating away from the discomfort and seasickness that surrounded me. At 3 am the poor Portuguese fellow was ailing badly and somehow a section of the bench on the otherside of the deck had become available. He toppled over the poor people on the floor and collapsed on the bench. For the first time all night I was able to lay down and using my backpack as a pillow I was able to get some shut eye until the sun came up.
At sunrise many of the Indos woke up to smoke cigarettes. Still no sight of land and i was certain that my surfboard bag had slid off the mattresses and over the edge of the boat somewhere along the way. As soon as i was feeling comfortable enough, I slipped through the sleeping crowd back to the front of the boat to check on my boards. Even though i was convinced that they were gone, some force of higher power kept them from moving even an inch from the force of the rough seas. Relieved, I left them figuring if they hadn't moved from all that, then they would make it a couple more hours. I returned to my seat, guarded by my backpack, and mysteriously enough, still available for me to sit back down.
I ate some biscuits that i had brought and drank some water and returned to my meditation of breathing deep to keep me feeling good and to wash away the time. At about 8 am, 13 hours into the 9 hour trip, we spotted land, and we were much farther north from our destination than we should have been, blown far off course by the strong SE winds. It took us another 2 hours to make up the distance we had been blown off course, finally pulling into port in Sioban after 15 hours of being beaten and humbled by the sea.
Not as exhausted as i had expected to be, I found Uli and Alex waiting in their compartment for all the Indos to unload in their hurried fashion. They invited me to join them for lunch, they knew a good place in town to eat, and off we set into the small port town of Sioban for lunch and a walk through the much anicipated Saturday market in Sioban, where everyone from all over Sipora comes to sell their goods and buy their supplies for the week.
So i decide that i must take shelter, we have a long way to go yet. In my haste to get below, i forgot to tie down mine and Alex's boards as i had intended to do, climbing down from my perch to the wooden deck to open the hatch to the below storage/sleeping area. I stepped in some noodles openning the hatch, thinking, what a strange place for noodles, someone must have spilt their dinner...
Upon opening the hatch I saw the ailing military Indonesian man, dressed in camo, and face looking sick, and i immediately knew who had spilled their dinner and how. I climbed down the steep steps and quickly realized my predicament. Not and inch of floor space lay available. I had to laugh at my naivete. When i had told Alex and Uli that i did not have a compartment, they both looked down and let out a sigh of pity. I was not phased, I knew i could take anything for one night, it's all just part of the traveller's game.
So i tried to sit where i was, but 3 more Indonesians who were on the front deck of the boat openned the hatch to come inside too, so now there was 3 of us sitting on the small stairwell. So i grabbed my bag to check out the rest of the boat, removing my sandals to step on the sleeping mats that everyone had spread out on the floor of pallets. The sides of the space were filled with cargo, and the middle full of people, laying on the pallets to keep them off of the trash and stink of the actual floor of the boat. I used my hands on the ceiling to hold onto the beams while i steped around the sleeping people to reach the back of the boat. On my way i found a spot on the cargo that looked OK, solid enough to lay on anyway, so i began to organize it to accomodate a bed, but was quickly halted by a man i recognized as part of the crew of the boat and he made it very clear that i was not to use the cargo as a resting place. I continued farther to the back of the boat, near to the toilet and the engine room, smelling of diesel, so i went up the steps to the second level where all the compartments were. There were people everywhere, every compartment and even their floors were taken, as well as all of the floor space in the corridors. I turned to the back of the boat and found that there was a back deck. a small walkway beside the stairs to the back of the boat was even occupied, so i had to step carefully over two sleeping men to reach the back deck, where i was immediately greeted by a gentleman who seemed to know a little bit of English..."Full, full, full..." he yelled at me, encouraging me to go somewhere else to find a place to sit for the night... And he was right, i peered outside and saw that the 2 storage boxes, one on each side of the door, the benches all the way around the back, and the floor were all as equally occupied as the rest of the boat.
I had to laugh again at my predicament, there was nothing else to do. I walked back down to the bottom, still nothing had opened up, so back upstairs. This time when i go to the back deck, the man who had yelled at me was laying asleep and his wife next to him caught my eye and pointed to my left, to one of the storage containers. I peered around the corner and saw to my delight that the Portuguese boogy boarder who had been hoarding one of the storage boxes all to himself, while 3 Indos shared the one on the other side of the door, was hanging himself over the rail of the boat, wretching with sea sickness and had thus opened up a small portion of the container, enough to set myself down on. I quickly sat down, legs crossed and found that i could wedge my shoulders between a life saving ring mounted to my left and the doorway trim to my right. After further inspection I found an overhanging beam above me and to the right that i was able to hang my backpack from with a climbing carribeener, providing further support on my right side for a place to rest my bobbing head.
I assumed this seated position for the next 6 hours, from 9 pm to 3 am, adjusting my legs and seated position regularly for some relief from the discomfort. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, meditating away from the discomfort and seasickness that surrounded me. At 3 am the poor Portuguese fellow was ailing badly and somehow a section of the bench on the otherside of the deck had become available. He toppled over the poor people on the floor and collapsed on the bench. For the first time all night I was able to lay down and using my backpack as a pillow I was able to get some shut eye until the sun came up.
At sunrise many of the Indos woke up to smoke cigarettes. Still no sight of land and i was certain that my surfboard bag had slid off the mattresses and over the edge of the boat somewhere along the way. As soon as i was feeling comfortable enough, I slipped through the sleeping crowd back to the front of the boat to check on my boards. Even though i was convinced that they were gone, some force of higher power kept them from moving even an inch from the force of the rough seas. Relieved, I left them figuring if they hadn't moved from all that, then they would make it a couple more hours. I returned to my seat, guarded by my backpack, and mysteriously enough, still available for me to sit back down.
I ate some biscuits that i had brought and drank some water and returned to my meditation of breathing deep to keep me feeling good and to wash away the time. At about 8 am, 13 hours into the 9 hour trip, we spotted land, and we were much farther north from our destination than we should have been, blown far off course by the strong SE winds. It took us another 2 hours to make up the distance we had been blown off course, finally pulling into port in Sioban after 15 hours of being beaten and humbled by the sea.
Not as exhausted as i had expected to be, I found Uli and Alex waiting in their compartment for all the Indos to unload in their hurried fashion. They invited me to join them for lunch, they knew a good place in town to eat, and off we set into the small port town of Sioban for lunch and a walk through the much anicipated Saturday market in Sioban, where everyone from all over Sipora comes to sell their goods and buy their supplies for the week.
