We have 4 weeks off between our 2 stints at Macaronis Resort and have decided to go to Nias island in that time.
Nias Island is located in the west coast of Sumatra about 100km from the mainland. Of all the Sumatran offshore islands, Nias is the most populated and access is easy via plane or ferry. Its
inhabitants (called the "Nihas") are believed to come from the south of
China, from which they might have emigrated around 2,500 years ago. Although the official
language is Bahasa Indonesia, "Bahasa Nias" is the language generally
spoken in the island. Gunung Sitoli is the biggest town in Nias and it is the center of administration and business affairs.
Since Nias
is home to one of the worlds most famous right-hander, it gets extremely crowded over peak season. The set-up is beautiful! Actually picture perfect! Beautiful backdrop of coconut palm trees and a perfect right peeling of the point. Getting out there is super easy. There's a keyhole that lets you paddle
right into the take off zone.
We flew from Padang to Medan, and from Medan to Gunung Sitoli. From Gunung Sitoli it's about another 2 hours drive to Sorake Beach, Lagundri Bay. Once you reach Sorake Beach there is one local losmen after another and all of them situated right infront of the wave, on the beach. We stayed at 'Marlyntos Losmen'. Torsten stayed here in 2008 and we've decided to stay here again. It's not the nicest losmen 'on the block' but it serves the best Fruit Salad and Banana Pancake for Breakfast. Also very lovely people owning and running the losemen. We paid Rp 350 000.00 (about N$ 350.00) per night, per room including 3 meals a day. Where in the world do you get that? The rooms weren't 5 star, but a fan to keep cool, comfortable bed, clean bathroom and spacious room did the job.
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Local massages in front of our door step!
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Beside surfing, there isn't much to do. I finally finished my book and found a little library 2 losmen's next to us. Torsten went fishing a couple of times with Marlyntos, but came back empty handed. There's no internet in Saroke. One losmen has got wifi, which if you lucky you'll pick up but is extremely slow. You can barely open your 'sign in' site of your email account. The next 'faster' internet cafe' is about a 20 minutes scooter drive. Here the internet is a tiny-winy bit faster and we only paid about Rp 5 000.00 for 2x 30min internet session. Really cheap! But the problem was getting there. Mama Marlyntos charged us Rp 50 000.00 (N$ 50.00) per trip/ a day to use her scooter. That was the best part of the day- the scooter ride. We loved it!
The next closest little town is Teluk Dalam. Here you get your everyday basic. They have an ATM, church, DVD shop, pharmacy, grocery store, market and a few other Warungs. We even found mayonnaise and honey! We went to a little restaurant once or twice enjoying local food- or Torsten at least did. I don't really find it tasty :)
We were suppose to stay in Nias 3 weeks. Half way thru we still didn't get the swell we were looking for, the crowds in the water became insane and we haven't even catched one fish yet. The local kids walking on the beach even drove us crazy screaming 'Coconut bread' every 5minutes. We spontaneously decided to arrange a trip to Asu, Hinako Island for the rest of the time we had left. Within 1 day our trip to Asu has been arranged and our taxi service from Lagundri to Sirombu picked us up the next morning at 4am. The way the locals talked they reckoned we would drive about 4 to 5 hours, meanwhile we made safe to our destination within 2 hours.
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| Dawn at Rock stars- another surf spot in Nias. |
