Sumatra Day 1

And we're off.  Off to Indonesia that is.....we had a lot of decisions that went into taking this trip.

  Scott's mom and aunt are visiting

 and we all have family in Sumatra that we want to visit and The Miles Family have made some friends this past year that are also in Sumatra so we wanted to go and visit them.

The city we were traveling to is an "up and coming" city, not so modern.  Typhoid, Malaria, and Dengue Fever are all a risk and the medical care although present is not up to U.S. standards so there was a bit of anxiety before we traveled but with much prayer we felt peace with our decision to go and see our family and friends, they live there after all.  If they can do it we can do it right?

If you look at a map Singapore is really just a short distance North of Sumatra but it takes two plane rides with two different airlines in order to get to our destination.  This made for a long day of travel.

Our first plane went to Jakarta where we spent several hours in the airport.

This was the domestic terminal, open to the outside air, noisy, and very very pretty.

So when you spend HOURS in an airport and do not understand any of the announcements as there is NO English being spoken, what do you do?  Play with the camera of course.... say cheese.

We finally arrived in Sumatra and were greeted by our family , they were all smiles at the airport, and we were thrilled to see them.

First stop.... dinner at a wonderful Steam Boat place.

Steam Boat is sort of like fondue, there are big pots of broth on a burner in the middle of the table and fresh vegetables to cook in the broth, we also had rice, and some delicious spicy beef and chicken dishes, think REALLY spicy... most of us liked that some had mouths that felt like they were on fire and some said no way to the spice.

All of us piled into two taxis and headed to our hotel, it was a grand entrance to say the least!

and our room wasn't too bad for this up and coming not so modern city.

There were two double beds, a full bath with a western toilet and a wonderful patio that overlooked the ocean.  Breakfast was included all for $50.00 U.S. per night.

When you live in Singapore it is always very fun to receive things from the U.S. esp. food. 

When you live in Sumatra it is even more exciting to receive things from the U.S. esp. food and things from the U.S. we brought,......... two whole suitcases of which J and K were very happy to receive.

After 12 long hours of travel we were very happy to lay on our comfy bed and wonder what tomorrow would bring on our tour of Sumatra.