Where going by bus is all fuss

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 14

Where going by bus is all fuss

Motorways and high-speed trains have yet to take all the adventure out of land travel, as a former New Zealand journalist, RORY NEWSAM, of Hastings, reports. A simple bus trip in Sumatra, Indonesia’s northern-most island, is still an ordeal not to be taken lightly.

When bus 33 finally pulls into the Palembang A.L.S. Station it is already one hour late, -

It is hot and sticky waiting in the south Sumatran oil town but the locals are not concerned. In an island, where an inter-city bus trip . , can take .anywhere between two days and a week, one hour matters little. ,

“Rubber time,” says one elderly passenger, casually passing off the flexibility of the timetable.

Half an hour later the passengers and luggage are in position. With a blast of the air-horn, the driver muscles his way back in to the.stream of traffic and another Sumatran travel ordeal is on the road.

The bus grill sports the Mercedes star but local workmen have disguised the vehicle’s origins well. . German .engineers de-., signed this bus to carry 25 . people. The Indonesian Government licence stamped by the door states a limit of 32, but. A.LS. has crammed 34 passengers, two drivers, and four, guinea, pigs on board. Extra - seats •; have been, bolted ; down . around the'

driver, and stools cover the length of the aisle.

The roof is dominated by a sturdy luggage rack, and a gaudy paint job. in blue, white, red, and orange drowns the exterior.

Windows offer the only ventilation,. a video screen fills much of the front windscreen, and the wipers don’t work. . -

The destination for this hybrid Mercedes is Prapatt, a small lakeside town about 600 miles north of Palembang. If the going is good the journey should take three ■ days continuous travel for the dry season has started and rain should cause no major problems. . Even so the company has taken the standard precautions and the entourage includes two mechanics-cum-luggage handlers and a spare driver.

During the first two hours on the road the stops are somewhat mundane. An Army roadblock searches bus passengers for guns about , half an hour out of Palembang and the second stoppage is caused by a piece ofiron, which falls . off the vehicle. '

After much discussion it is identified as . having come from the luggage rack and attention turns to an overheated radiator before the bus lurches onward.

The road and countryside change, soon after. Scrubby swamp and a one-laned sealed road turn to jungle and a dirt-covered track.

. South' Sumatra is almost completely smothered in dense riverine jungle in which any Amazon' Indian would feel at home. As a result roads in the area deteriorate rapidly into tracks much like those crisscrossing New Zealand logging forests. For much of the first night the potholes refuse to allow-the driver out of second gear.

About 1 a.m., the driver, at the wheel for. close on nine hours, rams a small bridge crossing one of the many streams. The collision prompts a general round of shouting and confusion which is calmed only by a change ! ;of ‘ driver and a Kung-Fu video cassette played at full volume. >.

Sleep is ah optional extra

on a Sumatran bus. Local passengers may doze fitfully but any Western traveller is lucky to get'his eyelids to close between the jolts and jerks of the trip.

For those seated behind the back axle it takes enough effort to stay connected with the bus let alone stretch out.

Every four or five hours the driver pulls in to one of the many little villages scattered along the route. While the mechanics effect makeshift repairs and panelbeating, the driver and passengers alike launch themselves ’ into the local food.

The food consists of fiery Padang dishes, a unique Sumatran version of rice, eggs, chicken fortified with liberal doses of chillies and other spices. Midnight, early morning, lunch, or tea, the menu never changes. Stoked up on this potent concoction, the entourage seems to take to the road again with new zeal. During the. next day the passing jungle begins to thin. Rivers shrink as the journey works its way up the island and the road improves marginally.

A twisted suspension rod leads to an hour-long halt in the middle of nowhere, and radiator problems plague much of the day. But no bridges are out, the ferry has not sunk (as it did two days later), and the fords are passable, so serious delays are avoided.

Any one of these problems can easily tack an extra day on the trip. During the recent elections, buses were sometimes commandeered for half a day by local political organisations for use in the exuberant campaign rallies. The next night takes a twisting road down to the coastal city of Padang. Arrival time at about 9 a.m. signals halfway to Prapatt in just under 48 hours. From Padang to Prapatt the road is sealed all the way, but what it lacks in potholes it makes up for in corners.

The route is now dictated by the volcanic range it travels. The range stretches nearly three-quarters the length of Sumatra and includes peaks equalling Mount Cook in height. The scenery is spectacular but at a price, for the bus is forced to traverse the sides of ravines on a long-way road which drops away sharply to one side and is bounded by steep jungle bluffs on the other..

Driving is done by the horn. If a blast before any blind corners is not answered the bus swerves on.

On the few straights the rules of “chicken” apply. Two converging vehicles will continue head-on until one, usually the larger, forces a right of way and the other pulls over. . Such a brutally simple road code leaves little margin for error. Along one portion of the route the bus passes three collisions, one of which completely stoved in the front of a mini-bus.

Some hard braking aside, most of the ‘mountain trek passes uneventfully. Night falls, making driving by lights somewhat easier on the blind comers and it appears the driver may be making time. But then, at 3 a.m., the journey comes to a halt and bus 33 joins a long queue of about 40 buses and trucks stopped by a large mudslide covering the road. . Quickly resigned to the situation, everybody on board, including the crew, drops off for much needed sleep. By dawn the line of vehicles on both sides of the slip has doubled. But the problem has little cause, for alarm in Sumatra where deadlines do not exist. The hold-up merely means good

business for food hawkers from a nearby village, and some time for talk and cigarettes.

Seven hours worth of talk and cigarettes later a road works bulldozer and the police arrive. Two more hours, and the convoy is under way again.

Prapatt nestles in amongst the hills, is only an hour further on, and A.L.S. bus 33 arrives at its destination by the middle of the afternoon. In total the full journey has taken three nights and three days and a half travelling. No lives have been lost and the bus, though somewhat worse for wear, is still running. Among local circles it would be passed over as an uneventful trip. Let this be a warning to aspiring passengers — approach Sumatran buses with the respect they deserve.