The journey to Sumatra was ok, the ferry crossing giving particularly nice views of Sumatra. Travelling on the trans-summatran highway can however be quite a hair raising experience. The road is winding and difficult to see ahead, this however doesn't stop busses from overtaking round blind corners. The legacy of this was not hard to spot. We drove past at least two burnt out lorries, one of which must have been very recent, judging by the onlookers standing around. Eventually, I arrived safely in Lahat at around 3am and had to hang around until 8am for the bus on to Pagaralam in the Pasemah Highlands, my actual destination.

Pagaralam is a small town, which doesn't get that many tourists and thus I was somewhat of a stranger there, which of course I was. The main reason for stopping here is to see the megalithic sites - up to 3000 year old stone carvings. It is also a good base for exploring hiking up Mt Dempu. You can also see some nice examples of traditional sumatran houses in this area.

I met a nice Dutch couple here, who were biologist and exploring the area for examples of the famous Rafflesia flower. The lady was, however, the most unlucky person I have ever met. They had just been up Mt Dempu, but hot up in heavy rains on the way down, having to shelter for a few hours in a makeshift tent. In the evening, she then slipped and fell into the hotel pond cutting and bruising herself. The next day, the couple were hurrying along the pavement to catch a bus. The bloke jumped over a huge whole in the pavement (quite common in this country), but she couldn' t react in time and fell into the sewage flowing below, badly cutting her toe on some glass. But she was otherwise ok. I said goodbye to this couple, taking special care when walking on the pavement and got a bus to Curup.

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