Hitchhiking in Indonesia: Sipiso Piso
25th of January, 2025.
At 10 a.m. a car stops and offer to take me to the next town, Lima Pulouh, not so far from here, but at an intersection. I refuse. A few minutes after that, the army officer comes. His name is Oppun, and his hometown, Siantar is about two hours driving from here, and two hours from my destination, Sipiso Piso. He shows me photos of his beautiful family, and tell me that his two boys are into Army School but not his daughter.
We make a stop in Perdagangan, where a good friend of Oppun, Wirianto, lives with his family. I meet Wirianto’s wife, a lovely lady named Rosalia, and one of their children, their son Wesley. They offer me a delicious coffee, which I immediately recognized, after the first sip, to be Vietnamese style, with condensed milk.
We go for lunch in a restaurant where they serve pork meat. I am so surprised to know that Wesley is vegetarian since he was born, thanks to his grandparents, who are also vegetarian. They have Chinese roots. So even though I try little pieces of the fried pork, I keep on eating my cheese bread, which was given to me yesterday night, as I don’t want to get spoiled. I also try a traditional fuzzy drink from Siantar, called Badak. I’m glad I didn’t order it because it tastes at licorice, and as you know, licorice and durian are the only two natural things I cannot eat.
Before we resume our journey to Siantar, Rosalia and Wirianto buy me a lot of food and a big bottle of water. Plus, they also give us some traditional Chinese food for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Outside Siantar, soon enough a car comes back to help me. They have talked to me a bit earlier, but as they are not going all the way to Sipiso Piso, they left. When they come back, the wife, Ernita, tells me that they are pastors, so they want to help me.
Ernita, her husband Anton, and their young son David are going back home to Tiga Runggu, a town about 30 Km from Sipiso Piso. We chat a little bit on the way, as Ernita and David can speak a bit of English. Ernita also makes a short video of us for her social media.
When we arrive to their church, Ernita tells me that a young member of their church will take me in a motorbike to Sipiso Piso. That’s great!
This region is way cooler than the way here, most likely because of the mountain air. Also, there are lots of vegetable and fruit farms everywhere, but most of them are small, belonging to local families.
The young drive is smart on taking us into Sipiso Piso through an “alternative” entrance, so I don’t need to pay a small entrance fee. Thank you!
I come to a coffee shop with a view of Lake Toba, and as soon as I step in, a young boy, instructed by his senior family member, perhaps his mum, tells me that if I want to take a photo, I need to order something. Laughable. And what a shame. There’s absolutely nobody here. And they miss the chance of having a foreigner taking a photo and perhaps marking their property on it, just because they are trying to make some small money.
The view point of the waterfall is OK, with some paths and steps here and there. It seems like a long time ago that everything was made, and there’s not much maintenance, so I wonder where all the money from the entrance fee goes to. There are also a few clothes and coffee shops.
The waterfall is majestic! It’s 120 metres of a powerful beauty. You can also go down and closer to it, but I skip that. While here, I’ve seen only Asian tourists, and quite a lot of them.
After admiring the waterfall for some minutes, I decide to walk back and try to ask for a camping place among the local houses. I want to come back here tomorrow morning again.
Three girls jogging ask me for a photo. I take the chance to ask them if they can help me with the camping place. They agree but ask me to wait for a few minutes until they complete their jogging and come back.
While I am waiting, a man talks with me in a good English. Ucok has a homestay nearby here and he offer for me to stay there. But I explain to him that I just need a place to camp, as I don’t pay for accommodation. He tells me I can camp in front of his coffee shop, here at Sipiso Piso, and even tells me that some of those families with shops also stay there. But for some reason I decide not to and just ask him if I can camp in front of his house.
When the girls come back, he tells me that they actually live quite far from here, about 1.5 hours walking. We agree that I can camp at his family’s house.
Once there, I meet his sister-in-law (actually married to one of his cousins), a lovely and shy lady called Winda. They tell me I can have my tent in her balcony, so I am mostly protected from the rain, which soon starts to pour.
Winda gives me a warm cup of milk coffee, and I eat one of my cheese breads, which Rosalia bought me. She also tells me I can take a bath, which is great!
Later on, Ucok comes over, and Winda’s husband also arrives. We talk for a little while, but then soon I go to sleep.
10 Years Around the World 