Bukit Barisan Mountains

The first time I decided to travel to Sumatra Island was to visit a friend in Medan, North Sumatra, an old friend i think. The plan is to take a flight from Surabaya, transit to Jakarta then continued to Medan. But I cancelled that plan, and decide to take a road trip. Yes, obviously somehow, I must travel from Surabaya to Jakarta first, and take a ferry ship from Merak (West Java) to Bakauheni (Lampung). And...that is a very long trip. Yes, I enjoyed and loved it! Not because the longer time it takes, but because of the view and the scenery that i can get throughout the travel.

A little bit about Sumatra, yes I never travel there before, it is an unbalanced island. At the western side of Sumatra, there is high mountains and rugged hills. While the east side, we will only find a very broadplains with rivers meandering, umm... flirty like a dancer, before it ended into the Strait of Malacca. Side of the mountainous west known as the Bukit Barisan Mountains, a name that is actually ambiguous: on one side of the 'mountain' called,but is also called a 'hill' (Bukit). So it is not surprising if the name of this mountain in the English language has always been only a Barisan Mountain. The name of Bukit Barisan was originally only for the high hills around Lampung, Bengkulu, and eventually used for extending the whole mountain in Sumatra's west side.

Bukit Barisan mountain that has several active volcanoes, known as the Pacific Ring of Fire in the context of volcanology world. Among geologists, the sides of the continent overlooking the Pacific Ocean is known for its string of active volcanoes - ranging from Chile in South America, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Canada, Alaska, spins toward the continent of Asia to Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia archipelago, and New Zealand. Geographically, Indonesia Archipelago became a meeting point of two major mountain range: The series of Pacific and Mediterania Sirkum Mountains. Bukit Barisan mountain itself is part of a series that starts Mediterania Pirenina Mountains in Spain, France, the Alps in Western Europe, Eastern Europe Caucasus Mountains, Zagros Mountains in northern Iraq-Iran, the Himalayas, passes north of Myanmar, across the Sea Andaman, until it rests in northern Aceh, Sumatra.

Back to my journey, it seems it is a real neverending journey. As we know that the crossing activity in Sunda Straits (between Java and Sumatra) is very high density, so we can't go through it fast. There is a long queue at the harbour. And, so, I will separate my story about this travel into three or more strories. See you again, later.