Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: Sumatra

Lingga is a Batak village in the Barisan highlands southwest of Medan in North Sumatra. In 1981 families still lived in traditional longhouses but on a second visit in 1993 many seemed to be derelict and others open just for visitors.

Walking in the fields off the Berestagi road near Pancurbatu southwest of Medan. We were recce-ing a trail for the Medan House House Harriers in this area. The atap hut has seen better days. In this view there are ground nuts in the foreground, maize beyond, with a smattering of banana & palm trees. The Barisan mountains are on the skyline to the south.

Mount Sibayak is a fairly dormant volcano near Berastagi south of Medan. It is more than 100 years since it last erupted - very recently in geological time - but the Barisan Mountains are definitely still active. Mt Sinabung a few kilometres from here did erupt in 2010.

A fairly early Sunday morning drive around the city of Medan. This is Jalan Letjen Suprapto although I notice that the modern spelling (from Google) is different from that on the street sign on the far left. I worked in the Mobil Oil Indonesia office further back on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman - the former pre-war Shell office.

We climbed Sibayak volcano a couple of times when we lived in Medan. This this was the first ascent and we met this group of kids on their way down. A photo was called for. The walk starts in rice padi fields but climbs quite steeply through forest and then onto open rock. The crest is at 2,212 m (7,257 ft) and in the clouds it gets chilly when you're wearing shorts!

From one volcano to another! We are on on Mount Sibayak (Indonesian: Gunung Sibayak) an active Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano peaking at 2,181 m (7,156 ft). The other volcano is Mount Sinabung, about 15km to the southwest, that in 2010 erupted after a 400-year-long hiatus, a blink of an eye in geological time. Both volcanoes are part of the Barisan Mountain range that runs NW-SE for a 1000 miles along the whole length of Sumatra parallel to the Sumatra Trench & includes 35 active volcanoes. Although its last eruption was more than a century ago, Sibayak has geothermal activity in the form of steam vents and hot springs on and around the volcano. The vents produce crystalline sulfur, which was being mined on a small scale in 1979 (men carrying sacks down the mountain on their backs). Seepage of sulfurous gases has also caused acidic discolouration of the small crater lake part of which can be seen bottom middle.

PJKA ex-Deli Railway wood-burning 2-6-4T number 55, Werskpoor (468/1920) Netherlands, at Dolok Meranggir palm oil plantation, south east of Medan with a tank train. We were living in Medan at this time & I have to confess that the combination of the constant 30 degree heat, 98% humidity and the very poor roads packed with slow dirty trucks made me not that interested in chasing steam engines more likely than not under grey skies and 3-4 hours drive away in the countryside.

We climbed Mount Sibayak a fairly dormant volcano near Berastagi south of Medan. It is more than 100 years since it last erupted - very recently in geological time - but the Barisan Mountains are definitely still active. Mt Sinabung a few kilometres from here did erupt in 2010. Steam from the fumeroles can be seen on the mountain. The walk starts in these rice padi fields but climbs quite steeply through forest and then onto open rock. The crest is at 2,212 m (7,257 ft) and in the clouds it gets chilly when you're wearing shorts!.

Indonesia Sumatra, Kampong Keling market, Medan. Note the fine vegetables amongst the tropical fruit. These were grown in Brastagi a few hours drive and a few thousand feet higher to the southwest where the climate was more temperate. We lived in Medan from 1979 to 1981 when I worked for Mobil & greatly enjoyable it was. I found the people and places fascinating. Every day threw up something new & even on the walk to the office you saw different things of interest. I went back on holiday in 1997 &, unsurprisingly, things had changed. Toko Ben's - the sacks sit outside the shop entrance - had transformed into a modern supermarket no longer opening onto the market but what shocked me the most was the fact that the Mobil office building had been converted into a Pizza Hut! A sign of the times I suppose.

Me & Francoise getting a close look at the sulphur around the fumerole of Mount Sibyak volcano.