Thread: Tuk Tuk from Krabi to Jakarta!

Originally Posted by baldrick

easier than the exhaust to fix

You would think. The problem was somewhere in the mess of wires under the dash. It was all taped up and the wire colors had been mixed up at the connector boxes. Every garage we stopped at had a little crack at fixing it.

We did manage to get a connection our self's once but all it did was half the power going to the crappy left light and then the fuse blew.

It would have taken a decent sized car battery to get any good light out of them and our 'Siprok' (don't know the English word, it looked like a heat sync and it re-charged the battery a bit) wasn't good enough to charge a big battery.

alternator ?

Why is Chico the Fox's thumb up in all his photos? Did he break it or is he fed up and trying to get back home lol

Great thread TFP, enjoyed that

Originally Posted by Kwang

Why is Chico the Fox's thumb up in all his photos?

He was trying to break my 'thumbs up' world record!

Originally Posted by Kwang

Great thread TFP, enjoyed that

Cheers! There's still about 2000km to go!

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Ask an Indonesian if they can translate 'Siprok' SW.

Finding an Indonesian that is able to translate mechanic and electric terms is a nightmare...

I know.

I meant enjoyed the read today. Oh before you both decide to do a round the world tuk tuk ride, I found this for you lol

"'Thumbs up' traditionally translates as the foulest of Middle-Eastern gesticular insults — the most straightforward interpretation is 'Up yours, pal!' The sign has a similarly pejorative meaning in parts of West Africa, South America, Russia, Iran, Greece, and Sardinia, according to Roger E. Axtell's book Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World."[3]

Day 6-Part 1: Near Medan to Dairi 107km - 12 Hours

This day was literally an uphill battle all the way and we averaged less than 9kmph. I'm surprised that the Tuk Tuk could even go up some of those slopes.



It started early and all three teams got up for coffee.

The night before when I was falling asleep I was thinking about my speedometer. I really wanted to get it working and the cable was there but the screw thread to keep it place was missing.

As I was drifting off to sleep the idea popped into my head that maybe it had slipped all the way down to the front wheel. When I woke up I checked and there it was.

Chuffed with the powers of my subconscious I connected it up but the fucking thing still didn't work.



We were having fun with all the guys before we set off so we decided to stay in convoy and help each other out. Between all of us we had encountered most problems that can go wrong with these machines so we thought it would be a win win situation.



The roads started off nice with decent tarmac and nice rolling hills. But in the background you could see the mountains looming.

The Dutch were the first to breakdown. Just a complete loss of power to the engine.





We got them fixed but soon after that it was the Brits turn.



We got them back going and we were on the road.



Then it was our turn to break down.



At this point we just told the other 2 teams to go on ahead. We were all wasting 3 times the amount of time that we needed to by waiting for each others fixes.

We were blaming the Premium fuel as it sounded like we had dirt in the engine. The only way to start it was to bump start it and that was going to be impossible up these hills. They had gotten extremely steep by now and when I was moving the only way up was in 2nd gear.

Whenever I lost power and the engine stopped we had to wait for the traffic to clear, turn the tuk tuk back down the hill, bump it and then turn back up the hill when the traffic had cleared a bit.

It was one step forward two steps back all the way up the bastard.

The roads were very narrow and it made doing the U-Turns down the hill very tight. I didn't fancy going over the edge.


These trucks weren't making it any easier either.



After hours of slogging we seemed to have made it over the worst bit...for now, and we bumped into the Dutch again who'd stopped for lunch near a school.



They hadn't finished though and as our motor was running we decided to carry on.

Being passed by a bus.



More hills coming in the distance



Me undertaking a car...I wish



You can see that funny stain on my windscreen in that last shot. That appeared after the night in Dannok. I told you that place was filth.

A kid with his basket ball



This is what a nice corner looks like. The nasty ones were covered in deep pot holes. The main problem I was having up the hills was when your following an old driver into one of these corners. They'd slow right down and I'd loose all my revs and the engine would cut out.



A good spot to bump the engine. I think we used it.



A Zoolander shot



And Chico's Thumb



When we reached a kind of Plateau near the town of Berstagi we found a much needed petrol station but like all the others we had passed it was 'Habis!!'

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Ask an Indonesian if they can translate 'Siprok' SW.

did it have a spinning bit ? - looks like an oversized voltage regulator

trendy looking aircleaner - did you have earrings to match ?

Originally Posted by baldrick

did it have a spinning bit ?

No, nothing spinning or any moving parts.

Originally Posted by baldrick

trendy looking aircleaner

That was the best bit on our engine!

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

When we reached a kind of Plateau near the town of Berstagi we found a much needed petrol station but like all the others we had passed it was 'Habis!!'

I've learnt, always get Bensin when you can....

They had gotten extremely steep by now

I'm waiting for you to blame me for all the hills.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

I'm waiting for you to blame me for all the hills.

he cannot say he wasnt warned.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

it looks like there's only one road that goes all the way down in Sumatra, hilly, broken and it's heavy traffic all the way. many trucks drive without lights, so as soon as it is dark, stop.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Originally Posted by Neep
You should take Sir Wilson up on his kind offer Fresh Prince.
I most certainly will.

Didnt hear from him.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

Didnt hear from him.

Tidak apa apa or Inshallah

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

Didnt hear from him.

I couldn't remember my teakdoor password, It's saved on my computer.

I ended up ok in Jakarta in the end. More pics to look forward to. Big house with a pool and hot chicks!

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

I'm waiting for you to blame me for all the hills.

Yep, they're your fault!

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

I'm waiting for you to blame me for all the hills.

Yep, they're your fault!

You shouda seen the hills on the route you didn't take. Waiting for the Balige section report.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

More pics to look forward to. Big house with a pool and hot chicks!

ok - skip straight to those - you can come back to the journey pics after

I've got two out of three...

We pulled into a town called Berastagi which was high up in the mountains on a plateau. It seemed strange to see a semi developed town this high up but I suppose it seemed a lot harder to get to because we were in a crappy tuk tuk.



On the way up there the new 'O'Rings that we had fitted that morning had already blown out and the engine was stating to splutter a lot. We knew that another breakdown was just around the corner and when it finally happened we were lucky enough to conk out outside scrapyard run by a very helpful guy.

He helped push us into his yard and got one of his experienced welders to sort it out properly this time.



He started off by welding this band around the outside to give it a nice tight fit as this exhaust wasn't actually supposed to go with this engine and the clasp holding it all together was from a different exhaust.






Then he tapped, banged and grinded everything to make it a perfect fit before welding another strip of metal to the inside of the clasp to make that fit properly without any gaps.



While he was working away, the owner took us on a little tour of his scrap yard.

A nice 62 Bug that had just had the re-spray finished.



Chico being a tit on an old Dodge recovery vehicle.



He also had a couple of old Ambulances, some old American classics and a massive Holden.

When it was time to leave the engine purred like a kitten and once again we could hear each other speak. I tried to pay for the work done but the guy wouldn't hear any of it. Top bloke, Cheers! He also had a massive piece of land around Lake Toba which will be a resort in a few years.

Back on the road and up here we were admiring the views and the local produce. It looked like the main crops up here were Carrots, Corn and Oranges.



The roads were pretty bad which slowed our progress so I had to do a lot of Indonesian Style driving (on the wrong side of the road)



The sun was having trouble breaking through the clouds and we could tell that we were in for rain later.







There was a lot of agriculture up here probably due to the fertile volcanic landscape and dotted around in between the fields were small villages selling mountains of carrots.

One of many bridges that always bottomed out my suspension.



It was getting quite cold now so we had to wear jackets.

Over the other side of this hill was Lake Toba. The camera couldn't pick up the detail but it was stunning.



Lake Toba - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Then the road started to head down the inside of the old crater and the roads improved. It was raining slightly and going dark.



But at least there was a nice white line down the center of the road that I could follow.

We reached Dairi not as a planned final destination but I just couldn't drive any further. The roads were occasionally blocked on one side by a big pile of rubble and without lights I was only seeing them at the last second so it was just too dangerous.

We drove through the town without finding somewhere to stay so I pulled over at a shop and Chico and Nod went on the hunt for a room. The guy in the shop fed me some kind of local 'Lao Kao' style brew and brought his kids out to speak English to me. This was to become the norm across most of Sumatra.

Chico and Nod returned with good news and bad news.

"The good news is we found a room!" Said Chico

"The bad news is that I think its an Al Qaeda Training Camp" Said Nod

When I got there I had to agree with Nod. The corridor down to the cell was a bit scary.



And the shit stained walls with scriptures really gave it that prison camp feel.





To top it off the door locked from the outside. Chico and Nod bagsied the bed leaving me with the floor. I think I won that battle.



We had a meal in the restaurant at the front. All we wanted was some Beef Rendang which we'd seen on the way in but when we asked for the menu they just brought out every dish on the menu and only charged us for what we ate. This too was to become the norm in Sumatra.

Anyway 40,000 for the room and 25,000 for 3 meals.

We made a group decision to be up at 5am the next morning and to get the fook outta there.

My mum didn't find this picture/text very funny.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

on an old Dodge recovery vehicle.

looks like the back corner of a HX , HZ ute in the bottom right

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Anyway 40,000 for the room and 25,000 for 3 meals.

cheap as chips.

in thai money, that's about 120 baht plus 50 baht.

Originally Posted by baldrick

looks like the back corner of a HX , HZ ute in the bottom right

Yep I think it was.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

cheap as chips. in thai money, that's about 120 baht plus 50 baht.

Yep, that was the cheapest room and meal on the whole trip I think.

They did try to charge me double in the morning because they couldn't remember me paying before I went to bed but then one of the younger girls with a better memory woke up and sorted it out.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

They did try to charge me double in the morning because they couldn't remember me paying before I went to bed but then one of the younger girls with a better memory woke up and sorted it out.

haha. typical Indonesia.

Day 7: Dairi to Sibogla - 209km - 13 Hours



Now looking at google maps the road to Sibolga was not the main road which contradicts the picture of the OS Map that we were following. Infact Sibogla doesn't even look like a main city on google maps.



Either way I'm sure the roads were equally as shit.

We set of from the Al Qaeda training camp at about 5.30am before the sun was up and continued down the crater. We had only just left the village when we saw a fellow tuk tuk that looked like it had been ditched in the hedge.

We pulled over and walked towards the tuk tuk. It looked like it had been in an accident the way it had been dumped and all three of us approached it praying that we weren't going to find some dead bodies slouched over the steering wheel.

When we got close it was empty and we saw 2 hammocks suspended between the tree's and a lamp post. We woke the guys up to check they were ok and it turned out that they had driven through the night and only set up camp 2 hours ago.

"Sorry to wake you up guys but glad you are alive!"

And we left them too it.

A bit of Lake Toba in the background.





As the sun started to come up there were hundreds of kids linting the roads on their way to school. They must have to walk miles every morning to school and a lot of them were tooled up with farming equipment.





This little chap was very proud of his mini machete.





The pics don't do justice to the amount of kids there were. In about 15 years when they all grow up there is gonna be a serious population problem up here.



It was bloody freezing up here too and the state of the roads was gradually getting worse. We'd had a flat spare tire since the start of the race so I made an executive decision to stop at the next tire place to get it fixed just in case we had a blow out.



A view looking out of the tire shop. We were noticing a lot more churches here an a lot less mosques.



A rice paddy. We had a little breakdown here but I think it was just over heating. We'd had a good run at full speed for a couple of hours.



We stopped in a small town for some ice cream and met some locals. I think the town might have been Siborong. Whenever we stopped we were always soon surrounded by local people who were interested in the tuk tuk.



On the way out of the town we were pulled over by a police road block.



I can understand now why so many people like getting arrested in Indonesia. From now on I'd be breaking the law a lot more often.



Then we passed one of the forced labour camps or 'schools' that we'd seen all the kids with tools walking to.



We then stopped for lunch in a town called Tarutung. I ran all the red lights and even went the wrong way down a one way street but alas I couldn't get arrested.

We'd had such a good run this day with fast, not so shitty roads that we thought the final push to Sibogla would be an absolute breeze. Plus the map we were following had it down as an 'Orange' Main Highway.

How wrong we were. As soon as we left Tarutung we were straight into a mountain with this 2 lane roads that got worse and worse. The tuk tuk started off well but we were soon back into the routine of breaking down every 10 mins with either overheating or dirt in the fuel lines.

It was a real struggle to the top and the mountain people were less than helpful. At one point we broke down on a serious uphill slope. Pushing it to get it started was near impossible so we gave a group of local onlookers 2 bottles of water to help us push.

We did the universal sign language of pushing and exchanging for water but they just took the water and buggered of back to their seats where they sat back and laughed at us.

Here are some little kids that thought we were idiots.



When we got to the top of the mountain it was time to come down. This was seriously hard going and I had to heel and toe the brake and accelerator to keep the engine running.

The corners were death traps and we we contantly being passed by massive petrol trucks. It was hard to believe it was a main highway. (I don't think it was now I've seen the google map)

When we arrived in Sibolga at about 7pm it felt like we had just crossed the Andes and we spent the next 20 mins high fiving our selfs for our massive achievement. We thought that we had just crossed the main mountain that all the other teams were talking about getting trucked across and we felt pretty unstoppable.

We found out later that we would be wrong again.

In the main town the tuk tuk gave up again so we pushed it around until we found a room for the night.

This is the best we could do.



It was cleaner than the last place but the beds looked like they were taken from the S21 camps.



And a toilet shot for DD.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Day 7: Dairi to Sibogla - 209km - 13 Hours
We'd had such a good run this day with fast, not so shitty roads that we thought the final push to Sibogla would be an absolute breeze. Plus the map we were following had it down as an 'Orange' Main Highway.

How wrong we were. As soon as we left Tarutung we were straight into a mountain with this 2 lane roads that got worse and worse. The tuk tuk started off well but we were soon back into the routine of breaking down every 10 mins with either overheating or dirt in the fuel lines.

It was a real struggle to the top and the mountain people were less than helpful. At one point we broke down on a serious uphill slope. Pushing it to get it started was near impossible so we gave a group of local onlookers 2 bottles of water to help us push.

We did the universal sign language of pushing and exchanging for water but they just took the water and buggered of back to their seats where they sat back and laughed at us.

Here are some little kids that thought we were idiots.

Tut , Tut, Tut.

FP Please go back through your emails and read:

Having reached Tarutung you have a choice. You can go to Sibolga, like driving from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Song it is only 66 kms but has a corner every 50-100m. Nothing much in Sibolga of note,

Plus you missed out Lake Toba the prettiest bit of Sumatra