THE DETAILSThe author stayed at
Hollow Tree’s Resort
(htsresort.com; from
US$200 per person per
night, low-season, inclusive
of three meals a day, three
beers a day, surf guide
and shuttle for the wave,
and private transfers from
Padang). Co-owner Teiki
Ballian can help arrange
boats and guides if you
want to venture among
islands. The Hollow Tree’s
website has a list of helpful
travel information, but here
are some essentials:GETTING THERE
Transit through Padang on
western Sumatra, which
has flights from Kuala
Lumpur and domestic
Indonesian cities. From
Singapore, take a ferry to
Batam then a direct flight
on Lion Air or Citylink to
Padang. You’ll need to
stay the night; Plan B
hotel (planb-hotel.com;
discounted rate through
Hollow Tree’s Rp500,000
per night, season
dependent) is a clean,
inexpensive option. The
7 a.m. Mentawai Fast Ferry,
which departs Monday,
Wednesday, Friday and
Sunday, arrives at Tua Pejat
Harbour, Sipora, where you
will be met by a Hollow
Trees speedboat for the
1½-hour coastal voyage to
the resort.TRIBAL VISIT
Get ready for a journey. To
visit the indigenous
Mentawais people you will
need multiple boats and
cash. From Sipora Tua Pejat
Harbour, meet your pre-
arranged boat for the two-
hour sea voyage to Siberut
Island’s Malipet Harbour.
Your guide will take you two
hours upriver in a motorized
canoe, then it’s an hour trek
through the jungle to your
homestay. The two-night
tribal homestay described
here cost Rp3.5 million,
including guide fees and the
mandatory tobacco and
sugar gifts. The private fast
fishing boat from Sipora to
Siberut costs another
Rp3.5 million; Teiki can help
arrange it.WHAT TO BRING
Anything you think you will
need, as there are no shops
on Sipora.
Sipora: Besides the
obvious beach clothes and
surf gear, bring waterproof
booties for coral, your own
snorkel mask and lots of
sun cream.
Siberut: Trekking clothes,
waterproof trousers and
wellies (which you can buy
at Muara), possibly a
sleeping bag and definitely
mosquito spray. Expect to
be dirty for the entirety of
your visit: there’s no
running water, and the
washroom is the river.84 MAY 2017 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
of the family. Kapik swings his machete and brings it down fiercely
onto a log, which splits in two. He pries the glistening pieces apart
with the tip of his machete. The logs are writhing and moving on the
surface: worms. Hundreds of them. Long, thin, squirming worms
ooze from the logs and everyone snatches them up and stuffs them
into their mouths. Fat, tree-eating worms, they think, make for a
sweet-tasting midnight snack. Kapik spots me, turns machete in-
hand, laughs and shoves a worm in my direction.
I hate it when this happens on travel assignments. It means I have
to eat it.
I can still feel the wriggling in my belly as I write this.
THE BALLIANS HAVE SEEN MORE REMOTE PLACES
than I can fathom. They share a lust for salty nomadism akin to the
first Austronesian travelers who ventured to the Mentawais from
Taiwan 4,000 years ago. The sea is etched into their souls and taught
them many traits: survival, self-reliance, freedom and an infectious
appreciation of the ocean and nature.
On our final morning at Hollow Tree’s, I sit safely in a beach
chair watching the silhouette of Teiki jumping off the crest of this
perfect wave, which has traveled thousands of kilometers across
the Indian Ocean to this secluded bay in an almighty display of
beauty. In a few days, Teiki and Janine will cast Daniel’s ashes out
to sea. I can’t think of a more poetic way for a son to immortalize
his father’s memory than surfing with his spirit each day.
“I remember one time we took the yacht to zees mog-nif-eee-cent
deserted islands and one guest was reading a book ze whole time,”
Janine tells me. “And Daniel shouted at him, ‘What are you doing?
Don’t read! Look at where you are!’”
And so I keep staring into that barreling beaut of a wave, until
they have to drag me away to catch the boat home.
Kapik Sikalabai, on
the river route to
Maura town.