From the ferry terminal at Bakauheni we have to take a grinding bus ride up to Bandar Lumpang Stasiun and arrive just with minutes to spare. Heavy industry lines the degraded highway for most of the 100 kilometres. Massive steel works, concrete factories, power generation and a huge transport hub. Sumatera’s industrialization and degradation of its natural beauty will unfold over the next few days.

The train from Bandar Lampung to Prabumulih runs through the night, arriving at 5am to a deserted station. There are very few people around so we deposit our bags in the Station Masters office and walk around the town… the usual ‘hello mister’.

Right on time at 10.57 our Ekonomi train arrives at the station… and not a minute too soon. The rattles and shakes along the winding route through rubber and tapioca plantations, with very few areas still covered by the original jungles. Large swathes of land have been cleared for farming and the only original features of this landscape are the occasional volcanoes towering up to 3000 mts.

After 8 hours we rattle in to Lubuklinggau , a town that last saw an English speaking tourist when Raffles called past here in 1817. It’s a large town, even has a KFC, the railhead of the southern Sumateran rail line… but we make a fine spectacle walking the main street with our back packs. ‘Hello Mister’.

A rest day here in Lubuklinggau before 36 hours in the bus to the port of Dumai on the north coast, and the ferry across to Melaka.