A Journey with a German-Indonesian Family More Than Just a Tour in Sumatra

   When I first received the information about my guests, Martin, Anke and Lilian, I thought they were Singaporean, because their flight from Singapore. I did not know much about them because I was only assigned as their tour guide for their journey in Sumatra. I received the job from a travel agent in Sumatra, and my responsibility was to take care of their trip during their time here.

Their journey was a five-day, four-night trip covering Medan, Bukit Lawang, Berastagi and Samosir Island. The program included jungle trekking in Bukit Lawang, visiting Batak villages, enjoying the scenery around Lake Toba and exploring several places in Samosir.

When I finally met them, I noticed that their faces looked a little mixed. I became curious and intentionally asked whether they had Indonesian ancestry. My guess was right. They told me that they have German-Indonesian heritage.

I still did not know exactly where their family originally came from. For me, it was not really important at that moment. I was simply there to guide them, make sure the program went smoothly and introduce them to the places we visited.

But there was one thing that made our journey much easier.

They could still speak common Indonesian.

That immediately changed the way we communicated. Instead of having only the usual conversations between a tour guide and tourists, we could talk about many things during the long drives.

Sometimes the road was quite long, especially when we travelled between Bukit Lawang, Berastagi and Lake Toba. Those hours in the car became a good opportunity to talk.

Martin, in particular, told me that he often followed Indonesian news through The Jakarta Post. That surprised me a little. It meant that I did not have to explain everything from the beginning whenever we talked about Indonesia.

From there, our conversations became more interesting.

We talked about Indonesia, tourism, local communities and everyday life. Of course, there were also some topics that seemed almost impossible to avoid when talking about Indonesia.

The Roads

We talked about damaged roads, road conditions and how infrastructure can affect tourism. As someone who works in tourism, I see these things directly. A beautiful destination can attract visitors, but the journey to get there also becomes part of their experience.

Then our conversation moved to the government and its performance, as well as many other issues that people often discuss when talking about Indonesia.

We did not always have the same perspective, but that was what made the conversation interesting. We could share what we knew and what we had experienced without making the journey feel like a formal discussion.

Sometimes, I think this is one of the unexpected parts of being a tour guide.

People may think our job is simply to take tourists from one destination to another, explain the history of a place and make sure they arrive safely. But a long journey can create something more than that.

A road trip through Sumatra can become a conversation about Indonesia itself.

While driving through villages, plantations and mountain roads, we were not only looking at the scenery. We were also talking about how people live, how tourism is developing, what visitors expect and what local people experience every day.

I started the journey thinking Martin, Anke and Lilian were probably visitors from Singapore.

I ended the journey realizing that they had a much closer connection to Indonesia than I had expected.

And perhaps that is one of the nicest surprises of working as a tour guide. Sometimes, you begin a trip thinking you are only going to show people a place.

But along the way, you also get to know the people behind the journey—and sometimes, you discover a different side of Indonesia through their eyes.

 

Six Friends, One Journey Across North Sumatra

   

When I received the assignment from Ravelino Tours Travel to take care of six Belgian guests during their journey in North Sumatra, I knew this would not be an ordinary tour.

They were three married couples who had been close friends for many years. They decided to travel together in Indonesia, and I was assigned to be their Sumatra Tour Guide during their six-day journey through North Sumatra.

From the beginning, I tried not to make our journey only about visiting places and taking pictures. I wanted to create conversations with them. I wanted them to feel that travelling with a local guide was also an opportunity to understand how people live in Sumatra.

The six of them had different professional backgrounds. Among the husbands, one worked as a banker, another was an entrepreneur, and another was a police officer.

The banker was interested in many things, especially when we talked about the economy and the palm oil industry in Sumatra. The entrepreneur was even more curious. He always had questions.

Sometimes, honestly, his questions made me think hard before answering.

He was not the kind of tourist who simply listened to a guide's explanation. He wanted to understand the details. When we talked about traditional Batak houses, for example, our conversation became much longer than I expected.

I explained to them that the traditional roof of a Batak house was originally made from ijuk, the natural black fiber from the sugar palm tree. We talked about how traditional houses were built and why the roof was designed in that particular shape.

But then he asked about the newer roofs he saw.

I explained that after the revitalization carried out around 2020–2021, the roofs at places such as Huta Siallagan and Kampung Ulos Hutaraja had been changed to ulin wood.

He immediately knew about ulin.

He started talking about different types of timber, including meranti and other expensive woods. I was surprised because I did not expect a tourist from Belgium to know so much about Indonesian timber.

I smiled and thought to myself, This man is not an easy tourist!

But actually, I enjoyed it.

His questions pushed me to think, explain, and sometimes learn together with him. For me, that is one of the best parts of being a tour guide. A good tour is not always about how much information the guide can give. Sometimes, it is about the questions that come from the guests.

The banker and the entrepreneur were also very curious about the palm oil industry in Sumatra.

They asked me about plantations, production, the role of palm oil in the economy, and even how much palm oil could cost. Their questions were connected to what they saw along the road. When we travelled through North Sumatra, the landscape itself became part of our conversation.

Then there was their friend, the police officer.

He had another kind of curiosity.

While travelling around Sumatra, he noticed children and teenagers riding motorcycles. He asked me, with a serious expression, why young people were allowed to ride motorcycles.

“Is there no age limit in Indonesia?” he asked.

I explained the regulations about driving licences and the minimum age, and we continued discussing road safety, Indonesian traffic habits, and the differences between Indonesia and Belgium.

These conversations happened naturally while we were travelling.

Sometimes we talked inside the car.

Sometimes while walking.

Sometimes while waiting for food.

And sometimes during dinner.

Because their tour package from Ravelino Tours Travel included dinner vouchers, I often sat together with them during dinner. These became some of my favourite moments.

After a long day travelling from Medan to Lake Toba, exploring Samosir Island by boat, visiting traditional Batak villages, continuing to Berastagi, and later travelling toward Bukit Lawang, dinner was the time when everybody could relax.

There was always laughter.

They joked with each other. They told stories. Sometimes they asked me another unexpected question. Sometimes I joked back at them.

Although I was their guide, during those dinners I did not feel like I was only working.

I felt like I was sitting with six new friends.

That is something I have learned from guiding foreign visitors. A tour guide does not only show a destination. Sometimes, a guide becomes the bridge between two different cultures.

The guests come with questions about our country.

We answer as honestly as we can.

Then, without realizing it, we also learn something from them.

As the journey came to an end, I realized how quickly the six days had passed.

We had started as a group of tourists and a tour guide. But by the time we were going to say goodbye, there was already a feeling of friendship.

Just before we separated, they gave me warm hugs.

Those hugs meant a lot to me.

They were very kind to me throughout the journey. Their jokes, their questions, their curiosity, and especially our dinner conversations became memories that I will not easily forget.

For me, this is what being a Sumatra Tour Guide is about.

It is not only about knowing the road from Medan to Lake Toba, Samosir, Berastagi, or Bukit Lawang.

It is about making guests feel welcome.

It is about being able to talk with people from different backgrounds.

It is about answering their questions, even when sometimes their questions make me nervous.

And most importantly, it is about creating a journey that people will remember after they leave Sumatra.

I am Damayanti, a Sumatra Tour Guide.

Every guest arrives with a different story.

Sometimes, they leave Sumatra having created a new story with me.