Horas, Oppung  Trip Start Jun 02, 2007 Trip End Ongoing  Loading
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Flag of Indonesia  , Saturday, October 20, 2007  The little
house is filled with children who crowd around to greet us, two
weary travellers who have just endured a 15-hour journey from
the city of Medan, on buses crammed with people and one
squawking chicken. They rush to their cousin Duan and wrap their
arms around him, but when they see me, a tall, fair-skinned
stranger who looks nothing like them, they only smile and giggle
shyly.  Duan is from the Batak Toba tribe of North Sumatra. For
two years as a child, he lived here at his uncle's house, in a
small village deep in the jungle about 20 kilometres off
Sumatra's west coast. He has just returned for the first time as
a man, bringing with him his western girlfriend, right now
feeling every bit the outsider looking in on an intimate family
reunion.  I have been in Sumatra for four months now, and have
settled in Medan, the capital