On an island on an island

When I flew in onto my first Indonesian island, Sumatra, I didn't bother staying in its busy capital but headed straight from the airport to a more peaceful spot: Lake Doba. That's a huge lake on Sumatra which has its own island, and that's where I'm staying now: on an island on an island.
Sumatra is tropical, lush and overwhelmingly green, and even more so in comparison to Ladakh, where I've been only days ago and which was one of the scarcest areas I've ever known.
Best way to explore the island: on a bike, of course. Although, of course, the bike is made for Asians and painfully too small. And, of course, there are no road signs. Soon I'd be praising the blessings of Google maps! The first 40 kilometres went fine - a flat road around the shore, with little traffic and some cars even slowing down before passing me! - but then I decided to take the difficult way back: crossing over the island. Another 35 kilometres over the island's mountain, which I assumed to be 17 kilometres up and 18 kilometres down, more or less. Sounds logical, doesn't it? Well, after 20 kilometres I started questioning logic. It was a LONG way up. And it was a LONG, STEEP way up! Several times I had to get off the bike and rest or even push the bike. (Me!!! And I never give up!). That's the point where I started to be really happy to have Google maps on my phone, because I just couldn't believe it was still the right way. It took me four hours to reach the top, but then I knew why I had gone through all the struggle: I was rewarded with the best downhill ever. 12 kilometres of switchbacks with wonderful views down to the lake, and virtually without any traffic! And no pedalling! Even so, I was too exhausted to take more pictures - in the "Sumatra"- album on Picasa you're only going to find pictures of the first part of my trip.
I reached my guest house at nightfall, bum and back so sore I'm still barely feeling them. How lucky it lies on the shore of Doba lake and looks like the picture below: A perfect relaxing- and recovering-place!

Indonesia looks very promising by now, although I already sense what's going to be the biggest challenge: Transportation. Bus rides are long and uncomfortable, and the best way to get around seems to be by (comparatively expensive) plane. I might have to reconsider my habitual "just grab a ticket and go wherever you want"-tactics...