Rahung Nasution is a wanderer.He fell in love with traveling back when he was a child in Sayurmatinggi, an inland town on the Western side of South Tapanuli district, in North Sumatra. He would turn his television to the single channel available at the time (TVRI) and hope to catch Rano Karno—then an actor famous for his travels—on the popular sinetron Cerita Akhir Pekan.The actor was Rahung's childhood hero. And the sinetron—a local soap opera—introduced the young Rahung to the sights and sounds Indonesian capital. Jakarta looked worlds away from his small village in rural Sumatra. He dreamed of one day moving to Jakarta."I wanted to come to Jakarta to see MONAS [the National Monument]," he said. "Then I wanted to experience flying on an airplane and going overseas. Those were my childhood dreams. They were nothing extravagant."He left home at 14, walking out his parents' home without so much as a goodbye. Now 41, Rahung has traveled throughout Indonesia, finding joy and inspiration in places like Muara Bungo, in Jambi, and Jakarta. He went to high school in Yogyakarta and Surabaya, but when he failed the university entrance exams he walked away from that too.Rahung embraced the life of the merantau—travelers who leave home looking for work—and he picked up a diverse set of skills on the way. He's been a blogger, a tattoo artist, a YouTube vlogger, and a chef. He lived in East Timor, Kalimantan, and now Jakarta.VICE Indonesia: What motivates you to keep moving?
Rahung Nasution: The more I travel, the more places I see. It's like finding a book, finishing it, and then being left wanting more. You want to learn different things in other books. When a merantau like myself doesn't come home for more than three years, we find a new home on the way. We also express our longings for a sense of home in a variety of ways. For me, it's by cooking the meals my mother taught me how to make as a kid. At home, my mom was always cooking.What's the appeal of being a merantau? How is it different from being a regular traveler?
It's a wish to visit places and have a hunger that can't be satisfied. You need to know more. It's especially important to me because I didn't get the chance to receive a formal education. Instead, I learn by traveling, by meeting people, and interacting with different cultures.When you're on the road for that long, how do you decide where to go next?
I decided to pursue high school in Yogyakarta because the city was well-known for its education. There are many good schools there. After being in Jogja for a while, I got bored and decided to move again. I wanted to be somewhere challenging, so I moved to Bali and then to East Timor. Sometimes, the trips are planned. But most of the time, I have no idea how long I'll stay in one place.I only planned to be in East Timor for three months. I was there for six years. So, it is always a surprise.What's your definition of home?
To me home is your roots. It's our roots. I can't deny that my roots belong to the land of the Batak people [North Sumatra]. But a home is also wherever you feel comfortable. When you feel accepted, it can feel as much like home as your homelands. I found a lot of places like this on my travels. Places like Jogja, East Timor, or Kapuas Hulu all felt like home. It's all about how people treat you and how you are accepted. Our homeland is where our grandparents are, where our parents are, but you find bonds in these 'new homes' that surpass even those that existed back in our homelands.You said before that you hate calling yourself a chef. Why?
Cooking has always been habit for me. I started cooking back when I was in elementary school at home. My mom taught me how to cook. It was out of necessity because my mom had to head to the rice fields at 6 am and came home at 5 or 6 at night. Since I was the oldest kid in the family, I was given extra responsibilities. I was taught how to cook. When my mom came home late, my brothers and sisters didn't have to wait long for dinner. So from necessity it became a habit. I never thought of cooking as something special. I never dreamed of being a chef.So what do you call yourself?
I'm like a chef, but not at a restaurant. Not a chef at culinary school. I'm a chef on the move.How do you deal with society's pressures for men to defined in a specific way in Indonesia? Men are supposed to grow up and be the responsible breadwinner. They are supposed to be a family man. They aren't supposed to be spend their lives wandering.
Indonesian culture demands that men be responsible because we are born into a patriarchal culture. To me it's more about responsibility that appears in many different forms. You need to be more skilled, more courageous, have more muscles. But that's a narrow definition of manhood.It all starts with the expectations that a father has for his son. Then it leads to other areas. For example, if a father failed to realize his dreams of playing football, then he might push his son to be good at football. It's like that. These are the burdens we pass down to our children. We have dreams for our kids, dreams that they will become ideal men. So it actually boils down to responsibility.This interview has been translated and edited for clarity and length.
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Rahung Nasution: The more I travel, the more places I see. It's like finding a book, finishing it, and then being left wanting more. You want to learn different things in other books. When a merantau like myself doesn't come home for more than three years, we find a new home on the way. We also express our longings for a sense of home in a variety of ways. For me, it's by cooking the meals my mother taught me how to make as a kid. At home, my mom was always cooking.What's the appeal of being a merantau? How is it different from being a regular traveler?
It's a wish to visit places and have a hunger that can't be satisfied. You need to know more. It's especially important to me because I didn't get the chance to receive a formal education. Instead, I learn by traveling, by meeting people, and interacting with different cultures.
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I decided to pursue high school in Yogyakarta because the city was well-known for its education. There are many good schools there. After being in Jogja for a while, I got bored and decided to move again. I wanted to be somewhere challenging, so I moved to Bali and then to East Timor. Sometimes, the trips are planned. But most of the time, I have no idea how long I'll stay in one place.I only planned to be in East Timor for three months. I was there for six years. So, it is always a surprise.What's your definition of home?
To me home is your roots. It's our roots. I can't deny that my roots belong to the land of the Batak people [North Sumatra]. But a home is also wherever you feel comfortable. When you feel accepted, it can feel as much like home as your homelands. I found a lot of places like this on my travels. Places like Jogja, East Timor, or Kapuas Hulu all felt like home. It's all about how people treat you and how you are accepted. Our homeland is where our grandparents are, where our parents are, but you find bonds in these 'new homes' that surpass even those that existed back in our homelands.You said before that you hate calling yourself a chef. Why?
Cooking has always been habit for me. I started cooking back when I was in elementary school at home. My mom taught me how to cook. It was out of necessity because my mom had to head to the rice fields at 6 am and came home at 5 or 6 at night. Since I was the oldest kid in the family, I was given extra responsibilities. I was taught how to cook. When my mom came home late, my brothers and sisters didn't have to wait long for dinner. So from necessity it became a habit. I never thought of cooking as something special. I never dreamed of being a chef.So what do you call yourself?
I'm like a chef, but not at a restaurant. Not a chef at culinary school. I'm a chef on the move.How do you deal with society's pressures for men to defined in a specific way in Indonesia? Men are supposed to grow up and be the responsible breadwinner. They are supposed to be a family man. They aren't supposed to be spend their lives wandering.
Indonesian culture demands that men be responsible because we are born into a patriarchal culture. To me it's more about responsibility that appears in many different forms. You need to be more skilled, more courageous, have more muscles. But that's a narrow definition of manhood.It all starts with the expectations that a father has for his son. Then it leads to other areas. For example, if a father failed to realize his dreams of playing football, then he might push his son to be good at football. It's like that. These are the burdens we pass down to our children. We have dreams for our kids, dreams that they will become ideal men. So it actually boils down to responsibility.This interview has been translated and edited for clarity and length.