A Riotous Arrival

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I have arrived!

Flights were pleasant, minus the 8 hour layover in Doha which ranks in my books as one of the most boring airports the world over. But it was clean at least, and despite charging something like $5 for a coke (note: my calculations were likely confused by exhaustion and a complete lack of understanding for the local currency), I managed to survive the layover without any severe trauma. We borded our connecting flight in 46 degree weather (did I mention this was at 8am?) and 9 hours later, the scenery had changed from desert wasteland to bright lush islandy green. A bit surreal but a welcomed change.

We landed in Jakarta and then the real fun began. After being the second last person to receive my beloved backpack, I was welcomed with the kind of in-your-face humidity that rivaled the over-zealous taxi drivers pushing and fighting their way over each other like a pack of starved beasts descending on their prey. Here I was mentally preparing myself to fight off tigers and 40m pythons and giant flying spiders in the jungle - instead I had about 12 taxistas hanging off my back, not to mention hotel reps leaping in front of me and frantically waving becak (rickshaw) drivers, and I wasn't even out of the terminal yet.

"Miss! Hello Miss! Please!" screams one before he gets faced slapped.

"You come! You come to me!" shouts another, getting tackled to the ground.

"Taxi! You need taxi?" squeaks another driver, his smiling face and hopeful eyebrows about a milimetre from my nose.

I tried to be polite at first, but the patience started to drain and pretty quickly I had adopted a "you better get right the hell outta my space, punk!" face. Or at least as close to that as I could manage. I had brilliantly booked a flight out of Jakarta very early the next morning and decided my most hassle-free course of action was to just suffer another night of airport camping. And so I found my bench, brushed away the cockroaches (I was too tired to squeal) and passed out for a few hours.

Some time later, having to switch terminals and not being able to get a clear answer as to whether or not the shuttle bus began running at 5am or at noon, I finally gave up and took a taxi to the bright and shiny T3. I suddenly understood what it must mean to go from slumdog to millionaire in the space of 5 minutes. If only I had known such a contradiction of modernity and cleanliness existed a few terminals down! Here I passed quite pleasantly the remaning hours before my third and final flight, and shortly thereafter landed in Medan.

I took my first becak ride from the airport to the bus terminal, and this was an experience in itself. These are wooden, rickety sidecars attached to scooters that probably should have been tossed 10 years ago. On most, you'll find a head covering made of garbage bags and cardboard boxes, though I sincerely beleive this is less about keeping you dry than about obstructing your vision. Not being able to see how close you come to being runover by a truck piled high with cargo, or a public bus makes the ride a lot more enjoyable. While the roads here are chaos, they all seem to understand the method to the madness and so I safely arrived at the bus departing for Bukit Lawang, my first real destination point.

The bus was hardly luxurious with the ground visible in parts of the floor, and a giant crack in the windshield humourously disguised with a fake spider web sticker. Oh those clever Sumatrans! But despite the intense heat, lack of room and jungle guide harrassment, I arrived with a group of new traveller-friends to the edges of the jungle, and the sweet little village of Bukit Lawang.

Hiking through this hilly village that runs parallel to a small river, I finally found a guesthouse with a room free. Run by the cheeky Kumbar (who preferred to be called Cucumber), I had my very own wooden Robinson-Crusoe-like house right next to the river, complete with a bucket-shower, personal hammock, jungle view and a monkey as my nextdoor neighbour. Delerious but happy, I set down the pack and settled in for the next few days.

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