Blogs from Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia
May 13th 2012
13thof may, after a nice stop here at Lake Toba we had set the alarm at 07am to check out and make our way to Bukit Lawang to see some orang utans. We had booked a collective taxi for 420.000 IDR. We thought a fast breakfast should be possible and while we were eating our pancake ( this seems to be the best alternative compared to bread ) the ferry arrived and started beeping as a sign of departure… It was only 07h45 and the ferry was supposed to leave 08am, we thought Indonesian time meant anything but too early! They will wait for us we thought and in 2 bites we ate our food (Jesper even left his so desired coffee of the day ) and hurried up with all our bags to the ferry ... read more
February 3rd 2012
During the last few days in Malaysia I had started reviewing my plans for Indonesia. Originally I had intended to travel Indo by land and sea only from Sumatra to Darwin, however with a 30 day visa it appeared to be a ridiculous idea. Trying to travel over a distance equivalent to London to Nigeria, during rainy season when boats were known to frequently postpone travel or simply sink and roads were closed due to mud slides or flash floods. Maybe a plan for one day, but for the time being I planned to fly from KL to Medan in Northern Sumatra, visit the tourist hotspots and then fly to Jakarta, travel through Java and then onto the islands to the south. Having camped out overnight in KL airport to catch an early morning flight I ... read more
December 23rd 2011
I had been looking forward to Bukit Lawang and its famed Orang-utan for quite some time, so much so that I dreamt about it whilst on Pulau Weh...but not in the way that you might think. In the dream, Amy had apparently had a child whilst we’ve been away (from where I don’t know) and had decided to name the boy Lawang! Of course I thought this ridiculous (although preferable to “Bukit”) and we argued and then...I woke up! Hopefully the place itself would not be as bizarre... Leaving from Pulau Weh, we knew we were in for one of those tediously long journeys again. A bus, a boat, a tuk tuk, two buses and then finally a final tuk tuk; all of which consumed 24 hours of our 30-day Indonesian visa before we ultimately arrived ... read more
November 24th 2011
Well, following on from my last blog, yes, I had an excellent week in fantasy football, thank you for noticing! That aside we have had quite a week! As expected we didn't end up going to Singapore, just about everyone we spoke to said it was very nice but that we'd be much better off visiting when we don't have such a tight budget, so it waits for another time. We spent a few more days in KL, getting on top of our washing, catching up on some sleep and enjoying the city without much to report, and then headed over to a small city called Melaka on the West coast of Malaysia for a change of scene. Melaka was for a while one of the trading capitals of the Dutch East India Trading Company and ... read more
August 31st 2011
Almost before our next visa run we manage to get some photos up from the last one in Sumatra. The highlight was when Jack was taken hostage by Jacky (a wild female orangutan) and her baby, and forced to follow her around the forest for over half an hour. Enjoy miss you all Yaz and Jack xxx... read more
January 25th 2011
Nous avons pris l'avion de Jakarta pour Medan, puis nous avons pris le bus pour Bukit Lawang. La route est tres chaotique et nous avons mis pres de 3 heures pour encore faire une courte distance. Mais une fois arrives a Bukit Lawang, nous avons ete charme par ce petit village (un peu trop touristique malgre tout). Beaucoup de gens viennent pour voir les orangs outans du parc national. Nous avons organise une randonnee de 2 jours avec Aru, un Indonesien connaissant bien la region. Il nous a emmenes a travers la jungle et nous avons reussi a voir 6 orangs outans dont un enorme male de quelques centaines de kilos. Nous avons passe la nuit dans un campement au bord de la riviere puis le matin nous avons marche pour quelques heures avant de rentrer ... read more
August 1st 2010
The first thing they should tell you upon entering the jungle is that you will never stop sweating. So far this has been true for me, and it started when I took my seat on that bus, 4 stinky hours before I even arrived. My first morning in Bukit, I awoke to a desperate Cucumber banging on my door, insisting I wake up that very second. I grumbled and fumbled my way out of my mosquito net, and opened the door to the tiny Indonesian man jumping up and down, pointing at the river. "Sasa! You so lucky! You see Sasa first morning!" And there, a short distance away from my balcony, sat Sasa, the sassy orangutan, enjoying some morning refreshment. Most travellers venture to Bukit Lawang for exactly this reason, to view these hairy friends ... read more
July 3rd 2010
We got to Penang in Malaysia only to find that the ferry company had gone bankrupt. So we had to fly, at considerable expense to Indonesia. But enough whinging. We got to Medan and spent a night there as the flight was so delayed we couldn't get a bus anywhere. So for four pounds we got a room not far off a jail cell, but with some other inhabitants. Most of them insects. We're now in Bukit Lawang, on the edge of the rainforest,and we have today had a really great day! We went trekking in the jungles and saw quite a few Orangutans and gibbons. Jungle trekking is a bit different to mountain trekking. It brought back memories of Rwanda in many ways, except you get much closer to the Orangutans than the mountain gorillas. ... read more
June 5th 2010
Woke up to the sound of monkeys bouncing on our roof :) Didn't mind too much though as we had to get up early anyway to go to the orangutan feeding platform (http://www.orangutans-sos.org/visit_sumatra/bohorok_orangutan_centre/). Walked down to dug out canoe at 8 and saw an orangutan waiting nearby. After we crossed he used the rope pulley system to get over the river :) It's only a short walk but has lots of big steps so we were a little out of puff when we got there, one guide made us laugh when he said 'we do this everyday, it's killing us', the way he said it with a deadpan face reminded us of English humour. It was well worth the money we paid (20,000 each for permit and 50,000 for camera; we only paid for 1 camera ... read more
June 4th 2010
The alarm went off at 7am and roused us from our sleepytime. Today we got to do what we came to Sumatra to do in the first place; see Orangutans in the wild. After breakfast in the cafe we got picked up by one of the guides and taken to some housing in the village where our other guide was getting out of bed and getting dressed. When they had both readied themselves and bought supplies for the trek (breakfast, fruit and fags) we headed off. First we went through some rubber plantations on the edge of the national park, where we saw how the trees are cut and bled for the rubber. After that we passed a sign to say we were entering the national park and we were soon in jungle. Suse immediately spotted ... read more
