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Thursday June 26, 2008 - Leticia and i got on the bus to Bukit Lawang with a local who asked us a few questions but not too many. Could this be our guide that the Lonely Planet said would be waiting for us? It was indeed. After three and a half hours of being stuck like sardines in this bus and sleeping (everytime I'm in a moving vehicle now I get sleepy, like a baby) we were there and he was asking us where we were going to stay, etc. He was a guide and he had two people signed up for a trek the next day. So he got us settled in a room for $3 that we agreed to split and then gave us the sale, along with his pal who would be the other guide. In the end we decided to do the overnight trek, even though the price was more than we expected. About $75 instead of $45. But times change. and we wanted to see orangutans. That afternoon I relaxed and caught up with my journal and we had an early dinner since we had not eaten lunch. I showered and packed my small bag and
went to sleep early, but Leticia stayed out until midnight or so. There was an interesting French woman was who traveling with her three kids for ten months already. Very cool.
I got up at 7am to finish packing and then go my roommate up at 7:45. We had breakfast and then brought our big packs down to be stored while we did our trek. We met our group - Matt, Lucy, and Vicki from England, and Elise and Cathryn from Australia. Coincidentally, Lucy and Vicki were the two girls I had met while bicycling by Lake Toba that i had chatted with for a few minutes. The trek began difficult and stayed difficult the whole way. Why did I not go to pilates with Ashley or walk more with Iryna? Damn I am out of shape. It began by practically climbing a mountain it was so steep and proceeded to go up and down and up and down all day. And really up and really down, not just a little bit. But the rewards were high - we spotted about seven orangutans, including a baby and a large male. Most were semi-wild but the male was wild. They
came rather close, but luckily none of them were Mena, the orang notorious for attacking people, including friends of mine who were here before. It was really an amazing thing to see them in the forest. I got so many pictures and videos, which unfortunately may be wiped, never to be seen again. The guides were very good as well, one of them always lagging behind with me. Part of the problem is that I always have trouble going uphill. I blame it on growing up in flat Florida. Part of it was that I was feeling sick - dehydrated. No matter how much I drank I could seem to keep up with how much I was sweating. Remind me to kick Sebastien's ass for not telling me just how hard it would be. And I had forgotten just how bad people can smell in the jungle. My clothes were reeking and it's just amazing. Horrible, but amazing. I really should have brought more clothes. The guides gave us fruit - passion fruit, oranges, pineapple - at different resting points and for lunch they brought fried rice in the banana leaves. The big problem at lunch were the monkeys. We
had seen different monkeys along the way, including long tailed macaques and Thomas leaf monkeys, and the Thomas leaf monkeys were showing up in full force for lunch. The guides kept them away for a while, but then fed them the leftovers on the ground. Not good. The some of my trekking companions started to feed them - from their hands! So bad. This can cause illness and aggression in the monkeys. Someone is going to end up scratched or bitten and then the fun will end. But this crew made it out ok.
After lunch there was more up and downhill, until we finally got to the last downhill portion, which was the hardest part of the day. Downhill always sounds easy, but it is hard on the knees and very hard when it's all slippery orange clay. It was almost impossible at the end with how sore and tired I was. My feet kept slipping and I was so exhausted and didn't care anymore. I had to grip onto the trees and roots and guide on the way down. It was such a mess. But finally I was at the bottom and the camp was nearby. I
got there and had a cup of tea. The trick is that other guys use the river to get to where we camp and bring the shelter and food, etc. So I had some relaxing down time and then changed and went swimming with everyone. Then it was time to change again and have dinner. The dinner was amazing - so many dished of curry and peanuts and yumminess. In the forest. I hung my stuff out to dry but it was hopeless. It started to tain and everyone moved into the shelter - a big area covered by a tarp. No real tents. No mosquito nets, though there were almost no mosquitos to speak of. We spent the night playing silly camp games and logic puzzles that the guide knew of. It was fun. When it was time to sleep, I didn't sleep well. Outside, between Leticia and Elise, no pillow. It wasn't ideal. By 6am I was awake and got up not much later. I sat and had tea with the guides and then everyone started to wake up and it was time for breakfast. Eggs and toast and noodle soup. Then we packed up and headed back
to town on the river. They tied several tubes together and put our bags into giant plastic bags and loaded us all in. We tubed back and it was great. It took about 30 minutes and it was sunny and beautiful outside.
Once back in the town, we checked back into our room and I gave the hotel my clothes to wash. It was sunny so I figured they could get them dry that day. And they did. I kept and washed my smaller pieces of clothes myself, the ones that were easier to do. I also knew I could never get the orange dirt out of of my pants, but she did. When we arrived at the hotel there was also a new arrival - Dominik and Myriam, the couple I had taken the boat and bus with earlier on in the trip. They had just arrived and would do a trek the next day. Spent some time with my journal and then met everyone up for dinner around 7pm. It was a nice dinner, lots of talking, and it was great to catch up. Being Saturday night, there were supposed to be several parties going on and
I was tempted to join, but was exhausted and had to get up early so I went back to the room to repack and sleep. Sleep was elusive though, as I kept looking at my watch to make sure I didn't miss my alarm, as well as looking out for my roommate who stayed out until 5:15am. I am such a mommy.
I got up just before 6am and got out of the room to try to make the bus as early as possible. I had to cross the river and catch a becak to the bus terminal. My "bus" - some guys car - left a little before 7am and filled up slowly as we drove through town begging for customers. I dozed off and we got back to Medan around 10am.
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Mike J
non-member comment
Yay Sumatra!!!
Ha... someone else who found it difficult... Faye and I were knackered, slipping all over the place and covered head to toe in mud!!! Good times tho! Indonesia was always our favourite and we're eager to go back!!!! Safe travels! x