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Published: August 26th 2009
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19th - 21st
Still lots more chilling going on at Lake Toba and not an awful lot else. Bought ourselves some little souvenirs and decided the 22nd would be out last day here as we were starting to feel restless.
22nd
We decided to head to Bukit Lawang - a jungle area in the North of Sumatra with an Orangutan sanctuary. As it was a two leg journey of 3/4 hours a piece we decided to stay a night in Medan en route - Sumatra's capital. It took us 4 hours in another cramped, sweaty mini-bus to get there. Medan was another classic Indonesian city - too hot, busy, smoggy, lots of hassle, chaos, but this time we were slightly more prepared, this being our fourth city this trip. We arrived on the opening day of Ramadan so couldn't find anything to eat anywhere other than McDonalds which was surprisingly enjoyable after a month of spicey rice! We looked around the ramadan fair which was mostly food stalls after 6pm (sun set) and then headed for an early night in our hostel over looking the 'grand mosque'.
23rd
A new day, a new journey. After local
mini bus drivers trying to rip us off we jumped aboard a public bus, a bumpy four hour ride into the jungle. After getting off the bus we got onto an Ojek - a motor bike with open side car! this took us half way - the rest of the way uphill, we walked in the sun with our 15k packs! Needless to say we were relieved when we arrived at 'Sam's bungalows' - the recommended place to stay on the edge of the jungle. This was a big wooden lodge with an open air bathroom, balcony and hammock - perfect! The showers were interesting with great views of the jungle canopy. We settled in and booked our trek for the following day.
24th
Day of the trek. Up at 7.30am for breakfast and then we were taken to the jungle by our trek guide's assistant. Before getting to the jungle we had to cross a very long, high, rope/wooden foot bridge across the river - Indiana Jones style. The 1st hour of the trek was all up hill, the profuse sweating began immediately! We had occasional stops where our guide taught us about the rubber trees -
where latex comes from (like milk it drips out and dries up), we can tell you it doesn't smell pleasant during this process! Shortly after this we clapped eyes on some Thomas Leap monkeys - so called because of the way they travel the jungle. These monkeys only exist in this country, they have white mohicans and extremely long tails. More trekking followed and we began to wonder why we were doing this as we were really pooped already! Then....we saw our first orangutans! 2 female adults trying to sleep in their nests (they make 5 a day!). We watched them for a while, one of them peered over her nest to watch us. Another very grueling 2 hours later we saw more, this time they were wide awake and swinging in the branches above us - 2 female and adults each with a baby. These beautiful creatures were everything we had imagined, unfortunately we didn't manage to get many good pictures as we were too busy being awe-struck to remember the camera. We did get 1 good snap when one decided to hang about posing for us. Next we stopped for lunch - nasi goreng served in a banana
leaf and fresh fruit - yum! And whilst we were resting we managed to see some wild peacock whose mating call is almost deafening! After this we had another 2 hours decending to the river, this was the hardest part of all and there were times i really would have done anything for an air-lift out of there! Down slippery rocks with nothing for support but a weed or branch to grab hold of. Andy had a scare when his branch broke and he wavered around for a few moments on the sheer face of the jungle, thankfully our guide nudged him back to the ground! Down to the river and what a relief! We took a much needed dip and then hopped on board our ride home - 4 very large rubber tyres roped together, a man at the front with a big stick to steer down the rapids. Home safe and a celebratory beer and then bed!
25th
A rather sleepless night last night as we'd left some biscuits in our room and some local rats decided to have a grab for them in the night. We awoke during another power cut (they have them daily
in Indonesia) to the sound of an unidentified animal dropping to our floor and then some scurrying in the dark. I have to say I was terrified and I convinced myself it was a cobra after seeing a picture of one from a jungle trek. After much deliberation Andy got up and located the torch - we're still not sure what the animal was. We spent the day lazing around, aching rather a lot from the trek and watched the Macaques from our balcony.
26th
Today. Up early and another mini bus (this time 14 people in a 7 seater!) back to Medan for our last day in Indonesia.
We can't really believe it's been a month since we arrived and we wonder if time is going so fast at home. We've had a fantastic time in Indonesia - albeit a little hairy in places! The scenery, wild life, food and most of all the people have been amazing. Here endeth our first leg.
much love to all,
E & A.
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andyandelli
Andy and Elli
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PS. We forgot to bring the camera - PC lead with us which is why there are no pictures yet - we hope to get a lead/card reader in Thailand.