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And Scientists Say We Evolved
Now if [i]I[/i] could do that... Samir's article. About half a week ago, we left Toba and drove up to a city called Berastagi that sits at the foot of an active volcano. As soon as we arrived, we instantly began hotel-hunting (as always), but soon realised that it would be awhile before we found a decent resting place. We'd just turned down another hotel when our driver pulled into what he guessed was a hotel. Dad got out to talk to the "manager", and then came back to tell us that our supposed hotel was really a church! The man Dad was talking to before said he knew someone at a hotel, and that he could get us a discount there. He phoned the hotel, and before we knew it, we were sipping Cokes and eating pancakes while waiting for the hotel to check if there was room. When they called to tell us that they had a room, we found out that our "hotel" (so many quotation marks!) was really a
resort with a pool, two arcades and an amusement park! We got a room with an upstairs and 2 double beds for only $36 (and from that day on, I became a semi-semi-religous
The Thomas Leaf Monkey Brothers, Skunk and Punk
Watching eagerly as the rangers feed the orangutans. man/boy). The next day we took a lovely hike up the ACTIVE VOLCANO!!! (Don't go nuts though. The last time it blew it's top, people were eating tofu and disco dancing) It was steep, but not too steep and when we got to the top, there were a bunch of wonderful fumerals waiting for us, blowing steam and smelling of boiled eggs and chlorine. There was also a volcanic beach with freezing water, but that's another story. Dad wanted to finish our walk with a dip in the smelly hot springs below, and the all-mighty guide book told us to take a different path to get there. "Take a sharp right turn," it said, "climb up the ridge and you should see stone steps leading down". Ha! What a laugh! There had obviously been a landslide awhile back, and the guide book's authour hadn't gone further than one step. First we took a steep, rock covered path down to a muddy, slippery path. At the end of that, we found what looked like a hole covered with ferns, which we lept into. Thus began our trek through the moldiest, steepest steps we'll ever see in an overgrown jungle. (Woke up
Yes, and How Many Corks Does it Take to Plug a Fumeral, Before it Don't Stink No More?
The answer my friends, is blowing in the steam...
-to the tune of [i]Blowin' in the Wind[/i] with awful aches the next morning) Me and Jamil finished an hour before the others, and had to wait for them at the end. We finished the day off with a bannana split and trip to the amusement park, which was a lot like Disneyland, same music but no lines . We left the next day, and drove on a bumpy road that not also is the only way to Bukit Lawang, but also hosts the worlds most frequent mammoth parade. (Potholes galore!) We stayed in Bukit Lawang (a small village) at a hotel inches away from the jungle, one of the only places in the world to be home to numerous orangutans! We got up early and went with three guides to spot some of our red cousins the next morning. First we went across a bridge then across a river by canoe to get to the jungle trek path. Basically the second we stepped into the forest, a mother with a baby clinging to its side came down to get some food from a ranger we were following. She stuck some bannanas into her mouth, climbed up a tree, and ate the fruits. She came back down for
The River We Rafted Down After our Jungle Trek
We didn't get any real pictures because we didn't take our waterproof cameras. some papaya, and then we continued our walk. We climbed up to the feeding platform, where the rangers feed the orangutans. The rangers sat down calmly on a bench, and when an orangutan shimmied down a tree, they absentmindedly handed it some fruit, and gave her a sip of milk. Then she ran off to devour the bananas, then returned for seconds. She posed for Mom for a bit, and then two black and white monkeys with tufty hair came. The closest we got to any orangutan was about a quarter of a meter away, except for when the big one came. We'd just ran out of fruit, when the biggest, hairiest, most sat-on-the-face looking orangutan climbed down a tree accompanied by a little one. The first orangutan bumped into Mom while making a break for it, which was pretty neat until our guides said it was time to make like a bannana and split. We ran for a bit, then stopped for a pineapple break (really good pineapple) but soon the big guy and mini me came and we had to ditch everything. (Party poopers!) The fruit slowed them down for a bit, and we got a good head
The Jalepeno Death Flower!!!!!!
Better known as the flower that smells of dead people. start. We soon found another orangutan hanging (literally) around. Alia got close up to her, but she suddenly hit Alia and ran up the tree. That was basically the end of our trek, but we came to the hotel hot and sticky, and decided that our day was not yet over. A few hours later we had 4 inner tubes tied together and 3 other tubes tied together to make 2 makeshift rafts. We raced down the river by our hotel, through rapids, herds of water buffalo and a python in the water (or so Mom, Alia and Jamil say). When our trip ended, we got a ride on a private van. Since the inner tubes took up all the room in the inside of the van, we all got the once in a lifetime ride on the roof! Aaah, the wind in our hair, the sun on our skin, the bugs in our teeth. Today we drove back to Medan, the starting point of our Sumatran road trip. More later.
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