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Published: August 12th 2008
O.k. so the country that this blog is under might be a bit confusing! Indonesia was never part of the plan, but sometimes the best things aren't planned. The bit inbetween leaving China and entering Sumatra has very little photos and lots of drama that isn't really necessary to retell in a blog! So I'll try to be short and sweet in a quick sum up!
Yet Another Epic Journey - Jeez!
I was basically in Kunming and freaking out, no one could give me a straight answer about how to hoof it into Thailand; flying being out of my budget. I basically got a ticket to Jinghong, hoping I would be able to either get a boat or a bus into Laos from there. My only previous worry being that if i had to get a Laos visa, would I be able to get another one when sam and I had to go back through in a couple of months. All being cool on that head, apparently they don't care as long as you're paying, I hoped the journey would all pan out without a plan as this seems to be the way I have got through the
rest of China! I wanted to get the boat, kinda cool, cruising along for 3 days down the Laos/Burma border and no Visa to pay for, but when I arrived at 9pm at Mei mei's Cafe in Jinghong, the best place to get tickets apparently, (my bus being over 2 hours late!) they said all the seats for the next day were full and I couldn't wait till the next boat coz of my Visa. Slightly desperate and panicy about having to navigate all the buses and transit through Laos on my own I latched onto a very nice Isreali girl who was going into Laos the next day, she even offered me a free bed for the night coz she had a twin room!
So yet again I seemed to be very, very lucky! We made it all the way from Jinghong (china) to Luang Nam Tha (laos) in one day, with a minor incident at the border where I didn't have enough dollars or Yuan to pay for the Visa and Gili (Isreali Chick) had to spot me $35 to get through and then the problem of finding an ATM in Laos to pay her back -
all fun and games! (Pops - you almost had to Western Union a random Isreali girl $50!😉) After that it was all (comparitively) easy; the next day I got from Nam Tha to Chiang Mai - all by my itty bitty self. So 3 days, 2 borders, 6 buses, 2 open backed, covered pickups, 1 boat and a 1.5 km walk with my backpack later I got from Kunming, China to Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Yay me!)
Chilling the hell out
I probably should've learned from my mistake when I first arrived in China; and decided against arriving in a new city at 10pm but I so badly just wanted to stop being on the move I did all I could to get into Chiang MAi on that last day. Note: All the receptions in Chiang Mai close around 6pm. So arriving at 10pm was a bit of a mistake. The place in the lonely planet was full and I ended up being at the mercy of another Isreali sweetie who found me at the LP questhouse and said he was staying down the street and could probably get me in there. The angel even gave me his last
Oreos coz I hadn't eaten all day, even though I was too tired to go out for the drink he kindly offered! I spent 2 nights in CM wandering around, feeling a bit lost because there weren't any hostels while I tried to get into a place called Spicy Thai - which ended up being my little saviour!
I spent 4 nights at Spicy Thai; meeting cool people, drinking and lounging around watching 'House'. I so needed it after the difficulties of China and since I was coming back with Sam I didn't want to see any of the main sights. I did only one thing on my first day there - the lake outside CM is beautiful and full of locals, all swimming in their clothes. I really enjoyed that day and it was then that I met Matt who had 2 more friends coming in the evening. The 3 of them turned out to be awesome and it was the 4 of us that headed down to Koh Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Party. (I was intending to do a course in CM something physical or meditative, but lack of money and cool people to hang
The Lake
Chiang Maiout with swayed me to the more alcohol dependant fun of the Islands!)
Spring Break! Whooo Hooo!
The Island of Koh Pha Ngan is known for one thing - The Full Moon Party. So that's pretty much what we did, for 4 days we ate, drank buckets, slept in and partied! The whole Island is like a scene out of an American movie, where all the hot young kids go off to the beach for Spring Break, kinda crazy, kinda cool and of course with all the associated drama. We had met up with a bunch of people that the others had been traveling with before in other parts of SE Asia and we all (on the whole) had a pretty wicked time. Matt and Tom were leaving the day after the full moon to travel through Indonesia to meet up with some of the others in Bali; since I had 3 weeks spare before meeting Sam in Bangkok, (due to the fuck up with my Chinese Visa) and the boys flight home was at the same time, I asked them if I could come along. So next thing I know I'm on a bus to Penang, Malaysia.
M'Lord... Is that you?
We only stayed one night in Penang and had a pretty hectic schedule to get through so we were on the run from the start. As soon as we got into Indonesia we wanted to head straight for Bukit Lawang - where the Orangutans are. I had always wanted to go to Indo but because I was traveling alone and this was my first trip I didn't think I would ever be able to do it, so I didn't really know what to expect when I got there. O.K. slightly embarassing story coming up - when I was little I had a cuddily toy, a big orangutan, he was a christmas present and he was called M'Lord, absolutely no idea where this name came from but I frickin loved this toy (Yes, I do still have him. No, I don't keep him on my bed!) I had no idea that I would actually ever be able to see orangutans in the wild! But that's what BL is all about. We were very jammy yet again and on the bus from the boat into Medan a guy offered us a mini bus to BL for
a quarter of the price all the others were quoting, we thought it might be shady but it was all absolutely kosher (although we didn't believe it until we actually arrived!) The mini bus picked us up, let us stop for food and when we got there one of the local guides took us to the main guesthouse and offered his services for a hike the next day. No scam, nothing; and really cheap accomodation to boot. We ended up spending the night talking to a local at the bar and he was so sweet (anyone who calls me beautiful is Ok in my book!) he even offered for the guys to come over to his place to watch the football! Just the start of many lovely local people to come.
We went out for the 'chicken' trek, this is a 3 hour trek into the jungle as opposed to the 2/3 day trek most people do. We were on a really tight schedule and we thought if we didn't see anything we could go over to the rehab centre for feeding time in the arvo. That morning we almost didn't get up. We were knackered after the full
moon, all the traveling and although the minibus was a steal, the roads were so bad that Matt and I were in fear for our lives and Tom was only able to sleep through it because he was laid out on my lap! Matt was also slightly worse for wear after 'an inccident' in Chiang Mai (we're not allowed to talk about the fact that Tom pushed him over onto Tarmac!) His knee was swollen with infection from the wound and he thought he couldn't go through with it. I am so glad we made the effort, the rehab centre just wouldn't have been the same.
The orangutans are wild and aren't dependant on the humans but due to their proximity to the village and the amount of tourists that wonder through they are used to human presence. The guide warned us about some of them being aggressive but there are a few that are very friendly. We walked for about half an hour with no luck and an annoying amount of other people around, this wasn't what I signed up for. The trackers saw one down near a stream and as we were searching for a route to
The Circus
Khao San Road, Bangkok get closer, Matt beside me just shouted 'WHoooa!' - down the steep slope on the other side of the stream came a huge Orangutan! She was so close and coming towards us. I was desperately trying to get my camera to a setting that would work as the guides were hurrying everyone up our bank, I didn't even realise anything was up until I was quite close and Tom shouted down to move out the way - I'd only gone and tried to photograph the most aggy one of the lot! I learnt to stay a little more focused after that. I was just worried that we wouldn't see any more and I really wanted to get some good shots. My worries were completely unfounded as when we got away from the other tourists we found 7 in total through the trek. It was incredible! So much more than I could have ever imagined, to be so close to them and hang out with them for a little while was amazing!
That arvo we saw no reason to go to the rehab centre since we'd had such an amazing morning and we need to get on. It was a
The Harbour
On the way to Koh Pha Ngan bit of a shame that we didn't get to spend some time there though because it was a weekend and as we were coming back into the village the river was a riot as all the kids were tubing down the river and it actually looked a lot of fun! We jumped on a local bus back to medan (tinsel, hanging crap, tiny seats and thumping techno - crazy but actually really fun!)
"Welcome Home!"
Our next stop was the beautiful area of Lake Toba. Unfortunately we had to spend a night in Medan first - I don't recommend it. Crappy guesthouses for extortionate prices and a tuk tuk (well kinda!) driver who wouldn't give us a fair price and shouted down anyone else who came near. A woman almost had a heartattack when we asked for a triple room - 'What! 3 people in one room? NoNoNo!' but luckily we found a place that had a TV so at least the boys could watch the Euro! We got a minibus to Toba the next morning and were met at the harbour my a man saying 'welcome home',; this wasn't just him trying to get us to his
guesthouse, they all said it. Lake Toba is an incredibly beautiful place, a volcano that erupted and somehow now has a lake inside the crater (i'm no geologist!) It used to be a backpacker mecca but now is really quiet even in Indo's peak season. Tuk Tuk is the name of the Island that sits in the middle of the volcanic lake and from here you can do some trips into the island or you can do what we did which was relax by the waters edge, go swmming in the lake and enjoy the local hospitality and stunning scenery.
On the bus in Malaysia a Malaysian man warned us against the Indonesian people, that they weren't friendly and that they didn't like westerners in their country. We found everything to the contrary. The Indonesians were so friendly and they all speak english so well - with a strange cockney accent?! In Toba the barman actually said "The w'ter in Me'orca ..." as he handed over a bottle of water! ("Tastes like it ough'a" - for those that don't know!) All they did was welcome you to their country and make you feel at home - "welcome home" indeed!
The Jungle
Bukit Lawang I don't know whether it was because I was with the guys, but I felt more confident talking to people because I didn't feel threatened and we had more people approaching us, well, approaching Tom - he has that kind of a face! So far the Indonesians have been the friendliest bunch I've met.
So after all that beautiful scenery and diving into the cool water (and Matt getting his leg fixed by a healer with crazy yellow puss eating powder!) we thought we should get back to the sweltering heat of Medan, this time only for a KFC (that you can smoke in - you can smoke anywhere and everywhere you want in Indo. The guide book was right when it said don't learn the Indo for Hello and Thank You, learn how to say "Do you want a cigarette?" You'll be in like Flynn!) and a flight to Jakarta! Java here we come!
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