Do Not Pick your Guide on the bus Hi,
Strongly suggest you wait until you arrive in Bukit Lawang before choosing a guide.
These guides on the buses are called 'hunters' and hated by everyone in Bukit Lawang.
Get to BL and settle in and then scount around for a good guide with experience who wwill look after you if anything happens whilst you are in the jungle.
Pamela who goes to BL regularly.
Well the trek itself was very informally arranged. A licensed guide got on our minibus while we were on the way to Bukit Lawang from Medan... We got there from Penang, Malaysia by ferry boat ride. I think that was about $20 or so USD (six hours).. and the five hour minibus ride (also informal and negotiated at the pier) was only $10 USD each for three people. Be prepared to bargain- very hard with these guys. Gang up with other travellers to cut the cost- BL is the only place people are going in that area of Sumatra so its easy to do.
Good luck!
Awesome man that is extremely cheap for something so amazing. When you say you booked the trek was it a formal booking or did you just negotiate a price? Also wondering how expensive it was to travel from malaysia to bukit lawang?
Thanks heaps for your initial reply, i look forward to this one!!
Sam.
An Amazing Journey Jake and Meg This journey is coming to an end. We can't tell you Jake how much we have enjoyed your blog. Also how much we appreciated the time and effort that goes into doing something like this. Through your eyes we have come along on this adventure. Love Joann
"Like a thousand angry soldiers" Once again, your blog is amazing Jake. My favorite pictures - Meg walking out in the calm turquoise water and you in the hammock with a cerveza. Beautiful. Love you guys. Mary
Hey guys, Beautiful places for sure. Glad you made it through the Burma thing-nasty place. Just got back from a month at our place in Baja. Wonderful. Lotsa military around but they are nice if you dont have any guns or drugs. Beautiful spring, wildflowers everywhere here. Enjoy Malaysia. Rod
http://windscreensite.com I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Joannah
http://windscreensite.com
I want to ride the elephant I though the spiders were big in Baja! Geez.... Looks like an adventure every day.
Glad you found American food - bet it tasted good!!!!
Are there any monkeys?
Love you guys.
Sounds like heaven....rafting AND Friends!!!!! hahha MEG is def Monica in the ping pong episode! hahhahaha! I feel so special to be involved in your blog! ;) love ya and miss you! xoxo
Going back in history You've given us the gift of understanding the true spirit of Viet Nam. Thank you. I can smell it. I can fel it. I can sense the dragons. The sleeper bus I could probably skip... Love you guys!
Jake you are seriously talented with your writing! wow..! There was just a job posting for Australia to go do actvities and blog about it. Use this as your resume and take meggy poo for the ride! That damn nokia sound intensified must have been nuts! Meg, did you get up and yell "SHHHHHUUUTTTT UPPPPPPPP!" hahha AKA TJ. I can't decide which is my favorite picture. It is either meg driving the motorcycle and you in the cart attached or Meg leaping in the ocean when scuba diving. What a crack up!
Well, just wanted to say I fully enjoyed the blog! Thanks Jake!
mu ta kin yahhonehooee (Happy New Year to you too!) :)
Hey Rod and Nita! Its been awesome so far.. It is a bit strange being in a place we bombed into oblivion, but it seems like the collective mood is "forget about it and move on." Only at the My Lai Massacre site did we say we're Canadian haha. But I read 60% of the country is under 30 years old, so its a very young country thats on the move. Much more developed than its neighbors, Cambodia and Laos (so I've been told about Laos- I'll see in two weeks).
Anyways, thanks for keeping up with us! Hopefully I'll have some stories to match yours at the next campfire!
Hey Guys, Sounds like a great trip so far. I love eating street food when I travel. Must be kinda strange being in a country we tried to bomb into the stone age. Weathere here has been like spring for a month. Getting dry. I say go for the diving thing Under water is a whole new world. Make sure it is a PADI course or similar thing. Nita sends her love
Happy New Year OMG! sorry Meg, but I had to laugh at Jake's story of the curb falling episode - totally something I would do. Just reading about the tunnels gave me the same eerie feeling. Kind of a dejavu for Iraq and Afganistan. Will we ever learn? Are you eating the srteet vendor stuff?
Sounds magical. Have fun and enjoy every minute. Love you guys...
hahaha that was fabulous! hahah meg is totally going to see that the stitching is not right on that designer bag! You know she's a connoisseur when it comes to that! hehh.. o and meg.. now i reallly know what you were talking about..."You ain't gonna get anything out of us Riley's" ---nicely done with that fish! hahhahha I am dying! Jake- we will all forgive you for slacking for 2 weeks, but dont let it happen again! ahhaha oxoxoxoxoxx --karl :)
WOW What an amazing trip, you two are truely blessed! Great pictures by the way thanks so much for sharing. I am traveling to Viet Nam and can only hope to see such beautiful scenery.
Alex
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beautiful town
Luang Prabang is the most beautiful town in laos,