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We were kinda glad to be leaving Railey after our not so perfect last day. We hopped into a tourist minivan and headed for the Thai boarder and Malaysia. We sat next to some Malaysian people who were SO friendly, we think Malays should win the most friendly country award (not Thailand!). We arrived in Georgetown on Penang Island very late. Luckily our bus driver dropped us where we requested rather than dumping us at an out of town bus station. We checked into the guest house we'd found on Travel Fish and pre-booked only to find we had the last room and it was a horrible damp windowless cell. Doh! Internet lies. We stayed there for one night and moved to somewhere nicer and cheaper in the morning where we had to get all our clothes laundered to get rid of that awful smell of milldew.
We ended up staying in Penang for 4 days due to the bad cold Holly got after damp room-gate. We did explore the city and surroundings. We walked to the tall Komtar tower and browsed the shopping centre. We were a little underwhelmed at the shops (think Northampton Grosvenor Centre circa 1980s) but
did find a Chinese Herbal Medicine Shop and stopped to have a Hopi Ear Candle treatment. With ear wax removed, we walked around Little India and Chinatown, popping into temples as we passed. Interesting mix of Indian, Chinese and Malaysian faces going about their business. Very smelly open sewers all over the place, surprising for such a modern and developed country we thought. One day we got the bus to Batu Ferrenghi, a nice beach resort on the north coast. We ate at some excellent street stalls and a fabulous hawker centre (Red Garden) where a man on an electric keyboard plays and sings while elderly diners get up and have a dance, bless!
While we were in that part of the world, we decided to pop over to Northern Sumatra in Indonesia for a few days....
Indonesia
We got the Wednesday ferry from Penang to Belawan harbour in Sumatra, Indonesia. The journey was smooth and took 5 hours. Quickly and easily through Indonesian Immigration and out into the madness of touts and taxi drivers outside the port. We joined 4 other backpackers and got a deal on a minivan all the way to Bukit Lawang,
which would save us the time and hassel of going into Medan city and finding the bus station.
We arrived in little Bukit Lawang after a 4 hour journey, which took us through the hectic traffic jams of Medan (which reminded us of India) and the rubber and palm oil plantations of the rural villages. We were met by a ''tourism officer'' who volunteered to show us what acommodation was on offer. We walked into the riverside town, which doesn't have many roads and along the river and found the most perfect guesthouse ever. The Jungle Tribe restaurant had new, modernly decorated rooms which overlooked the river and rainforest beyond. The staff of the restaurant were lovely and the food was great........we could get used to staying there! There had been a fire 2 days before in the centre of Bukit Lawang and 10+ houses had burned down. We could still see some soldering remains. Glad to hear no one was hurt. We gave a donation to help re-build the lost homes.
Next day we were woken really early by animal noises. We went outside onto our balcolny and saw a large family of grey monkeys running along
the riverbank. Above them was a young Orang-utan swinging haphazardly in the trees. Our first sight of an Orang-Utan, yay!! We saw him a little later with his mother as we ate breakfast before walking to the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park and the Bohorok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre to see the 8.30am Orang feeding session.
We had to pay 20,000 Indonesian Rupiahs (IR) each to enter the park and 50,000 IR to use our camera (about 6 quid in total). We walked up into the park with 3 'keepers' who were carrying a bucket of milk and bunches of bananas. As we approached the feeding platform we could see an Orang waiting for us in the trees. The keepers sat on the wooden platform with the food and this young male Orang called Rada came straight to them to drink milk from a cup and take bananas. Bless! Next a large female called Rata came swinging through the trees holding a tiny baby Orang. They hung in the trees above the platform for ages before finally grabbing some bananas. This was a dream come true for us as we were only 5 - 10 metres away from
them. They were amazing to look at with their human-like faces, bright orange fur and long limbs. The adults were huge and the little one was adorable. Such a shame to learn that they are endangered because their habitat is under threat from logging and the demand for rubber and palm oil plantations. They are also at risk from the illegal pet trade and tourism; they can catch human illnesses and many baby Sumatran Orangs die from pneumonia and influenza from people getting too close to them.
Next day, we did a one day trek in the jungle with local guides Azisso and Jack from Jungle Tribe and Jasper and Caroline, who we’d met on the bus. Azisso took us on an amazing but grueling 7 hour walk through the hot, dense rainforest, up and down hills, on and off the beaten track. We had to absail down a vertical wall with the aid of tree vines at one point, all very Tarzan! We saw long tailed macaque monkeys and Thomas Leaf monkeys (kinda look like big black and white gremlins with spikey hair) quite easily as these are fed by local guides so hang around popular spots and
beg for food. We were glad that Azisso didn’t agree with feeding wild animals just so tourists can get close up photos. A great photo but at what cost? Very bad we think!
The highlight of the day was when we found 2 large wild female Orang-utans in the trees both holding little babies. We got to see them up close and get photos without disturbing them and they weren’t bothered by us either. Despite the original ‘’tourist officer’’ insisting that the rainforest was dry, not muddy and free from mosquitos and leeches...we got covered in mud, wet socks and bitten by many things including mosquitos and leeches but had the best time. We spent the last day relaxing our achey muscles on our balcony, spotting yet more Orangs and swimming in the cool river. We were sad to leave quaint and friendly Bukit Lawang.
We got a crowded minivan to Medan (21 people in a 10 seater!) then a bus to Parapat town, on the shore of Danau Toba (biggest and deepest lake in SE Asia). We got the last ferry of the day over to Pulau Samosir (Island) and the little tourist village of Tuk Tuk
and checked into a basic room overlooking a pretty garden and the lake (Lekjon Cottages). After a day of lazing in hammocks, we hired the owners scooter and went whizzing around the top half of the island in search of some culture. The tribes people of northern Sumatra, called Karo, still live in traditional wooden Batak houses with elaborate concave roofes and pointed gables. We stopped to look at loads of these amazing structures and the equally as elaborate tombs that Karo people are burried in. Most were large and topped with statues or minature Batak houses, very grand!
Loved the food and fruit in this part of the world. We ate gorgeous watermelon and passionfruit everyday and we even tried an avocado shake, which was excellent. Deciding not to spend too long in Sumatra (but looking forward to exploring the rest of Indonseia soon!), we got the bus back to Medan (not a pretty city) where we caught the ferry back to Penang and got a bus headed for the tropical Perhentian Islands on the Malaysian East Coast.........
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Chris
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Great Blog!
Great photos - lovely to see you! I'm really enjoying your new lifestyle, you both are looking great and on the most amazing adventure, looking forward to the next dose of pie searching! xx