Well we left Penang on the 'Fast Ferry' to Indonesia, advertised as 4 hours, some 7 hours later we made it!! Thankfully we gained an hour as we arrived in Indonesian time. We then had a few hours on the bus along a windy, dusty, pot holed road before reaching our jungle getaway, a small place called Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra. On arrival we liked the place immeadiately, the local people were incredibly friendly and there was lots of smiles at us.

In 2003 there was a massive flood that only lasted 15 minutes but killed around 300 people, but when you take into consideration there are only 3000 people living in the town it must have been horrifying, many families lost three generations. Since then tourist numbers have been down, so they were very happy to see some visitors.

Bukit Lawang is known for it's Bohorok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre which tries to re-establish once captive Orang-utans back into the wild - a very important thing as they are only found wild in two places in the world. The whole idea of eco-tourism has caught on here in a big way because of all that has happened, they want to look after their jungle so it stays special for years to come.

We decided to do a 2-day jungle trek, in search of Orang-utans - I was extremely excited. After having our briefing on Saturday night over a big bottle of Bintang (great Indonesian beer) we hit the sack pretty early ready for a big couple of days ahead. On our trek with us was a Japanese couple and an American family travelling with their two young daughters.

The first day of the trek into the Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser jungle, within an hour of the begining of the walk we saw an Orangutan called Sandra with her baby. It was amazing, they are so human-like, because of the human contact they have had in the past they are very inquisitive and come down from the tree tops to have a very close look at you. Perhaps they really want some food, but because of the rehabilitation centre none of these Orangutans get fed during the tours, they are being taught to fend for themselves within the jungle environment. Even though they weren't completely wild it didn't matter, in fact it was probably better, we got to see them in their natural habitat, such a different experience from seeing them in the zoo. Also if they were completely wild they would 'keep a big distance and probably throw things at you' according to our guide Thomas!

Before lunch we saw another 4 Orangutans; April, Suma and a few others - it was just as amazing seeing the 5th as the first. Then we had a great packed lunch of cold fried rice, cold fried egg, salad and pineapple it was delicious. Just after we had finished eating a big aggressive female called Nina came stomping down the hill, the guides made us move pretty quickly then fed her, Nina has been known to bite unless you feed her - she has bitten well over 50 people! It was interesting to see how different they can be, all the others were so placid and gentle yet she was completely the other extreme!!

Our trek contiued through the jungle with Thomas explaing all about the flora and other fauna we saw, loads of really interesting stuff, from rubber trees to the bark of a tree that contains quinine - a compound widely used in Malaria propholaxysis. The walk was really steep you had to grab tree roots and branches both on the way up and down, it was pretty slippy too, there were big steep drops that you wouldn't want to fall down!! It was also very hot and humid and it didn't take long till we were all sweating!

After a really steep slog downhill we found a small swimming hole, it was so refreshing as we were really hot after the walk, we spent a while here before climbing down a waterfall followed by a short walk and a river crossing before we made it to our campsite for the evening.

The campsite was really basic and authentic - the tents were bamboo shells covered with tarpaulins - it was the most beautiful spot and the river was so clear and great to swim in. We were treated to some excellent food including a beautiful chicken curry, vegetable curry and more rice than we could ever eat! We spent the evening playing games and singing songs around the camp fire in different languages with the guides until late.

The second day of the trek we again climbed a steep hill to a place where there was a beautiful view over the jungle and of course what goes up must come down as we climbed down the other side. We then went tubing down the river, which was several large rubber tyres tied together. The river was quite fast flowing and there were lots of rapids, we tubed all the way back to Bukit Lawang. All in all a great expereince.

We spent a day in Bukit Lawang after the trek to chill out, swim some more in the beautiful clear river water and we also went to the Bohotok Orang-utan Viewing Centre where we got to see many of the Orang-utans we had seen in the jungle again, coming for a free feed of bananas and milk!

Yesterday we travelled to Medan ready to catch the ferry back to Malaysia. To get there we caught a local bus that should seat 12, however at one point there were 25 people in that minibus, including 3 people sat on the roof! I was one of those people and had a great time up there, it was the best air conditioning just a shame about all the dust and car fumes! It was a bit like being in wacky races with minibuses and motorbikes driving here there and everythere! Medan is a horrible, smelly, hectic city so thankfully we only had to spend one night there and today we caught the fast (7 hours!!!) ferry back to Penang in Malaysia.

Tomorrow we have a very early start 5am bus up into Thailand - bring on the beaches!

Take Care

Andrew and Sarah xxx