August 16

Mucking around in Medan

We boarded our flight and about 90 minutes later touched down at Medan's Polonia Airport. Medan is Indonesia’s third largest city with a population of over 2 million, and it is the largest city on the island of Sumatra. However, you’d never know this from the airport. The tiny place is plunked right in the middle of a residential section of the city, and the building resembles a bus station! Apparently they are building a larger international airport outside the city, so I’m sure we’ll arrive there on our next visit!

The immigration formalities at the airport weren’t nearly as difficult as we feared. We first had to purchase our visas for $25 each – an entire page of our passport now is adorned with a beautiful Indonesian visa! We quickly found our bags and headed out through a hoard of taxi touts. We were soon approached by a nice lady who we soon learned was the representative from our tour operator (a sign would have been nice so there was no uncertainty!).

Friendly guide Hanum and driver Rozi brought us to the car to take us out of the airport. Nothing could prepare us for the ride through the streets of Medan – motorbikes and cars jostling for space on narrow roads nearly hitting each other along the way. Hard to believe that it all works out ok in the end – in fact, when looked in the abstract it resembles a funky chaotic sort of ballet of humanity!

We stopped at an ATM to get some cash. Efren had no problem becoming an instant millionaire with a withdrawal of 2,000,000 rupiah using his Wells Fargo bankcard. Unfortunately, Craig’s card didn’t work so a call to Chase will be in the near future. Until then, Efren will be paying for everything! We paid for ½ our tour up front in US Dollars, and because tomorrow is a holiday (Independence Day), our guide needed to get the cash exchanged to rupiah this evening. So they dropped us off at the pleasant Merdaka Walk restaurant zone which was all a-buzz getting ready for the Independence celebrations scheduled for the next day.

We were soon retrieved by Hanum and Rozi and were brought to our hotel – the faded Grand Antares Hotel. We checked in got on internet for bit and headed to bed. Hanum will be back tomorrow at 8am to pick us up to start our tour of Medan and journey to Bukit Lawang to see what everyone comes to Sumatra for – Orangutans!

One thing of note. We are trying to learn a bit of Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia). We learned that orangutan is actually Indonesian for "forest people". Orang is the word for person, and Hutan for forest!

Selamat Tinggal (good bye!)

August 17 -- Onwards to Bukit Lawang

Our day started extremely early as we couldn't sleep and we were awaken by the call to prayer at about 4:30am. We went down for breakfast which was being served this early because during Ramadan fast, Muslims cannot eat during the day and therefore eat a big meal early in the AM.

The breakfast was buffet and seemed as if it may have been cooked the previous day. We were a bit paranoid about ending up with stomach issues, but since we packed the Cipro and Immodium, we decided to jump in with both forks and face the consequences later. The food was super spicy (more on that later) and not bad overall. We are happy to report that more than 48 hours after eating this, we have yet to experience any digestive problems (fingers crossed). Actually, the food was so spicy that probably no bacteria could survive in such a harsh environment!

We met Hanum and Rozi at 8am, and the day started with a short tour of Medan. Other than an impressive mosque and royal residence, there really isn't much to see here. One exception on the outskirts of town was a joint Hindu/Catholic house of worship that was just quite the site to see.

Next we were off to Bukit Lawang, the home of the orangutans and a major destination for locals to enjoy tubing on the Bohorok River. The drive to BL was astounding for one thing - it introduced us further to Indonesian driving! Think potholes the size of vans that could swallow small houses whole! Here they drive on the left, however vehicles really don't follow the rules and go pretty much wherever space allows. At first we were white-knuckled watching the spectacle, but amazingly all works out with absolutely no road rage - surprising since cutting others off is the norm. It was here that Rozi's amazing driving skills became apparent.

Once out in the countryside, the landscape is dotted with miles and miles of plantations. Rubber and palm are the main ones, with tapioca, corn and rice paddies as well. There is controversy around the palm oil industry. Environmentalists protest the planting of palm trees because native jungle is cleared in the process, resulting in loss of habitat and threatening local species (orangutan, Sumatran Tiger, Rhino, etc). The palm oil is used as a fuel and is blamed for contributing to global warming. It is very easy to criticize the government for operating these plantations. However, this industry is the backbone of the economy for the region. Also keep in mind that if you eat any processed food, use cosmetics or beauty products, you are benefiting from the industry as palm oil is an essential ingredient in these products.

After about 3 hours we arrived in Bukit Lawang. "Bukit" means hill and "lawang" means beautiful. The name fits the scenery perfectly. Picture a lush jungle habitat with a beautiful river running through the valley (filled with boaters and tubers) along with a stunning waterfall and precarious hanging bridges linking the two sides. We were thrilled to learn that our hotel, EcoLodge, requires traversing one of these bridges! Luckily 2 helpful Indonesian boys offered their services to lug our packs to the hotel. For a mere $1, we were freed from our weighty burdens and could "enjoy" the trek over the bridge.

We checked in and found our accommodations to be surprisingly comfy given the locale. Mosquito nets adorned our beds, and we loved the outdoor bathroom (great ambiance), however, the cold water only shower took a bit getting used to. Little did we know we would soon come to greatly appreciate the cold water after our first trek into the jungle later that afternoon.

After a quick lunch we were ready for the 3pm visit to orangutan feeding station which involved leaving at 2pm to walk to the departure point. This involved a fairly long slippery walk through the village of BL. We learned that in 2003 there was a devastating flood which killed over 200 people and destroyed most of the town. The town has rebuilt, but the community is still grieving for lost relatives and livelihoods. So, we recommend anyone with a taste for adventure travel consider putting Bukit Lawang on their must-see list.

After the 20 minute walk, to reach the feeding station involved a short canoe trip across the river. At the canoe departure point, Craig nearly capsized the boat as he tried to get his footing, but due to his agile balancing skills, disaster was averted and no one got wet.

We prepared for the steep uphill trek to the orangutan feeding platform. And steep it is indeed. Add the 100% humidity and 100% DEET bug spray we had on and you can imagine the sweaty stinky mess we were facing! The feeding station is part of a large Leuser National Park that spans both North Sumatra and Aceh provinces. At this location, the orangutans are wild, but have been re-released into the jungle after being saved from captivity in other locations. The rehabilitation has been very successful and the orangutans now successfully breed on their own.

Twice a day the park rangers put bland food out to feed the orangutans. Often they don't come if they can find "better" food on their own in the jungle (fruits). And that is exactly the point, to re-train them to be wild and offer some sustenance only if necessary, particularly for nursing mothers. Well today it appears the jungle's bounty was sparse because as soon as we arrived at the feeding area we soon saw an orange mass of fur descending from the tree tops!

Before long we were rewarded with awe-inspiring views of an orangutan that we soon realized was a mother as the adorable little baby was clinging to her body. It was truly incredible watching both mother and baby effortlessly glide through the treetops. Their arms are so long and allow them to grab and swing their way through the trees.

After watching the orangutans for about 1 hour, we started the descent back down. On the way down, we came almost face to face with another orangutan! This one was rushing to the feeding station before the 4pm closing! We got great views of this one as well, it she was also carrying a baby! We need to mention that there are lots of other monkeys here as well. The rangers work hard to keep the other monkeys away from the feeding platform. However, at the end of the feeding, we saw one of the most heartwarming sights ever. The mother orangutan, already full and having fed her baby, noticed a mother monkey looking for food with its baby on her back. The orangutan actually gave a bunch of bananas to the monkey so the monkey could feed its baby. AWWWWWWW! From looking at the orangutans their physical similarity to humans is clear - but this act of compassion shows they have more in common with humans than we ever believed!

Down at base camp we saw yet another orangutan. This one didn't have a baby and was clearly an angry beast as she picked up rocks and threatened to throw them when tourists got too close. We learned that she is known as Mina, and has a long history. She's earned a reputation for displaying aggressive behavior towards humans. However, most instances of aggressive behavior occur when tourists on treks have behave badly and don't listen to their guides. She's known for attacking humans to steal their food. This serves as a test-case why tourists in the park should not feed the wild orangutans or get too close to them. Also, humans can transmit diseases to the orangutans (like the flu), so it is important we keep our distance so we don't threaten our red-haired cousins!

All in all, the trek to see the orangutans was a once-in-lifetime experience! The road to Bukit Lawang is long, the insects are huge, and the accommodations basic - but totally worth it in the end!

We ended this long day with a wonderful chicken potato curry at the EcoLodge restaurant. It was prepared fresh and required a 3 hour advance notice to appropriate ingredients could procured. Believe it or not, this included the staff chasing the chicken around the compound before presenting it to us as dinner (no joke!). After dinner, Efren got a massage from a wonderful masseur named Puek. 1 hour of massage for only $10!

After this we were off to bed - there is nothing much to do in the jungle after dark except to listen to all the creatures of the night! Tomorrow we're off to another highlight of Sumatra - Lake Toba. This will be a 7 hour drive through the pothole laden "Trans Sumatra Highway"

We'll have more stories to tell soon!

Selamat Malam!