On our mega bus trip today we stopped at Dokan Village to see some traditional homes. The women were all cleaning, washing and looking after children and the men that weren't working sat and smoked. The kids all played together and gave us lots of waves. We went inside a house that was over 200 years old made of wood, the beams like the ones you'd see in old English cottages. 8 families live in the house, it was hard to believe everyone would fit. The man of ...

We got picked up by two mini vans and drove back along the road of rocks...so I'm not sure why we needed the 4x4's to get here. We drove back to Medan where we started 4 days ago, changed to a bus and carried on? I'm confused but it doesn't take much. In Medan the roads are crazy again, I've just seen someone sleeping under his lorry literally with his head by all the passing traffic. We stopped at a local market before we arrived at our hotel, selling the us...

We left Bukit Lawang in 4 Jeeps, they said a bus wouldn't get through the roads we were using. It was almost 3 hours of driving across a road made of rocks. There were a few scary bridges which were basically planks of wood, just hold your breath till you get across. There were cows everywhere, even some water buffalo going for a walk. We saw lots of homes and the occasional village, still everyone so happy to see people and the kids all waved and shouted he...

I can't tell you how relieved I am with jungle accommodation number 1, it's still full of crawling flying things but much better than I was expecting. To get to our home we have to walk across a rickety old bridge made of rope and wood, I paid a nice man 50p to carry my bag across and to my room (I'd have paid ten times that). There are lots of cabins surrounded by lovely gardens, all are full of ants making big trails up the walls and we're right on the river....

The flight from Singapore to Medan was bumpy to say the least, thank god it took just over an hour. Getting visa and finding our lift was surprisingly easy. The immigration guy assured me that the 30 day visa he gave me was ok for 32 days, so I guess I'll look forward to a big fine when I'm flying home. The civilisation of Singapore is long forgotten and we're back to crazy roads where it's frowned upon if you don't cut someone up every 6 seconds. I've just see...