Close encounters of the Orangutan kind
The 12 days of Christmas are coming to an end and I hope you all had a wonderful time. We certainly did in Malaysia and then Indonesia. We spent the 2 weeks prior to the holidays back in Penang recovering from a month away and getting excited about the children plus Sean' s girlfriend, Lisette joining us for 2weeks. We had to do a 2 day trip to Kuala Lumpur to get our Myanmar visas for January. We stayed in a small hotel, the Angguun which was in a great location. We saw the views from the 41st and 86th floors of the Petronas Twin Towers, ate great street food on Jalan Alor in the busy Bukit Bintang area, window shopped at the Suria KLCC Mall and visited Little India. We went out of the city to the Batu Caves. These cavernous caves have a Hindu temple inside and lots of Hindu visitors. The many steps leading up to the entrance are colonised by monkeys and there is a huge gold plated statue of Lord Subramanian. Of more interest to me was the the ornate Indian wedding in a nearby temple. The bride was very young and nervous and beautifully attired as were all the guests. I was beckoned in to observe and take photos which I did for 40 minutes. There was no sign of the groom at this stage. The saris were so colourful. It must be a status symbol to have casually dressed foreigners taking photos at an Indian society wedding!!!
Back in Penang, we had a wonderful day trekking in the Pilau Pinang National Park. We caught a local bus to the entrance and set off to the deserted Kampi beach. We walked across a canopy walkway, around a meromictic(???) lake, saw 1 day old turtle hatchlings at a sanctuary. After 3 hours and a steep climb, we reached a beautiful beach. We had arranged to be met by a boatman who pointed out eagles, a monitor lizard, an otter and the aptly named Monkey Beach on our boat ride back.
A low point for me was deciding to have my highlights done and leaving the hairdresser with lowlights!! No experience of blond hair obviously!!!!! We ate at a few new places, the most memorable was Line Clear, a old family run Nasi Kandor place. Basically, you line up and in our case, point at various food dishes you want to try. Very cheap and basic but good and we were both fine the following day.
So time arrived to board the ferry to Langkawi. We were staying at the Meritus Pelangi on Pantai Cenang. It's a well established family hotel with all nationalities and cultures. The rooms are in wooden stilted houses surrounded by gardens, pools and a fantastic sandy beach. The children arrived after us and I shed a few tears of happiness to be altogether. It was great to watch these pale exhausted young adults relax as we all sunbathed, swam, chatted, played crazy no rules Kenny tennis and the guys even took out the battered catamaran. We ate outside the hotel in local restaurants except on Christmas Eve when the hotel pulled out all the stops for food, music and entertainment. Hannah managed to find roast turkey with all the trimmings. We partied hard and went to breakfast on the 25th in our mad Christmas outfits to find all the other guests in very non festive attire. Well, the staff loved us and our Christmas spirit.
After a chilled week, we all took the 3 hour ferry back to Penang. We had rooms at the Penaga Hotel. This is a several renovated terraces of Chinese shop fronts. The rooms are furnished with Chinese antiques and modern furniture. The result is very stylish. The location is very central so we walked everywhere. We visited the E and O Hotel so the children could see where we are normally staying. While we were having a nightcap in a local bar, an Indian groom procession passed with decorated buffalo. I love these unexpected Georgetown sights. We walked down to the clan jetties, went to temples, ate in Little India and at a hawker centre and did some shopping. We had a great experience in the Hainan Temple in Muntai Street. The Chinese caretaker made us all pick out fortune sticks and then gave us a detailed note of our future. Mine said Matrimony : change of courting partner preferred and Change of Abode : not advisable!!! We all loved the Khoo Kongsi clan house complex.
A 60 minute flight away is the capital of Sumatra, Medan. We arrived and it rained nonstop for nearly 24 hours. We knew it was the rainy season but surely the rain would be interspersed with some clear weather. The first night was so wet that we stayed in our city hotel (very Muslim and we were the only foreigners) We had to drink fresh fruit mocktails when we realised they didn't serve alcohol. After an early night we were all up bright and early to be picked up by our driver, Sam. Was glad to leave uninspiring Medan behind. My impressions of it were garish apartment blocks, many small mosques topped with polished metal minarets, hoardings for Clavo cigarettes, McDonald and KFC restaurants everywhere, endless traffic congestion with lorries, minivan buses and taxis, flimsy motorcycle tuk-tuks and death wish motorcyclists. On the drive (just over 3 hours) to the jungle at Bukit Lawang, the views changed and we saw palm oil and rubber plantations and wonderful scenery. We saw rubber brokers buying large bundles of raw rubber from local plantation owners. We arrived at an ecolodge on edge of the jungle. We had to cross a full and fast flowing river by a swinging rope bridge. The riverbanks were full of locals eating, washing, doing laundry and generally enjoying the water. Several guys floated past in giant rubber rings despite the lethal looking current. The lodge was great with lovely gardens full if wildlife especially monkeys. The rooms were great with bamboo furniture and bathrooms open to the elements and the wildlife. This meant night time trips were limited! As l was developing a hacking cough, I declined the hike up to a bat cave in the pouring rain. The others all came back wet but laughing.
We signed up for a full day trek to see the orangutans. Our guide (adopted English name) Idris briefed us about the National Park and the animals. It is home to elephant, rhino, tigers, sun ears and many deadly snakes although he assured us that they live much deeper in the jungle that we would venture. We set off early and the rain had stopped!!! We were joined by aidris a d another 2 local guides. one was also called Idris ( do they all watch The Wire?) We walked through a palm oil plantation and fed some Thomas Leaf monkeys. Half an hour into the park we has our very first orangutan experience. A mother with baby swung down and we feed her some fruit. We heard and saw laughing hornbills, a large chameleon, a white faced gibbon, a peacock, many insects and gorgeous butterflies. We walked to a feeding platform where the orangutans are feed by a conservation group twice a day. They are under threat from the logging to create more plantations which destroys their environment and until fairly recently, locals would kill mothers to take the babies as pets. The conservation group is trying to release as many animals back to the wild as possible. We visited the area outside the feeding times but had close encounters with 2 mothers both with young babies. As the feeding finished they started fighting so we were moved along swiftly. The track became much more challenging so Idris 2 helped me at tricky moments.
We then had our most memorable moment. We were feeding Sandra ( the guides call and name the animals they are familiar with). She was much larger than the other females we had seen with a 4 month old baby. As we were turning to head off, she grabbed Lisette's rucksack to find more food. Luckily it was not attached to Lisette and she had the presence of mind to release it as Sandra flew up a tree pursued by our guides waving bananas at her. As we were on a slope, we were able to eyeball Sandra as she opened the rucksack. She threw away Sean's waterproof in disgust. A plastic bag was opened and she bit into a camera case and then an IPhone. Both were thrown down and our guides managed to rescue them. A towel was then rejected but the poncho deserved a closer look so she put it on. By this time we were all laughing. She bit through a can of insect repellent and threw the sack and remaining items down. I breathed a sigh of relief that l didn't have to tell Lisette's mother that her daughter was last seen in the arms of an orangutan in the Sumatran rainforest!!! It reinforced the fact that these are powerful wild animals and need to be treated with caution.
The guides were getting a little jittery as we were entering the area of the notoriously aggressive and territorial Mina. She has a whole paragraph in the Lonely Planet as she has attacked guides and tourists. Our silent guide had a 3 inch scar on his forehead where she had bitten him 3 years ago. So when they said hurry up this incredibly steep and difficult slope, l practically flew up and luckily we missed seeing Mina. When we saw down to eat our jungle lunch, the guides were very still watchful. Our last encounter was with the gentle Juni. We left the jungle to the sound of a call to prayer from the local mosque. What a day! We discussed our experiences that night. Was it right to feed the orangutans? They obviously associate us with food especially carrying backpacks. The guides seem to love and care about the animals and they make their living by taking tourists into feed the orangutans and then hopefully make donations to the conservation centre. We felt very lucky to have seen these magnificent creatures and Lisette now has a unique phone with teeth marks!
New Year's Eve was spent being driven for 8 hours to Lake Toba. The drive was fine as the country is stunning. It seems that it is the man made structures that are not so stunning. Noticed lots of road signs Hati- Hati meaning danger. We started seeing Christian churches and graveyards. All the markets were selling cakes, fireworks and brightly coloured paper trumpets for the evening festivities. Couldn't believe how many toddlers were walking along clutching large fireworks while a parent walked alongside smoking! The views of Lake Toba were stunning. The roads were very busy as everyone seemed to be travelling to this area for the holiday.
The short ferry ride across to Tuk Tuk on the island of Samosir was fun and then we walked from the jetty to our hotel. It was a group of Batak houses with distinctive pointed metal roofs. We all have lovely rooms with views of the bay and large balconies with hammocks. We arrived just in time for dinner which was a buffet with a reggae band, a party band and a crazy violinist. The guests were a mix of Europeans and Indonesians. We sat on the girls' balcony at midnight and watched fireworks explode all across the bay,. It was lovely. Tuk Tuk is a funny place as it used to hold Full Moon parties and be full of hippies. They have mostly moved on now but you can still buy magic mushrooms in all the bars. We hired bikes and cycled to the Stone Chairs where Batak elders used to sit and pronounce judgement on offenders. The island is very hilly so we soon returned to our hammocks and books.
The following day, we had a 4 hour drive to overnight in Berastagi to climb a volcano. This had been worrying me slightly as l had read that Gunung Singabung was erupting and 20,000 people had been evacuated. Didn't want to be a disaster tourist. Learnt that there are 2 volcanos in this area and we were going to climb the smoking Sibayak. Our guide took us up the easiest route, firstly a road and then a path to the top which took us an hour. Visibility was disappointingly poor as on a clear day you can see both volcanos and the surrounding jungle for miles. We could hear the other volcano rumbling. The top was very barren and the crater was filled with water and small rocks. Sulphur sprayed out of blowholes and coloured the surrounding rocks neon yellow and the air stank. We stayed up there for about 40 minutes and then our guide said we would be taking a jungle route down. The first part was tricky as we had to scramble over large slippery rocks with sheer drops nearby. Still we were all fine and then it started raining. This was heavy moonson madness and within 20 minutes the broken path became a raging muddy torrent. We had to continue down. I have never spent so much time sitting and slithering down muddy banks. Our guide looked worried and suddenly produced a knife and started hacking his way to another path in the jungle. This was slightly better and 3 hours later we emerged to be met by Sam. Not sure if his worried face was for our safety or the mud we were coated in. We went to some hot springs to wash in the sulphur water. The girls decided to wear t- shirts over their bikinis as the local males seem very excited at their arrival. We were all the subject of lots of interest. I found that sulphur colours silver jewellery so now have to make a solution to polish my bangles. Agh!!!
We left the springs and headed back for our last night in Medan. This was the time to visit the impressive Sultan's Palace, the main mosque and walk along the main road full of Dutch colonial villas. However, our plans were ruined by more torrential rain.Instead we decamped to a local bar and enjoyed our last night together. We all agreed that we had had an amazing week in N.Sumatra and wouldn't have missed it for the world. The girls are just back in London, Sean and Lisette are still travelling back to Istanbul and we are back in Penang waiting the arrival of my friend, Carol so til l blog again. Xxx

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