We had to take two flights and a bus journey to get to Bukit Lawang so we decided to stop over in Medan (the capital of North Sumatra) for one night. We flew from Solo to Jakarta with Air Asia and from Jakarta to Medan with Lion Air. We were lucky enough to see some volcanoes poking through the coulds below on the first flight and Medan looked massive from the air at night. We managed to flag down a becak and found a "hotel" to stay in for the night. We had a quick bite to eat and went straight to bed, it had been a long day! Our hotel was directly opposite a big mosque so we were up early with the sound of a man singing to Allah and we took a taxi to the bus station. We were happy we took the advise of the guide books and stayed for a minimal time in Medan, it echoed Jakarta in that it was a massive city and would have been daunting to try and get about too much. The locals at the bus station were very nice and told us how much we should pay on the public bus to Bukit Lawang, it should have cost a pound but we paid 2 as the bus driver seemed a very nice guy!

The bus journey was very scenic, driving through remote villages and waving at school kids hitching a lift on a van rooftop home. We drove through what seemed to be an endless palm tree forest and past lots of rubber trees with mountains as the backdrop. It was a pleasant journey, there were never more than 5 people on the bus including us and we had the back seat to ourselves next to the open door where the bus drivers helper would hop out every now and then to call out for more passengers and help mothers and children on and off at various villages. He smoked most of the way so we were happy not to have to get out for a cigarette!

When the bus drove through the main village of Bukit Lawang a young guy hopped on and started speaking to us in very good english. As usually happens he asked us where we had booked to stay and after we informed him that we hadn't booked anywhere he said that he knew a very nice place and that he was a guide and could take us on a trek in the jungle. The place he took us to was right on the river and the people were very welcoming so we chucked our stuff down and went to explore.

Bukit Lawang is in the middle of one of the most biodiverse jungle regions in the world and is home to 8 species of primate plus tigers, rhinos, elephants, cobras and leopards. We came here to see the orangutans, Matts favourite at any zoo and at Monkey World back home! As we walked around on that first day we were treated to spectacular views of the river running by over the "Sunghai Bohorok" rapids surrounded by thick jungle and mountains. It's a small town and everyone is so friendly and very laid back, we both agreed after just 1 hour of arriving that this was the most chilled out we had been for a long time. Although the heat and mosquitos were almost unbearable the sheer beauty of the place meant we didn't whinge once! Later in the bar at our guesthouse we bumped into Udin (the guy from the bus) and he promised that if he took us into the jungle we would see wild orangutans so we booked a trek for the following day with rafting as our transport back down the river.

We woke at 7 and ate a big breakfast in preparation for our day trekking in the jungle and Udin came and picked us up at 9. we climbed some bamboo stairs to the edge of the national park and Udin proudly told us we were now in the jungle! We had only been going for 10 minutes when Udin pointed out some Thomas Monkeys playing in the trees, something we weren't expecting to see. They were funny to watch and we managed to get some good pictures. Within 20 minutes of walking and Udin making strange noises calling to the orangutans we saw our first glimpse of orange hair in a tree, then we realised she had a baby with her and we spent about 20 minutes watching her throwing the baby and him climbing back up to her. It is hard to explain just how special we felt watching them in the wild climbing and swinging through the trees. We learnt that unlike other primates they don't live in groups, Mum and baby stay together for about 6 years but the males are solitary. They were so close to us we could hear them eating and they didn't seem worried about us at all. We carried on walking and watching out for all manor of insects (massive black ants, some spiders, crickets etc etc) and once again Udin told us to stop and pointed out a big male oragnutan in a tree just ahead of us. At this point another trekking group joined us and their guide held up a banana, at which the orangutan came right down the tree almost to ground level to retreave the banana. Gem actually hid behind Matt, it was so big! He was so magestic, he even stuck around to munch his banana before returning to the tree top. We were both stunned at our close encounter, it was so special, such a unique experience. The next 2 hours seemed like an eternity as we saw another mother and baby, this time baby was only about 3 weeks old and we watched her caring for her newborn and feeding him. They were very close so we took a video and didn't want to leave when Udin said we had to move on! We were aware that there was a chance we wouldn't see any orangutans and as we trekked to the river to get our raft back we both felt very very lucky to have seen so many. We came to an opening right on the rivers edge and there waiting was a friend of Udin's with 3 inner tubes tied together! We got in the middle ring and the ride back was so much fun. The "driver" only had a bamboo cane to "steer" us through the rapids and we got absolutley soaked as we bumped and flew down the river back to Bukit Lawang. We went past waterfalls and makaks playing in the trees until we arrived at the riverbank by our guesthouse and we disembarked soaked but high on adrenaline and the fact that we had just had a day both of us would never forget.

After drying off and putting some warm clothes on we went to the bar at our guesthouse and celebrated our day with Udin and our raft pilot with a few Bintangs (beer) and the locals all congregated and started playing music on the guitar and bongos, singing songs of jungle experiences in Bukit Lawang and the odd Guns n Roses or Red Hot Chili Peppers number for us all to sing along too. Gem got a bit carried away and was actually asked to stop singing! (tone deaf!) At some point in the evening Udin started talking about the fact that we should do a 2 day trek rather than the "chicken trek" we had done that day and Gem was very up for it but Matt wasn't too sure. With some convincing (and a little more beer) Matt finally agreed that we would do a 2 day trek leaving in the morning!!!!

Udin knocked for us at 8.30 and explained we would be doing the trek with him and another guide called Udin and 2 other people who were staying at another guesthouse. He told us we needed to pack and blanket and we threw anything else we thought would be useful into our day pack, put on our wet shoes (which we had worn rafting the day before) and started to climb into the jungle. Again, it was only about 20 minutes into the trek that we saw our first orangutan, a big male playing about above us. This is also when we met Katya and Michael and we trekked with them until we stopped for a "fruit break", the guides handed out pineapple and passion fruit and we enjoyed a break from the walking which was more hard going than the day before. We enjoyed the rest of the morning trekking over assive tree roots, oggling at the gigantic trees they belonged to. Trying not to step on the big ants, Gem stood in a spiders nest at one point and Matt wasn't happy to find a leach on his hand and another on his sock!

It was truly like being in Jurrasic Park, the sounds around are almost alien, there's always something new to look at, we both felt that the time went very quickly and it was soon time to stop for lunch. The Udins has cooked up a storm before we left for the treck and handed each of us a brown bag with very tasty rice, egg, nuts and salad in. We made sure we cleared all of our rubbish and moved on. In total we trekked for about 6 hours and it was hard going, either climbing or descending, concentrating on every step to make sure we didn't fall and keeping an eye out for wildlife as we went. During the day we saw gibbons, makaks, a peacock, a tree hopper, thomas monkeys, about 6 orangutans and much more.

The orangutans were definitely the highlight for us, such an amazing thing to see them just going about their business as if you are not there. The last hour of the trek involved a steep decline down to the river where our camp would be. We stopped by a stream and Udin pointed out a river turtle which Gem was especially excited to see. Then the other Udin took us to one side and explained that the part of the jungle we were about to trek through was where a well known orangutan, Mina is normally found. She is written about in lonely planet which explains that "at last count she had attacked 64 guides"! She used to be kept captive in Medan so she doesn't like humans. Udin's exact words were, "this is where Mina might be, please walk in silence until I say it is okay. Do not take any photos. If you get a signal from me that she is here, get away as fast as you can." Matt's gut reaction was to laugh at this, it just sounded like something you would never hear anyone say. Udin told Matt this was serious and we all had to tell him one by one that we understood. The next 30 minutes were eery, walking in silence, jumping at any loud sound of a twig breaking or leaves moving. Matt was behind Udin, Gem behind Matt followed by Michael and Katya. Suddenly Matt spied a BIG orangutan sitting on the ground on the path just ahead of us. Udin turned and signalled for us to walk away. Matt grabbed Gem's shirt and ran towards Katya and Michael whispering in a very fightened tone, "Mina, it's Mina, run!!!". We heard both Udin's making sounds to make her go away and then they signalled for us to come back. We were a bit curious as to whether this was the right thing to do so we walked very slowly back to the Udins. Udin 2 had blood coming from his hand. Our first thought was that Mina had attacked him but he explained it wasn't Mina it was Jackie - another semi wild orangutan who used to be kept in Medan but rather than attack she just wants to hug all the time so they had to chase her off as her hugs are a bit stonger than ours apparently! It wasn't until we were a good 10 minutes away that we started to relax again and our hearts stopped racing.

About 4 in the afternoon we finally came to "camp". In a clearing beside the river there were "tents" that had been made from plastic sheeting and bamboo and 3 other helpers were already there boiling water ready for our arrival. We all sat on mats covering the rocks below us and sipped on hot coffee and munched on sugar coated crackers, reminiscing about the day we had just had. Mainly, laughing at our close encounter with who we were sure was Mina at the time! We went for a swim in the river to wash off the sweat and dried off. The helpers had bought some beers for us and we sat by the camp fire laughing and joking until dinner was ready. Very nice considering where we were, we had vegetable curry and barbequed chicken pieces, a feast after our long day. As the sun set candles were lit around camp and we played drinking games with the helpers and the Udins until it was time to go to bed ready for day 2.

We all didnt sleep very well, it was so noisy and we were both thinking about scorpions, snakes and anything else that could crawl in the tent and harm us! When the sun came up we all poked our heads out and sat by the fire to warm up. All around us Mekak monkeys were going about their business, playing on the rocks opposite us and occasionally trying to get into the kitchen tent to steal something. One got away with a can of condensed milk - see pictures! Breakfast was served, potato cakes, bread buns and eggs, all very nice. We all sat together watching the wildlife and talking about the day ahead. A jungle sized centipede joined us for a while - see pics! It was a truly picturesque place to wake up to and we spent about 2 hours over breakfast.

After we had packed up and had a wash etc in the river we followed Udin across the river and hiked up to a waterfall. We all had a swim and a go under the fall, so powerful it almost knocked Gem over! Then we walked back to the river edge and Udin took us back across the river to camp where the helpers had set out a wonderful arrangement of fruit which we filled ourselves up on. Then, it was time to leave :( We had a four person tube to get us back and enjoyed about 30 minutes of riding the rapids together laughing as different people got soaked. The scenery from the river was gorgeous and we saw lots of monkeys playing in the trees, waterfalls and breathtaking views. We dropped Katya and Michael off at their guesthouse and were pleased to be "home" ourselves, choosing to relax for the rest of the day and let our things dry out.

We had arranged to meet Katya and Michael at our guesthouse for drinks that evening and enjoyed chatting about our wonderous jungle adventure and again singing jungle songs with the locals.

The next day we had to take a trip into the next town to use an ATM, this took most of the day but it was interesting to see a town where hardly any tourists go and again we were asked to pose for numerous photos! We decided to have an early night that night as we would be leaving early in the morning. Our next destination is a place called Lake Toba, we are both sad to be leaving here. The locals made our stay so enjoyable and the experience of trekking and camping in the jungle is one that will undoubtedly stay with us forever.