LAKES, APES AND UKULELES...A QUICK STOP IN SUMATRA

Two things to note if you ever find yourself making the ferry trip from Penang to Medan in Indonesia: 1) Make sure to get up early enough to fill your belly with a good breakfast (unless you fancy some dodgy chicken flavoured pot noodles) and 2) No matter how many times you are told that it is a four hour boat-ride don't believe them, ITS SEVEN! Hence we were very ravenous boys as we approached Medan. First impression of the city was that it was a dusty, noisy and chaotic place. I'm afraid we didn't allow much further exploration time. We just gobbled down some nasi goreng (fried rice with veg) and lay our weary bodies down to get some sleep before the next days adventure.

Ok! So this is were I tell you why you should visit Indonesia... We boarded an early morning public bus headed for Bukit Lawang. On this bus we chatted to some ever friendly locals, listened to a local punk sing to the tune of his ukulele, learned a few words in bahasa and saw some seriously beautiful country-side too. Several hours later we found ourselves in Bukit Lawang, an impossibly picturesque little village surrounded by rainforest. In 2004 a flash flood destroyed the community, killing almost two hundred people. There is nobody in Bukit Lawang who has not been deeply affected. Since then however, they have completely rebuilt the entire village along with the entire community. One would be hard pressed to come across such overwhelming positivity anywhere in the world. Bukit Lawang is a very special place.





In the same way the Bukit Lawang sleeps when it gets dark, it rises at first light and so did we. A big breakfast and we were guided into the jungle. Bukit Lawang is famous for its orangutan preservation and rehabilitation programme and is one of very few places in the world where wild orangutans can be seen. We were therefore beside ourselves as we trekked off into the wilds.



Monkeys are far more prevalent than humans in these parts and as you trek through the forest you can hear them jump around overhead. Macaques and Sumatran leaf monkeys can be spotted just about anywhere, even in the village. We also stumbled across a massive poisonous centipede out for a stroll. The sight of orangutans in the wild, however, is something you can never forget. The inquistive stare of these apes stays with you. Looking at the expressive face of an orangutan leaves you in no doubt that they think thoughts just as we humans do. Seeing these creatures in the wild was something that will stay with us forever and our stay at Bukit Lawang made it all the more special.





Time allowed us one more place to visit on our short but sweet Indonesian experience. We chose Samosir Island on Lake Toba as our second destination and if we've ever made a good decision (and I think we have e.g. a year long holiday) then Lake Toba was certainly one of them. If relaxing is something you enjoy, and we do, then you need to visit Samosir Island. Imagine this... a beautiful lake-side chalet in the unique Samosir style set in landscaped gardens with an on site restaurant/bar also in the local style and within a stonesthrow of many equally beautiful lake-side restaurants and cafes...and for roughly two euro between us! The lake is great for swimming too. We relaxed like we've never relaxed before and left with smiles on our faces knowing that we hadn't seen the last of Lake Toba.