Day 78: Bukit Lawang
We left Surabaya early in the morning for our flight to Medan, via Jakarta. We were picked up from the airport by a taxi, arranged by our tour provider, Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking. While the drive to Bukit Lawang was supposed to take an estimated 3 hours from Medan, we weren’t in a huge hurry, and we wanted to see if we could find Igor some quick-drying shoes for the jungle trek (boots are actually not recommended as they are heavy and once they get wet, they stay wet) – so our driver took us to the mall. There were no camping/outdoor stores, but there were plenty of shoe stores, and we found Igor a pair of Adidas trainers. With all our trekking supplies in order, we headed toward the jungle.
Flying over rice paddies on our way to Medan
Travelling makes Lindsay very sleepy. Trying to open a cup of water without splashing herself (oops!)
When we arrived in Bukit Lawang, our tour organizer, Dodi, met us at our hotel to welcome us and give us instructions for where to meet our guide the next morning. After paying Dodi the balance of our fee and repacking our bags (we planned to leave our big backpacks at the hotel for two days, and only take the essentials in our two day-bags for the trek), we had the rest of the afternoon free to explore the village.
The largest note in Indonesia is the 100,000-rupiah bill – which is only worth about USD $7.50 – so when you need to pay someone USD$400, it ends up looking like you just landed on Boardwalk with three hotels.
The Orangutan Room at the Orangutan Hotel – you can see we all have one thing on our minds
Macaque monkeys living in our hotel
Exploring the streets of Bukit Lawang
Crossing the river to the other side of the village
A porter taking inner-tubes (AKA “Jungle Taxis”) to the river for the next day’s return trekkers
While shopping for water for the next day’s trek, we were followed by three young girls for a couple of blocks before one of the them came up to Lindsay and asked to get a picture with her. After each of the three girls got a pic with the “bule” (Bahasa version of “gringo”), Lindsay insisted on getting a group picture in return
Enjoyed your blog.