Bukit Lawang, jungle trekking, and tons of animals in the wild

I walked out of the airport into the beautiful air of Indonesia, equipped with information the guesthouse had given me on how to make the 4-5 hour trip from Medan airport to Bukit Lawang, out near the jungle in Northwestern Sumatra. As soon as I exited the airport, taxi and bus drivers started competing for my attention. As soon as they realized that I was looking for the ALS bus to Binjai, they directed me toward it, and all pestering stopped. It was a better experience than I’d expected. Travel time: nearly 2 hours. Price: 40,000 IDR (roughly $3 US).

In Binjai, I needed a becak (motorcycle with a sidecar designed for 2 passengers or 1 passenger with a suitcase) from the first bus station to the 2^nd. As soon as the bus arrived, a line of drivers competed for my attention. I mixed up the information the guesthouse had provided on how much I should agree to pay, and this became only the first and smallest mistake I made. I had been told to pay no more than 10,000 IDR for this portion and 30,000 for the next portion, but I accidentally agreed to 30,000 ($2.25) for the ride, mixing up the 2. When I arrived at the 2^nd bus station, I mixed up the 5,000 IDR and 50,000 IDR notes, so I gave the driver 300,000 IDR ($22.35), not noticing until after he drove away. OF COURSE, he didn’t say anything. That was a great deal for him. Jerk.

I tried to bargain for my next journey, as I now realized that I shouldn’t pay more than 30,000 IDR for this ride. After a bid of 50,000, I got the price down to 40,000 (I’m still learning this bartering thing) and climbed into the bus. What a ride it was! The things we drove on loosely resembled roads, passing around blind curves was standard practice, and the holes were unreal.

When I arrived at the bus station in Bukit Lawang, I’d been told that the guesthouse would send someone to pick me up, so I told that to the multiple becak & taxi drivers who approached me. A guy with a scooter approached me holding a sign with the name of the guesthouse I was going to (Nora’s Rainforest Homestay) but with 2 other people’s names. I told him they were supposed to pick me up, he called the owners, and we agreed that he would take me there. “How much?” “It’s included. No charge.” Solid.

Riding on the back of someone’s scooter while trying to hold onto your hat and keep your balance with a giant backpack on is quite interesting, to say the least. There was a portion where the driver had me dismount, walk up some stairs (which he drove up!), and then climb back on.

I cannot say enough good things about Nora’s as a place to stay, hang out, feel like family, and eat amazing food. When I booked it on hostelworld.com, all of the rooms are considered “private rooms,” so I got a notice that booking for only 1 still meant that I had to pay for the whole room, which is designed for 2 persons. At $3/night for a queen bed, private room, and shared bathroom, that’s totally fine by me.

I got the warmest greeting from the staff, the layout is just AMAZING, and I dropped my stuff in my upstairs room, surrounded by great views, fresh air, and the relaxing sounds of the rapids in the adjacent river.

I knew to expect a sales pitch about activities/tours, and I sat down to listen. I was there to see orangutans in the wild, so I actually wanted this pitch. After mulling it over, I decided to join a group leaving the next morning for a 2-day/1-night trek through the jungle to see orangutans, do some hiking, hopefully see some other animals, and then raft down the river for the return. Sounds awesome, and the $70 price was great, since it includes all meals.

That afternoon, I got some great pictures of monkeys hanging out around the property, watching for dropped food scraps/attempting to raid the trash bins. Is this real life? I also sat near the river and relaxed to its soothing sounds.

That night, everyone sat around singing crowd favorites. The staff members play guitar and this weird sit-on-it-but-it’s-also-a-drum and take requests. They know TONS of songs, mostly current and 90s pop favorites from the US. They also introduced me to their own creation, set to the tune of “Jingle Bells”:

Jungle trek, jungle trek

In Bukit Lawang

See the monkey, see the bird

See orangutan – HEY!

I met some great people and hung out with them for the evening, until we decided it was time to get some sleep for our trek the next morning. I went to bed with a VERY full stomach of amazing food, prepared in their kitchen and priced very well ($2 for a bowl of vegetable curry with rice, 50 cents for a Coke).

DAY 2

I woke up early without intending to and ate some breakfast in the communal area downstairs, which is open to the breeze and really a great place to be. Fresh juices, fruits, omelets, Indonesian specialties, Chinese & Western foods fill the menu, which has tons of options for any meal. The pancakes & milkshakes were big hits with the non-vegans, and I was a big fan of the “1/2 of a pineapple” on the menu, plus toast with peanut butter & bananas. The coffee, though… I felt obligated to get some coffee, since Sumatra is famous for growing it, and I swear that you could fly a jet on that stuff.

At 9am, our group of 2 English, 1 Welsh, 1 Northern Irish, 1 Bosnian, 1 Scot & 1 American adventurer set off with our 2 awesome guides. We crossed a suspension bridge over the river, followed a trail for a bit, and then turned into the jungle. Man, I was stoked!

After no more than 30 minutes of uphill, we reached a peak and actually encountered some other hikers, because there was a mother and baby orangutan playing in a tree, and everyone was watching them. At one point, the baby actually tried to pee on us (without success, thankfully)!

We did several combinations of uphill/downhill during the day, including a stop for fresh fruits as a snack after 2 hours. Pineapple, watermelon, passion fruit, lychee & oranges had all been carried in our guides’ bags for us to enjoy. They were SO ripe and delicious!

We saw a green viper sitting on a tree branch, saw another orangutan, gibbons, macaques, and took a lot of pictures before stopping around 1pm for a delicious lunch of fried rice with vegetables. The guides knew a LOT about the area, were super friendly, really funny, and the group was great. No complaining, no lagging behind, just lots of fun, and that made everything even better.

After more ups and downs through beautiful jungle scenery, we saw Thomas monkeys, more orangutans (including one who has learned, over time, that people often have food, and she will block your path/possibly attack you, if you don’t bribe her out of the way with fruits), and then arrived at our riverside camp for the evening. More fresh fruit was laid out for us to snack on, and 2 other guys had carried in all of the pots & pans, ingredients, and sleeping arrangements to set up camp before our arrival.

Sleeping included a pretty thin mat, a pillow, and a light sheet, laid out in rows in a tent made from plastic tarps and wooden poles, but that’s fine for one night. We dropped our stuff in the tent, changed into swimming attire, and played in the river, while dinner was cooked over an open fire by our guides and cooks. There’s also a plastic bottle on a string hung from a tree across the river, and the “throw rocks to try to hit it” game is much more addicting than you’d think.

Dinner was UNBELIEVABLE. I ate 3 full plates! Rice, vegetables in coconut curry, tofu & tempeh in a spicy tomato sauce, chips, plus a spicy fish item & chicken rending were cooked in abundant quantities, plus lots of hot tea and water to replace all of the liquids we had sweat out during the day. I had no idea campsite cooking could be this good!

After dinner, we played a bunch of ridiculous games and learned that one of our cooks has the most contagious laugh you’ve ever heard. It was an amazing night full of great memories and bonding experiences.

DAY 3

Sleeping was a little rough and not very comfortable, but it’s the jungle and only for 1 night. We woke up to fresh tea and fruits laid out for us and breakfast cooking over the fire. While we ate, we also observed maybe 25 macaque monkeys watching us, waiting for us to leave, so they could inspect any food left behind. When washing dishes the night before, the rice pot had been left out, and the monkeys raided this with wild abandon, stuffing themselves like they’d never had food before.

We also saw 2 or 3 water monitors swimming in the river, which are similar to komodo dragons and really cool.

After we packed up, we set out for about 20-30 minutes of walking upstream in the river. I had washed my shirt and underwear from the day before in the river, since I’d done so much sweating, and these were still damp when I put them on. Oh well. We stopped at some waterfalls to swim and play in them, which was really great. I have to point out that only the over-30 people went down to the further waterfall, while the younger people just sat on the rocks and waited for half an hour. Playing in waterfalls cannot ever be over-hyped. I wish I had pictures from this part. However, I did get a leech from this, so that is the down side.

This day included more ups and downs in the jungle, more orangutans, another gibbon, and seeing some giant ants who were fighting and actually pulling each other’s heads off. We also stopped for a fruit break again and another serene jungle lunch, this time with fried noodles.

After more hiking, we arrived at another riverside camp and were given time to play. The current was REALLY strong here and managed to yank my watch off of my wrist, which is now buried somewhere. There was a tall rock to jump off of into the river, but I didn’t like it and only did it once. You have to bend your legs and expect to hit the bottom, and that made me really uncomfortable. No thanks on possibly paralyzing myself.

The hiking had been really fun, but the best part of the trip was probably the commute back to the guesthouse. Our cooks from the night before showed up with a bunch of garbage bags and inner tubes. After putting our stuff in the bags to waterproof it, the tubes were tied together, and we set off down the river. It was unbelievably hilarious in the rapids and really peaceful at other spots. From the rafts, we actually saw 2 orangutans in trees above the river, the guy paddling the front of the raft fell off in one of the rapids, and we had a great time laughing at the hijinks of our trip. It was really a traveling gypsy camp on the water.

When we returned, everyone wanted to shower, and I also did a bunch of laundry in the sink, which I hung out to dry on the various lines around the property. I ate a LOT for dinner—probably much more than the calories I’d burned during the trip—and we all relaxed, looked through our tons of pictures, and had another great night of singing with the employees that evening. Most everyone went to bed early, which wasn’t a surprise.

DAY 4

After sleeping a good 10-11 hours, I had another wonderful breakfast downstairs and planned a day of doing as little as possible. Everyone talked about how great our trip had been, looked through each other’s pictures, and convinced the new people who arrived that they NEEDED to do the jungle trek.

Someone suggested swimming in the river, so I went with a few people to do that. It turned out to be much more fun than I’d expected. With the current, we’d ride it down for a bit, lying on our backs, then walk back up river to ride it again. Awesome times.

After another great night of food, friends, and sing-alongs, I packed up and planned for an early departure to the airport. With a 1pm flight and a 4-5 hour trek to the airport, it would be an early morning. I wasn’t looking forward to leaving—not in the least.

DAY 5

My alarm didn’t go off. I woke up 5 minutes before I was supposed to catch a ride to the bus station from one of the employees and commenced to do Flight Of The Bumblebee. We only left 1 minute late.

From the bus to becak to bus, I arrived at the airport to check in for my flight, and problems ensued (problems worse than the girl in the seat next to me vomiting on the bumpy bus ride). I had paid great prices for all of my rides, so I was really bummed to find that the airline employees couldn’t find my reservation. It was nowhere in their computer, despite me showing them a confirmation email & e-ticket. It was also now sold out, so I couldn’t get on the plane, even if I checked in, unless they put me on standby.

After lots of complaining and talking to people who were worthless at their jobs, the end result was that I sent a nasty email to Lion Air customer service and bought a ticket for the next day on CitiLink airline.

This also meant that I needed somewhere to stay for the night, and, as much as I wanted to spend another night at Nora’s in Bukit Lawang, it wasn’t worth the trip for 1 night. I found something cheap online that advertised an airport shuttle and ate some lunch while waiting to be picked up.

Medan is awful. I now understand why everyone had told me to see nothing but the airport. Dirty, noisy, nothing to see or do, and 2 vegetarian restaurants I tried to find that weren’t at the published addresses. I had a crappy dinner at the hotel restaurant and spent most of my time isolated in my room. At least “Stranger Than Fiction” was on TV, which is a great movie; also, there were 3 languages of subtitles running at the bottom of the screen!

DAY 6

I got my free breakfast at the airport, packed up, and caught the shuttle back to the airport. This time, check-in was a success, I got a coffee while waiting, and then boarded my flight for the much-hyped and mysterious Bali island of Indonesia.

Bukit Lawang, I love you! I will absolutely be back some day. It won’t be soon enough.

If you visit Sumatra island, do yourself a favor and stay at Nora’s guesthouse in Bukit Lawang. The people, food, and atmosphere are amazing. Sure, I saw bugs in the building—and possibly a rat—but you’re in the middle of the jungle with the greatest elements combining for a magical experience. The bar was set way too high for anything that comes next.

Next post: Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia – it’s awful.