Bukittinggi, Last Stop for Sumatra along the Trans-Sumatran Highway (& Just Bintang)

From Lake Toba, Bukittinggi was a sixteen hour bus journey through the night along the Trans-Sumatran Highway, and this was no highway. The journey was a winding, bouncy slow test of endurance while people threw up in plastic carrier bags around you. Forgetting about the bus itself the journey was just gorgeous passing through small villages that sat amongst sprawling rice paddies that were guarded by the powerful lush green, volcanic landscape. Oh and the sunset. WOW!

The sun sets alond the Trans-Sumatran Highway

Sprawling Rice Paddies

Sorry-Just ONE more then I am done!

We arrived in Bukittinggi the following morning and it was busy because of the weekend and the place being a get-away from Padang. We checked into Hotel Asia which cost us £8 and with being as tight as we are transferred the following morning across the road to Rajawali Home Stay at only £4 per night. We should have stayed where we were. The Rooms in this place again had us brushing teeth into a squat toilet and hygiene was once again chucked out of the window. There is still no way that we are showering with a bucket of dirty water. Ulrich the German owner however was a fountain of local knowledge and very helpful.

Arriving in Bukittinggi

Seriously would you bucket shower in here?

While in Bukittinggi we spent breakfasts at Turret Cafe. The woman was lovely and so were the breakfasts with home-made bread and amazing coffee. The town had a good atmosphere with busy markets where we did some Christmas Shopping, a clock tower and cheap street food that could be enjoyed with more bottles of Bintang.

Bukittinggi Main Square

Another Clock Tower

There is a giant canyon called Sianok on the fringes of the town and we headed out on a 7km walk. This took us down into the canyon before rock climbing the opposite side. Here we entered the jungle and passed through two villages famous for silver works. The landscape was beautiful with awesome views of the Merapi volcano. It was a difficult climb back down into the canyon due to landslides. Flip-flops were probably not a great idea and we still had to cross another crazy bridge. I don’t think people check these routes out as often as they should.

On our way down to the Sianok Canyon

We just love this Jungle Trekking

The Merapi Volcano

What is it with foot bridges in Indonesia?

Absoulutely Terrifying!!!

We managed to finish just before the rain came and took shelter at a little cafe where we got talking to a local. He got us to sample some local fruit and gave us a great insight into the local area and community as well as what it was like to live beside an active volcano. It last erupted in the 1980’s and it just seems to be part of everyday life. One thing they do look out for are the animals that live high on the volcano, because when they start coming lower it means the ground is getting warmer and that something is happening inside the volcano. I thought I would pass on some local insight for you.

Merapi very close for comfort

That is pretty much all there is to tell you about Bukittinggi, apart from me finally joining facebook after fighting it for years and the fact that I lost Reed About Beer for three days. It just vanished from Blogger. Now that freaked me out.

So this is farewell to Sumatra and it has been a truly amazing place to travel through. Next we have to get ourselves south to Bali for Christmas where we are once again meeting up with Danny and Kathryn before they head to Australia. Two flights should get us there, Padang to Jakarta in Java and then Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali.

Our Sumatran exit road from Bukittinggi to Pedang International Airport

Lake Toba, The Highest Volcanic Lake in the World (Jungle Juice & even more Bintang)

Moving on from seeing volcanoes to volcanic craters there was no direct transport from Berastagi. First of all we got an opelet for 12km which took 20 minutes to Kabanjane. From here we got a small bus for 3 hours to Pehantang Siantai along dodgy roads with rollercoaster driving. The third leg of the journey was another opelet drive for 1.5 hours to Parapat with our bags strapped to the roof. Next was our second opelet of the day for 2km to the ferry port before our final leg, which was 8km, 35 minute water crossing to Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island. Not forgetting a 200m walk to our accommodation at Liberta Home-stay with the wonderful Mr Moon.

Lake Toba



Approaching Samosir Island

We finally made it Mr Moon

Our cute little Batak styled bungalow on the lake

The island sits in the middle of the lake and is inhabited by Batak people who were just so friendly. We explored the little peninsular of Tuk-Tuk which has a circumference of only 4km and the place is beautiful with views out over the lake. Locals told us that it is shaped like a mushroom. Magic Mushrooms are everywhere and apparently legal and can be found advertised alongside having your laundry done. We did not try the local mushrooms and even when eating pizza refrained away from any hint of mushrooms just in case.

Some of the friendly locals

Views from Tuk-Tuk and cool car

What shall we do today?

Our friend Pilka did however take us out with his friends on the back of motor-cycles, 10km through Tomok to a wooden shack with beautiful views over the lake. The shack was the local bar where locals meet at 4pm everyday to tell stories, play guitar and have a good time while drinking jugs of the local jungle juice.

Not a bad view for Jungle Juice

The locals are ready for 4pm

We had a riot with two locals John and Ramon, Heather from England and Kai from Sweden along with his wife. Jungle Juice is the Indonesian equivalent of Palm Toddy Beer in Kerala, India and we sampled a No 2 and a No 1. No 1 was the best and the class is organised by how fresh the liquor was. No 1 was straight from the local palms that very day. The taste of a No 2 was quite sour but the No 1 was like fresh pineapple juice which is quite dangerous, even though it is only said to be about 2% Abv. You definitely feel like you have had a drink. The snacks were also out in force. Whole barbequed local fish that just stared right at you and local nut snacks along with sunflower seeds.

The Jugs are flowing let the Fun begin

Gives a whole new meaning to beer & food!

Stop staring at me. God I love this stuff

Kate disagreed that it tasted like pineapple juice but drank it anyway

The experience was a real privilege and it carried on into the evening. Once we arrived back in Tuk-Tuk we spent the night at Roy’s Bar with live music from the local band where we ripped up the dance floor with the locals. Unfortunately there was no more Jungle Juice but Bir Bintang helped to fill the void. It was a fun day and night which left us staggering back to Liberta in the darkness with the help of our self winding penguin torch. A night never to be forgotten and we learnt that every Indonesian plays guitar sings and loves to dance.  I am now a huge fan of Jungle Juice and I wish we had Palm Trees back home.

The local band at Roy's Pub

I think Heather was having a storming evening!

Pilka & Kai decided to take over from the band. Good old Jungle Juice

The rest of the days were spent swinging in Hammocks at Mr Moons and writing my India Blog. That’s why in December twelve postings appeared in a matter of days. We also visited the village of Ambarita and the stone chairs. A scenic walk across the tranquil island. You just forget that you are on an island in the middle of a volcanic lake 900m above sea level.

Kate enjoying her Hammock time

Pretty sure thats our washing in the back garden

The Stone Chairs at Ambarita



A Batak House



We were even roped into some Batak Dancing with some local youngsters while watching a show. What an introduction to the culture.

 The place was mind blowing and even though we had invitations to stay for Christmas and New Year which was still three weeks away, we just knew that we had to keep moving.

Nearly forgot. Our Batak Dance Teachers





Fairwell Lake Toba it's been emotional

Not saying that we were not tempted. Leaving Lake Toba was very sad, but we still had Bali and the Indonesian south islands to visit. Sumatra is just an amazing place what a gem.

Berastagi, The Volcano Dominated Karo Highlands (More Bintang)

We left Bukit Lawang in an opelet back to Medan where we boarded another smoke filled local bus this time south to Berastagi. For the seven hour journey to our next port of call we were crammed onto the back row where Kate had an old lady that smelt like a dustbin asleep on her shoulder.

As we climbed through the Karo Highlands the weather became freezing and the heavens opened. We checked into the Sibayak Loshen Guest House where we had no sink, a squat toilet and no shower. Instead we had a bucket of cold water so we decided to skip personal hygiene for a couple of days.





The Volcanic Karo Highlands



The accommodation was a home-stay which was nice where you relaxed in the families’ front room. Due to the weather we found a cafe call Raymond’s and warmed up with a Chai, which like the transportation reminded us of India.

Indonesian Home-Stay

Chai stop at Raymondoes!

The weather held out the next day which shed a different light on the town that we saw yesterday. We decided to walk to Gundaling Hill 2km out of town. Here we were able to see the lush green countryside and hilly mountainous surroundings. Still struggling to walk after our jungle trek we decided against climbing the two local volcanoes of Gunung Sinabung to the west and the smoking Gunung Sibayak to the north. Instead we observed them both from a distance.

Gungaling Hill Back Drop

Local Village

Gunung Sinabung

The Smoking Gunung Sibayak

 

Brastagi dominated from the north

This left us to sample some street food and visit the local market, before once again moving on. Berastagi was an interesting place to pass through and more time would have been spent if climbing volcanoes was our forte. Next stop Lake Toba.

Strutting the Market while watching a Volcano-Surreal

Don't fancy the cardboard boxed fish. What happened to deep packing with ice?

The towns War Memorial

Street Food-Better than it looks and so friendly

To Finish! Some dodgy Bintang POS, which is OK with no competition

Bukit Lawang, Jungle Trekking with Orang-Utans (More Bintang)

Our second day in Sumatra started with an early morning opelet ride (jazzy pick-up truck) to the bus station where we caught a local bus for our three and a half hour journey north to Bukit Lawang. The journey was a bumpy ride with locals offering us fruits while everybody on board chain smoked kretek (Clove) cigarettes.

Our Morning Opelet

First Bus Indonesian Style

On board we also met a friendly chap called Hasana who ended up being our guide for the orang-utan jungle trek. You are told to be wary of bad guides but he turned out to be perfect. From the bus station in Bukit Lawang we walked into the village which was a beautiful town made up of wooden shacks along the banks of the Sungai Bohorok River. Hasana was a great help. We organised our trek and he helped us across the most shaky unsafe bamboo bridge in the world to his uncle’s guest house called Wisma Leuser Sibayak, while his mate Smiley sorted us out some hiking boots or more accurately plastic football boots for £1 per pair.

Entering the village of Bukit Lawang

Bricking it big time

Our accomodation that belongs to Hasana's uncle. Means crossing the river a lot!

One of Kate’s lifelong dreams has been to see orang-utans in the wild and the day was finally here. The one we have talked about for a very long time. We headed into the Teman   Gunung Leuser National Park with our guide Hasana and his assistant. Hasana was a dream and an amazingly knowledgeable guide about wildlife, history, plants, eco-systems and tropical medicine.

All tucked in and good to go. Check out those £1 shoes

Our Guide Hasana sharing his knowledge

Rubber from a Gum Tree is major business

A Thomas Leaf Monkey

Thirty minutes into the trek was truly amazing where we came across our first sightings of orang-utans in the wild. A mother and her baby watched us calmly from the trees and our first interaction was emotional with Kate shedding a tear. We had a very lucky day where we managed to see sixteen orang-utans in total along with other species of monkey including the Thomas Leaf monkey. The day didn’t pass without incident. We came across the infamous Mina with her baby who was walking the passage ways of the dense rain forest, and it has been said that she has bitten 100 people since the turn of the millennium. Then came the best part of the day if not our whole trip so far when we were lucky to cross paths with Jakey and her baby where Kate got a huge hug. Jakey lives successfully in the wild with her young but has fond memories of humans from her rehabilitation which is why she is always on the look-out for a human hug.

Kate's First Sighting

Checking us out...

Up close and personal with grumpy Mina and her baby

Jakey grabbing a feel of Hugo's bottom

Now she looks happy. New best friends

Kate, Jakey & the Little One xx

Lunch time arrived in the canopy of the rain forest. Out of a rucksack came fried rice, prawn crackers and a fried egg with chilli sauce all wrapped in a banana leaf. Truly delicious with pineapple for dessert, and there was us expecting a sandwich. The carbohydrates were and would be needed for it was a long strenuous trek which lasted about ten hours with the most difficult part being our vertical decent through the bush towards the river bank in the afternoon. After reaching the river bank I don’t think I could have taken another step due to exhaustion, so it was a good job our journey back to the village was tubing the river rapids in large inflatable rubber rings. What a great end to an unforgettable experience.

What do we have for lunch?

Not bad Jungle Tucker!

We make the climb down to the river

Time for Tubing the River Rapids

Me and Kate with our guide Hasana-What a DAY!

The next few days were spent visiting the Bohorok orang-utan feeding centre, which you got to by crossing the river on a dugout canoe that was pulled by a rope. The orang-utans were fed twice per day at the centre (8.30am & 3pm) and we were able to watch rangers feed a number of semi-wild orang-utans who are or have been rehabilitated from captivity or sudden habitat displacement due to logging.

The Orang-Utan Feeding Centre

Crossing the river from the feeding centre via a pully rope

Rangers feeding one of the semi-wild with bananas and milk

Beautiful Animals

Soaked but well worth it

Bukit Lawang is all about trekking and our red-headed cousins but the place itself is also postcard picturesque. Unfortunately it has had some traumatic times in previous years especially in 2003 when flash floods wiped out most of the riverside area with families losing homes and loved ones. This was understood more when we visited an orphanage that had been set up by a teacher from Holland to educate and give a safe place for children to grow up and develop after losing whole families during the floods.

Entry to the Ophanage

One of the main classrooms

Bukit Lawang also gave us the pleasure of meeting three Quantum Physicians Tomek, Hugo and Kavan who lived and worked in Singapore. We bumped into the guys during our one day trek while they went on to complete a three day trek. We saw them arrive in town by tube where to our great surprise Tomek had captured some amazing photographs of Kate’s surprise meeting with Jakey. This was lucky for me because I was too busy videoing rather than taking pictures. I owe you Tomek! Before leaving Bukit Lawang we enjoyed some local cuisine of Nasi Campur Ayam with the boys as well as some well earned Bintang and learning the orang-utan song that has the jingle bells theme. There was also the coincidence that Hugo’s uncle actually manages and set up the Belo Brewery in Goa, India about forty years ago. What a great contact and he couldn’t believe somebody else had actually consumed Belo. What a brilliant end to Bukit Lawang.

Guitars & Singing with the Locals

Science & Bintang

Don't worry I don't think we drank that many Bintang's

Our next stop is Berastagi and the last four days will take some topping.