Tag Archives: flood

Day 140 – Jingle Bells in Bukit Lawang

The recommendation from our guides was to get up early to increase or chances to see Orangutans. When we got downstairs, a macaque jumped away, having stolen something from the kitchen. Despite being watchful, we didn’t see any more apes or monkeys.

Giving it pieces of banana

Giving it pieces of banana

Until we had banana pancakes for breakfast. Then, a “funky monkey” (I don’t actually know what kind of monkey it was) appeared to join in the breakfast. We fed it a bit and took pictures but I refrained from touching it.

After breakfast, we went on a walk through the garden. It is quite steep and full of fruit trees just for the apes and monkeys. Suria pointed to many a tree and said “never had fruit from this one, the monkeys get there first”. Well, it’s the whole point of the garden to give the apes a variety of things to pick from. We sat down on a giant “jungle umbrella” leaf and waited for over an hour but no Orangutans appeared. It was a long shot to begin with.

It was very peaceful, though, to look at the wall of green on the other side of the river and hear some of the birds call.

It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

Back at the lodge, we packed our things. Rafting back to Bukit Lawang was scheduled for 11am and the inner tubes were already being tied together. Down in the main area, we now had the company of four “funky monkeys” who were waiting on an opportunity to get into the kitchen. Most likely to steal more food.

Our full backpacks were put into double plastic bags which then were tied down very tightly so the whole thing looked very secure. Our shoes were in the pack as well this time so we would just have one set of wet clothes in the end and a whole bag full of dry clothes still with the motorcycle. And off we went!

Our rafting trip was accompanied by Suria who sat in front to steer and look out for dangers. Then us two on the middle tube, feet and legs hanging over the rim and Merah in the back, also with a staff for steering. Ikbal hopped on the left side of our tube and double-functioned as a human shield: Whenever we got close to rocks, he would use his feet to push us away from them, so the tubes never actually hit a rock.

The guys transported some of the empty equipment back so we had an empty gas bottle hanging from the back tube as well. You could hear the “clonk” sometimes when it hit something.

...hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

…hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

Rafting was fun. The three guys had so much fun that it felt a bit like they were doing it for themselves which was great. They were laughing and singing a song that had the melody of Jingle bells but lyrics saying something about watching monkeys in Bukit Lawang while they were getting soaked, smashed and bruised. Their good mood never left them. The river has some decent rapids where Flo and I got pretty thoroughly soaked but it also has parts where the bed is wide and the water level thus shallow. The “jungle taxi” faced quite some “traffic jams” when the guys had to jump off and drag us back into deeper water.

Seeing the hiking path from the river, it definitely made more sense to take this route back. Soon we were close to the village again. Suria had told us about a flood just over a week ago but the damage was only really comprehensible if you see it from the river. Whole concrete flood walls had been torn down, bridges and bits of buildings were still lying in the river and had to be navigated while parts of buildings were still standing on the verge of collapsing or falling into the river. Guest houses with half a room open to the river because the other half had been torn away; guest houses with doors leading straight into the river because the veranda had been taken. Seeing this massive destruction, we could understand how the only boat ferrying visitors across to the Orangutan feeding station might have been lost in the flood and why this is a fact the guides are reluctant to share. Now, maybe more than ever, the money tourists bring in is needed. With 75% of tourists coming exclusively to see Orangutans, it is a hard hit that the boat is gone and hasn’t been replaced yet.

We stopped at a pile of rubble over which we could climb out of the river. All our things had made it in one piece and dry while we had made it in one piece and soaking wet. Out of the water, Flo commented very silently that this rafting could have gone bad quite easily with concrete and steel cables in the water but we both chose not to think about it for long. We did have three human shields as bad as it sounds…

Ikbal and his custom-made trike

Ikbal and his custom-made trike

For the next hour, we were occupied with getting back on the road. Changed into a set of dry clothes, packed all our luggage again so it could be strapped onto the bike, had a snack of deep fried tofu, tempe, potato and bananas as dessert and left towards Tanjungbalai, the harbour from which we want to ship out of Indonesia.

The first kilometres were a much easier ride than on Sunday as all the day trippers were missing but coming close to Medan, everything ground to a hold. I guess this might be what a rush hour looks like in a city that doesn’t have the infrastructure of Jakarta. The going was very slow and time (aka daylight) was starting to run out on us. So we pulled up on the side, decided on a backpacker in Medan and clawed our way there.

The room was more expensive than we wanted and right at a very busy street but Flo was knackered and we needed to stop. At least wifi was available. We then realized that Flo had lost his credit card two days ago. When we were in Medan last, he must have left it in the ATM when he withdrew money for the Orangutan watching. Being only 4km away from the bank where we must have lost the credit card, we put it on the agenda for tomorrow to go there and ask if anyone had found it.

Day 139 – Surprises, good and bad

We had a lovely breakfast with Boston Cream donuts but couldn't help to notice that "Durian" is a regular flavour...

We had a lovely breakfast with Boston Cream donuts but couldn’t help to notice that “Durian” is a regular flavour…

The trip to Bukit Lawang, although only 80 km, took us all morning. This may have had to do with our extremely lazy getting up, or with the decadently long breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. But it surely had to do with the fact that it was Sunday, as well. Sunday meant that although Medan itself was quiet, the only road out that way was not. The region and Bukit Lawang are a common day trip for smog chocked Medanese.

Not even 10 meters beyond the welcome sign of Bukit Lawang we were swarmed by hawkers. “Can I help you?” “Which hotel?” … my tolerance for rubbish has worn mighty thin after 50 days in Indonesia, so we left it to brisk answers and avoided eye contact. For some reason the sale’s pitch under the pretence of altruism gets me extra riled up. Luckily, we got left alone after a couple of moments of our silence treatment to sort out accommodation ourselves.

The place that caught our fancy the most was called “Back to Nature”, supposedly sitting within 80 ha of privately preserved rainforest on the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park. The Lonely Planet was a bit vague whether a road would lead to the place, so we called to find out. No, no road would lead there, but we could park our bike in town and a guide would pick us up from there. Hmm …

Suria, our guide, arrived just a couple of minutes later. He suggested we should have a bite to eat before heading out (it was noon by now). Hmm … How long to the place? Just 30 to 45 min. Ok … still, food sounded right. During lunch we tried to find out a bit more about what, where and how. The big ticket item, at least for Westerners, is the daily Orangutan feeding, a little bit into the park on the other side of the river. Thus hit the bombshell – not quite willing to get it out right away, we prodded Suria to find out that the feeding is closed until further notice. A big flood hit the village a week ago and the boat to ferry visitors across got washed away (more on that flood to come). Wow … what now?

There were two things we could do to still get a chance on seeing Orangutans here. One would be a guided hike into the national park, which would be way out of our budget and probably our available time as well. The other, with a small chance of a sighting, would be to still go to “Back to Nature”. Their garden has attracted some of the big apes and they get visited 2-3 times a week. Plus, it would still be a night in the jungle, something I had not done as of yet. Nina was doubtful to sad, but in the end went along. Maybe it was Suria’s inexhaustible cheerfulness filled with catchy one-liners that pushed her over the edge.

We went down this way just after a motorcycle came up. No way Rocinante would have made this

We went down this way just after a motorcycle came up. No way Rocinante would have made this

So we stored our bike and our gear at a place in the village and started walking along the river. We had what we thought we needed distributed between our and another borrowed backpack. Spoiler alert, we would have needed different things. A couple of hundred meters in I accepted that I would not have gotten Rocinante through here. A small bike coming up a staircase tipped me over the edge (if only I’d known). The path follows behind a row of houses and the wall of the gorge. The houses are strung along on the river’s edge. Where the houses ended, the walkway turned into a hiking path – ok, surely no way to get the bike here.

Behind the next bend, the hiking path abruptly ended in a broken staircase and the brown river hitting a cliff face on our side. This was the place where the boat over to the feeding station was moored until last week. Someone with a lorry’s inner tube had joined us a moment ago. With continued cheerfulness we were told that the tube is for us, the only way forward is through the water and it is about chest high. Great! Remember the things we packed for the day? Guess what, swim trunks and a change of pants were not among them! Our gear was carried over and we made it with newly soaked butts. It was warm alright, but having your only change of clothes wet is not the most charming of starts. “Is this the only place where we cross?” “Sure brother, don’t worry be happy! Welcome to the jungle!” On we went, but I had a certain suspicion. The map to the place showed two river crossings via cable bridges ahead. Rubber tube guy kept on following us …

Our two guys bringing our backpacks to safety first

Our two guys bringing our backpacks to safety first

Soon, we came upon the first cable – but instead of spanning the brown floods, it was blocking the path on our side, ending somewhere behind us in the water. Last bit through the water, yeah right! The flood that hit the village also destroyed sections of the path from here on and both cable bridges. To get there, we would need to cross 20m of river twice. I am still not sure what kept Nina from snapping right there. Instead we both embraced the sheer weirdness of the whole thing and went along. Down to our underwear we went. My only worry, and it was a huge one, was about our packs. Mine held all our major electronics – laptop, camera etc. and we had brought no waterproofing.  Turned out that my worries were well founded. Suria, while carrying the pack across, stepped into a hole and sunk in to the chest, holding the pack over his head for dear life. He made it …

Before we plonked ourselves into the rubber tube, we saw a couple of tourists (recognizable by the white skin) getting ready to raft down the river in a make-shift raft out of four inner tubes tied together. It looked like considerably more fun than trying to hike upstream through the river. We stored that information in the back of our minds for the way back tomorrow.

I was already on land again when the guys went back to get Flo

I was already on land again when the guys went back to get Flo

Then Nina, who was struggling with the strong current even in knee-high water, was dragged to the other side. It took both guys and some floating through the strongest current to make it. I was next and though I made it further than Nina on my own, the current was something to be wary off. Again, we both had wet undies and, this time, also wet shirts. Afterwards, Suria and Mekah (tube guy) needed a smoking break.

From here, it really wasn’t too far to the guest house anymore. It looked very charming with all the furniture made out of (drift)wood, overlooking the river. We got a welcome tea which tasted a lot like Christmas with spices like clove and aniseed. After already being dragged through the river three times, we didn’t feel like going for a swim and, instead, had a shower under the waterfall which turned out to be very, very cold.

Macaques taking a bath

Macaques taking a bath

Sitting around, reading, we were called by one of the staff as a group of macaques climbed along the other river side. It was cool to see monkeys in the wild. They even went for a swim in a separated puddle which had almost no current; surprisingly good swimmers, all of them.

I felt a bit restless so I went through the gardens on a little guided tour but without seeing any apes or monkeys. Ikbal, another staff guy, arrived with some supplies and stories about his own motorcycle.

It got dark when we had dinner so the generator was turned on. The whole place lit up beautifully!