I was both excited and dismayed at crossing into indonesia. I knew that this was the beggining of the end of my travels.........for the time being. The boat from Malaysia was delayed about three hours, as it turned out, waiting for about a hundred or so illegal immigrants from indonesia. They were being shipped back home. It was a telling introduction to the many problems Indonesia is currently facing.
At arrival in Sumatra, I immediately headed north to Bukit Lawang. It is famous for it’s Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. It was a long and windy trip to the park and I was glad to arrive. It was well after dark. Although I was tired and just wanted to find a shower and some food, the places near where I was dropped off just weren’t acceptable. I walked for probably thirty minutes, passing about 30 different places, until I reached the last guesthouse on the trail. I was to decided to stay there. I do this every time. The easy road is almost never my road! But............ I’m consistent.
As I was to find out, after the economic crisis in 1997 and the continued turmoil throughout Indonesia, the physical infrastructure in Indonesia is well developed, but tourism has really declined drastically. In most places I have stayed each person could have there own hotel and restaurant. It is hard to see so many places completely empty, except for local hangers-on.
The guesthouse where i stayed turned out to be a wonderful place. It was very near the reserve and the orangutan feeding station. It was right on a beautiful, clear and cool river... very refreshing in the humid jungle. In the morning a juvenile orangutan treated me to a small show across the river as I ate breakfast. He/she rolled around in the grass, swung from vines, hung upside down and basically just enjoyed the early morning. I really wanted to cross over and join the fun.
The park rehabilitates orangutans that have mostly been taken from the wild and domesticated. This is illegal....even here. Twice a day the park holds feeding sessions and visitors are allowed to watch. While I was there the jungle was full of fruits and other orangutan food, so not many came to the feedings. I was able to observe some from a distance. They are fascinating and oh so human-like. They really know how to relax and kick it - kind of groovy like King Louie from the Jungle Book. At the afternoon session they had a recently released orangutan that hung around the feeding and entertained us immensely.
I spent a few days in Bukit Lawang enjoying the jungle and the wonderfully refreshing river. More orangutan and various monkeys continued to entertain from across the river.
My next move was south to Brastagi, a small town in the Karo Highlands. It is known for it’s Batak villages and traditional architecture, it’s volcanoes and it’s cool weather. I hadn’t been cold since early December and haven’t been since. I put pants on....voluntarily!! I spent a few days walking around town and climbing one of the volcanoes. It was a relatively easy climb and the landscape was incredible on the top. I hung out on top and watched the clouds sweep up and over the volcano for hours. Very nice! Due to the fact that I hadn’t worn shoes for two months, even going weeks at a time barefoot, my feet weren’t ready for my nifty new hiking boots. The blisters led my to abort my planned attempt at the larger volcano in the area.
Heading south, I reached Lake Toba, a beautiful crater lake with clear blue water. It is the largest lake in all of South-East Asia......so there!. Pulau Somosir, a large island in the middle is home to, once again, as many restaurants and hotels, as travelers. Indonesia is cheap anyway, but the lack of demand has really lowered prices. I ended up taking a nice bungalow about 10 meters form the water. I had a balcony, two floors, four beds and two baths for the grand total of $1.50 a night. Not too bad!!
The lake was wonderful for swimming. It felt like swimming in silk after the months spent swimming in salt water. I spent about 10 days there, swimming, studying Bahasa Indonesia and exploring the island. The nights were relatively cool and the days usually sunny and warm. A little bit of rain gave me that extra incentive to really relax and enjoy myself (aka, do nothing). The locals loved to sing and were amazingly good. It seemed that in every restaurant and home you passed there was a group sitting around singing and playing guitars. It was like there was some huge music contest coming up and everybody was entered. The small shows put on at night at local restaurants were extremely entertaining (they REALLY got into it).
After finally pulling myself away from the beautiful waters of Lake Toba I continued south to Bukittingi, another laid back hill town. The real attraction was the surrounding countryside; green, lush and covered with terraced rice fields. I spent a couple of days checking out the town, walking around the countryside and checking out some small villages. I saw another great local music and dance performance and spent many hours getting my picture taken with any Indonesian with a camera. As in other places, I often had a line of young schoolgirls waiting for their picture with the white guy.
I took one side trip to Lake Maninjau, another crater lake, smaller, but more dramatic than Lake Toba. The water was warmer and not as clear, but still nice for swimming. I stayed at a small place on the lake and after the first couple of nights was the only one staying there. The family kind of took me in and I ate meals with them and played cards all night. They didn’t speak much English, which forced me to use my Bahassa Indonesia. My ability to speak and understand improved considerably. I was so proud of myself I decided to leave the country!!
Actually, I had to renew my visa before heading to Sulawesi. Two days of small vans, big buses on dirty roads, a couple of boats and a ferry got me to Singapore. I looked and felt dirtier than Singapore’s famed clean streets. I also felt like I’d been run over. But ………. Wow, civilization!!!!
