North Sumatra, Where the Wild Things Are

We arrived in Indonesia on a small twin prop plane to the city of Medan, Indonesia's third largest and a dirty, busy, and overall insane introduction to the archipelago. After waltzing through customs (there was no one there) we found ourselves immediately harrased by several different "taxi" drivers looking for our business. Like a bat out of hell we got to the other side of the city to the bus station and realized we needed cash before our next destination. We escaped some touts and upon asking for more information and getting swarmed again by people Zohan, our Chinese saviour, arrived on his motorbike, got us on a becak (motorbike with side car), and shuttled us to the closest ATM. Back at the bus station money in hand we were ready for our first Indonesian night in Bukit Lawang, famous for it's orang-utan rehabilitation center. Getting there on a rickety bus clouded with clove scented cigarette smoke and dipping through potholes larger than the road, we made it in 5 hot hours. That's 65km on a Sumatran highway. Selamat Datang!

Having made a "friend" on the bus, we were led by the nose into town and heard our first of many sales pitches for jungle treks. We nestled into the Garden Inn, which was almost like a tree house overlooking the river and jungle beyond. Over a dinner of Gado-Gado (vegetables and egg smothered in peanut sauce) and Indonesian soup we were welcomed to the jungle through guitar strums and sing-alongs. It was a breath of fresh air and an amazing village to spend our first night.

Our friend, who ended up being quite the parasite, eventually won over our business and we booked a two day jungle trek. The trek was amazing, first being led through a rubber plantation and then into Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser, Indonesia's biggest national park which is home to the Sumatran orang-utan. Seeking out these wild beasts our guides very instinctively led us to their nests. Our first encounter was with Meena, the most aggresive orang-utan in the jungle who chased us down the path and was hungry for our lunch. The guides distracted her with fruit as we watched from the bushes. The second orang-utan pair we saw (mother and baby) was very friendly and playfully swung from tree to tree and allowed us to get very close and take several (hundered?) photos. It was truly amazing to watch them in their natural habitat as curious of us as we were of them.

Marching on up and down the cliffs of the jungle we came to our 5 star jungle hotel, which was a make-shift camp done up with plastic bags and tarps. We had a delicious dinner (with our own cook!) swam in an amazing waterfall and played jungle games (really old maid, but who's going to tell the guide it's not the "orang-utan game"?). The next morning we hiked up to another peak that looked over the expanse of jungle and into Aceh, Sumatra's northern most province. Back down to the river we stopped for lunch and tubed back to the village down the rapid waves. It was a great trip!

We stayed one more night in our tree house and headed back to Medan for an overnight and on to Lake Toba our next destination. After experiencing Medan already we had a better time managing the city and had a nice evening admiring the Grand Mosque across the street from our hotel. We even managed to avoid falling into the gaping holes on the sidewalk straight to the sewer! The following morning we treated ourselves to some foot reflexology and went on our way.

Lake Toba, a stunning crater lake with a Singapore sized island in the middle, is the home of the Batak people, with their unique architecture, music, dance, religious traditions and history. Batak houses cover the landscape with their sweeping gables reminiscent of ships docked on the shore. A trip across the island by motorbike exposed the farms, rice paddies and unique burial graves scattered all along the hills. Our motorbike trip ended at the natural hot springs where Colin dipped himself in and out and Amanda begrudgingly put in her big toe. It was hot hot hot!

We've been doing some good ol' fashioned relaxing here, gearing up for Christmas by purusing the markets and sparse convenience stands for candy. We treated ourselves to a 4 course cooking class on Christmas Eve where we learned to make Gado-Gado, Chicken Rendang, Sambal Fish and Fried Bananas. For Christmas we made stockings by hand and stuffed them with treats (cookies, fruit and liquor). Our Christmas dinner was a fresh fish from the lake, marinated, covered with sambal, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly grilled. We missed our family and friends of course but spent Christmas in a beautiful place with great people, so all in all we feel very thankful. We hope that this holiday season finds you all healthy and happy too!