The Wobble

I’m not sure if many of the people that I know have heard of bukitt lawang, to be honest before I even stepped foot in sumatra I would have not have had a clue about the place. Its an amazing place though and somewhere that is definitely worth a visit if you do find yourself in this part of the world. The main reason why people do come here is to get a glimpse of the Orang Utang, a magnificent creature that is teetering on the brink of extinction. Its natural habitat, the rain forest is being eaten away at year after year by careless logging and it is simply killing these creatures. Fortunately the government have started to set  up more and more national parks to offer them some sort of safe refuge but it could very well be a case of too little too late.

Like alot of other places in sumatra, Bukit Lawang is no stranger to human tragedy either. It is a very small town, 2000 people or there abouts live there. It is situated deep into the sumatran rainforest by the side of a really stunning river valley. Over the years either by artificial or natural means a natural dam built itself up someway upstream from the town. People it seemed weren’t aware of this phenomenon, this ignorance proved terribly fatal a couple of years ago. The wood from the dam rotted, weakened and eventually gave way sending a torrent of water down the valley at a ferocious rate. Some people I spoke to, still deeply traumatised by the event speak of seeing the water come down the valley, they hadn’t enough time to react. 280 people perished in that instant, the town was wiped out. It was a shocking blow. The indonesian government in fairness to them seem to have put their backs to the wheel in helping the locals rebuilt their tragic town. A new village has been build on higher ground away from the river, more money has been pumped into the local tourist trade. There are dozens of guest houses here, the tourist infrastructure is the best I have seen in the entire country, all they are missing is the tourists to come in and fill the rooms.

I arrived as I have said before a tattered mess, I took up residence in Noras Homestay. The two dutch girls I was with in Padang recommended the place very highly, its a 10 muinute walk from the Orang Utang Reserve and situated right on the river bank, so close the sound of the river is deafening. Its a very easy sound to be lazy to. From your hammock you can interrupt your book to stare at the trees high up past the river and watch gibbons fly from tree to tree, you could hear the makawks fight over just about everything – it was like having the national geographic in 3-d in the comfort of your living room. Apart from a couple of trips up to watch the Orang Utangs get their daily feed from the local rangers I did feck all in that town. The food and lodgings itself are lovely so I had a great time just hanging out. If one was inclined you could head into the jungle for a trek and some rafting, there is also the stoner favourite activity of tubing whereby you rent out the blown up inner tube of a tractor and float downstream to the next town where you simply jump on the next bus to Bukitt. All n all it takes about 3 hours, but even that seemed too much like work for me. I did get off my arse one day to check out the local caves – much like ailwee caves in clare they contain some stunning natural rock formations with the addtion of a couple of thousand bats, with the odd look outside to the jungle it really was a spectacular setting. Though I happened to find myself there at the same time as a massive group of school girls, I spent more time posing for photos, signing autographs and giving out my email than looking at the bloody cave. The girls here are so incredibly cheeky and friendly, its impossible to say no to them.

As I have said I did interupt my lying about to go visit the orange haired orang utangs. A five minute walk up past noras homestay along by the river bank takes you to a bend of the river where there is a canoe tied to an over head wire which transports you from yourside to the reservation on the other. My first time there I arrived a little early so I had time to take in the beautiful setting, the land rises sharply and greenly on both sides giving away occasionally to some wonderful waterfalls. Waiting there we got our first glimpse of the apes when the recent mother came down to collect some bananas and milk for her cub. I’m not sure whether the feeding of these animals is the best thing, it makes them dependent on humans and therefore unable to adapt to the wild but people who know more about these matters than I run the place so I bow to their superior knowledge on the matter. Once you cross you pay and entrance fee then make your way up hill for about 20 minutes right into the jungle to the main feeding centre which is just a clearing in the trees. You know you are there as the trail virtually stops dead. You wait there for a while but it is not long before 5 or 6 of the orang utangs arrive for their free feed. One guy in particular is massive, he would tear you apart no bother. It was more interesting though to observed the ones high up in the trees, they sat there looking at you as if they are scoping you out. I was unfortunate enough to be beside this most annoying of tourists, he was a master at stating the obvious. When the ranger handed out a banana he would say ‘He is feeding them a banana mr phil’,No Shit Sherlock – ‘Look it is peeling the banana’, ‘Look it is eating the banana’ and so on.

Unfortunately my time in sumatra is running short, 1 month is a ridiculously short time to give as a visa so I must beat my retreat from Bukitt Lawang, I have 8 days left and Aceh looms to the north of the island. I will go there next to finish off my sumatran adventure..

Adios again,

Phil

I left uncle jacks early in the morning, the girl that worked there had booked me onto the 11.30 am bus leaving padang city (which is 20km from jacks place) bus station. It was 11.01 when she informed me of this fact, so down the hatch with the lovely omlette her mother had prepared for me and off down the road like the clappers to catch this bus to the city of Medan.

I arrived into the bus station in a bit of a panic as the clock in the taxi read 11.45, a quick cross check of my own watch confirmed that the clock was 18 minutes fast, a different problem did present itself though. The Bus station, which was vast, was completely empty. It looked abandoned, like it hadn’t seen a passenger in years. There were two cobbled benches lying against a tattered fence which had a few people sitting on it chowing on nasi goreng (fried rice), I asked them where the bus to medan was and they just pointed at the big old building behind them. So with my backpack on my back I crossed the overgrown lawn which was drained my some massive unprotected ditches which I had to bound in order to enter the building. The building was big and continuing the theme of the station as a whole was empty, office after office was threadbare. It was like the start of 28 days later when cillian murphy walks through the streets of london and there isn’t a sinner to be seen anywhere. There was one office which had a poster on the window advertising the bus to medan, I knocked on the door which to my relief was opened by a tiny little man which glasses so thick they magnified his eyes so that they appeared the size of the rims. He informed me that the bus was not due to leave until 3 pm and that the only seat left was the one at the back next to the toilet. I took it, though with a bit more planning I would have been far better off to fly the trip at a similar cost.

So back out to the bench where I ordered some noodle soup and sat with the locals showing them how to play jenga. The bus came and we took off. The roads were windy.You get used to the twists and the turns after a while, some people suffer greatly from them but I reckon after my time in the himalayas I could handle any road this country could throw at me. They do make it incredibly hard to pee though, as there is a toilet on board the driver is less inclined to stop often to let passengers relieve themselves so you have to option but to use the onboard facility. As you can imagine there is more than a little stray liquid on the floor so you really have to be careful of your footing.

So 24 hours on this bus – every seat on the bus reclined allowing passengers to get into an almost horizontal position, a bit like those beds you see advertised on the shopping channel, they look proper cosy. Of course the only bloody seat on the bus that doesn’t recline is mine as it is at the very back, what space is behind it is dedicated to the second driver. So I was mr vertical for the duration. It was hellish, Its impossible to sleep sitting vertical! You start to go a little crazy after a while, I began to contemplate places where I could lie down. First I thought of the luggage rack but then dismissed this idea as lunacy, I mean how the hell could I get up there let alone fit into that squished space what wouldn’t even take my backpack. The aisle was also off limits due to the constant flow of people to the toilet. There was some floor space behind the second last seat and infront of the toilet, hardly the most hygienic spot in the world but with some bedding provided I ducked to take the space before some other person claimed it. It was tight but definitely better than the seat. I have mentioned the roads before but they deserve mention again as they played a vital role in my falling asleep, I’m sure what I am about to describe is pretty dangerous – when you are lying flat on your back on a bus that is taking corners of such magnitude at such speeds, it does funny things to the bloodflow to your head. Now I dunno whether it was the blood rushing too or from my head but no sooner had I lay down on the floor than I conked out.

I woke some time later, it was still dark so I figure it wasn’t that much later, to find my self sickly wet. The space between my shoulder blades was saturated, my first thought was that the bloody toilet had leaked, it was enough to make me wretch. But I soon noticed that I was parched, it was soo bloody hot. The sweat was flowing off me, the bastards had knocked off the AC in order to save on a bit of petrol. I had to get up to change my t-shirt and get some fluids into me, typically as soon as I got to my back – the conductor who must have marveled at my ingenuity or desperation ducked into my sleeping spot and snoozed away.  I figured I had enough kip to get me to Bukitt Lawang so I took to my seat again.

I must have resembled terry waite getting off that bus in medan, I was wrecked, bad hair day (not many good ones I admit) and worst of all bad mood. I found myself snapping at people which is not like me at all, I really had to sit down for 5 minutes with a coffee to gather myself together. The trouble here is that people are so desperate for money that they will pester you, especially when they see that you are a foreigner they are relentless. It is so hard to be nice to everyone even more so when you are in a massive town (3 million people live in medan)  and you have no map, just a very loose idea of how to get to your next port of call. Its all part and parcel of travelling I guess, but it does wear you down. I’d hate to give the impression that its all beaches, beers, pancakes and hammocks. Just 95% of it is 😉

I made my way through medan slowly to the bus station that services the north. From there I took what is easily the most battered up wagon I have come across in 7 months on the road. This mini bus makes tommy morgans look like one of the premiership team buses. Somehow they crammed 20 people into, add on top of that a few chickens and you have yourself a minibus headed to Bukitt Lawang. Halfways up the road it started to rain, rain heavy. All the windows are down, I was getting soaked, everyone was. People started to mumble, some even groaned. The bus driver eventually pulled out a lever and passed it around, he had one handle for the entire bus to put their windows up. You have to laugh, this bus would barely pass a recognition test let alone a NCT. I got into Bukkit Lawang at about 4 pm, made a fault start with the accomodation but when I found it eventually I lay my head to rest and slept solid for 15 hours!!!

Ciao for Now,

Phil