Tsunamis, volcanoes and jungles

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Trip Start Nov 01, 2010 Previous
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  Surabaya, Java, Indonesia
Sunday, March 20, 2011

Hopefully I have left a long enough break between blogs this time that you are looking forward to an update rather than dreading another one?!

We had a brilliant couple of days in KL, where Yin Sern and his family took great care of us again, before catching our flight to Medan in Sumatra. The flight was less than an hour and before we knew it we had arrived in Indonesia for the final leg of our trip. Having heard absolutely zero positive reviews of Medan, we had already planned to make a quick escape to Lake Toba, about five hours away. We had assumed we would need to make our way to a bus station in the city centre, but were saved even that tiny taste of Medan when we realised we could hop in a van that would take us straight from the airport to Parapat on the shore of Lake Toba. Happy Days!!

We got to Parapat just in time to catch the last boat across to Samosir, a large island in the middle of the volcanic crater lake. The boat initially pulled into the harbour of Tuk Tuk (the main town on the island) and then made its way around the headland, dropping people off at the jetty of their chosen accommodation. We hadn't pre-booked anywhere and it was dark, so we allowed a local tout to convince us to stay at his place, which was a mistake because it turned out to be very noisy and rather smelly!

Having achieved virtually no sleep we got up early to check out other options and saw the lake in the daylight for the first time. The view from the island across the lake to the mountains of the mainland was absolutely stunning and we were instantly filled with a new optimism for the day. Having wandered around looking at various rooms for about an hour we selected one with a hot shower, balcony overlooking the lake and a lovely little garden with sun loungers at the waters edge. It was a little pricey at THREE whole English pounds a night, but we decided to splash out and treat ourselves! Hurrah – we were back in insanely cheap accommodation territory!!

As soon as we had checked in we threw on our swimmers and went for a dip in the lake. It was so nice to swim in fresh water for once, and the temperature was perfect. In places the water is over 400 meters deep and I quickly discovered that not only is Steve a complete wimp when it comes to insects, seaweed, dogs and numerous other things I won't embarrass him by mentioning, he is also not very good in deep water. He almost had kittens when I swam 'too’ far from the shore (I was only about 15 meters out) and generally did a lot of flailing about and squealing whenever he thought he felt something touch him. I was of course very sensitive and didn’t find it at all amusing to wait until he wasn’t looking before diving down really deep and grabbing his ankles on my way back up. Tee hee hee! When we got out of the water I noticed a guy cutting someone’s hair on the edge of the jetty. After several months of sun and salt my hair was in desperate need of a trim, so I went over to speak to him. It turned out that he was a hairdresser from Paris and was cutting his girlfriend’s hair. I asked if he would do mine if I gave him some money, and he said that he would happily do it for free because it was more of a hobby than a job to him and he was really missing it. Result! So I sat at the edge of a beautiful crater lake in Sumatra and had my hair tidied up!

On our first full day in Sumatra we learnt two very important lessons. Lesson one: The sun is really, really strong (Who’d have thought it? A place practically sat on the equator having strong sun?). We both successfully burnt our noses to a crisp and spent the next few days looking like stereotypical stupid Englishmen with bright pink peeling skin. Lesson two: The accommodation might be cheaper than it was in the Philippines, but the beer is much more expensive and therefore one will almost certainly cancel the other one out. Hmph. And no before you suggest it we couldn’t possibly stop drinking. Although the cost here should restrict our intake slightly, which is probably for the best after how cheap and readily available the booze was in the Philippines!

We spent four days at Lake Toba and had a lovely time swimming in the lake and riding a moped around the island. It was a beautiful place, but it was really quiet and there was very little to do. I thoroughly enjoyed my four days there, but think I would have got bored pretty quickly if we had stayed any longer. From Lake Toba we wanted to head to a place called Bukit Lawang, which is about three hours north of Medan in the Sumatran jungle. We knew that we would have to go back through Medan and wanted to keep our time there to an absolute minimum, so we booked seats on a mini-van. We paid to go all the way to Bukit Lawang, but were told we would need to change vans at their office in the city. The van left Lake Toba an hour late and one of the local passengers needed to get to Medan for a flight. He was very obviously geeing the driver on and encouraging him to pull off some ridiculous overtaking manoeuvres so that he wouldn’t miss his flight. It was quite a scary journey, but he managed to make it to the airport in time (and more importantly we were all still in one piece).

After the driver had dropped him off at the airport he proceeded to drive around Medan for an hour and a half. To begin with we thought he was just trying to avoid traffic by taking shortcuts, but it soon became apparent that something was wrong. He didn’t speak any English, and my Indonesian was at this point limited to Thank You and Good Morning (neither of which seemed very helpful at this point). Eventually he managed to communicate that there was no van to take us on to Bukit Lawang and we realised that he was driving around trying to find onward transport for us. In the end he pulled up in front of a local bus and told us to get on it. Now, we have used local buses throughout our trip and certainly have no objections to them, but we had paid 150,000 Rupiah to be taken to Bukit Lawang in an air con van and knew that the bus from Medan should only be 15,000 Rupiah! Steve had a fairly heated row with the driver and eventually managed to get some money back, but we still ended up quite out of pocket. I’m not sure whether they deliberately scammed us, or if we had just missed our connection, but either way we were a bit miffed!

The bus journey was absolutely fine (apart from not being at all waterproof when it started chucking it down with rain), and we arrived in Bukit Lawang just as it got dark. We had phoned ahead and booked some accommodation on this occasion and were met at the bus station by the owner of our guesthouse. All of the accommodation in Bukit Lawang is built along the banks of the river, which runs straight through the jungle. Our room was about a 15 minute walk along the river path and by the time we got there we were absolutely drenched because a storm had just hit. Oh well, we had made it to the jungle, and I guess it is allowed to be a bit wet in the rain forest?!

I quite like arriving in places in the dark because you never really know what to expect when you get up the next day! On this occasion I was woken up by about ten monkeys scurrying around outside trying to steal stuff from everyone’s balconies. I went outside to see that our balcony literally overlooked the river and jungle, which rose to a great height from the river bank and stretched on as far as the eye could see. The rain had stopped and the sun had come out – it was gonna be a good day! The Sumatran jungle is famous for its orangutans and alongside Borneo is the only place in the world where these endangered species still exist. We knew we wanted to do some trekking in the jungle, but hadn’t decided whether to do a day trip or an overnight camping trip. The overnight trip was quite expensive, but in the end we came to the conclusion that this was a 'once in a lifetime’ opportunity and booked the longer trek, which included the chance to raft back to town at the end of the two days.

The next morning we set off into the jungle with our guide and a Dutch couple called Rita and Hank. The first stretch was very steep and I began to wonder how I was going to cope with two days walking in the 35 degree heat – I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to see the orangutans I was going to have to just man up and get on with it! We had been warned that whilst it was likely that we would see some, there was obviously no guarantee. However, we had only been walking for a couple of hours when the guide spotted a mother and baby in the trees. All concerns about the heat promptly left my mind as we stood and watched them just a few metres away from us. From here on in the day got better and better, and by the time we reached our camp we had seen eight orangutans. I’m not sure if any words can sum up how beautiful these animals are, I’ll just have to show you the videos when we get home. This was absolutely one of the most amazing days of my life (obviously apart from the day I married Steve!)!

The camp was set up on the meander of a stream, with a little waterfall tucked behind some rocks. We were pretty hot and sticky after our day in the jungle so we had a wash in the waterfall before settling down for the evening. The guy who had brought all the camping equipment and food up the river by boat cooked a delicious dinner, and afterwards we played cards for a couple of hours. The stars were incredible and there were loads of fireflies flickering around the camp. The tent consisted of a few sticks with a tarpaulin thrown over them that we were all to sleep in. It was really uncomfortable and I didn’t really manage to get any sleep, but that was a very small price to pay for the experience! As soon as it got light I got up and went to sit by the river with a cup of coffee made with boiled river water. There were monkeys swinging around the camp and a couple of monitor lizards on the river bank. As I was sat there idly watching them I suddenly realised that I was almost beginning to take sights like this for granted, and that I needed to savour every minute. I had just spent the night in the Sumatran jungle, having seen eight orangutans the day before and was currently sat by the river watching monkeys and monitor lizards as I sipped my morning coffee – how amazing is that?!

As we had breakfast our guide told us that we had two options for that day; we could either do a fairly easy walk along the river, or we could do a longer, more difficult trek through the jungle. Either way we needed to get further up river if we wanted to get the best experience out of rafting back to town. I was sorely tempted to take the easy option, but I couldn’t resist another few hours in the jungle! It really was very hard going, and in the heat and humidity I was definitely struggling a bit by the end. We didn’t see any more orangutans, but it was still a brilliant walk (although I was relieved when we started to head downhill towards the river and the end of the trek!). When we reached the river I was feeling incredibly chuffed with myself for getting through the two days with only a couple of mosquito bites, a wasp sting and a collection of ant bites to report, so along with our guide I jumped into the river to celebrate and cool off. I promptly got caught in a strong current, dragged into some rocks, and emerged with a cut and bruised leg!! Nothing too serious though and the guide was pretty quick to come to my rescue and drag me back to the bank.

We didn’t have to walk any further because the raft was ready for us! It was made from four big tyre inner tubes that had been tied together with a sort of netting across the bottom to stop you falling through and hitting the rocks. We wrapped all of our backpacks in plastic bags and jumped on. It was great fun bouncing through the rapids and currents, and the only person we managed to lose along the way was the guy in charge of steering (to be fair he was also the guy who set up the camp and cooked dinner & breakfast - you can’t expect him to be good at everything!). We managed to get him back on the raft and all arrived safely back in Bukit Lawang, tired but very happy. Out of all the things we have done since we have been away, this trip was definitely one of the most memorable for me – I’d recommend it to anyone!

The next day we were meant to get a 15 hour overnight bus to Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra, but we were both really tired and in need of a decent nights sleep. We had already decided that we were going to fly from Banda Aceh down to Java (to save 4-5 days on a bus), and whilst we were at the travel agents booking this flight we ‘accidentally’ booked one up to Banda Aceh for the next day as well! This did mean that we could no longer avoid Medan and would have to spend a night there, but at least we would have a bed for the night rather than an uncomfortable bus seat!

Medan was predictably grotty and we were glad when it was time to leave for the airport the following afternoon. The flight was only an hour and got us into Banda Aceh at 4pm, which was too late for us to get the boat across to Pulau Weh, a small island just off the coast in the Indian Ocean. We found a guesthouse in Banda Aceh and went for a walk around town. Aceh was at the epicentre of the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami and over 200,000 people lost their lives in the region. The devastation to both the city and the people is still very evident, although they have done a brilliant job of rebuilding their community. There are a couple of boats that got washed inland and still haven’t been moved. We went to see a massive cargo boat that was carried 3km into the city before it came to a halt in the middle of a neighbourhood. It is still just sat on a patch of grass and it is hard to imagine the power that would have been required to get it there.

The next morning we caught the first boat to Pulau Weh, which is well renowned for its diving. For the first night we went to a resort called Gapang and drunk far too much with a dive instructor called Guy, who we met on the boat on the way over (this is quite impressive seeing as it is illegal to sell alcohol in the region, but Guy had come prepared!). The following day we decided that we weren’t that keen on Gapang and moved a few km away to a beach called Iboih, which we absolutely loved. It was a really quiet little place, with a cute beach and a dive shop. On our first afternoon in Iboih news of the Japanese Tsunami broke, and Indonesia was put on Tsunami warning. As you can imagine the local people here reacted nervously to the news, and I have to admit that even though it looked as though it would miss us, I was slightly concerned given where we were currently staying! Locals and tourists alike spent time in the village shop watching the news unfold on the telly, which must have brought back so many horrible memories to the villagers. Around this time the power went down (just coincidence I think), so we couldn’t keep up to date with what was happening. None of the locals seemed to be packing up and running for the hills, so we decided to follow their lead and head off to bed. Because there are no bars or anything on the island everything is pretty much closed by 8pm and the resort is deserted.

In the morning our hut was still standing and there was no sign of damage to the resort, so we assumed the Tsunami had as predicted missed us (there really was quite a lot of land between us and Japan). We got up and had breakfast before heading out to do a couple of dives. On the first dive the current was really strong (not an effect of the Tsunami I don’t think) and we both drained our tanks in 40 minutes flat! I have never dived in such a strong current and can normally manage an hour or so before I need to surface. Fortunately the second dive was a lot calmer and the scale of life under the water was mind blowing. I felt like I was swimming in an over packed aquarium! We had such a great dive that we decided to scrap the budget and do another dive the next day, which was also brilliant.

On our last night on Pulau Weh we got back to our room to find our neighbours (Amy and Patrick from Belgium) sat on their balcony looking a little shaky. They had been lying in bed reading when they heard monkeys going through the bin on the balcony. Amy got up to shew them away and when she got back into the room saw that there was a snake on the bed heading towards Patrick. She had grabbed it and tried to pull it from the bed, but it wriggled free and carried on towards him. On her second attempt she managed to grab it from the bed and it slithered away between the floor boards. We have no idea if it was poisonous or not, but either way I’m glad it wasn’t in our room, I’m not sure if I would have been as brave if I was confronted with the same situation!

The next day we made our way back to Banda Aceh to catch our flight to Java. We had to land in Jakarta, but we had no intention of leaving the airport. We have seen enough Asian cities by now to know that we would rather avoid them where possible! On this occasion we were able to get almost straight off the plane from Banda Aceh onto one heading for Yogyakarta (about half way across Java). Amazingly enough our luggage was also transferred onto the correct flight and us and our bags landed safely in Yogyakarta (Jogja to the locals, and for me from now on cos it’s easier to type!). Steve was particularly chuffed to discover that his bag had arrived drenched in fishy smelling wetness (again)! This has become a very common theme throughout our journey and it appears that no matter where the bag is left it always finds a way to get itself a new fishy coating – you have to love Asia!

Although Jogja is a city, it is much smaller than Jakarta and the main accommodation area is situated among a maze of narrow alleyways that are actually quite pleasant to wander around (picture old brick walls with ivy growing up them – very quaint!). Our main reason for visiting Jogja was to use it as a base to explore the Borobodur and Prambanan temples. They were both built around the 9th Century AD, and the style of architecture looks very similar to some of the temples in Angkor in Cambodia (which were built around the same time). Borobodur is a Buddhist temple and Prambanan is a complex of Hindu temples. We set off at 5am on our first morning so that we could see Borobodur before the temperature began to soar, but by the time we got to Prambanan there was no escaping the fact that it was searingly hot in the sun. We got back to Jogja at about 2pm and treated ourselves to a cold shower and a lazy afternoon. Not only were the temples fascinating to walk around, they also provided a brilliant view of the surrounding area, including the active volcano at Mount Merapi. We decided that we fancied a closer look at the volcano, so we booked a moped for the next day.

We set off at 7.30am the following day to try and see the volcano in the early morning sun (it nearly always clouds over at some point during the day here), but we had left it too late and you could barely make the volcano out as we got closer. We weren’t that upset because we had already selected our next destination on Java as Mount Bromo, another (very) active volcano, about 10 hours further east. We did however manage to find a couple of villages that had been completely destroyed when Mount Merapi erupted in 2010. It was crazy to see completely burnt out cars lying amongst derelict houses, covered in layers of ash. All of the trees in the area were blackened and stripped bare, leaving the area looking like a baron wasteland. Indonesia definitely seems to serve as a firm reminder that nature can be very destructive when it wants to be!

On the morning of 19th (yesterday) our bus left Jogja at 8am bound for Mount Bromo. The journey was supposed to take ten hours, but in true Asian style ended up taking 15, so we didn’t arrive at Bromo until 11pm. This wasn’t great because we wanted to get up at 3am to watch the sunrise over the volcano, which we could hear rumbling away from our guesthouse. This was the most expensive place we have stayed in Indonesia, and by the time we had eaten and got to bed it was 1am. It worked out as a very expensive room for two hours sleep - I don’t really know why we bothered going to bed!

This morning we set off on the hour walk up the mountain to watch the sunrise over the volcano at 3.30am. We had fully intended to climb the whole way, but when a guy came passed with two horses (well, tiny ponies really) and asked if we would like to ride up the mountain path for just over £1 each we jumped at the chance. They were clearly far too small for us, but seeing as we were only walking I thought it would be ok. Unfortunately it was still very dark and my pony stumbled on a root and fell to his knees. I managed to kick my feet out of the stirrups and get off before he rolled over though, and we both seemed to escape unhurt. I got back on and rode for a little while longer, but when it got really steep it seemed only fair that we both got off and walked the last little stretch.

As we reached the view point the sun was just starting to light up the sky, and it was also a full moon, so we had the shadows from the moon on one side of us and the sun appearing on the other. The volcano was absolutely captivating from the minute we arrived to the minute we left. Whilst it was still dark you could see the sparks and lava flying out as it grumbled away loudly, and as it gradually got lighter we were treated to one of the most spectacular landscapes I have ever seen. The volcano started erupting at the end of last year and has been belching lava and ash on a regular basis ever since. The whole area is covered in a thick carpet of dark grey ash, and my eyes, nose and throat soon felt fairly well coated as well! I was trapped between feeling incredibly lucky to experience such a sight and wondering if it was really sensible to be stood on a hill so close to this monster!

We stayed on the hill for several hours taking photos and watching the colours around us change as the sun got higher. It was a beautifully clear day, but so bloody cold on the mountain! We were both wrapped up in several layers and still shivering, which seeing as it was probably about 12-14 degrees doesn’t bode well for readjusting to the British climate! We eventually decided to walk back to the village in time to get some breakfast before catching a bus to Surabaya at 9am, which is where we are on our way to now. It is another big city that we would definitely rather avoid, but we have booked a flight from there to Lombok for tomorrow. We were faced with a choice of 26 hours on boats and buses for £20, or 50 minutes on a plane for £20 – after not much careful consideration we decided that we would book the flight! All of the airlines out here have been blacklisted by the EU, but we have come to the conclusion this can’t possibly be because they are unsafe?!

So we are fast coming towards the end of our trip and are determined to make the most of the last month or so. Time is becoming more important than money, and we have done more than our fair share of long bus journeys, so from now on we have decided to take the easy option of flying wherever possible! We intend to spend the next few weeks on Lombok, Flores and Bali and our ambitious plan is to spend many hours lying on a beach, occasionally interspersed with some diving. It is going to be challenging, but I reckon we’ll cope!!

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