We took a flight from Jogja on the 4th of August, had a stop over in Jakarta for 2 hours and then on to Medan in the Northern part of the island of Sumatra. The plan was to stay a night or two in Medan then head inland to Lake Toba and chill out there for a while, then come back to Medan and go see some Orang-utans in Bukit Lawang. But all went tits up when we ate the slops served to us in Jakarta airport!!!! We should have known better than to eat from a bain marie- Bay Marie - whatever - it is called. Food not hot - not cold, sitting there slightly warmed gathering festering dripage from the air, flies, dirty fingers, - where grossness grows legs and arms and turns your guts into liquid. 4 or 5 days later Ann and I were still crook, felt weak and just didn't trust anything served anywhere. To add to this horrible, bowel extracting experience we were staying in the worse hotel ever made on the busiest street in the 3rd most populated city in Indonesia. All day, all night, all we could here was the beeping and buzzing of traffic. Lesson learnt!
So we decided to get out of the city as soon as we physically could - doing this had to involve some place that offered relaxation and could also help us see something in Sumatra before our Indo - Visas expired. The Hotel Deli River was our salvation - we found them online and contacted the lovely owner Diana and she promptly organised us to be picked up and brought out to her hotel. It is really nice at Deli River - they have an awesome pool - there is only 8 rooms, so it is not too crowded, the restaurant serves nice, clean, trustworthy food and it is quiet - except for the chanting coming from the local Mosque and the occasional flight going over head.
The guys at Deli River also host a sister company to help traveller see the sights, so we booked in an overnight stay at the Eco-Lodge in Bukit Lawang and a small jungle trek to visit the Orang-utan conservation park. Again, being out of the city meant it was peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable. We got so see some Orang-utans in their natural habitat, along with a few different types of monkey, I had a swim in the river with some local boys, we went to The Bat Cave, saw some traditional dancing performed by local young men and enjoyed the jungle scenery.
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| our room at Deli River |
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| relaxing in the pool |
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| our room is behind the trees on the far right |
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| Tamarello |
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| Deli River pool and restaurant |
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| Coconut juice |
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| we thought this was a bit funny - why wear a hat? |
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| our room at Eco-Lodge |
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| the indoor-out house |
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| you can see Ann's little head over the plants on our patio at Eco-Lodge |
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| there is nothing you cannot do on a motorcycle |
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| Bats on the roof |
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| The creepy crawly that prevented Ann from going any further |
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| Bukit Lawang |
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| Cheeky monkey - was looking over the hole in our bathroom roof at us |
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| John swimming/bathing with the local boys |
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| Frog in the restaurant |
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| Canoe across the river to see Orang-utans |
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