Takengon, Pulau Weh (incredible diving) and Banda Aceh

On the 8th August we left the jungle behind and got the bus to Blankejeren (70km / 3hours) where we saw this gorgeous little girL:


Then we got on another bus to take us to Takengon (another 6 hours). The road went over so many mountains that we lost count and parts of the road had been destroyed from land slides. We went up to about 2000 metres at one point and it looked like we were in Canada. The journey was very very slow but the scenery was amazing and we made it to Takengon just before dark.

Here is part of the 'road' and our driver:


We had a day off in Takengon to recover from the journey. Unfortunately, the mosques' noise seemed to go on all night and they even had sirens to tell people when they must start/stop eating etc. due to it being Ramadan.

Takengon was very friendly and it was a fun place to spend the day and hang out with the locals.

Great shop:


Nic having a much-needed shave:


We left Takengon and had our final 8 hour bus journey to Banda Aceh. We had to stop for an hour as one of the brake pads fell off the bus and we had to get it replaced.

We had one night in Banda Aceh and the following day we got the ferry over to Pulau Weh. We stayed for the week in Gapang, a very tiny place consisting of a beach, dive centre, 5 guest houses, a few cafes, some very friendly locals and dogs, and a stunning view of the Indian ocean:




We spent the week, reading, sleeping, eating, socialising with the great people that we met and diving. The diving was exceptional and we had a good mixture of easy dives and crazy dives with lots of mad currents.


I've never seen so many Moray eels in my life:



This is a scorpion fish trying to blend in:



You can just see Nic in the background flying through the ocean - a crazy current dive:

On our last dive we saw a pod of dolphins going to and coming back from the dive site - a nice goodbye.

We left our tropical paradise and went back to Banda Aceh for a few days. Banda Aceh was a victim of the 2004 Tsunami and 61,000 died here. We went to see some of the sights, including the "boat on the house":




and the 2600 tonne power generated vessel that was carried 4km inland by a wave:



There is a park in the centre of Banda Aceh, which is a memorial and a thank you to all the countries that supplied assistance after the disaster. Each country has a plaque like this one:


We also went to see the enormous Mesjid Raya Baitarrahman (mosque) that somehow survived the tsunami intact. We weren't allowed in but we got some photos of the outside:


Our flight back to Penang, Malaysia has been cancelled, so we're having another day in this very pleasant, friendly city. I got my haircut again and I've decided that they don't know what a trim is in Asia!

Soon we'll be back on the bikes and heading to Thailand. Sumatra has been one of the most beautiful and special places that we've visited.

Sumatra - Lake Toba and Ketembe (more trekking and more orangutans)

On the 1st August we left Bukit Lawang and took a 7 hour bus ride to Lake Toba. We spent most of the time relaxing and enjoying the lovely scenery but we also had a few eventful moments! I had my walking boots stolen from outside the room, which I was very upset about, so the following day we moved to a new guest house. Anyway, 2 days later the owner from the first guest house found me and gave me my boots back. I was totally amazed and very very happy. It turned out that one of the local children had stolen them. On our last day there we decided to hire a scooter and explore. Whilst we were enjoying the amazing views a puppy ran out in front of us, so Nic braked hard but because the road was muddy the scooter skidded and we both flew off. Luckily there was a bus behind us with a first aider, so we got patched up and then we drove back. We both had scrapes and bruises and ripped clothes and Nic had a very saw shoulder and I had a sore neck. I think we'll stick to bicycles!

Lake Toba is home to the Batak people, who are Christians, and many of them still live in these wonderful traditional houses:



They also bury their dead in amazing graves that you can see all around the area:



On 5th August we left Lake Toba and had a very long bus trip to Kutacane. We were both a bit sore after the accident and the last bus was a real s*** heap but some of the scenery was mind blowing. We arrived in Kutacane too late to get the bus to Ketambe so we ended up staying in an over-priced depressing room with a man that had his telly on full blast in the middle of the night. The man was fast asleep but eventually he woke up and turned it down. There's always something to keep you awake in Asia!

The following day we made our way to the chaotic market to get the bus to Ketambe and saw a live goat tied to the top of one of the buses (a first for us) and after some painful negotiations we eventually got on a bus and arrived about an hour later at Friendship guest house in Ketambe.




We booked a one-day jungle trek for the following day and whilst we were having lunch we met some lovely school children. An English teacher approached us and asked us if we would meet his pupils, so we said "yes" and about a dozen teenage girls and boys, who were painfully shy came and sat with us for about an hour. After a while they started to ask us some questions and before they left they took lots of photos of us and shook our hands.


The following day we set off on our trek through the jungle. Our guide was called John, he spoke very good English and had been trekking for 15 years. He was amazing at finding birds and animals and we saw/heard Hornbills, gibbons, Thomas leaf-eating monkeys and much more. In the morning we saw our first orangutan but it was a young one that was nervous and he/she stayed quite far away from us.

Here is Nic with John relaxing:



You can just see me at the base of this awesome tree that is hundreds of years old:


Here's Nic having a swing in the jungle (Tarzan!):

We had lunch by the river and then set off again into the jungle. After about 10 minutes John spotted a mother and a baby orangutan and we got to watch them for about an hour. Another mind-blowing experience.

They were so relaxed around us and at one point they were about 6 metres from us. John told us that the mother is unusually relaxed around humans and that we were very lucky to get so close. The baby was so adorable. We watched them eating, swinging through the trees and just being generally fabulous. Here are a few photos:

How cute?:



Here is the baby suckling from it's mum:


I know - how lucky are we? Thanks John for making our trek so memorable.

Sumatra - Bukit Lawang and Bukit Kancur - orangutans

We flew from Penang to Medan and it felt good to be back in crazy Indonesia. We had one night in Medan and then we got the hot, sticky, local bus to Bukit Lawang. We had a few days relaxing in the village and enjoyed the gorgeous jungle views, swam in the river and hung out with the very friendly locals. We stayed at Green Hill and Andrea, the owner and primatologist, gave us some great advice. we decided to do a 3 day/2 night trek in Bukit Kancur, which is a 30 minute motorbike ride from Bukit Lawang. We decided to go there as very few tourists go there and we wanted to try and see a wild orangutan rather than the semi-wild ones that they get in Bukit Lawang. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of our lives.

Just setting off:


Here is me with Baik, our wonderful guide:



Here is Mimpin, our other guide. He is as cool as a cucumber and never seems to sweat. He knows this jungle like the back of his hand:




There are lots of leaches in the jungle and they try to get through your boots. We rubbed wet tobacco on our boots and legs to step them from biting and it really worked:


On the first day we had a wonderful time trekking through the jungle but we didn't see an orangutan. We set up camp next to the river in a spot that is stunningly beautiful. This is the area that we slept on:


First they cleared it and put up a bamboo structure:



and then they put over the waterproof tarps. 5 of us slept in here, the 5th person was Baik's brother Yusuf, who carried all the camping and cooking stuff and generally helped out.




Here's Nic keeping Baik company, while he cooks us our feast:


We spent a lovely evening in out campsite, eating, swapping stories and playing games. The shelter that we slept in was very cosy and waterproof (we had lots of rain) but the mats were a bit thin for us and Baik snored very loudly. However, it was lovely to listen to the frogs and the other jungle noises and wake up in such an amazing place.

The following day we set off on a 5 hour trek hoping to see an orangutan. Here's Nic doing his Ray Mears impression:


First we visited an amazing bat cave:



If you look closely you can see the bats' eyes and some bats flying. It was rather eerie (and smelly) in here:



We saw and heard lots of wonderful things on our trek but no orangutans.



When we got back to the campsite, Yusuf told us that 2 orangutans had passed over our campsite. We were pretty disappointed to say the least. Yusuf decided to go off to see if he could find them and he did find the male not too far away. We heard him shouting so we followed him and then we got to watch a proper wild male orangutan for about an hour. OMG


He was making all sorts of noises and breaking off branches to tell us to go away and we've got some great videos of him. Here are some of our best photos:








I still can't believe how lucky we were. You can keep your semi-wild orangutans, watching wild behaviour is a thousand times better.

We had another great night in our shelter (and more rain) dreaming of orangutans!

On our last day we had a bit of fun and Baik made me the Queen of the Jungle:

We also went swimming in this crystal clear water hole:

We finally left the jungle behind and got back to the village. We felt quite sad but the local kids cheered us up:


I could write so much more but I hope this gives you an idea of how amazing this experience was. Thanks Baik, Mimpin and Yusuf for a truly memorable experience and too Andrea for suggesting it.