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.
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.
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