Bukit Lawang, Sumatra

The Stanleys and I were in a hurry to leave Medan so I spent a lot of money and got a private car to pick us up and take us to Bukit Lawang.

Click for the full map

On the way, we drove past a lot of Palm Trees. Companies are cutting down the jungle to grow palm trees so they can make palm oil. Maybe you can do some research and find out what happens to the animals when their homes are cut down or burnt so palm trees can be grown. You could also do some research to find out what palm oil is used for. I think you will be surprised how many different foods and products it is used in.

Palm trees

Bukit Lawang is a small village on the edge of the Gunung Lesuser National Park.

Click to see Bukit Lawang

The view from our room

Breakfast time visitors.
One cheeky monkey even ran across the table in front of me.

Here are some of the sights I saw when I was trekking:

A Viper that had been relocated from the village

When I went on a jungle trek, I saw 8 Orangutans; 3 rehabilitated females, each with a baby and 2 wild males.

Orangutans get rehabilitated and released into back into the jungle if they have been kept as pets (which is now illegal) or injured. Bukit Lawang used to have a feeding station where the rehabilitated Orangutans could come twice a day for food if they were unable to forage for enough in the jungle. The people running the feeding station kept the food boring to encourage to Orangutans to fend for themselves.

Long Tail Monkeys (Macaque)

You can see the cuts villages have made to collect rubber.

Fruit snack in the jungle

Picnic lunch
Rice, vegetables, fish, noodles and rice crackers

This guy was attached to the back of my shoulder. It had a good feed of my blood but it still looks hungry.

Termites

Bukit Lawang Village.

The locals swim, wash themselves and their clothes in the river.

Tourists from other places in Indonesia come to go rafting on the river in rubber tubes.

My 'Jungle Taxi' that carried me through the rapids back to the village.
It was made of a large tube tied together with two smaller tubes.

Medan, Sumatra

Medan is the largest city in Sumatra. From the airport the, Stanleys and I, took a train into the city.

It was not very far to my hotel from the train station. Google maps told me it was a 15 minute walk, so I decided to walk. It was a very interesting 15 minutes which felt much longer.. All of the locals were in cars, buses, becak (motorbike with a side cart) or on motorbikes. Have a look at the video below to see what the roads and footpaths are like in Medan.
 

There wasn't very much room left to walk on the footpath because they were crowded with motorbikes, food stands, building supplies, rubbish and so many other things.

The parking area beside a market.

 The Stanleys and I only stayed Medan for two nights. It was too busy, loud and dirty for us and the locals weren't very friendly.

Malaysia to Sumatra

From Kuala Lumpur, the Stanleys and I flew to Medan in Sumatra.

Click for an interactive map

Indonesia is outlined in red and Sumatra is the long island in the top left.
Bali is near the middle of the map at the end of Java (Jakarta is in Java).

Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia

Our last stop in Bali was in Jimbaran which is on the southwest coast of Bali, just below the airport.

Jimbaran Map

Jimbaran is famous for its seafood. The beach is lined with seafood restaurants and fishing boats.

The fish market is at the north end of the beach. It is very busy and smelly.

Arriving at the fish market

They sell fish inside and on the beach

Durian is a fruit that smells so bad it is banned from some hotels.

Dining on the beach

This man is collecting small shellfish. See the video below for a closer look.

Gili Meno, Lombok, Indonesia

From Gili Air the Stanleys and I took a boat to Gili Meno, the smallest and quietest of the three islands.

Arriving at Gili Meno

Still no motorbikes or cars here

There are lots of places to eat on the beach.

Visiting the Turtle Sanctuary

The Stanleys helped me donate some money to the turtle sanctuary

Snorkeling Gili Meno

I didn't take the Stanleys with me but I saw some turtles and lots of colourful fish.

These are the boats used to transport people between islands.

Every morning the streets are swept. The beach gets raked to clean it up after the high tide leaves rubbish behind.

Local ladies are collecting food for dinner while their children play in the sea.

Gili Meno Bird Sanctuary

I could hear lots of birds singing but I didn't see many. I did see LOTS of BIG spiders though.

Watch the video to see the lake, some birds, spiders and some little fish. Listen carefully for the birds. They are there somewhere.

There are lots of cats in the Gilis and none of them have long tails like our ones in New Zealand.

Goodbye Gili Islands!

Leaving Gili Meno

The boat we took back to Bali