Orangutans, Bukit Lawang

The rains lashing down, thunder and lightning clap overhead, the palm trees are saggin' under the weight of the water. Lying here in my hammock overllooking the valley and the river tumbling along its hard to believe i still feel sweaty in the humid jungle.

Its also hard to belive that 9 years earlier the very same river Im staying beside washed away the entire village killing 280 people in the process.. Why am I here? Orangutan 'orang - person/man' 'utan - jungle'. I was due to visit Ketambe but have not got the time needed so to Bukit Lawang I came.

I picked my guide and chose the 2 day 1 night in the jungle option. IT could easily have been done in 1 day. The guide was was very talkative and fun both during and after the jungle trek, but especially entertaining at night with various tricks and games to keep us occupied. Thre trekking itself was not too difficult. There were times when O was on all fours or on my ass.

As for the orangutans themselves, it's a tourist trap. The apes still come to the humans as they did when in captivity. They are not at all wild!! You need to go further into the jungle to see the ones that are wild... I saw 3, 2 were very close and frieendly, the 3rd was high up in the canopy which was great as it gave us hte illusion of what they are like.

Am guessing that with all the trekking the ones that are a little wild stay the hell away from Dodge. I would definitely recommend going elsewhere(Ketambe) to see wildlife as this trip was a touristy one. It's much more a case of Bukit Lawang being for conveniance sake than anything else.

Danau Toba, heaven even with the tremors

So after Quakechurch and all the shakings there, I arrive at Danau Toba the site of the largest explosion ever encountered on Earth. It's a super-volcano which last tore the Earth apart ~70,000 years ago.

Why do I mention this? Because there have been numerous tremors here, nothing massive but in the eyes of this semi-knowledgeable guy the tremors may have been a 4.0.

Some more insight into the area regarding that massive eruption, some theorists believe that the eruption killed most humans alive at that time that affected the genetics of who we are today..

Sitting atop the cone which has risen 450m since the eruption due to magma buildup below....

Java: The Good, The bad and The Ugly

So 2 weeks without a post... me bad!!! I lost myself for a while in Bali partying with Bert & Cynthia.

Lets start with

The Bad..

I did however leave Bali 2 months ago and headed to Bromo where I was met by the Bromo Jeep Mafia... Bromo was spectacular, defo worth the hassle and effort with tourist office touts and the like. They have a little cartel going on there as it's a small town and no outsiders can run the tours(thats what it seems like to me). Overpricing is rife there and blatant asking for tips when none is necessary.

The Ugly

Once Bromo was out of the way I was glad to be rid of the mafia and headed to Jogyakarta where lo and behold they have their own Batik mafia... A long long story. basically a tout picks you up on the street and they say there is a special exhibition at a "Government" sanctioned center. This turns out to be a non-descript gallery. The display is only available for 2 days so"you should buy now". They ask for a ridiculous price and you get it for half the asking price but still this can mean that the price is 3 times the reasonable price.. Solution Go to the tourist police who deal with this problem on a regular basis.

What really got to me was that everywhere myself and Brian went the locals kept saying "Irish" your problem solved??? Everyone was in on it, they all bring tourists to the same places and try to rip them off by lying through their teeth..

The Good

Time to leave Jogya, splashed out on a fancy mini-bus with plenty of leg-room. First of all the bus was an hour and a half late. Secondly the bus was already full and I was told I had to sit in the front of a minibus to Jakarta with 2 drivers beside me. A journey which turned out to be 16 hours long including a 2 hour breakdown. I hit the roof but eventually thought I want to get out of here so I'd have to just grin and bear it(I didn't grin though) Half way there 1 of the local jakarta peeps said he could swap with me...I could not believe it and because of that little gesture my opinion of the Java people has greatly improved...