days 1 & 2: palembang -> medan -> bukit lawang

day 1: december 23

ice cream for breakfast!  i'm on vacation!

packed and ready to catch our bluebird taxi

see you later Palembang.  also, you look a lot nicer from a distance.

layover in jakarta airport.  jakarta airport you are the worst!  

by the way, we got through all our flights without ever having 

to show our passport or any form of identification once.

i'm really much happier than i look in this photo

coolest phone booths ever.  it's like you're wearing an enormous helmet.

here we go!  off to medan!

we arrived at my dream hotel in medan.  no seriously, 

the name of the hotel was 'my dream hotel'.

we were SO HUNGRY we went out back and found a great alley filled 

with food stalls.  i ordered vegetables and fried tofu cooked by this lady

 and inhaled it far too fast then got in bed and slept amazingly well.

day 2: december 24

rice porridge for breakfast

this tastes as bizarre as it looks.  it was like someone took a sponge and used it to clean 

off a counter with citrus scented cleaner then put it on a plate and served it to me.

in the mini van on the three hour drive to bukit lawang

we've arrived!  if you ever go to bukit lawang, 

stay at the ecolodge.  it's cheap and it's awesome.

here i am crossing the exciting wooden bridge imagining i'm indiana jones

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!  the alien fruit is back again!  this time in
juice form!  sorry guiyang, but i had to take a picture of it just for you.

tika, annie and i shared this wonderfully spacious room.

after settling into our rooms, we went to get lunch at the ecolodge's restaurant.  

it was amazing.  they grow all their own organic vegetables and use it in the restaurant.  

during lunch we decided to spend the afternoon hiking towards a bat cave with our 

guide for the stay, Ren.  it was a true hike/climb/descent.  very exciting and beautiful.

the gatekeeper

incredible.

cleaning off the mud in the creek.  the flower in my hair comes from a medicinal 

plant used to cool down fevers.  if you crush the leaf in your hand and mix with 

some water it turns into a gel similar to aloe vera and is good for fevers.  

everything was going pretty well in the bat cave at first.  we saw thousands of bats 

flying and hanging from the high ceilings.  the cave looked like a beautiful crazy bat 

cathedral.  as i was trying to maneuver through the dark cave, i took out a little flashlight 

and shined it on the cave wall next to my head.  there was the largest spider i had ever 

seen in my life.  next to it was the second largest spider i had ever seen.  because they 

were so close to one another, all i could imagine was that the entire cave wall was covered 

with them.  i nearly had a panic attack and turned around and tried to leave like a bat outta 

hell. pun intended of course.  but annie's dad wouldn't let me.  i spent the rest of the cave 

adventure as far away from the walls as i could.

  

we survived.  i'll never forget annie's stepmom maria (who sounds exactly 

like mrs. potts from beauty and the beast) yelling, "oh bloody hell! bloody 

hell, my goodness this is dangerous!  bloody hell!"

we treated ourselves to a dip in the river which turned out to be quite 

strong and a little scary.  unless you are in tourist areas you can't be romping 

around in a swimsuit (or a swimming costume as the crazy british people say).  

you'll see muslim women in complete dress-head scarf and everything-get in the water.

after our swim, it was dinner, then sleep for an early christmas morning start!  more to come!