day 4: bukit lawang -> lombok

day 4: december 26

one last beautiful morning in the jungle

i had the pleasure of meeting ipul before we left the ecolodge.

originally from borneo, he's been living in bukit lawang for ten

years making documentaries about cobras.  i am sad i didn't get 

picture of it but he had an insane cobra bite scar on his arm.  his 

right arm was all mangled from it and he said he had to suck out

the poison then make and antivenom out of plants.  the man.

nick's hundreds of mosquito bites after the jungle trek.

waiting at the medan airport.  feeling like death.

below are some pictures i took as we flew into jakarta.

the scenery was truly amazing.

annie

me

after two hours in jakarta and another two hour flight to

lombok followed by an hour and a half bus ride to the resort

we finally arrived in mangsit beach at 1:00am.  after that night,

the worst of my illness was over and i was ready to enjoy the beach!

day 3: bukit lawang

day 3: december 25

as you all know from my previous pity party blog

i woke up early with a headache.  illness aside, 

here is how the rest of the day went.  coffee first.

lovely tika

garden grounds of the ecolodge

now look at this!  this is a rubber tree and that little drop

of what looks like elmer's glue coming out of that spout 

is rubber if you can believe it.  dries just like rubber. the 

workers get early every morning to cut the tree so that the

rubber can drip down into those bowls before it gets too.

once it's noon, the rubber dries before it drips into the cup.

thomas monkey sitting in a tree

here are our guides ren and danny preparing a delightful

mid morning snack.  you can't tell in this picture but danny

(in the black t-shirt) was quite the looker.  merry christmas to me.

okay here's the orangutan gallery.  we saw eight wild orangutans 

and got to feed a few of them.  we even encountered the infamous 

mina and her baby who has been known to attack tourists and took

a chunk of flesh out of ren's leg a few months ago.  very exciting.

after the trek we came to the very refreshing river

where we ate nasi goreng (fried rice) out of paper

with our hands while we sat on the big river rocks.

our captain, building our inner tube raft.  they had to distribute

the weight in a certain way so ren made me sit at the point where

two inner tubes are tied together down a somewhat violent river at 

times with nothing to hold on to but i have to admit, it was really

an ideal spot even though i thought i might fly off.  it gave me an

opportunity to show off my wild jungle headdress.

merry christmas!

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!