sorry, only google translate…
After we have (more or less) kept our feet still for over 15 months, it is finally time for a new adventure. When planning we had originally thought only about Malaysia and Thailand. At some point during the research, we stumbled over an alleged jewel of Indonesia, namely Bukit Lawang in the middle of the jungle on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Now you may already think that this is not necessarily just a stone’s throw away from Germany, but it turned out to be our longest planned change of location …
Leaving the house on Thursday morning at 7:30 to the airport to board at 10:30 for 5:30 hours in the plane to Abu Dhabi. After a three-hour stopover there is another 6:30 hours to Kuala Lumpur. Medan, the only sensible airport near Bukit Lawang, is served only 2-3 times a day from Kuala Lumpur, so another 7-hour stopover was waiting for us. That this is actually only half as bad, we recognized very quickly. We did not find any airline that would let us book a ticket from Munich to Medan. Therefore one is responsible for the achievement of the connecting flight and has to undergo during this time both entry and exit from Malaysia as well as an airport change (of course incl. Pick-up with re-check-in of the baggage). Under three hours no chance … Then again about an hour’s flight to Medan and you only have 60km to Bukit Lawang in front of you. Sounds good? Not really … Because although we had organized a private transport, this route takes at least 4 hours (if you’re unlucky with the traffic, even up to 6 hours). Et voila, Friday at 23:30 (17:30 German time) is after 34 hours in the middle of the jungle 🙂 Of course we knew all that before and decided anyway. How so? After a good dose of sleep you can already feel the endless peace of the jungle at breakfast on the river the next morning!
We also used the first day mainly for acclimatization, but also to explore the area of Bukit Lawang on foot. The village itself is like the last bastion of civilization in front of the jungle and just as picturesque it is! We also scrambled through a bat cave and stumbled on the way through a rubber plantation, quite interesting.
In addition, we got to know our two Munich colleagues for the first highlight of the trip, and on the second day: a jungle hike in one of only two remaining natural habitats of orangutans, in Gunung Leuser National Park. We will of course report 🙂