Belanda Goreng

I'm back in the Netherlands, after two days of travelling over tarmac and through the air! My parents picked me up at the Düsseldorf airport, it was very nice to see them again and to be taken home by car. And there my cats were waiting, although they were a bit scared after one month of not seeing me.

I thought I would not be having that much news about the last day in the jungle, but there is some: I went to the monkey feeding (monkeys who cannot live in the forest all by them selves are being fed and hopefully reintroduced into wildlife). With another Dutch guy and an English girl, we were early and we were already brought over the river in the canoo by some boys. A ranger and his young daughter came too, and all of a sudden there appeared an orang utan. The little girl started screaming because the monkey came too close and took her bag. So the father tried to get the monkey away and to push it on the ground, like in a pub fight. But since orang utans are six times stronger than men, this did not work out quite well and the monkey bit the man, a part of his finger was off! We took the girl in a safe position and brought the man back to shore by canoo to visit a doctor. This was quite an experience. The feeding show afterwords was quite relaxed though. It appeares again that it is still about nature and wild life, and that we are interfering in it...
The evening I spent in the restaurant of my own hostel, singing and playing harmonica with a few guides who could play guitar very well (although they don't know much lyrics, they just sing "fake English"...). It was a very nice evening that went on late.


The next day it was time to leave Bukit Lawang. On the one hand, it was a pity because it was a great place with nice people and stunning nature, but on the other hand, I had enough of my hostel (a toilet with the shower above it leeking, to you were getting wet while visiting the toilet, and a very old and stinky mattress...) and most of my stuff was getting humid, laundry was not drying and my shoes were still wet. So time to leave... With two German guys, I took the bus back to Medan. I had plenty of time, so I spent the afternoon visiting a street with some old colonial buildings and a nice pub where they even sold saucijsebroodjes! On the airport, I had dinner and talked with a taxi driver, and then went to check in. But my plane to Singapore was one hour late, so I had to wait more.
Then, we flew to Singapore, transited to another plane and flew to Colombo and Dubai. We arrived there at 5.30 am and my plane to Düsseldorf would leave at 14.30, so I had plenty of time to visit the city. And I had prepared this by tellling the customs in Medan that I would like to check out in Dubai. At 8.45, after a nice breakfast and some reading (finally there were English newspapers again!) there came a tourist operator who could organise a city tour, so with some other tourists, they drove us through the city. It was amazing, we saw the artificial islands with the palm shapes, we saw the highest building in the world (800m!), we visited the beach near an extremely expensive hotel, a museum about ancient Dubai (city of pearl divers, traders and fishermen) and we visited a clothing and furniture store with carpets of about 25,000 Euro's! It was a very relaxed trip, although we drove around in an airconditioned car, and outside the car it was 46 degrees, that was hard! I could not imagine living there... Unfortunately my digital camera was full, so I only have analogue pictures of this trip.

And then it was time to leave for Düsseldorf - a great trip had come to an end. I'm very glad I did it, was sometimes shocked about the poverty, primitiveness and traffic (especially while driving the motorbike) but it is a great country with nice people and food and great nature and landscape! The title of this text is "Belanda goreng" which means "fried Netherlands". I never met people who tried to convince me of their religion, no Muslims, Buddhists, Hinduists or Christians, everyone was very nice and open minded. But especially on Sumatra, they did have criticism at the Dutch colonial time (therefore fried Netherlands) and of course they were right, although it's two generations ago as it stopped. At the 17th of August, Indonesia celebrated it's 63rd year of independence, which is a good thing I think...

Below you'll find some nice pictures of my trip, and some small movies (without sound)!

Bye, Jeroen


Amazing (sweaty) wildlife:
Like the bloom of a banana tree: and the Jati tree, which is called teak wood too:


Sumatran palm oil plantations, and the palm fruits being transported to the refinery

Pigeon run in Dieng

Carved cow skulls at Bali and the sudden end of a beach road...

You see loads of happy kids, but child labour too!

Scout's group on Java

Jungle fever

A long bus ride a few days ago brought me, after three times a bus change and sitting in a bus of which I thought: no idea if it really goes the way that I want... But finally I made it to Lake Toba. We crossed by ferry and it was a superb view over a huge lake, with high mountain walls rising from it. That and nice weather gave me a real paradise-holiday feeling. I came in a quite nice hotel, with a small beach for swimming in the lake! This was the first thing I did next morning, because you have to be able to tell that you swom in one of the biggest lakes of South East Asia... As I was waiting to meet Anton and Kirsten, friends from forestry university, and Emma who I met in the plane on my way to Indonesia, I kept my cell phone on (they both had delay) but went on a bike trip up to the island of Samosir. This has had the animist religion, and until 1860 there were cannibals.

Great Lake Toba and an ancient Batak house.

After visiting some ancient villages, I tried to cycle up the mountains, but this was very hard. I climbed for two hours at first or second gear, wondering how on earth the Tour the France cyclists manage this with more than 5 kmh, and then I returned, because I was exhausted and hungry... But very nice it was, and great views over the lake!

The night before, I finally managed to buy an English written book, after weeks of not being able to read anytning, simply because there was not anything to buy in English. So that was great relaxing, but I also met a nice couple who lived next door in my hotel. Roy was constructor, building another hotel, and his wife Analisa and little boy were visiting him. Analisa was glad to be able to practice some English and we had nice contact, but they hardly had money to eat something, so I bought them a drink and a breakfast. It keeps hard, those difference between you being a rich tourist and them being extremely poor (it must be hard for them too...).

The next day I visited Anton and Kirsten and this was very nice, we talked for hours. And in the evening, I had a nice dinner and chat with Emma, which was very nice too. It were very relaxed days on Samosir, but then it was time to move on to the final and most exciting part of my trip! With Anton and Kirsten, we decided to go to the jungle together and travelled all day to Medan and on to Bukitt Lawang. This is a small village which was heavily damaged by a major flood a few years ago, which killed over 400 people! So almost everyone in this village has lost relatives, but they go on, they live from ecotourists who come for a trekking in the rain forest. We had a nice evening with our guide Dony, who had acompanied us from Medan already, and we played some music together (I had been carrying my harmonica for almost a month and finally could use it now!).

Anton and Kirsten on the ferry from Samosir

The next morning, we went trekking, the three of us, acompanied by two guides! We hiked in silence, because the goal was to see as much animals as possible. It was very hard work, because it was warm and very humid, so you kept on sweating, but great, amazing! We saw meranti, jati (teak), merbau and danbar trees, the ones we (ab)use to build windows etc. And here they were protected and huge! Illegal logging in this Gunung Leuser National Park is stopped because they involved the loggers into guiding, which works great - everyone is convicted about the inportance of the forest and the environment, so you hardly find any rubbish on the streets, and not at all in the forest (in contradiction with the rest of Indonesia...). Therefore they burn their rubbish...

We hiked with just a little gear, I had my big back pack but they told my to leave my jacket and fleece blanket, because I was carrying too much (I'm used to hiking in European circumstances...) The first day we saw one orang utan, white gibbons, "funky monkeys" (Thomas Leave Monkey) and Macaques, that was great! Then, after following a river for a while (I had to change shoes and stocking because of getting wet, which is really a handicap now and then) we came at the camp site: a great spot next to a small river, cascade which could be used for bathing and a tent made from bamboo and " agricultural" (?) thin black plastic. We had a swim and then dinner was ready: fish from the big river barbecued on camp fire, and rice, great flavoured sauces etc! Then a tea and night instruction: if you want to go peeing, wake up a guide so they know you're gone and don't leave your flash light too close while peeing, because a very poisonous and rapid Fire snake might come to the light and bite you! And don't sleep next to your mattress, because there are some scorpion-like insects who might bite... A nice thought to go sleeping. But sleeping didn't happen until 1 am, when the heavy rain stopped again, which started at sunset. Very heavy rain meant the river rising very quickly, and other rivers starting to exist, which was quite anxious, because we needed to cross the river the next morning and our tent was not build that high above the river! The tent wasn't really waterproof as well, we used my hiking poles and some mugs to improve it, but still Kirsten and Antons mattress went wet a bit. So it was a tense evening but in the end it went okay and we went to sleep.

Our shelter and our cook preparing dinner

The next day it was perfect weather again and we hade a great breakfast: our cook made toast and scramled eggs in a wok with palm oil on camp fire! Then we started hiking again, starting with crossing the river which went down as fast as it had came up. That morning after hiking in silence again, we saw some hornbills (tukans) flying! Because Dony could imitate their sound, he had directed them towards us, this was great and very special! He also showed us many healing plants, like e.g. against malaria and fever. And then we saw the second Orang utan, eating and hanging at a liane, and we had plenty of time to make photographs! It was amazing! After that, we rafted downriver on tractor tubes, a great trip through a deep, rocky and forested valley.

Find the Orang Utan!

After drying everything and washing in the river, we ate together and played music again, with a big group of people but no one really knew lyrics of songs... I said goodbye to Anton and Kirsten, because they would go home the day after. It had been very nice trekking with them.

The next day I hired a guide who would bring me to elephants! With three guides, two motorbikes (quite a big escort...) we had to drive 30km on unpaved rocky/muddy forest roads (the real Camel Trophy feeling...) to ride to Tangahan. There were the small Sumatra elephants, which were great. I could ride on them for two hours, I even was allowed to sit on it's neck, where the driver usually sits! Quite hard to keep sitting because of the movement of the elephant's shoulders, but I managed. Then we had to drive back the 30 km. We started at 16h but we had three flat tires and heavy rain. So my shoes were wet (the water came from above and from the front wheel) and we took a break at the place of a friend of one of the guides. We were all soaked so we got hot tea, which was great. In than village, the muslim prayer was sung by a kid and spread through the village by megaphones (like everywhere in Indonesia, even at 5am...). Then we could drive home, in the dark, on the unpaved, hilly and muddy roads/ruck tracks, sometimes running behind the motorcycle and pushing it. Finally we were home at 20h! It had been exhausting but great!

Elephant ride and the first repair break of a flat tire...

Today I'm relaxing, sitting bare feet in the internet cafe because of the wet shoes, and preparing for my trip back to Medan tomorrow, and my flight back to Duesseldorf, where my parents will pick me up again. It has been a great experience, a month goes so fast than! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! When I'm home, I hope to post some movies I made - this takes too long in the internet cafes...

Bye, Jeroen

Sumatra Highlands

Yesterday, Joost convinced me of placing another story, and today I had some time and I needed to empty my camera, so here it is:

Today, I climbed about the lowest peak of Sumatra with 2000m (starting in Berastagi at 1000m), but after the last time I wrote, I climbed the huge Gunung Agung of Bali, which is about 3100m (although we did not reach the real summit since it was on the other side of the vulcano, so we came till almost 3000m, starting at 900m). To climb it, transport came at midnight. We drove two hours with a very friendly and english speaking driver. Then we had a small breakfast and I went climbing, together with my guide Klotok. It was a very hard climb (2000m in 3.5hrs in the dark with only 3hrs of sleep...), but then we saw the sunrise from the top and this was really worth it! We (me and about 20 other tourists and guides) felt like being on top of the world, because we were above the clouds. And you could see the highest vulcano peaks of Java. On our way up Klotok had to stop for a pray for our safety, which was very interesting. It was very cold at the summit, so I wrapped myselve in a matress to sit on and a rain trousers... On the top, the batteries of my camera were empty, so I have more analogue pics than digital ones... We went down in about 2.5 hrs and then had to drive back again. Then I was broken and fell asleep. At the summit of Gunung Agung at about 5.30 in the morning (still lauching..)

That night, I went out for dinner with my neighbours Vincent and Evita which was very nice. We ate a real German dinner with Bratwurst!

Mother and kid monkey in Ubud.

After another day of relaxing, visit Ubud's Monkey Forest (with free but well fed monkeys) and picking up the last nice souvenirs (very nice carved wood!), I took the plane to Jakarta and to Medan-Sumatra. Although, I wanted to, but I had two hours delay in Jakarta. That's why when I arrived, I stayed for the night in Medan, which is another poor 2 million people city, of which I had actually seen enough on Java. That night I also lost my digital camera (and found it again, thanks to the barkeepers of the cafe I had been eating!) and could not sleep because of street and hostel noice. So it was time to leave Medan for Berastagi. One funny thing about Medan: there are not many tourists coming, because I felt like being game: everybody lauched at me and shouted "hello mister!". Only the taxi- and becakdrivers are not that greedy of a ride like in the Java cities and Bali, and that's nice. Everything stinks after exhaust smoke in Medan, even the Becaks are motorised here... And Medan street kids: first they ask for a pen or a candy, then for money, but then a picture is ok as well...

To Berastagi I came by public transport: a van that was made for 14 people but we were in it with 20, so that was quite cosy on a 2hr ride... Berastagi is a country town in Karo Highlands which is famous for its fruit production. So there are at least three markets, also with dead fish laying around in 30 degrees... I'm in a very nice hostel on a hill called Sunrise View, a nice place to stay. I had a nice dinner in such a stall along the street which looked pretty ok, and there was the owner of my hostel with his friends as well, so we had a nice time.
Yesterday I drove motorbike to some ancient places (the Dutch city of Zundert appeared to be partner city of Lingga, so I was welcomed in Dutch and had to write my name in the guestbook with a Gemeente Zundert-pen). It's sad to see that the ancient houses are in bad state and that the Indonesian government has (or gives) no money to restore them. I hope Zundert can do something... The King's house in Lingga, with six families living in it (all with their own stove), but the thatched roof is in very bad condition.

And today I climbed this mountain, at the summit crater there was sulfur smoke coming out with high pressure (it really made noise like a train passing) and I had great views. After hiking down along a very narrow path with bad concrete stairs with all the jungle sounds around me, I had a great day! We drove back in a van that was filled with baskets with grass and some people, so again it was a cosy ride. On the Gunung Sikayan, there's vulcanic smoke and deep green forest with nice insects and real tropical forest sounds!

Berastagi was very relaxing! Tomorrow I will travel on to Lake Toba, where I will meet Anton (from forestry school) and his friend Kirsten and Emma whom I met in the plane to Indonesia, this will be a very nice reunion. And after that, I will spend the last four days trekking through the jungle with a guide in the Gunung Leuser National Park, to which I'm really looking forward! I think I will post my last post from NL again.

Bye! Jeroen

P.S. Sorry for the bad typing but this is an ancient keyboard of which the letters are almost vanished...