Monkey Business

The path to our room is covered in the stuff. The local residents have visited us this morning and left some presents it seems.
 We were awoken by monkey at dawn in our hilltop accommodation in Bukit Lawang, deep in the Sumatran jungle. Bukit is Indonesian for hill apparently and much of this hill is between the restaurant and our room up in the clouds.

This is definitely a change of scene from yesterday’s swanky Malaysian Hotel. A bit more rustic.

We had arrived here, eventually, after a long drive last night. Once more Google maps had lied to me. 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive ? More like 4 1/2 in 3 minibuses after the short flight from Kuala Lumpur. Everyone was looking a bit frazzled as we dumped our rucksacks by the side of the road in Bukit Lawang. They were even more frazzled after the short but hilly hike with kit through the village. Finally the three hostels came in to view and rooms were allocated.

A cool beer was needed to help recovery. The subsequent 4 or 5 were just to make sure. By now it was after 9pm. With no all night McDonalds within easy jungle hike the eating options were limited. We did however persuade one restaurant owner to drag his chef back on duty to make us all nasi goreng. We tipped generously and emptied his beer fridge several times.


The toilets were rustic. A squat bog ! Needless to say we felt obliged to remind Sean that they are called squat bogs as you are supposed to squat on them rather than sit on them as he had previously.


So, today we shall be off to view the local wildlife. The local wildlife had come to view us earlier. A 6.30 visit from a troop of 30 to 40 had woken myself and Jo up, but not young Lucas who slept through the chattering and the general rumpus going on outside. They were peering in through the windows and trying the locks before fouling the path up. .

Bat caves and jungle walking are the order of the day I believe once I’ve mustered the troops and wiped my sandals clean again.

Comments

  1. 10,000 lakes16 October 2017 at 07:55

    That's one posh looking squatty potty. Ask Ricky Flatt about the 'squat' in Tanzania! 😁

    ReplyDelete

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