Orang-utans of Sumatra

Orang-utan spotted during a jungle tour ...I don't know if that is the same with you but for some reason I always had to do a psychological test before getting a job. In one of the questions you have to name your favorite animal. Although for a management job you should choose from: tiger, elephant, eagle or spider I have always prefered the monkey. Young orang-utan in a reception center

Swimming with Dante, Michelle and Debra during the jungletour Sumatra is an island full of my favorite animals and after a couple of hot but nice weeks in Malaysia, where I bought the new camera, I took the boat from Penang. Nearly missed the boat because I had "lost" the currency statement you get on entering Malaysia and I had no cash left to bribe (I actually threw the piece of paper away myself as it did seem useless to me). The customs officer let me suffer for half an hour and then finally put the exit stamp in the passport while ignoring me completely. Before he changed his mind I grabbed the passport and ran into the ship.

Bukit Lawang Bukit Lawang The ship arrived in Medan and from there I took the local bus to Bukit Lawang, a place in the jungle, famous for it's orang-utans. Like in many Asian countries, local busses require extreme body flexibility and if you can put your legs in your neck you might even find them comfortable.

Dried fish at a market in Berestagi But a packed bus is always good for quick contacts and so I met Dante (Italy), Michelle (USA) and Debra (South Africa). With them I saw orang-utans (amazing animals!!), did some rafting (new camera survived fall in river), climbed a volcano and spent nights in front of the television to see the soccer matches of Italia and Holland in the Euro2000. Luckily we just had to split before the game Italy-Holland so I didn't have to celebrate the Italian victory together with Dante.

View from top of Gunung Sibayak, a volcano at Berestagi After saying goodbye to my friends I travelled for a week on my own and got to know the pragmatic attitude of the Indonesians. The standard conversation goes like this: What-is-your-name? How-old-are-you? Where-you-come-from? Are-you-married?

Batak houses at Lake Toba When you say you are not married the most beautiful girls will ask you: Why-don't-you-marry-me??? (any suggestions?). Lake Maninjau But I postponed the marriage and went in the direction of Padang and settled for a week at Lake Maninjau. This is a beautiful quiet spot near Bukit Tinggi.

Rice fields in Maninjau

Wedding in Maninjau Here I had a very good time together with a successful couple from New York, Derek and Elisa. Success has a price and they just had a 2 week vacation to do Sumatra. With them and Erik and Marjolein, a Dutch couple, I spent days at the lake and evenings in "Bagoes cafe" watching films. A very nice break from the hard life of travelling...

Gasstation in Maninjau A jungle tour After they all left me I went on a 3 day jungle tour with 3 Dutch nurses (Bart, Marte and Marieke) who have been working in Indonesia for 3 months. It was interesting but also absolutely shocking to hear their stories of the hospital they worked for. Though we didn't see many animals, heard the sound of tree cutting nearly every day and Marieke had to give up after the first day, we had a lot of fun.

Bart and his women during the jungletour Especially Marte, the partner of Bart, when it occured that they had to sleep separate. We stayed at a muslim family with strickt rules. She got a fantastic room for herself while Bart and I were put in a kind of shelter together with 4 other 'brothers' and a lot of animals. I could easily have stayed a few weeks longer in the Maninjau area but moved on and left Sumatra by boat from Padang to Jakarta.

Drying of the barks of cinamon trees Jakarta This ship was really big and did remind me of the Titanic. The fact that I had a fourth class ticket and my cabin was on the lowest deck was not very promising and most of the 30 hour trip I sat on the deck right under the life-boats. This of course to help people into the boats in case of an emergency.

Jungle tour in Maninjau But the yourney was uneventfull and we arrived savely in Jakarta where I was picked up by my friend Richard and his driver. Sonja and Richard live in Jakarta since 4 years, as she was sent there by Nike. Richard, the lucky bastard, could just join her there. That is what I call successful. So I was brought to their palace and spend 4 fantastic days in absolute luxory.

And it was an active 4 days too: Upon return of the jungle tour in Maninjau: Marte, Ron, Jhoni (the guide) and Bart we did a bicycle ride into the bush-bush (I liked the part most where we drove over some golf courses: so smooth. A pity about the holes though) we played tennis (interupted by the faxes which were delivered to Richard at the court) I joined Richard on his weekly Hash-run (one hour run through beautiful landscape but for many clearly an excuse to drink a lot and use "informal" language)

Cycling with Richard But best of all was the Dutch food: cheese, bread and most of all the real Dutch "stroopwafels", which are produced by Richard himself. Now I have just left this Dallas and I am trying to get used again to the non-airco environment and the public transport...

After the cycle tour and some rain