Into the Indoenesian outback

 Our first Indonesian photo is of our neighbor in the first place we visited after leaving Indonesia's 3rd city - where we landed which was Medan. Medan has a bit of a bad reputation which while it will never win a pretty city award seemed a little harsh to me. Our first shopping expedition demostrated the first difference we found in Indonesia, unlike everywhere else we had been where everyone was up and open by 7am we discovered than nothing gets started here until about 9.30. Shopping done we caught an Indonesian bus (well here they are all minibuses) north west.

We moved into the jungle to a place called Bukit Luwang which is where there is a sanctuary for rescued orangutans, Our neighbor - pictured above very politely. woke us every morning by bouncing with about 20 of his mates across every roof in town on their way to wherever they could scrounge or steal some food....
 

 In 2008 a flash flood caused by the bursting of a natural dam upstream, killed half the villagers. The waters rose due to heavy rain so the village evacuated taking the elderly and children to higher ground. Then as the adults were rounding up their possessions the slam waters from the burst dam hit. This is half of a bridge washed away in the disater.

 We went and saw the local bat cave - quite a climb in - not the tree roots coming from above into the cave and gully.

 The river when not being a serious threat is a great place for a paddle and a lie down as it is very warm water.... Every time we went into the jungle we tested it afterwards.

The main reason to go into the jungle is to meet the residents.

Pleased to meet you!

By the time we got here Liza had got a little bored with bananas so decided to share.

In-joke for those who get it... The librarian checks the index!

 There are wild orangutans around here, but they obviously go the other way when humans arrive. These have been rescued and not only can be fed but need to be as they do not really have the survival skills to live wild. They are certainly semi wild and occasionally very aggressive.

'Mum, that woman has a banana and she is not giving it to me!'

 Liza tries to be orangutan friendly.

About 30 seconds after this was taken  an elderly female known as Nina showed up for the first time in 4 months. This orangutan has a real mean streak and under orders from our guides, we fled, cameras and lunch scattering as our guides were genuinely worried. She'd taken lumps out of about 30 people and needs to be pacified very quickly with bananas! Nina is quite a folk story here as she was one of the first rescue orangutans released here about 15 years ago and is now almost wild bit has discovered that people can be threatened quite successfully for food. We were really thankful to be there with the experts who carefully put themselves between her and ourselves, cleared up our cameras and gear leaving her to our lunch. We then had a quick march out of her immediate path....

This is NOT her.

 Our very nice place in Bukit Luang - notice monkey drum roof design!

 Indonesian style washing line

 What all Indonesian rivers seem to be designed for - lying fully clothed in....

We took the 6 hour minibus to Berastagi where we arrived to climb the Gunung Sibayak volcano (2094m). This is the only picture I've got of it from below as it tends to be hot and humid here and it is totally covered in mist from about 7.30 am.

 The mist makes pictures hard to take but here we are just before getting to the crater.

We were lucky in that we managed to find a guide after setting off alone and then realising we were being very very silly. We teamed up with a couple from Singapore and made it to the steam vents here.... Queue the smell of rotten eggs.

We really would not have found the way if we had not found these three. Our guide next to Liza was really knowledgeable.We are standing here on the crater rim.

As you would expect where there is this much volcanic activity there are also some very nice hot springs where we relaxed after another day on gentle inclines!!

We travel from here this afternoon south through Sumartra and onward to Java.... Wow blog up to date for once! Love to all.