Berastagi...the errupting volcanoes

We started getting a private tourist bus from Bukit Lawang to Berastagi which took around 6 hours. We stayed in a homestay in Nachalle Homestay, which was very clean, and the beds were exceptional! Here we met a nice dutch couple whom we hiked up the inactive volcano with aswell as share onward travel.

The first night, after arriving late, we went for a walk into the town,  to the local farmers market, which was very local, there were people selling bags of cauliflowers bigger than Abi! As well as people selling strange snake venom medicines and also a wide variety of clothing. Soon it was raining very heavy, as mainly said it would in Beristagi. This small town in Sumatra, is situated very close to an active volcano, and has above average rainfall. Which makes the soil perfect for farming, and this fertile soil is why at the centre of the town they have a giant statue of a cabbage which is on a pedestal and about 6 ft across - in order to celebrate their excellent farming! It was soon dark so we opted to go to the nearest restaurant which cooked us some "Ikan Sambal" which translated as spicy fish. We asked for it with a bit of spice and it nearly blew our heads off! Thankfully our Chiap Chay (stir fry vegetable dish) was a lot milder!

Due to the continued rain the next day, we had an unsuccessful first attempt to climb the volcano, so we came back had a delicious local pendang style lunch (beef rendang & chicken curry) before dashing back to our homestay for an afternoon of cut out electric & some quite serious volcano eruptions...We stayed in relaxing & reading (with little other choice) and then thankfully were able to go to the local food market to eat in the evening (famous for BBQ), we ate excellent Sate kacang (chicken satay, peanut sauce with spongy veg) here along with a few other tasty bits... But after dinner the rain became very heavy again, so there was little for us to do but head back to our super clean, super comfy rooms, and sleep through the night, giving us a good chance of waking up in time to catch the sunrise from our rooftop. Overlooking the active volcano, and hopefully see some small eruptions. We'd been hearing eruptions through the night and woke up to a very clear morning, We spent 30 mins or so on our hotel roof, looking at the flowing lava.  before having breakfast and heading off to trek up the non active volcano. 

It was quite the trek, but the views were stunning, there was a sulphur lake at the top, and there were many thermal vents firing gallons of steam into the air. We were told there were some natural hot springs on another path down, we followed this new path for around 5 km until we found them. For 5000 INR we were able to sit in the natural springs with seats inside like hot tubs. We relaxed in these for 2 hours with the lovely dutch couple, eating a few snacks, setting the world to right & chilling with a beer.

After relaxing this much and all the walking we had done we decided to get a taxi back to town to the food market to save our poor legs! We had a local style buffet dinner before heading back to our homestay.

The next morning we'd arranged a car jointly to take the 4 of us to Lake Toba. The car stopped at a stunning waterfall on the way, which was a great way to stretch the legs. For lunch we had Babi Pangang after our dutch frineds had told us all about it...Its apparently popular & well known in Holland - something brought back there during colonial times (Although the authentic local dish is said to be very different to the one in holland!)! It was basically BBQ'd pork with spices a dip, a veg dish & rice. You have to be careful when ordering this to check that you are definitely having "pork" as it is also a well known dog dish. When you order there is either B1 or B2 meat...B1 is dog, B2 is pork!

**PICS TO FOLLOW**

Trekking & Bukit Lawang

Arriving in Bukit Lawang from a bumpy bus ride from Medan, we were collected on motorbikes by Trek Sumatra. We spent an afternoon in Bukit Lawang, eating at a restaurant overlookig the river. We stayed in the trek guest dorm room. 

The following morning we packed a smaller bag with clothes and a camera and a bar of soap! we got introduced to our guide, Kinol (He was awesome) and walked from our dorm to the other side of the river over a swinging suspension bridge! 

The start of the walk was past the hotels on the other side of the river but is up a steep hill and some steps! our guide showed us some rubber trees and people extracting the latex. we realised at the top of this steep hill that the next  few days if nothing else would be very, very sweaty! 

A little way into the rainforest we saw a mother and baby Orangutan sitting in a tree unbiased by us, even though they were only about 10 metres away. in the distance was another rustling in the trees, and a white handed gibbon swung away from us. We watched her for around 20 minutes, then continued the walk. Around the corner we came across a family of Thomas leaf monkeys who were down on the floor begging for food. you should not feed any animal in the rainforest as it encourages this unnatural behaviour. there was also another Orangutan hanging around in the area who sat in her tree and watched as we took some photos and left her in peace.

(We witnessed a guide from another company trying to feed a baby to lure it away from his group whilst they had there lunch which was disappointing.  Our guide was upset and said it was very unprofessional.)

Further into the rainforest the guide spotted a quinine tree and sliced off some bark for us to try! It was extremely bitter and the taste stayed in your mouth for a long time. (I will only be having quinine in Gin and Tonic from now on)

We followed our guide to the campsite where the food we had for dinner was delicious. Egg Rendang, pumpkin curry, river  spinach curry, Fried Tempeh, crackers, anchovies chilli, Fried potato cakes. We had a few cups of jungle tea and another guide taught us some card games and kept us and his group amused before we retired to our tent shell under a tarpaulin. We were glad to be in a tent to give us a break from mosquitos. Other trekking companies just have a roll mat and sleeping bag. We had heavy rain all night, to help us sleep and keep the noise of the jungle quiet.

Day 2 started with a coffee and some biscuits as well as a fried egg sandwich.  then we started our hike along a river, so very wet feet, Gary slipped twice and fell in the river, wrong footwear! After 20 mins hiking up the riverbed, we had to climb up a very steep bank, which wasn't easy after all the rain! we were absolutely sodden through, but at least it was water and not sweat today! at the top of the hill we stopped for a fruit break! these always consisted of pineapple, watermelon banana, and oranges! Whilst we were eating this a wild Peacock came to try and see if there was anything it could eat. 

After some more walking it was just us and our guide and upon a hilltop we saw a white handed gibbon swinging through the trees. We stopped for lunch and we had fried noodles. Gary dropped a noodle and in true jungle fashion around 20 ants had picked it up and carried it off in no time! 

We made it to our camp for the evening for another food feast! We washed in the river and shortly after a big water monitor lizard around 1.5metres, came over to look at us.

The following morning we were taken on a little hike by our guide to a waterfall to swim in. Then it was time to pack up out stuff and go rafting down the river in truck tyre inner tubes! This was great fun, and dropped us right at the riverbank of our accommodation! 

This trip was superb! The food we ate in the jungle was some of the best food we had in Indonesia. Our guide Kinol was a very kind and patient guide with expert knowledge of the rainforest.

This 3 night trip was excellent, a real highlight of our trip to date. 

In addition to this 3 day with night trip we also took a 1/2 day trip to see the world's largest flower in the rainforest. This flower rarely blooms, but we saw it. It stinks pretty bad, like Copydex glue. 

The company we used for our entire time was called Trek Sumatra. They were great, and sorted everything with pleasure. The stay in Bukit Lawang besides the trek is a great place to relax by the river and eat great food from the restaurants.

Baby Orangutan 

River rafting in Inner Tube

Female Orangutan in Sumatran Jungle

Captain chill, Thomas Leaf monkey

Medan; Sumatra's foodie Capital

We flew from Don Muang to Sumatra (Kuala Namu), on arrival we followed the excellent instruction of our hotel Permata Inn & took a Bus Damri @ 20,00 INR to the city Centre and then took a very short trishaw to the hotel. The hotel was exceptional, very reasonable price, Breakfast included, A/C & immaculate rooms.

While in the city we found ourselves an amazing coffee shop 'Macehat coffee shop' which was rated very highly on Tripadvisor - you could get good snacks and amazing coffee - our favourite was the avacado coffee float...AMAZING!!!!

The city has many amazing and dirt cheap street food stalls offering a variety of foods but at the very least 'Nasi Goreng' (Fried rice). 

Our hotel recommended a Padang style restaurant called 'Garuda' for lunch just after we arrived. Here they bring you plates of different foods to try and you just get charged for the food bits you eat..be careful because it can get very expensive!!! Its actually better to go to the food display unit and just fill your plate- loads cheaper and you can make sure you get what you want!

That evening we went to Merdeka walk - an outside food hall type place - but it is very much overpriced in comparison to the street food and seesm to be where the better off indionesians hang out, but interesting to visit none the less!

The next day we set off on a walking tour trying to visit some of the sights of the city...in fact this is very possible in one day as there isnt tonnes to do in Medan (other than eat LOTS). We visited the Tjong A Fie's Mansion the Medan Grand Mosque, Maimun Palace & The Museum of North Sumatra. There were also some places to visit a taxi ride away (recomended by hotel) but we decided against these - they were mainly temples which we had already seen lots of on our trip! While Medan doesn't have tonnes to do, we were glad we spent some time here! We met some fab locals that invited us into their businesses offering free food/drinks just so we would talk to them and help them with their English!

The next day we took the local taxi to the main bus stop (5,000 INR each) Then took the big bus to Bukit Lawang (50,000 each inc.luggage) - Beware the prices can vary significantly and they will try and charge you the world for your bags too! On top of this the journey is awful!! The bumpiest road I've ever been on!!

Crossing the Laos border back into thailand for a few days

We took the bus from Luang Prabang. It was listed as 9 hours for 170,000 but it certainly took longer! After leaving at 7.30am we arrived in Borkeo/Hia Xuay at around 6.30pm. It was a very windy road making the journey slow. We were also very unfortunate in that we were sharing the bus with a very travel sick family who took it in turns the whole way to vomit!

However, we were thankful to arrive and were able to get a tuk tuk to the boarder for 20,000 each with them ensuring us there would still be plenty of time to cross the boarder. On the Laos side we had to pay a 10,000 stamping out fee and then 10,000/1$ for a bus over the Mekong via the friendship bridge (usually free but not after 6pm)

It was easy getting into Thailand and we were given 28days visa on arrival. We then had to take a tuk tuk into Chaing Khong for 100 bhat each (after 6pm goes up from 60). We were conveniently dropped outside a nice hotel called Ban fai Guesthouse  which turned out to be great and only 350 for a fan room and no worry about wandering around with our bags! We could just shower and have dinner before crashing!

The next morning we had breakfast before taking the local bus to Chiang Rai, it was only 65 bhat each and took just over 2 hrs.

We then spent a few nights Chilling in Chiang Rai catching up with the family via skype, eating good food and wandering the lovely stress free and fairly tourist free streets. We also got to see a few different sights we had missed out on before like the black houses and the golden triangle as well as revisit the cat cafe!

We took the green bus sleeper bus from Chiang Rai to Bangkok, it cost 540thb each and was honestly the best sleeper bus of our entire travels! The a/c worked perfectly, we got clean blankets fully reclining chairs, a movie, free water and 2 packets of biscuits. We also got dinner! It was a hot meal provided for us around 2 hours into the bus ride!! We then got a good nights sleep which was a real first for me!

Following the night bus we headed to MBK centre to the Pathumwan Princess hotel, Olympic club leisure centre. We got day passes, went to the gym, attended a fitness class, swam in the pool and chilled out on the sun loungers before sauna, steaming and having long hot showers! It was bliss! We then had dinner in a yummy Mexican before heading to our hotel near Don Muang ready for our early morning flight!

The Black House at Chiang Rai

Another building at the Black House

the "HUGE" Buddha at the Golden Triangle

The 3 countries divided by the river!