We leave Thailand and land in Medan. It is located in the west of Sumatra. In Medan we plan to stay one night. Once arrived we noticed how crazy this place actually is. Motorcycles swarming the streets. It was already hard to breathe in Bangkok, but this must have been two times worse. We wait for a bus to arrive, but it never comes. After a while of waiting, we take a tuk tuk instead. We notice directly how different this place is to Thailand. Sally is sometimes handled like a piece of meat on the streets. Everyone is staring at her with the occasional “Hey miss!” or “Hey beautiful”. I am being completely ignored here. It did not really feel safe for us. Nobody can speak English and we still don’t know how to get to Berastagi. We felt a bit lost in this place, but like everything else you get used to it. Luckily one guy in the restaurant could speak English. He also showed us, where the Bus station is and the next day we make our way to Berastagi.

We hop onto the bus and it is way too small for our legs. Let’s say it was more build for the local size. The air-condition didn’t work and it got really hot in the car. There was also a traffic jam on the way, so the total journey took us about 5 hours instead of the usual two. When we got out of the hot bus we noticed how cold and pleasant the air is in the mountains. We breathe in deeply, look for our accommodation and explore the local market afterwards. Here a variety of crazy vegetables is sold. Galangal, lemongrass, ginger, thousands of chilies and everything else you can imagine. We buy a fruit that goes by the name of snakeskin. It just looks like the skin of a snake and has a consistency like an apple. However, while we were trying this crazy food we were walking through the market. We ended up in the meat and fish section. Here living chickens were stuffed into a cage. Above someone was butchering some of the chickens. Next to the chicken stall there is fish, that is barely alive in way to less water. All the smells combine and we almost spit out the dragon skin fruit. A fish, while fighting for it’s life, jumped on Sally’s foot. What a crazy market. The meat must be fresher than in Germany!

There is also a volcano in Berastagi. Of course we have to climb it. We rented a scooter and went off to start of the hike. By now you probably noticed, that everything in Asia is done by scooter. Once arrived at the trail we notice how quiet it is. We enjoy the silence in the always busy and swarming Sumatra. It is an easy hike and the jungle soon changes to a field of rocks. We reach the crater. Sulfur is bubbling out of the ground and it is painting the rocks yellow with it’s chemical reaction. It is bubbling and climb higher. When we reach the peak we can enjoy the view without the smell. Sulfur is smelling like eggs. Not a great smell if you don’t like eggs. Sally certainly didn’t like the smell.

Another day we head to lake Toba. This is a popular place among the people of Medan on weekends. They come for a short vacation on the weekend to enjoy the mild climate. Of course it was Sunday, when we went. This means, that the traffic was pretty crazy. It was great to see all these people enjoying the lake. Watching them go fishing, camping and swimming was really fun. The bad side effect? You breathe in a lot of smog from all the traffic, while sitting on a scooter. Luckily our host Smiley painted us a map with a shortcut, that was not too busy. I was a bit mad, that he didn’t show us on google maps. This quickly subsided, when I saw his old Nokia phone. Take a look at this map. Would you find the shortcut? Luckily we did! We also went to the famous Sipiso Piso Waterfall. Also located on this map. It almost felt like a treasure hunt of beautiful scenery.

On the last day in Berastagi we decided to spontaneously check out the nearby hot springs. Smiley, his wife and another traveler decided to come with us too. We hopped on two scooters and went of. Yes you heard that right. Five people two scooters. No problem in Indonesia. Smiley claimed it is nearby. Nearby is of course always relative. He also knew a shortcut again. Later Smiley admits, that we took this route because there was no police and three people would have caused trouble. It was a gravel road, which got really steep with a lot of rocks winding through the mountains. My hands were clenching as I slowly moved down this path. I was sweating profoundly and had to stop a few times to relax my hands. The scooter was not in the best condition, but I somehow managed to get down without tipping the scooter. My mountain bike sessions at home helped a lot. The five of us cruise through the Sumatran mountains. Smiley tells awesome stories, shows us birds and animal traces. He knows a lot about the animals, because he had to hike through the jungle for several days, when the infrastructure was not build out. After a bit of bird watching, and more bumpy roads we arrive safely at the hot springs.

Nearby is a relative concept, that is always changing. Considering big countries like the USA, Mexico, Australia or Indonesia the idea of nearby is usually an hour away. While in Europe nearby would be considered half an hour at maximum. In my opinion this is very amusing. You always have to consider the origin of a person to know what nearby means. We enjoy the hot springs with different pools and different temperatures. Afterwards we enjoy a lunch with Smiley and his wife. Then we travel to Bukit Lawang. We came to Berastagi with a mixed mood after the experience in Medan. We left with a good feeling. Lot’s of locals wanted to take pictures with us and all the people were super nice. Smiley and his wife took such a good care of us. They helped us organize everything. Told us insides of the local cultures and took away all our fears. This is how we can carry on!

Bukit Lawang is one of the most famous places in Sumatra among tourists. The reason to come here is to watch orangutans in the jungle. For the locals and the wildlife this is a positive change, as long as the tourism doesn’t get out of hand. On the way to Bukit Lawang we passed massive palm oil plantations. Kilometers on end there was nothing else. The insects are killed with pesticides. In this conditions no birds can survive. In this case the tourism is shifting the landscape towards protection of the rainforest. No orangutans means no tourism. No tourism would shift the local workforce towards the palm plantations or the many mines, that exist in Sumatra.

You can hike through the jungle, sleep there and watch the animals. This is also what we did. We were hiking through the jungle for two days. Here we saw gibbons, several monkeys and orangutans. It is really hard to see wild orangutans. They actually hide in the trees and don’t move, when they spot humans. The semi wild orangutans were luckily a bit more used to humans and were not as afraid. The semi wild orangutans came from a sanctuary, that closed down. The orangutans got released in the wild, they are still used to humans though. Our guide could directly tell the name of the orangutan we spotted. He also knew way ahead, where they were by reading the traces and listening to the jungle. I was left amazed. You need so much knowledge of the jungle to do this. Most of the orangutans had children. These are the first generation of orangutans, that are wild again. This is such a beautiful story on how to preserve and protect this race from extinction.

The sun sets and we reach the camp for the night. The foggy jungle with it’s ever going on sounds is above us. The chirping crickets, the running water and the burping frogs sing to the sunset. We were sitting by the fire in the evening playing cards and enjoying the food. The guides start to play some games with us. Some riddles and some games that left us stupid for not noticing their tricks. What a crazy experience. Some of the people in our group even had 5G internet. In the jungle! Something unthinkable in Germany, when you pass through a metropolitan area… Traveling so long, I start to notice, that some plants in this jungle are similar to plants in the Latin-American jungle. This is something Darwin must have noticed too!

When we wake up we start to hike soon. We saw more animals and even traces of a honey bear. We hike through the mountainous jungle. I have to admit this is one of the steepest hikes I have done. Luckily all the roots, vines and branches made it easy to hike through. In the end we rafted back to the village. The locals called this jungle taxi. It couldn’t be more accurate. We were rafting down the river for twenty minutes and we were back at the village. Back in Bukit Lawang we meet with Andrea. Andrea is a friend from home and we heard, that she is also currently in this town. How big can this earth be and you still meet some people of your hometown on the other side of the world? This can only be a possibility in a globalized word.

Cheers and until next time!