Traipsing Through Tenggara

Making our way east from Java, we took a short pit stop on Bali to rejuvenate ourselves although we didn't do more than relax at our hotel and take an occasional dip in the ocean. From there we took yet another bus/ferry/bus/ferry combo and made our way to beautiful Gili Trawangan (a small islet just off of the coast of Lombok). We spent four amazing days soaking up the sun, bike riding, swimming and snorkeling (we even swam with sea turtles!). We also celebrated our 2nd Anniversary with a beautiful candlelit dinner on a remote beach on the north side of the islet. Gili T. truly was a paradise and saying goodbye to it was difficult, but we were anticipating the journey we had ahead of us toward the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara. The journey started off without a hitch, and we passed over Lombok and Sumbawa trouble free. However, when we arrived at our last port around 5:45am (after 14 hours of non-stop traveling) the ferry that was scheduled to leave at 8:00am was chugging its way away from the pier. We were told that the ferry would be returning later that evening, however, it would be going to a completely different island and that it wouldn't be running to Flores again for another two days. We were devastated! We were literally stranded in the port city... more like village, of Sape. After a quick survey of the situation we assessed that Sape was a small, dingy port town, with only one restaurant and only one “rat-hole” hotel. There was absolutely nothing to do! Luckily we weren't the only ones trapped at this dead-end town. Two other travelers from Sweden (Jerker & Lydia) were stuck in the pit with us. We investigated other alternatives to the ferry but upon inspection and with horror stories and strong advisories by our Lonely Planet guides, we decided that there was no “safe” alternative to the problem of the ferry. We made the most of our time in Sape walking down the single road that made up the community. Local children came out of the woodwork to take a look at the foreigners and were more than excited to pose for a photo or two... or seven. But when the ferry arrived in two days time, we were more than happy to say goodbye. We boarded the ferry and were back on track. After about eight hours we made it to the city of Labuanbajo, Flores which was our next destination. We were thrilled to be there, even though our visit would now have to be brief. Our main reason for making this intense journey and traveling through Nusa Tenggara was so that we would be able to visit the islands of Komodo & Rinca (pronounced Reen-cha), the only places in the world that one can observe the Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards and, as some would claim, the last of the dinosaurs. At 3:40 am the next day (yes, we were exhausted) we headed out, with our Swedish friends Lydia and Jerker, and a fellow “commonwealther” Collin, from London, England. Together we began our Komodo adventure. After a calm four hour boat ride, we made it to the island of Komodo. We hopped out of the boat and began our hunt for the elusive dragons. Not too long after we began our trek, we ran into our first Komodo, who was enjoying a tasty deer feast. We later were lucky enough to see four more dragons greedily munching on the venison. Seeing these creatures in the wild truly was incredible, but also a little intimidating (they were so close and they are extremely dangerous). It was a strange sensation. On one hand, part of you desperately wanted to see an over sized, aggressive, poisonous lizard in all its ferocity, on the other hand, you hoped that it didn't want to see you. We were also on edge due to the fact that we had heard (and now confirmed) that there was a death on the island 3 weeks ago when a 9 year old boy was attacked and brutally killed by a dragon while on his way back from the restroom. Not the kind of thing that puts you at ease. Komodos can be 3 to 4 meters in length and have 60 different types of bacteria in their saliva which becomes a chemical cocktail as it enters the bloodstream. After our trek, we stopped at a beach on Komodo Island where we were able to get off the boat and into the water for some snorkeling. On the surface the water looked just as beautiful as any other Indonesian beach, however, under the water it was a whole different story. The snorkeling was the best that we have ever encountered. The coral was so bright and untouched, and the fish were in the thousands (no word of a lie). We enjoyed this underwater experience, and it will be remembered as our best snorkeling trip ever! After a delicious lunch we snoozed away the 2 hour trip to Rinca island where we went back to Komodo spotting once again. Rica Island, the only other place on earth to have these creatures, was quiet when we arrived. However when it seemed that our visit had been fruitless, we headed back to the boat and were met by three dragons on the way(including one large and intimidating one). Overall, we were extremely successful with regard to our Komodo hunt, and the day was a huge hit for the whole crew. We had made our way across Nusa Tenggara with the intent on catching a glimpse of the Komodos and although there were a few rough patches along the way, we were able to accomplish our goal, and pick up a few friends along the way.

Our Whirlwind Through Java!

After an easy flight, we made it from Sumatra to the island of Java. We landed in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta just after one in the morning. Our original plan was to wait in the airport until five o'clock (which we were previously assured that we could), when the ticket booths were to open, and then move on from there. However, our plans were shattered at about two o'clock, when we were informed by security that the airport was in fact closing. We were more than welcome to wait outside, but with Jakarta being one of the scarier cities in the entire world, we decided it best to go to a hotel for the night. As soon as we stepped out, taxi drivers were on us like flies to butter. The first man who tried to take us brought us away from the taxi stands and out toward the parking lot (we have heard of many people getting mugged by taxi drivers in Jakarta) so as soon as we saw this we turned back the other way. We went to a “metered” taxi, and got grossly overcharged, but at three o'clock in the morning, a polite mugging is always better than an aggressive one. We arrived at the hotel at three, only to find that there were no more rooms available, but we were welcome to wait in the lobby for a few hours. We ordered some tea and food to pass the time and to stay awake, but as soon as it arrived, they miraculously had an available room. It was now almost three-thirty, and the only catch was that we had to be out of the room by 8am, as they had guests arriving there (but we still had to pay the full price for less than 5 hours!) When eight o'clock arrived (and it arrived much too quickly) we were up and on our way to the train station (we didn't want to spend one minute longer in Jakarta than we had to). We caught the express train (which somehow still was cockroach infested) and were on our way to Yogjakarta. After a nine hour train ride (in which we saw a great deal of Java) we arrived in Yogjakarta. We quickly found a place to put our bags, and got things sorted out for our time in the city. At five o'clock the next morning, we were being ushered out of our hotel and into a minibus, where we, along with another couple (from Holland), were heading out to see one of the ancient wonders of the world. We arrived at the ancient temple of Borobudur and were amazed at what we saw. A huge multi-tiered ancient temple stood before us. It was quite a sight to see, and we spent a good two hours wandering around the area and listening to our guide tell us about it. It was quite amazing to see!! Although we were at this ancient wonder, it was amusing to see all of the people come up to us and ask to get a picture with us. Here we were at one of the wonders of the ancient world, and people wanted to take our picture! Crazy! From Borobudur, we made our way to the ruins of Prambanan. These ruins (similar to, yet we hear less impressive than, those at Angkor Wat) were a spectacular sight to see. Although an earthquake roared it's way through Yogja last year (on Jono's birthday no less) they still left quite an impression on us. In the afternoon, we made our way to the “Kraton”, which is the the Sultan's current Palace. When we arrived there, we were saddened to learn that the palace was closed to the public for the day, so we couldn't get inside. The bright side, however, was that the old palace was open to the public. We wandered around the sights and found our way to the sultan's bedroom (i.e. “Pleasure Chamber”), to his private bathing pool, his mosque, as well as into several tunnels (one of which stretched 27 kilometers underground to the ocean). The next day we bade Yogja farewell and once again boarded a minibus to another of Java's highlights, the mighty Mount Bromo. This was referred to as Java's “Bad Boy” which was a series of several volcanoes rising out of an arid plateau. After a nine hour drive and a few hours sleep, we dragged our weary sorry excuses for bodies up at 3:30am and loaded into the jeep to catch the sunrise over Mount Bromo. Despite the unearthly hour, we had our breath once again taken away by the beautiful sunrise as well as the continuous plumes of smoke that erupted from the two main volcanoes. It was truly amazing! Once we had absorbed the sunrise and were feeling the blood rushing back through our veins (who thought Indonesia could be so darn cold!) we were taken to the base of the volcano and we began our ascent. We climbed the several hundred eroding stairs and stood literally at the edge of the crater where there was a constant plume of white smoke curling it's way up from a crack in the earth. On our way down, we gave in to the constant nagging of the locals trying to earn their living and we rented (for Amanda) a four legged transport down the mountain. We took one last look at the mighty Mount Bromo, loaded ourselves back into the jeep and prepared ourselves for the 10 hour trip toward the edge of the island of Java. A whirlwind of adventure with little time for sleep, the island of Java was a worthwhile stop on our Indonesian itinerary.

Into Indonesia...

Selamat Siang! Horas! (BE PREPARED, IT'S A DOOSIE!) *at least it was for us. After an intense 10 hour bus ride (from Singapore to northern Malaysia), followed by a 9 hour ferry ride we made it from the Malaysian port city of Penang to Medan (the provincial capital of Sumatra Indonesia). We were quickly swept off our feet and directed onto a bus to take us into the main part of town where we were to catch the next bus and bring us to our final destination. While waiting in the bus (which was already paid for) we met a man who was collecting a fee to use the bus (strange, but sometimes it's better to go along with it rather than starting a protest). We started talking to him and he directed us (and us alone, which was scary enough) off of that bus and into a small minibus. This bus, he claimed, would help us to get closer to our final destination (a village by the name of Bukit Lawang). Once we loaded all our bags into the minibus, we were informed that we would be switching to yet another minibus before leaving the parking lot. After driving with him for over an hour, he kindly informed us that the last bus from Medan had already left to go to Bukit Lawang, but he would drop us at another mini bus that would take us to the next town, and hopefully we would be able to catch another bus from there. That's when we met Erwin. We decided that since we had already been traveling for well beyond a reasonable amount of hours, what did a few more (along with a few more detours) really matter in the grand scheme of things. Erwin ended up being on his way to his hometown which was, none other than... Bukit Lawang. As such, he kindly agreed to help us reach our destination. After about an hour we made it to the bus stop in the next city. The GOOD news- the last bus for Bukit Lawang was just about to leave (we seem to always catch transportation, minutes before departure), the BAD news - there were no seats available in the car. However, the roof was available for riding, so the three of us with our bags, along with five other men and eight bags of rice, piled on top of the minivan and headed north, to Bukit Lawang. The ride was about three hours, and it was wild! Sumatra has some of the worst “pot-hole filled” roads (maybe in the whole world) and our driver made sure we'd get the chance to bump up and down on every one of them (and I might also mention that the ride was accompanied by the soothing display of thunder & lightning from start to finish – luckily the rain stayed away). Despite nature's demonstrations, we eventually made it to the village of Bukit Lwang. We grabbed our packs and crossed the dimly lit 80 foot suspension bridge that welcomed us into the jungle. Afer making camp at the Eco Lodge, we thanked Erwin and set up the next part of our stay in Bukit Lawang- our 2 day Jungle trek. We woke early the next day to meet Erwin and Bob, our guides for the trek. We were also joined by two other young Canadian travelers, Mel and Peter. Together we set out for the jungle. It only took about half an hour of trekking before we encountered our first creatures of the wild, a troop of beautiful orangutans. Bukit Lawang is one of only 2 places in the world that are home to orangutans, so we felt very privileged to have the chance to see these beautiful primates in their natural habitat. We continued trekking and were lucky enough to see many more creatures, including a few funky monkeys (the official name escapes us), some long tailed macaws, a few black and white faced gibbons, a handful of water monitors, a couple of poisonous centipedes as well as poisonous caterpillars and of course, big-arse spiders. It was a great time in the jungle, and after about eight hours of sweaty trekking, we decided to set up camp for the night at the “jungle hotel”. The jungle hotel was on the other side of the swiftly flowing river, so we crossed carefully by tube (with the help of 5 guides in total) and the jungle hotel was nothing less than perfect. Everything you could hope for in the jungle. We had our fire, our tarp, and our makeshift tent (sheets of plastic strung together). We were set. As our 5 guides (yes, 5 guides for 4 tourists) set up for dinner, we Canadians headed into the jungle to find a beautiful and secluded waterfall. We immediately jumped in and washed away the “week's worth” of sweat and body odor that we had produced during the day's journey. Upon returning to our camp, we were greeted with a delicious (and I mean DE-LISH-US!) dinner of chicken kari, rice, vegetable currie along with a couple other things which we can't quite recall. It was one of the best meals we'd had on the trip thus far. We spent the evening playing “thinking” and “laughing” games well into the night. Once the thunderstorm started and we noticed that the water-level had risen a few meters, everyone agreed that it was probably a good time to get some rest. We tried to sleep, however Jono was a bit freaked by the thought of snakes (i.e. Cobras, Black Mambas, Pythons, & Vipers – all of which are found in the jungle that we were in) getting into our make shift tent (not to mention that he slept closest to the tent's jungle opening). As a result, we just kind of... “rested”. The next morning we had breakfast, played some more games, took another refreshing dip, then it was time to head home. We had agreed to raft down the jungle river to get back, but we started to regret our decision when we saw the kind of “raft” we had. Our “jungle limo” consisted of 5 large inner-tubes, tied together with some rope. There were no paddles, just two 10 foot sticks from the jungle. There were also no life jackets or helmets. We hoped into the raft with our hopes held high that we would make it down the river in one piece, but after only two minutes, our “raft” tipped over and we were both plunged into the rapids and sent floating down stream. After a lot of shouting, hard swimming, and a lull in the rapids, we were able to regroup and agree to give it another go. Noticing the cuts and bruises that we had collected by slamming into the rocks and other debris of the river, our guides apologized for the affair and assured us that it had only happened once before. We all climbed back into our “raft” and once again continued the journey... for about 90 seconds. The rapids soon took control of us again and before we knew it, we were underwater and struggling to swim through the muddy river toward our group. The river (which was much higher and faster than the day before) was just too strong and our raft was just too big. After a few tense moments of our guides feverishly yelling at one another in a language we did not understand (Indonesian Bhasa) we decided to give it one last try. We (as in Jono & Amanda) decided that if we tipped once more, we would do the 4 hour trek along the river by ourselves (narrowly missing huge rocks with your heads is alright the first two times, but we figured the 3 strikes rule should apply). Luckily, our guide, Olo, had the brilliant idea of making the raft smaller, and with that, (coupled with a lot of intense prayer) we made it back to Bukit Lawang without tipping. We needed to relax after our trek so we spent what was left of our day checking out the bat cave and just hanging around the village. We went for pizza and then decided to catch a flick at a local cafe. Just at the end of the flick, a thunderstorm slid in the likes of which we've never seen and the intense jungle rain came right behind it. We decided to make a run for it before it got too bad, so we went out and crossed over the suspension bridge, only to find that this was not the normal (and for that matter, safest) route to our hotel. We thought we could hold it out under a patio, but after the power went out and the town went black, we became increasingly uneasy about being stuck outside. We decided since we were lost and their was no power, the only thing left to do was cross over the suspension bridge once again (which held a sign written: “MAX 4 PEOPLE”) and wait in the cafe. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but when its pouring buckets and the lightning cracks and thunder booms are only milliseconds apart, crossing a suspension bridge over a jungle river (that you've already fell out of a raft into) isn't something that you just jump at the chance to do. Amanda was scared out of her wits, but with a bit of coaxing, Jono was able to bring her back to her senses. Together we crossed, and made it to the cafe, where we played Jenga by candlelight with the owner for over two hours. The rain had settled a bit and we finally made it safely back to our place (even though we had to cross the suspension bridge once again). The next morning we were adequately rested, and ready to say farewell to Bukit Lawang as we continued our Sumatran adventure toward beautiful Lake Toba. After a bumpy eight hour trip (thankfully not on the roof of the minibus this time) we arrived at Lake Toba and were quickly transferred by ferry over the the island of Samosir, where we stayed at the “town” (more like a grouping of guest-houses that made up) Tuk-Tuk. We were greeted by friendly Robi at Merlyn's Guesthouse (an aquaintance of our friend Erwin) and we dropped our packs and settled in for a few nights. With a much needed recovery, we spent our time at Lake Toba relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet. We did get a little wild (it's in our blood) and rented motorcycles for a day and traveled around the island. We had a lot of fun learning to ride (much different than scooters) and also seeing the sights (batak style houses, water buffalos, etc.) and we even made it to the area's sulfurous hot springs. With that much needed break, we were back on the dusty road to Medan, ready to catch our flight out of Sumatra and into the next Indonesian Island on our itinerary.

Welcome to Singapore!

It took just under 5 hours to make our way from quiet Melaka to the bustling city of Singapore. We dropped our packs at the Travelers Rest Stop in Chinatown and then headed out for our first order of business. We took the metro down to the Harbour Front and got in line for one of the highlights of our time in Singapore... seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (“Welcome to Singapore”) in Singapore.. We were told that there are 2 things any traveler must do when they come to Singapore, so we thought that we would hit both of them in one day. The first of these was the infamous Sentosa Island, just a quick cable car ride off the southern coast of Singapore. We were really looking forward to some beautiful beaches and fun things to do, however when we got to Sentosa we were decently let down. There was nothing to do!! You could spend time on the beach (which by the time we got there we had paid 3 different “passage fees”), but coming from Thailand, these beaches left a lot to be desired. Needless to say we didn't spend a lot of time there, just enough to say “been there, done that”. Our second order of business for the day was to head to the one and only Singapore Night Safari. This night Safari is the only one of it's kind, which takes you on both a tram tour and walking tours of the zoo at night so that you can get a better look at nocturnal animals in their environment. We were all really pumped to see this, however, we felt that by the time we had finished, the event had been a little “over-hyped”. The idea was a good one, however, there were so few animals, and none of them were doing anything other than lying around (the same thing they do in a regular zoo!) The highlight of the park, however, was the spectacular fire “spitting” dance that was performed. I've never seen anyone spit fire as high as they did (nearly 3 meters!). Oh, and the other “cool” part was when the walkway took us through animal habitats where we were only inches away from flying foxes (Giant Fruit Bats) and when we were nearly “attacked” by the 2 foot flying squirrel (it came way too close for comfort). Then with our last day in Singapore, we started out in “Little India” where we perused the shops, and food stalls and then made our way down to the “Merlion Park” area as well as Raffles Center and finally Raffles Hotel (the birthplace of the “Singapore Sling”). While the drink and the atmosphere were delightful, the bill on the other hand... well, let's just say... one was enough. Our time in Singapore was concluded with the city-wide celebration of the newest temple opening only minutes from our hotel. Apparently while repairing a temple in Myanmar, a monk from Singapore found a box laid deep within the foundations of the structure. The box was said to contain one of Buddha's teeth. Wild. The new temple in Singapore was built and was being opened to commemorate the find, while we simply enjoyed the parade, free food, and fireworks which accompanied it. Sadly, however, this would be the end of the line for Aimee as she would return to Niagara Falls the following morning. From this moment forward, the trio would be down to two.