After a rather stressful experience with monkeys in Bali, I wasn't sure how I would handle being in close range of orangutans. But I loved it! These strange, furry, orange creatures are just unreal. It was so cool to see them up close.

But let me back up a bit. I had scoured the internet for information on Bukit Lawang and I found countless reviews (especially on tripadvisor) praising the guide Rhaman for his fabulous jungle treks. He is now working with an eco-tourism travel agency called Harimau Sumatra. We signed up for a trek with him, only to find out that he hurt his foot the morning of our trek and couldn't take us. I was majorly bummed. But they sent a fabulous replacement and it ended up being one of my favourite days of our trip!

Our guide (unfortunately I can't remember his name) filled us in on the orangutan situation in Sumatra. About 20 years ago, orangutans had been common pets. The government then made it illegal to have them as pets, so suddenly there were all these domesticated orangutans that needed to live back in the wild. So one of the purpose's of the Bukit Lawang Rehabilitation Centre was to re-integrate these orangutans into the wild. Our guided used to work at the centre, so he actually knew all the names of the orangutans we encountered. The orangutans also knew him and knew that he wouldn't give them any food so they didn't attack us. Win! :)

We saw tons of orangutans on our trek but they were all semi-wild (orangutans who had been re-integrated into the wild). It's pretty rare to see a wild one on just a day trek, you'd usually need to stay overnight to see one. We also missed out on seeing gibbons, but I still considered the day a success! Also, as an aside, this was the longest hike I ever did so I was pretty wiped at the end!

Then we ended the day with a raft ride down the river. We weren't brave enough to have our camera out but it was a great time. Fellow blogger Brittany was actually in Bukit Lawang just before we were there and she has a great photo of the raft ride in this post. Actually check out all her Sumatra posts - so good!

a rare group photo! ;)

We said goodbye to my family in the busy, crowded Bali airport and flew to the island of Sumatra to meet our friend Kevin again. We spent one horrible night in Medan and then drove out to the jungle. Our destination was Bukit Lawang - home of orangutans! 

After driving a few hours, our driver stopped in front of a little shop and told us that was as far as he could drive us. He pointed down a path along the river and explained our guesthouse was a ways down. So we dragged/carried our luggage down the long river path. We were hot, sweaty and tired but it was certainly worth it. Kupu-Kupu Garden was a really lovely, quiet spot, although its lack of electricity was something to get used to. The morning we left, we had to pack up outside since it was pitch dark in our room!

Anyways, our first afternoon there, we headed further down the river path and found a perfect swimming spot. It had been well over a year since we had swam in non-salt-water so it felt like quite the treat. Us Canadians are used to cold lakes and rivers so we all found it surprisingly warm for a river. Mike and Kevin spent a long time fighting the current, playing with rocks, and jumping off the rocks, monkeys by their sides. 

I'll never forget the moment when I turned and saw Mike getting carried away briefly by the current, struggling to keep our camera above the water. Oh man, that almost gave me a heart attack. Glad we didn't lose our baby! :)

dreamland beach, bali

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a beach person. However, these photos document my worst beach experience ever! I know, it looks so beautiful. However, I woke up that morning not feeling that great so I was just hanging out on a beach chair, taking these pictures. My younger brother came out of the waves exlclaiming that this was one of the most fun things he had ever done in his life! Well, I'm always afraid of missing out on really great things, so I reckoned I should play in the waves at least a bit.

Mike led me out to the waves and told me to jump under a wave so we could get past the point at which they were breaking, but I wasn't ready so I totally got caught up in it. Next thing I knew, I was getting whipped around by these waves. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't get out of them. I yelled to my younger brother (the one who had convinced me to go in in the first place!) to help me get out and he tried, but then I got hit by another huge wave. Eventually I pawed my way to the shore. I was almost hyperventilating, I had sand EVERYWHERE, my bathing suit was definitely askew - I'm sure I looked like a huge mess. I sat on the beach and just cried. It was so scary!

But you know as a prairie girl with nary an ocean in sight, it's probably good to get a good lesson from the ocean once in awhile. You don't mess with the ocean!

Ubud Monkey Forest

As we approached the Monkey Forest, I was a bit wary as I had read some reviews online about how feisty they can be. And feisty they were! They were snatching snacks and water bottles  and hissing when people got too close. I gladly gave them distance! Mike, however, didn't mind at all getting right up close to them and was unfazed when a little baby monkey started grabbing his flip flop as pictured above. But I was sure one was going to fling themselves on me at any moment. Happy to report, I made it out of the forest without any monkey attacks!

the tegalalang rice terraces

These rice terraces are a popular spot to visit, but absolutely so worth it. I was impressed when we got out of our car and saw them for the first time but then we actually started climbing up! And that was just amazing. We crossed little rickety bridges, passed by farmers, and came dangerously close to falling off. Woo!

After spending five days or so together in Malaysia, we all flew to Bali. I was excited to finally see this fabled island after hearing so much about it (I'm looking at you Eat Pray Love!)

We stayed at a villa in Sanur which was a real treat. We had a pool in the back and tons of room to hang out in. Lots of memories are held in that house we lived in for a week - my brother smashing his head at the bottom of the pool (thank goodness he didn't break his neck!!), three of us getting sick and throwing up during the night - only to realize that we were out of water and a new water cooler pitcher wasn't getting brought until the next day, the boys playing ping pong for hours, and watching a farmer herd his cattle down by the river, just behind the villa.

The week just flew by which was a real bummer. But it's been great to go through these photos and reminisce. The next few posts will show some of the specific things we did. 

(Pictured: Sanur beach/Our Villa/Go Gajah Elephant Cave/Padang Padang/Ulu Watu)