Garuda Plaza Medan

... sea air. The other men emerged, blinking, heavy-lidded, in the fading light. Iridescent fish scales clung to their dark skins like sequins. They looked like they came from different places, though the look in their eyes was the same: fear. Fear of being caught and persecuted; fear of what terrible conditions they left behind; fear the hungry ocean that could, at any time, swallow this dilapidated, creaky old boat and everyone in it ...

... Ground troops,” I s*id.

“Light inf*ntry or he*vy inf*ntry?”

I w*s truly stunned. I me*n, this is * 10-ye*r-old boy living in * sm*ll city in southe*st Asi*, h*lfw*y *round the world from Europe! How could he possibly be interested, much less know *bout such things? Fielding P*trick’s incre*singly sophistic*ted questions, I told him how my gr*ndf*ther, who fought for the British Army, w*s shot in the he*d *nd left ...

... before bed...went out to the Ramadan Bazaar and what an evening...imagine a street half a mile long with food and goods lining each side and a ridiculously long line of tables and chairs down the middle of the road where!! Well when the only two westerners in the whole of Medan try to stroll down the street to soak up the atmosphere EVERYBODY wants to say hello (usually in the form of 'Hey mister'), loads of people want pictures (and I don't mean just one or two...it's more ...

... can become aggressive when searching for food, so we didn’t need to be asked twice.

After we had eaten lunch, we continued the trek for another couple of hours to the place where we would be camping for the night. The trek involved a lot of clambering up steep muddy banks using rocks and tree roots for support and then sliding down slippery trails, often with precipitous drops to the side. As we were climbing up a particularly steep verge ...

... root, to build strength. These medicines from nature, in an infinite variety of combinations to meet an equal number of uses, are jamu, the traditional medicine of Indonesia. Every morning she rose, like other jamu gendong, while the moon still glowed and the muezzin sang, to prepare these special healing remedies. Some bottles held secret elixirs from roots deep in the earth, or from flowers, fruits and leaves of plants she collected in the rainforest when she went on one of ...

... to the edge of the village to visit the orangutan orphanage where they rehabilitate orangutans back into the wild from accdents and illegal poaching.
We had to cross the river in a small pulley led canoe and from there paid the entrance fee and climbed the steep hill to watch the afternoon feeding session. We were unknowingly really lucky to see 5 orangutans on this visit, as the previous day none had turned up for their meals! But, their evening meal was cut short as the ...

... rzeki Bohorok. Nie ma tu drog w wiosce, sa sciezki ktorymi chodza ludzie i czasami motory. Turystow zbyt wielu tu nie zaglada, ale byc moze to jeszcze nie sezon. Naliczylismy przez caly dzien z dwudziestu bialych.

Spacer po wiosce to sama przyjemnosc, wszyscy mowia hello i sie usmiechaja :) Jak do tej pory Indonezja zaskakuje pozytywnie tym, ze nawet w takim Bukit Lawang jest czysto.

Docieramy do konca wioski, do wejscia do parku Gunung Leuser. Aby wejsc trzeba ...

... Mamma Cesca on my phone while I was already well on the way to Medan.

Provided I wake up in time I`ll be on that ferry to Penang tomorrow. Another five boring hours surrounded by dozing locals dressed in thick coats because they can`t stand the ferry`s airco.

Two days in Penang, twnety hours by train to Bangkok/Krung Thep and on to that Male Kingdom that keeps coming back - one way or ...

... of tour buses loaded to the max with hard currency packed Europeans fast tracking it to Lake Toba leaving huge clouds of dust behind but pas d`argent. KlM`s landing rights for Medan Airport were doubled and doubled again while the Batak people in Tuk Tuk were busy turning their houses into hostels and guesthouses, restaurants and souvenir shops borrowing money from the Muslim owned banks on the main land, they quite literally thought that the pine trees that cover their precious ...

... feels like a chore saying hello to everyone as you walk around. If I walked down a street with people on I must say hello at least once, if not twice, to someone every minute or so. Medan was no exception and I was quickly joined by a group of kids one my first day I when ventured out for breakfast. It was apparent that I quickly needed to get to grasp with Basra Indonesian ...