Berastagi and around. Couldn't think of a pun.

I'm currently wasting time in KL airport before flying back to work and thought what better thing to do than update my blog. The answers I came up with included: sleep, buying Daim bars and drinking hot chocolate. Regardless here I am anyway.

Having reached Berastagi after a brilliant night in Bukit Luwang I decided that I should do something a bit stupid to make up for having to leave such a fantastic place. To that end I checked into my hotel and decided to rent a motorbike to travel the 60 odd km's to a 120m waterfall on the edge of Lake Toba (a place I'd always wanted to see). Having never been on a motorbike let alone actually driven one I thought starting out with no instructions on some horrific roads (think 70% potholes) and in the rush hour would be as good a place as any. Thankfully the way you actually ride one seemed to bear at least some resemblance to Jonathan's and my old quad bike which meant I didn't have to sit in front of the rental place looking like a complete tit for too long.

An hour and a half later I somehow safely completed the trip as the pictures below will testify. It's very hard to give a scale to this but the island in the middle would happily contain the whole of Singapore were some pillock to decide to move it there as some sort of bizarre practical joke. It's around 60-80 miles long in total and was caused by a cataclysmic eruption. This is what Yellowstone will probably end up looking like someday:





and here's Yellowstone might look like one day if I stood in front of it looking like an arse:



The 120m high waterfall which appears from an underground river:



Waterfalls are always measured in round figures aren't they? Why is that? I refuse to believe that every waterfall in the world over 20m can be perfectly measured in 10m increments. Someone should look into that. (Not me though as it sounds really dull).

After another edge of the seat style journey back I decided to treat myself to a celebratory meal of, well chicken and rice obviously. Fully (...) sated I was more than ready for my 7am trek from the hotel to one of the nearby volcanoes. All in all it took about 6 hours with an hour of getting knocked around by the wind at the top. The fumaroles sounded like jet planes taking off and smelt just horrific. Still there were some stunning views from the top:





The summit itself:



and the view from it:



The twin volcano which also overlooks the town. The smoke near the top is from volcanic activity rather than cloud cover:



and this little chap on the way back down:



Having decided that wasn't enough walking for one day I then went for a 2 hour walk to a nearby hill just in case there was a nice sunset. Thankfully I was in luck:








Back to work until around the 10th now then I get another 3 weeks off until coming home. It all seems to have gone by a touch fast now.

Hope everyone's having a good summer,

Keg

Bukit Luwang aka Monkey central

After a joyous 16 hour overnight bus journey from Banda Aceh to Medan (where due to massaging my face with my kneecaps I managed precisely no sleep) and then a further 4 hour bus ride straight after to Bukit Luwang I arrived feeling fresh and ready for whatever life wanted to throw at me. Probably a good thing considering 10 minutes after I arrived a flash flood tore down the centre of town which provided fun for all. Thankfully though they are prepared for such an event and the defences held up pretty well. Sadly that's only the case because the entire centre of the town was demolished in 2003 which resulted in 1 in every 10 people in the village being killed. After Banda Aceh I feel like I'm on a tour of mass drowning sites. Very glamorous I'm sure you'll agree...

The very scenic Bukit Luwang:
and ten minutes later...(it got higher but I legged it off the bridge and up into my room on the hill)
I spent the first day watching the river rise then quickly retreated in to my room when the heavens opened and refused to come out. The next day I reluctantly got out of bed to embark what I assumed would be a forlorn Orang Utan hunt as I assumed that if they had any sense they wouldn't appear while the weather was so bad. How wrong I was:

While watching the above some Macaques decided to come and join me too:

As you can imagine I had an utterly brilliant time and really couldn't have asked for more from my 2 days there. Sadly though I had to go to Berastagi at 5am (where I am now) so once again I retreated to bed. At least that was the plan. Somehow I got roped into some games of pool followed by an impromptu karaoke style thing in the guesthouse with some of the local guides accompanying me on the guitar. Singing "Come as you are" at 3am with while possibly under the influence of something that was being passed around was an experience to say the least. My normal reaction in those situations is to smile and say no but it seemed rude this time...

Apropos of nothing:



So now I find myself in Berastagi after another night of sod all sleep and a couple of long bus journeys with two things to accomplish. 1 is to see Lake Toba and the other is to climb one of the nearby volcanoes. More on this later though...

Hope everyone's well,

Keg

From Kuala Lumpur to Pulau Weh in pictures

A couple of insect pics as requested by Jean:



Some monkey's kicking back on top of the World's largest walk in aviary in the heart of KL:


One section of the aforementioned aviary:


The 500+m telecommunications tower in Kuala Lumpur:


and a view of the Petronas Towers from the top:
I took this just to show how flat the area around Banda Aceh is. As you can see there was nowhere for the people to run too when the water came in:


The power generator vessel which was washed 4km's in land. I think it weighs around 500 tonnes to give you an idea of the strength of the water:

The boat stuck in a house in Banda Aceh. This is 3km's inland. Apparently 59 people were on board and they all survived. I think that might go down as being a touch lucky:


Monkeys asking for tidbits from anyone who happens to be passing. Apparently if you stop they will just climb on board and root through your stuff. I'd imagine they're just waiting for the day the local fruit seller breaks down nearby. Poor old guy wouldn't stand a chance probably:


The view from where I''m staying on Gapang Beach, The dark colour a few metres into the water on the right is the start of a coral reef which goes down to 30m. I've just finished a night dive there and it was stunning; stingrays, groupers, lionfish etc etc:


No prizes for guessing what this dog had just done while I wasn't looking...So cute though:


Hopefully there will be some underwater pictures added to this before too long...

Keg

From Padang to Palau Weh. Has anyone seen my sleep? I seem to be missing it.

As the title suggests I'm somewhat lacking in sleep right now. This is mostly due to leaving at 2am to go to Padang airport from where I went to Kuala Lumpur to spend a day milling around before heading to Banda Aceh the next day. From there a short ferry ride took my to the island of Palau Weh where I'm currently sitting next to Gapang Beach having done my first Scuba Dive. Thankfully the World Cup final isn't tonight and won't be kicking off at half past one in the morning so I can get lots of sleep...Ahh shit.

Also a dog just stole some of my curried chicken then had the audacity to see if i would give him any more. He was pretty cute though and I guess it could've been worse, I mean a monkey could have stolen my can of coke earlier. No wait, that happened too. Damn monkeys.

Kuala Lumpur was amazingly hot and humid which made my 5 hour walk mildly intolerable. It probably didn't help that my walk took me past the national mosque at the exact time that the prayers were ending which, disappointingly, meant that I was walking in a crowd which made Carrow Road look like Swaffham market. (Nice Norfolk based references for all you who've never been). My walk ended at the 500m high telecommunications tower which provided fantastic views of a muggy KL. The Petronas Towers looked nice though.

Banda Aceh on the other hand was stunning, especially considering the fact that it was decimated by the 2004 tsunami. Thanks to numerous international NGO's the city has been rebuilt back to it's former glory but what's even more amazing is the attitude of the people. They could easily be forgiven for still being mournful/angry however they are some of the friendliest people you could ever wish to meet. In fact one guy gave me a free ride round town as we had a couple of hours to wait before the ferry left. I imagine the trip would be best described as a tsunami tour as we went to a couple of mass graves as well as to a house which had a boat stuck in the roof of it. 3km's inland... Not only that but he also took me to the power generator vessel (pics to come later) which was washed 4km's inland. I have no idea how much it weighed but it's an absolutely huge boat and puts the force of the event into perspective. For some reason he also took me to the fish market which, judging by the hysterical reaction of the people present, is not a normal place for tourists to visit. Also one guy kept trying to make me buy a tuna. Without even trying I knocked the price down to a 1/5th of the original asking price but seeing as how it was 35 degrees and I had nowhere to put it I had to leave empty handed. Next time I'm in Tesco's I might try the same trick though just in case...

The three most memorable quotes from some of the locals I spoke to were:

- In response to the question: Where were you during the tsunami? "I was swimming" followed by a laugh and repeated swimming motions just to make sure I understood.
- In response to the question: How many brothers and sisters do you have? "Oh I don't have any", followed by "wait, do you mean before the tsunami?". It turns out he had 6 beforehand.
- Finally one guy asked me if I was alone. After telling him I was he then told me how much it would cost to sleep with girls in various parts of Aceh and North Sumatra before making particularly graphic hand signals. For anyone who might find this relevant the costs are as follows:

Palau Weh - 200,000 rupiah ($20) a night
Medan - 100,000
Banda Aceh - 1,000,000

Apparently lots of people make the 10 hour bus ride to Medan for some reason...

Armed with this hopefully unnecessary information I got on the ferry for the 40 minute ride to Palau Weh where I hopped on the back of a moped for the remaining 40 minutes to Gapang past numerous monkeys, palm trees, stunning ocean views and row upon row of fish lying on the roadside ready to be sold. It's amazing that such a stunning place is still so untouched by tourism and long may it stay that way. I think this is in some part due to the fact that Aceh still has a reputation for being an unsafe place to come however the tsunami changed the political situation here dramatically. The main reason for this change is that the local terrorist group put down their guns (they were fighting for independence from Indonesia amongst other things) in exchange for aid. It's just tragic that it took 300,000 people to lose their lives for this to happen.

On that fun note I'll just say that I'm here for another 8 days (mostly Scuba diving) before heading off for 5 days around Medan to see Orang Utans and to climb volcanoes. Not only that but I also hope I'll get to see Lake Toba which was caused by what is believed to be the largest eruption to have ever occurred. Most people know about Krakatoa (the largest ever recorded eruption and the first international event to be reported around the globe) but Toba would've made that look like an appreciative after dinner belch in comparison.

Anyway I hope all's well with everyone and hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures and videos before too long,

Keg

keg introduces himself to the locals

Just had a wonderful moment watching the Argentina/Germany game last night. The newly elected local mayor, (who I ended up sitting next to for some reason that was never fully pointed out, they're exceptionally nice people over here though so I'm guessing I was being treated as his personal guest even though I'd never previously even seen him), has erected a big screen to show the World Cup games on. I turned up just before the start and was instantly met with 1,000 people staring at me. Just after settling down and feeling the eyes start to turn away from me one of the guys running it asked if I could unscrew a nearby light (as it was about 8' high) so that they could see the screen better. I got up and, in front of a ridiculous amount of people, I managed to turn the light so hard that it shattered in my hand sending shards of glass showering liberally all over the people directly underneath it. All I could do while everyone else broke into hysterics was to say "job done" (which maybe one or two might have understood) before holding my head in my hands all the way back to my seat. As I walked off at the end of the game all I could hear was laughter and the Indonesian word for "foreigner" ringing out.

Brilliant.

Oh, and I also had around 50-100 people come up over the course of the game just to make sure that I hadn't cut my hands. I was planning to go again for the semi's but I might just give it a miss now...