Hey, everyone! Buckle up – I’ll be sharing a lot of fun pictures in this post. I’ve just gotten back from a 5D4N trek in Ketambe, in the Sumatran jungle. Searching for orangutans, monkeys, and various other unique bits of wildlife. The experience was challenging but also very rewarding. I’m glad I ended up making my way to Ketambe.

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Medan to Ketambe

When I arrived in Indonesia, I didn’t know if I would get to Sumatra. I was juggling between Malaysian/Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra. Malaysian Borneo seemed the obvious winner, but it was over USD$1,000 for a few nights trek. And also, the one tour company I wanted to go through wasn’t very responsive, even after multiple follow-ups. That’s when I started looking into alternatives.

Originally, I was planning to head to Bukit Lawang, a popular trekking spot for seeing semi-wild orangutans in Sumatra. On the sailing trip from Flores to Lombok, I talked with Alessandro, who had gone to Bukit Lawang and he said it was overcrowded with tourists. Alessandro had talked with someone who’d gone to Ketambe and he suggested that instead. More wild, more rugged. ACTUALLY wild orangutans, not feeding stations like in Bukit Lawang. I started looking into tour companies and found one I liked – Sumatra Ketambe Jungle Experience, run by a man named Iwan. I’d been in constant correspondence with Iwan, asking a million and one questions. He was very gracious with his time and responses to me – although, truth be told, I would have just liked a FAQ to answer all these commonly asked questions instead haha.

Anyway. I decided to go to Ketambe.

After some chill time in Medan, I was off (again) on a long car ride to the jungle. I joined Shaun, a 23yo American (!) who was also enjoying Sumatra as his “grand finale” in Indonesia. He had just finished his undergraduate and was taking a couple of months to travel before starting his graduate program. We caught up about his time in Indonesia and where he’s going next – Japan.

We stopped at a warung so the driver could get some snacks. I took a vape break and the girls working the warung became very excited to see me. They didn’t speak any English but they communicated that they wanted a picture with me. They gestured for me to get Shaun out of the car and we all took a group photo. I tell you, these girls were really tickled to be interacting with a white person haha. It was funny trying to understand each other because I can only say very, very basic phrases in Bahasa and they couldn’t speak English at all.

Maybe two hours into the ~8hr car ride, we picked up two others, Daan and Maaike – from the Netherlands. Daan and Maaike had been touring around Sumatra for a little over a week and filled us in on some of the highlights of their time on the island. It would have been nice to enjoy Sumatra some more, but unfortunately I was operating on borrowed time and the Ketambe trek would be my final Indonesian adventure.

While it was a long drive, there was a lot to take in while looking out the window. We passed by many villages and saw locals living their lives. Women balancing goods on their heads, call to prayer in mosques… I also was surprised to see that there were a number of Christian churches in Sumatra. I hadn’t yet seen that on any of the other islands of Indonesia. The church structures were really beautiful, often with a unique roof structure. I didn’t manage to get a photo but here is a link to Google images of what they look like.

The landscape began to transform and soon we were driving through winding roads. In the distance, there was a volcano that Daan and Maaike had been to a few days prior.

The terrain slowly began to morph into jungle. More rural vibes. It began to rain – my favorite. I later learned there would be rain most afternoons in the jungle. At one point, the road narrowed significantly for a few seconds. To the left of us, the road had crumbled down a steep hill during a landslide. Eek! (When? Who knows. Yesterday? Two years ago?)

Eventually, we arrived at our accommodation in Ketambe. We paid the driver (300k rupiah, or $20 for an 8 hour drive) and brought our bags to reception. After setting them down, Iwan came to greet us and said, “there’s an orangutan in the backyard right now. Come see!”

WHAT?

I whipped out my camera and hustled after Iwan, who ushered us to the backyard. I was looking higher up in the tree but then I spotted it – between the forks of the trunk, a male orangutan sat, feasting on durian fruit.

The cheek flanges are crazy!

The sun was setting, making it hard to get a decent photograph. And the orangutan was hiding his face from us, buried in the fruit. But I did manage to get a few good glimpses before he climbed down the tree and went deeper into the jungle. “He’s saying welcome to Ketambe,” Iwan joked. And it really felt that way.

What an amazing greeting and start to the jungle trip! I couldn’t believe our luck. What were the odds?! I will say – in my opinion, this was the best and closest sighting of an orangutan the entire tour. Orangutans tend to live high in the canopy, where they don’t have to worry about predators… i.e. Sumatran tigers. They swing from tree branch to tree branch, typically avoiding the forest floor completely. I feel lucky that we were able to see an orangutan actually drop down from a tree and walk along the ground. It was the only time in the trip we ended up seeing that.

After a long journey to Ketambe, the orangutan sighting felt like a major win.

We were shown to our rooms and then, during dinner, given a briefing about the next few days. After breakfast the next morning, we would set out to our first camp.

Sumatran jungle, here I come.

Base Camp One

Shaun and I were told that our group would just be the two of us – which, in some ways was cool because it meant a more intimate experience. However, we had bonded with Daan and Maaike, so it was kind of a bummer not to be adventuring with them. We consolidated our necessary belongings into one backpack, left the others with reception, and then off we went. I was nervous about leeches, I’ll tell you that right now. We were given leech socks to put on over our socks/pants but I didn’t have much faith in them.

We were lead by Mino, our trusted guide for the next five days. He was still learning English and this was only his 11th tour group, but he had been a porter for a while before that. Mino is also the brother of Iwan.

Our tour began by walking along the edge of winding roads for about half an hour before actually entering the jungle. Mino explained that sometimes orangutan are seen even here. No such luck this time, but after our sighting last night, everything else was a bonus. We already saw a wild orangutan – the entire reason I had signed up for this trek!

Before we entered the jungle, I took a photo of the road. The last view of civilization for the next five days.

And then there we were, hiking upwards through the jungle. For some reason, I was expecting our trek to be navigating flat ground. Oh, I was very wrong. Immediately, my body melted into sweat. It stayed that way for the duration of the tour. All I was… was sweat.

The humidity in the Sumatran jungle is truly unreal. If hanging by the water, or even just standing still, it seems to be fine. But hiking paired with the humidity meant that whenever we were trekking, I was sweating from every pore in my body. Truly awful!

It took a little over an hour to get to our base camp. For what seemed like a long time, we weren’t seeing any creatures. But then… Thomas Leaf monkeys! Or “funky monkeys” as Mino called them. They have rock-star mohawks, striped with grey and white. Such cuties. Our first sighting was pretty far away, but then we saw some closer to us, resting in the tree branches. One of them looked so lazy, just dangling off a tree branch. Really cute.

I was glad we were already seeing wildlife. Sometimes, when navigating in the bush, it’s hard to spot anything. What if we weren’t destined to see ANYTHING on our five day trek? Well, we already had.

And then Shaun spotted a fat millipede. And shortly after, I spotted a giant centipede, crawling underneath some leaf litter.

Around lunchtime, we arrived at our lovely base camp. Our camp was next to the river, with small, terraced waterfalls. I was hoping we would have spotted some orangutans before arriving at base camp, but no such luck. Damn! There were a number of tents set up – and Daan and Maaike were there, too! They had already seen about 10 orangutan. Shaun and I were jealous haha.

I changed into my swimsuit and went for a dip. It felt heavenly to cool off in the river.

Butterfly came to sniff my leech socks for about a minute.

We were served mie goreng for lunch (fried noodles and egg). After relaxation time, Mino asked if we were ready to go on another trek. ANOTHER TREK? I had no idea what the itinerary day to day was. We set off into the jungle again and hiked up, up, up, up. The typical order of our group was: Mino as leader, Shaun right behind him, and me: probably 30sec behind. I am a slower hiker and also try to be cautious because I’ve really injured my knees in the past on steep hikes. I like to take my time. And as I learned later on in the trip… the traction on my shoes has pretty much become nonexistent after six months of wearing the same shoes every day. Not ideal while hiking through the jungle.

We searched and searched and searched. We went up to the top of a hill (mountain?) and then down another side of it. Nothing. Then we went up another hill. And Shaun spotted it – an orangutan in silhouette, through the trees ahead of us. I had a hard time spotting them at first. Because of the humidity, my glasses were really fogging up. And because the orangutans were so high up in the trees, I was having an even harder time spotting them. But then they came into my vision. I think we observed a family of 11 orangutans hanging out in the trees. They were all mommas and their babies. The adult males don’t hang out with the rest of the group.

While we had an incredible sighting of a male the night before, this experience was special in its own way. There were so many of them and it was a treat to watch them do acrobatics through the canopies. The moms would stretch out their long arms and grab from one tree branch to another, swinging along. Babies clung to their mothers as they navigated the treetops. How special!

Mino explained to us that “orangutan” means “person of the jungle.”

Some orangutans were chilling upside down, some were eating, some were resting. Others moved through the canopies. How great. I do have to stress that because of the lighting, a lot of the time I was seeing silhouettes of the apes. Or just the firey orange of their fur. But every now and then, I’d get a view of their bulbous mouths, the fingers and hands that look oh, so similar to that of humans. What a marvel. I know it has been said before, but man, they are so much like us. We are so much like them.

On a high, we returned back to base camp. Orangutans! We’d seen them! Yay!

Back into the river to cool off. After any trace of sweat was eliminated, I dried myself and read some of The Vampire Lestat which is AMAZING so far. There are some massive ants, “the size of bees,” someone remarked, that were hanging near camp. I’ve never seen ants this large before.

Macaques hung out near our camp the first couple of days. Some of them were crossing the river. They’d climb up a big boulder, leap into the water with a splash, and then climb vines on the other side. It was really cute to watch. Some of them even stood up on their hind legs, searching for food along the water. They must congregate around camp fairly often because the porters toss fruit rinds, etc. into the river. Food for the monkeys.

In the fading light, I observed bats beginning their nighttime sojourn.

We had a delicious dinner by candlelight. Mino, Shaun, and our porters Gigi and Saul, feasted together. And boy, was it a feast! So much food! And delicious food, at that. We dined, talked, watched the campfire. It started to rain lightly.

Before long, it was bedtime. It had been a long day. I wish I could say I had a restful slumber ahead of me, but I wouldn’t have a restful slumber until I’d arrived back in Medan. My sleep in the jungle was haphazard – very on and off.

Biggest Trek Day

In the morning, we woke up at 6am. Our small group joined Maaike, Daan, and their group (Belle and her partner whom I can’t remember the name of). It was nice that we got to adventure with them briefly. Before too long, we were able to spot a couple of orangutans in the trees again. Yay!

We also saw a crazy looking spider and some chrome ants.

Later, we spotted about six hornbills high up in the canopies above. Hornbills are very large, kind of toucan-esque birds. Because they were so high up and with the light of the sun… again, they mostly just appeared as silhouettes. I could see their “bills,” but couldn’t make out their color. Eventually, they took flight. Cool!

We returned to camp to cool off in the river and have breakfast. Afterwards, our group shrunk back to its original setup: Mino, Shaun, and me. We hiked into the jungle again and searched for some form of wildlife. We didn’t see anything for a while. But then we started hearing an unusual call. “Gibbons,” Mino said. Gibbons? I didn’t even know what that was. “They move very fast. Maybe by the time we get there, they gone,” he told us. Ah, bummer. “Should we follow?” He asked. “You’re the guide,” Shaun reminded him. But then the gibbons sounded closer. We decided to try to spot them.

We hiked up, up, up, up. The others were much faster than me, but I had to take my time. At times, I felt a little left behind – but they always would wait for me before going too far.

We arrived at a spot where we could see the towering tree that the gibbons were in. They called out, claiming their territory. Now and then, we’d see a gibbon swiftly swinging from tree branch to branch. They were really, really fast.

Another group was observing the gibbons, too.

One of the gibbons switched trees and we tried to follow it. We were able to get a much closer view – although still hard to see clearly. The lighting was NOT cooperating on this trip at all haha. The wildlife was almost always backlit, transforming them into silhouettes. Occasionally, I’d get a glimpse of their features, though. Such unusual monkeys! The one we followed rested on a tree branch with its back to us. At one point, it looked like it was jerking off LOL. It would glimpse over its shoulder, looking down at us to see what we were so interested in. And then, with rapid speed, it swung deeper into the canopies and we lost sight of it. While we would hear gibbons again during our trek, this would be the last sighting. Mino told us we were pretty lucky. I felt it.

On our way back to camp, Mino said, “want to see orangutan?” And there, just the three of us, were able to watch a momma and her baby snacking on fruit for maybe half an hour. They seemed completely unbothered by us, as did many of the orangutans we saw.

It tickled me to be able to hear them munching on fruit, to see the crumbs spilling out of their mouths and falling to the jungle floor, like spilled glitter. The mother would look at us occasionally, but seemed to pay us no mind. The baby climbed onto narrow branches. “Be careful!” I warned it, hoping it wouldn’t fall.

Other than the male orangutan on our first day, this was the closest we’d been able to observe orangutans thus far. Eventually, we decided to led them be and returned to camp for lunch.

Again – same routine at camp. Cool off in the river, eat food, read by the water.

And then for the afternoon trek. This trek provided us with our closest yet sightings of the Thomas Leaf monkeys. Boy, are they cute!

Into the jungle, out of the jungle, into the jungle, out of the jungle. We were doing a lot of walking. I was grateful that my knees weren’t in any sort of pain because these hikes were STEEP! Going up was generally fine, but going down is where I take issue. I almost always am relying on nature to help me navigate through the bush. I hold onto tree branches, roots, etc. to help me climb up and down. They haven’t failed me so far.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember my tramping experience to Green Lake Hut in Fiordland National Park in Aotearoa New Zealand. The hiking here was… I might argue, more treacherous than that. The steepness was incredible. I would lose my footing every now and then as dirt slipped down below me. I never fully fell down, though. And that’s thanks to the trees. THANK YOU, NATURE! Nature saves the day.

We returned to camp, had dinner, and then all the guides in the camp put on a little show for us! They lined up and sat down on their knees and sang a song, while making repetitive hand movements. It went on for maybe ten minutes. One of the songs went something like, “Don’t forget Ketambe, don’t forget orangutans.” So cute! Another tidbit went, “We trekking together, we swimming together, we eating together, we not sleeping together.” Hahaha. Loved it. Afterwards, they taught some of the others how to do the hand movements/dance.

And then… yes – our last trek of the day. A night walk. I knew from the get go that I wanted to pay extra for a night walk. Obviously, I was hoping to see snakes, but any kind of interesting and unusual wildlife would do. Not too many others were interested in the night walk. Maaike had night blindness and was afraid she wouldn’t enjoy it. Belle and her partner didn’t want to join either. So it was just Shaun, Daan, me, and the two guides.

Early on, our night guide Oden spotted some interesting insects hiding below a giant mushroom. They looked like Pokémon!

Shortly after, we spotted some kind of marsupial-looking creature clinging to a tree trunk. It climbed higher as we approached. None of us were sure what it was. “A giant squirrel?” Oden suggested. And then it leapt from one tree to the other. I was able to capture video of it and I’m pretty certain it was a red giant flying squirrel. So cool to see the webbing under their arms, serving as sort of a parachute, to help them glide between trees. Incredible! Oden was really excited, saying he hadn’t seen something quite like that before. Surely, he’s seeing flying squirrels but maybe not ones of this size.

We spotted interesting beetles and insects, but the cherry on top of the two hour night walk was spotting a slow loris. I’d heard of slow loris before, probably through some wildlife documentary, but I couldn’t picture what they looked like. And… all I was seeing for the most part was a pair of glowing eyes haha. Shaun was able to get a really lovely photo of the loris, but my camera is old and didn’t quite have the capabilities to take a photo in the dark without flash. They’re very unusual looking creatures – their face patterns almost make them look like clowns.

We had to trudge over a mess of fallen tree branches to get to the loris. While, yes, I wanted to see snakes, I was almost glad we didn’t. Because surely, if we had, it would have been a view of one biting my ankle in this kind of setting. EEK!

The loris was the wrap of our night tour. What a day it had been! Four treks – all leaving me completely drenched in sweat. Everyone else at camp had gone off to sleep. Daan, Oden, and I went to cool off in the water. As I was taking off my pants, I was bitten on the toe BY A FIRE ANT! And oh, was it painful. “Am I going to die?” I asked Oden. He laughed. “No, they just hurt.” (I did just look it up though and apparently some people can have fatal reactions to the bites. Probably depends on where you’re bitten and if you’re prone to anaphylactic responses.)

Daan and Oden went to bed and I went for a skinny dip. It was so refreshing and the water completely healed the pain of the fire ant bite. After, I returned to my tent and tried for sleep. You’d think it would come quickly after so much exercise from the treks, but no.

Getting to Base Camp Two

Because we’d had such a big adventure the day before, day three was a little chiller. We had a late morning. Daan, Maaike, Belle, and her partner had all gone on a morning trek and were able to see a male orangutan up close. I wish I’d been able to join that one, actually, because that would have been great to see! (Also on that tour, they all got attacked by leeches. AHH!!) But at this point, everything was a bonus. We’d seen all the major sightings: gibbons, Thomas Leaf, orangutans, hornbills. Now, it was just a matter of seeing things closer than we’d already seen. But so far, we’d done pretty good.

Daan, Maaike, and the others were only on a three day trek, so after lunch, they’d be heading back to the guesthouse. We’d had some nice conversations. We ate breakfast together and then Shaun and I got ready for our trek. Belle told me how it was nice to meet me and that she enjoyed getting to know me. I was a little taken aback because while we’d had some conversations, it wasn’t anything super deep. Still, I told her I felt similarly and that it was a bummer they were heading back already.

Mino, Shaun, and I went looking for the male orangutans the others had seen. We saw some Thomas Leaf monkeys but at that point, we’d seen them a lot and were mostly in search of the male. Finally, after much walking up and down the jungle (and spotting a female and her baby), we spotted one high up in the canopy (I craned my neck so much during this trip – it was killing me!). He occasionally peered down at us but he seemed to be resting and wasn’t moving too much. I wish we’d seen him closer but I was happy to be seeing the “king of the jungle” again.

We returned to base camp around 1pm. By that time, the Dutch folks were gone. We had lunch, packed up our things, and then were set to cross the river to get to Base Camp Two. I had been a little anxious about hiking that day because it had rained the night before. The river was flowing higher, the ground was more slippery… but we ended up making it to our second base camp without issue.

Our second base camp was honestly far superior to the first. It was much quieter, with less people at the camp. It was just our group – Shaun, me, our guide Mino, and our two porters. There were some other people camped somewhat nearby, but they were far enough away that it felt like we had the place to ourselves. But more than that, the thing that made the camp so special was that it was right next to a hot spring and some small waterfalls. Being in the hot spring was, as I kept saying out loud to myself, “literally the best thing ever.” We were near the source of the hot spring, so depending on where we were sitting, we could be bathing in hot water OR if we moved further away, we would get blasts of hot water followed by blasts of cold that was flowing from higher up the river. That was the best combination because you couldn’t get overheated, but were still enjoying the heat of the hot spring and the cold of the river.

Reaching base camp was the end of our treks for the day. I spent majority of the afternoon in the water. By evening, it had started to rain. I remained in the water, half my body in the heat of the hot spring, and half of it pelted by raindrops. Lightning lit up the sky. I closed my eyes and meditated. Perfection.

As per usual, we had a delicious dinner and tried to communicate with our guides. They wanted to share Jungle Juice with us, which is palm sugar fermented for one day to make alcohol. I refused since I don’t drink but Shaun indulged. “Bitter,” he said haha.

We were cautioned to have our belongings on higher ground. Because it was still raining, Mino said that sometimes the water levels of the river rise and we wouldn’t want our things getting wet. I set my backpack on a rain poncho of mine and put all my belongings in the backpack. Hopefully that would help. Luckily, all ended up being fine and we didn’t get flooded overnight.

Day four of our trek was kind of my least favorite. Because of the rain, I was feeling worried about trekking the steep hills of the jungle. I was already slow and on the morning trek, I felt it was even worse. I was constantly relying on tree branches to help me get up/down the hillside. We spotted a hornbill pretty early on, and then many others flying above us. The noise their wings made as they flapped was really cool.

We also saw orangutans again! I managed to spot a rhino beetle. We also saw Thomas leaf monkeys.

Very rarely, we would hear the calls of a gibbon. Or even more rarely, orangutan calls. Sometimes Mino would mimic the orangutan calls to see if we could hear an orangutan answering in order to locate it. It never worked haha.

When we were descending the hill, the boys had managed to get down in the blink of an eye, but I was finding no tree branches to help me get down. “Sorry, I have literally no idea how to get down from here. It’s too steep,” I said. Mino suggested I go to the left, where it was less steep. I ended up doing so, but my pride was hurt. It felt frustrating to be “the slow one.”

To make matters worse, by the time we’d gotten back to camp, I had pulled a muscle in my left thigh. I was feeling pretty glum, which I’ll talk about more in the Reflections section. A LOT OF FEELINGS were swirling within me. But all good now.

Back at camp, I was in my happy place again. Where macaques had been hanging out the day before, now there were Thomas leaf monkeys. I sat in the water, enjoying the heat of the hot springs while watching the monkeys playing in the distance. Later, I saw a giant millipede crawling along the ground.

I decided that I would skip the second trek of the day because of my thigh. It wasn’t in too much pain but going down to camp after the trek didn’t feel pleasant. I didn’t want to push it and then risk injury and make getting back to the guesthouse the following day impossible. I had seen a girl a couple days prior who had sprained her ankle and I really didn’t want that to be me. These hikes are rough! I felt like I needed crampons half the time haha.

It was difficult to make the decision not to go on the second trek because I thought, “of COURSE, this is when the others will spot the male orangutan up close and a snake.” Still, I felt relieved when I made the decision. It had been a challenging past few days. Shaun was used to hiking, being from Oregon and doing long, difficult hikes routinely. Mino knew these jungles like the back of his hand.

In the end, they didn’t end up seeing anything at all on that second hike. I’m glad I didn’t go.

It rained again our last night, but somehow the boys still managed to build a fire. “Boys looking at fire,” I joked to Shaun. We agreed it’s a primal thing.

Return to the Guesthouse

In the morning, my main goal was: get back to the guesthouse. I enjoyed my time in the jungle, but as I said, it was challenging. Sweaty, physically demanding, and without the conveniences of a toilet, warm water, or air conditioning.

I was, again, worried about how slippery the ground would be. The day before, I realized what the main problem was. There was absolutely no grip left on the soles of my shoes, making these hikes more difficult than they needed to be. I wish I’d checked before going – I would have gotten some new shoes. After six months of wearing the same shoes every day… I had really worn them out.

It took about an hour to get to the river crossing. We took off our shoes and crossed the river. As I was wiping off my feet before putting my socks back on, I spotted… A leech on my heel! I told myself that if a leech did attach to me, I would get a photo of it. However, my gut reaction was to yelp and swipe it off of me. As I swiped it, I smashed my hand into a boulder accidentally. OUCH. For a second, I thought – fuck, did I break my hand? But no, I could move my fingers. It was already healed by the afternoon.

We took a break at Base Camp One for maybe ten minutes and then continued on. “Phase one, complete,” I told myself. We had maybe another hour or two to get back into civilization.

Before leaving the jungle, we saw Thomas leaf monkeys one last time. It felt funny to me how full circle everything felt. When we first arrived, we saw Thomas leaf monkeys, then orangutans, then macaques, then gibbons at the peak. We only saw gibbons once, but then macaques some more, orangutans some more, and in the end, the last sighting was of Thomas leaf monkeys.

And then there it was. The sounds of the road. Cars and scooters passing by. We walked along the road to get back to our guesthouse. “Later, we’ll take you to see baboons,” Mino told us. Baboons? In Ketambe? I had no idea they had them here in Indonesia.

I was pretty happy to be out of the jungle. I loved the experience, but as I’ve mentioned a few times: it was challenging. But also the perfect cherry on top of a wonderful (and ALSO challenging) three months in Indonesia.

We checked back into the guesthouse and about an hour later, I was able to have a shower in a private room… with a private bed. With pillows. After rinsing off, I met up with Mino again. He and Gigi took Shaun and I on scooters to go see the baboons. The timing was impeccable because we got there right before the “baboons” had retreated back into the forest.

We saw a momma and baby, the leader of the troop, and others hanging around.

Mino would stomp towards the baboons sometimes and make a primate noise, challenging them. The male would bluff charge him, telling him to fuck off. Mino did it a few more times. Shaun and I even joined in. The baboons were at a safe (ish?) distance, although I suppose they could have crossed the road/ran over to us and tried to bite us if they really wanted.

I mention about the timing because we probably got all of ten minutes with them before they had disappeared back into the jungle. When we finished our trek, we had actually walked past the exact same area, with no baboons around. It was as if Mino knew exactly when to take us so that we could see them.

I’ll mention now that the “baboons” aren’t actually baboons at all – they’re called pig-tailed macaques. The sighting of them was definitely up there for me because a) I didn’t know they existed and b) we were able to observe them closely, unlike much of the wildlife while deep within the jungle. I was really pleased! Such an unexpected and fun ending to the trip.

Afterwards, I had lunch and laid in the comfort of a bed for hours. There was a blackout in the late afternoon, so no Wi-Fi, no operating fan in my room. No running water. I sat on the porch and watched the rain. A bat clung to the roof above me, looking down at me as I read The Vampire Lestat. It was the first time I’ve ever seen a bat up close, in the daylight, and was able to get a clear photo of it. Very cool!

In the evening, the power had returned. I went for dinner then went back to my room to go through photos. I checked in with family back home, letting them know I was safe. And for the first time in five nights, I slept in a proper bed with proper pillows.

In the morning, Shaun and I took a shared taxi back to Medan. It ended up being nearly a 12 hour affair. We hit gridlock traffic for about two hours, prolonging the journey. And we also picked up a lot of locals on the way. We were cramped in the very back of the car, with piles of belongings in the trunk behind us. Hardly any leg room at all. I was ready to scream by the time we got to Medan.

But that’s where I am now. My days left in Indonesia are numbered and other than commuting back to Jakarta, I will be doing nothing until I leave for Malaysia. Just eating food and chilling in a bed, in air conditioning haha. Modern pleasures of life.

I’m so glad I made it to Ketambe. Indonesia has been such an adventure and what better way to wrap up my three months here than to spend five days in the jungle, observing wildlife?

Because this will be my last Indonesian post, I will share my Rose, Thorn, and Bouquet below.

Rose, Thorn, Bouquet of Indonesia

I will have multiples of each of these, since I’ve spend so much time here in Indonesia.

Rose

Initially, a beautiful rose was reuniting with Kory in Kuta, Bali. After not having seen him for two years, it was amazing to spend time with him. Getting massages, eating food together, enjoying the perks of being tourists in Indonesia together. It was lovely.

And of course, another rose for me was all my beloved snake sightings. From my Bali snake tour to Lombok, to Flores… I probably saw upwards of 20 snakes in Indonesia. Mangrove cat snake, Indo-Chinese rat snake, Paradise tree snake, striped keelback, Asian vine snake, green pit viper, yellow pit viper, water kraits… Lord! Lots of snakes. Lots and lots. And some really cool photos, too.

Up there on the list is also seeing two of the things I’d wanted to see for ages: Komodo dragons and the Ijen blue flames. My itinerary was very back and forth and ever-changing while in Indonesia, so I didn’t know if I would get to those places. But I did and I’m really glad I did.

Thorn

All these damn tours in Indonesia are SO crowded and it’s basically the only option for many attractions or to go on hikes… You have to do a tour or get a guide. You can’t just do anything by yourself. And what’s worse is that everyone else is going there too.

The constant heckling of locals often got to me, too. “Bike, bike? Taxi? Massage? Tattoo?” Leave me alone! I was talking with my parents recently and that is one thing that is really, truly nice about being in Chicago. People just… leave you alone, for the most part. Maybe the occasional homeless person would ask for money, but it is in no way even a fraction of the constant harassment that comes with being in Southeast Asia. I get it – I come from a privileged place and because I’m a foreigner, I “have money.” But still. The only escape from it is to listen to music haha.

I also really disliked when I could tell locals were talking shit about me in Bahasa. Whether it was a tour guide of mine or a dive guide, etc. This goes across all of Asia so far – they seem to always be talking about me with their friends. I hate it because it’s not something I would ever do in America, make fun of a tourist. Especially if they were employing me for a dive or a tour, etc.

I haven’t mentioned yet, but there was one accommodation I was at for (LUCKILY) only a single night… and I got bitten by bed bugs (I think. I’m 95% sure). Me, the ever diligent, always checking the mattresses for bed bugs… they bit the SHIT out of the area around my elbow and also underneath my thigh. So, so, so itchy. For days. Thankfully, I was only there for a night and none of them came with me in my bags. It goes to show that even with checking mattresses, those little fuckers can still be hiding.

Another thorn includes all of the lost time. Because of the tattoos early on, because of the eye injuries… my plans really got derailed a number of times. I wish I’d had more time in the water. More time exploring. But also, I needed time to rest. Mentally, physically.

But of course, the #1 worst thorn was the back to back eye injuries. After about a month, my eye is finally 100% again. Right before day one of my jungle trek, my eye was watering again when I went to sleep and I was like, oh, fuck, here we go again. But I think it was purging the very last of the injury because after that, my eye has finally recovered. (Prior to that, there was still some slight sensitivity to light and some dryness.) Thank God that is over with!

Bouquet

The sailing trip from Flores to Lombok was definitely a lovely bouquet for me. Because of the lack of marine safety in Indonesia, I wasn’t sure I would make the journey but I’m glad I did. I met some lovely people (notably Naama and Tyler) and saw a lot of beauty in Indonesia. I really enjoyed Padar Island, Rinca Island, and the snorkeling spots. Just a really lovely time.

Gili Air is up there, too. Again, initially unsure of whether I would go to the Gilis, I’m glad I did. Meeting Gentle, reuniting with Tyler, hanging out with a bunch of other solo travelers singing karaoke… it was the perfect holiday-within-a-holiday destination for me. The snorkeling was incredible, the diving was great. I loved it!

Bromo is probably the spot that surprised me the most. Prior to going, I had no idea it was an active volcano and the sunrise view of it was gorgeous. I loved the viewpoint and I also enjoyed hiking up to the crater rim and looking into the volcano.

And I have to mention the best thing ever… the major bucket list item of seeing MOLTEN LAVA for the very first time ever at Mount Merapi. What an absolute treat!

Indonesia has been very sweet to me, but has also presented me with a lot of challenges. It has been a bittersweet mix of good and bad. But that is how travel is. Nothing is perfect all the time, but that makes the sweet moments that much sweeter, doesn’t it?

Miscellaneous

In the shared taxi on the way back to Medan, one of the riders was saying goodbye to family and packing up her things. I watched her family as she was loading belongings on top of the van and every now and then, I’d catch a glimpse on their face – a quick moment where they would lose their composure and almost start crying. It took me back to the times I’ve left home. It made me tear up – it’s very easy to recall the strong emotions of that time in my life. Beautiful and difficult feelings.

This is going to be TMI and talk of poop, so skip to the next section if you don’t care LOL.
In Indonesia, I have been eating so much rice all the time because majority of the meals are rice + meat or rice + veggies. Rice, rice, rice. ALL I EAT IS RICE. And for some reason, it always makes me bloated and constipated. I was talking with Joey about it and he said that white rice has most of the fiber removed from it and so that’s probably why. Anyway, so I’m in the jungle and keep in mind I’ve never pooped in the woods before… but I finally did. And I peed on the ankle of my pants a little LOL. I was like, “God, I am the worst at this.” I’m such a noob. BUT THEN by the fourth day, I really, really, really had to poop again. And I tell you, it was maybe the biggest poop of my life. Yay! I think I lost ten pounds.

Reflections

This has been such a long post.

I wanted to talk about some of the feelings I’d mentioned in the earlier trekking part of the post.

Some days, I was in a foul mood. I wasn’t used to the constant hiking. I love hiking and enjoy it, but I’m not used to doing it for multiple hours in a day in such sweaty conditions where mosquitoes and other bugs are constantly trying to eat me. And as I mentioned numerous times, it was challenging with the up/down/up/down nature of the treks, paired with the faded traction of my shoes. Then, adding the rain on top of it, it was even more slippery so I was extra cautious and always grabbing trees for support.

Mino and Shaun were often trekking fast and as a result, I often felt left behind because I needed to diligently watch each step and care for my knees.

I also felt that I couldn’t really spot anything up in the trees, as is the trend when I’m on wildlife tours, for some reason (when, solo, I am usually pretty good at spotting).

And then my glasses kept fogging because of the humidity and my vision not as good for far away things.

I know I mentioned that stuff before but I’m compiling it here because these things have to do with the “foul mood” I want to talk about.

Maybe by my third day of the trip, a lot of my insecurities were starting to have a spotlight on them. Because Mino and Shaun were walking so quickly, I was feeling like a third wheel. Shaun also had a better/newer camera than me, which made me feel kind of jealous. My camera is older and doesn’t have the same functions as his.

Anyway. I was kind of stewing with these things and by the fourth day, I needed to sit down with these emotions and sort them out – because part of me knew they weren’t quite as superficial as they were seeming. I realized that feeling of being a third wheel was bothering me because it was opening an old wound in me that tells me “I’m not wanted.” Cast out, othered, etc. By myself. And hey, I don’t mind being by myself, but something about being in a group of three really ignites that in me.

And the camera stuff – it’s not about the camera at all. I could buy a better camera one day that has better capabilities than my current one. But what it sparked in me was this feeling that “I’m not talented enough, I’m not good enough.” Which, again, is an old wound.

These things aren’t true, but I think the combination created a perfect storm. It wasn’t until I decided to forego the second trek of the fourth day that I was able to make peace with the feelings. And they are thoughts – they are not truth. These feelings are so deeply engrained, they will take a long time to work through. I will get it sorted one day! But I’m grateful I can identify/acknowledge them, and hopefully one day can dismiss them before they start mutating from thoughts into feelings.

Tomorrow, I fly from Medan to Jakarta. And in Jakarta, I’m not planning to do any sightseeing at all. I just want to rest before Malaysia. On the 14th, I fly to Malaysia. It’s kind of weird to be leaving Indonesia, especially because this will be the longest I’ve been in any Southeast Asian country, and probably will still be the longest before I finish my tour around Asia… but I also am ready. Ready for new culture, new foods, new experiences.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x