Bukit lawang

Hi,
Here is a link with loads of info' on Bukit Lawang
and here are the results of a search I did on BL on this forum.
Have a good read and come back and I will happy to answer any other questions you might have.

I spent almost 2.5 months of my 5.5 month trip travelling in north Sumatra, 4 days at Lake Toba coming from Bukittinggi 17 hr overnight bus trip.
Then 5 weeks in Bukit Lawang with 5 days in Tangkahan ( got there from BL on back of motor bike two hour trip.) I am currently waiting on some information from some of friends in BL who are doing trips by jeep to Tangkahan.
From BL I travelled back to Medan-stayed at Spoutnik- cheap simple place in Medan- 20,000 rupiah/night. Then headed off to Ketembe in south Aceh to spend 3 days- only took small day pack left the rest at Spoutnik.
Well, I fell in love with Ketembe, stayed for 8 days- did 2 day trek up to the hot springs. Hung around with Pak Mus family, other travellers and the locals and had a ball.
Then did what the locals were telling me to do- bussed all the way right through to Banda Aceh-up the centre through the Gayolands.
Travelled by myself a lone female and was perfectly safe. Stopped overnight, a day and another night in Takengon and walked around the beautiful Lake Tawar.
Even ate food out in the street at midnight on my first night there, surrounded by Indonesian men and felt perfectly. Even got to meet a young guy who could speak some Eglish and I paid him to be my guide for the next day to walk the lake.
In Banda Aceh stayed at Uncle's place in Kuala Syriah- wonderful people- see my photos below.
Got ferry over to Pulau Weh stayed for 3 days in Iboih, did some snorkelling for the first time in my life.
Then flew back to Medan, and spent a weekend in Brestagi before back to Medan and a flight to Jakarta and bus to Bogor.

Lumba Diving on Pulau Weh and Rubiah Divers have loads of info' on ferry times, flights from Medan to Banda Aceh-just about everything.

Pamela.

Hi, my recommendation would be to stay at Jungle Inn and also choose a guide who works from there. I think it's in the most beautiful location and the guides there are generally very reliable and well informed. Even still, there is a bit of guide turnover, so I'd ask lots of questions before you sign up - ask them questions that might check their knowledge of local flora and the kinds of animals you might expect to see etc.

Also, with regards to your plan to go to Lake Toba AFTER Aceh, be aware that Lake Toba is actually South of Medan while Aceh is North. Toba is about a 4 hour trip from Medan. It's definitely well worth going there, but you just might want to factor in the travel time into your plans.

Actually,so many places to see orangutan,if you visit north sumatra,bukitlawang is a places to see orangutan,but i dont know if thats wild?it seemed like tourist attraction,that seemed they will feed the orang otan after the group of tourists already get gathered and have been waiting "for the show time".. LOL
They feed them and said that places as rehabilitation center?but you may try to see them,as a place with lots of guide that advertises trekking to the jungle. Some people recommended me from beratagi to the village called "gurah" is one the good place to see the wild of orangoetan,but there is no many people able to handle you in the village and people are limited to speak english.i saw some places in brastagi they also advertised trekking to go there.

Hi Wayne,
Just wanted to let you know that I travelled all through north Sumatra not being able to speak the language. I know lots of words, but cannot speak the language and it did not present any problems for me at all.
Contrary to what all Indonesian men posting here on TT say, there are a lot of Indonesian people living in Ketembe who speak English such as Pak Mus who owns one of the guests houses, and guides like Mansurah, Suliamin. Slament whose family own Sadar Wisata, also speaks very good English.
So getting to Ketembe by oneself is not a problem language wise at all. In many ways it is better to use the guides from the area rather than bring in guides from other areas. It really is important for the local guides to get the business not guides from elsewhere.
Actually the one area where there were very few English speaking guides and locals was Tangkahan- but that did not deter me from having loads of fun and trying to teach Darwin my guide some English.

Agree with Poster#2 Jungle Inn is a great place and my link at the top has lots of photos of Jungle Inn and a contact mobile no. for Bahrum who has taken over the lease from the owners.
The mobile no. is working so if you wish to book the Presidential Suite then book via sms. Just heard from my many friends in Bukit Lawang that has been quite busy which is so exciting for the locals after the horrid flood of Nov 2003.
Pamela.