Sumatra, 1995 – Part 2

I flew to Bangkok and went to Koh Phangan for a couple of weeks and then headed down to Penang via minibuses. Whilst waiting through the hot, steamy night for the minibus to Penang I met Caz and Tracey;  Caz an Australian and Tracey a Kiwi Mauri settled in Australia.

We hit it off and I developed a crush on Caz.

We ended up travelling together over to Medan, the capital of Sumatra where we parted company with a vague plan of meeting up in Lake Maninjau.

From Medan I went to Bukit Lawang, an Orangutan sanctuary north of Medan. I hadn’t planned on going there, intending to make my way straight to Maninjau via Lake Toba. On the ferry from Penang to Medan I was reading up on Sumatra in my Lonely Planet guide when I came across the section on Bukit Lawang. It sounded enchanting and then I remembered seeing a programme about it on TV when I was a kid, and I had promised myself I would go there one day. I had forgotten all about it and here I was on a ferry to Sumatra because of a casual conversation in the Indian Himalaya with a man who happened to go to school with my eldest brother. It was a wonderful revelation and I decided in that moment that I would take a detour north to the Orangutan sanctuary.

It was the right decision. The guest houses in Bukit Lawang were great value, clean and comfortable and the food was fabulous. There was a great atmosphere in the place and watching the young Orangutans cavorting on the opposite bank of the river was sublime. Twice a day you could visit the feeding platforms as the rescued Orangutans that were being rehabilitated back into jungle life were being given food. It was all simply wonderful.

During the day there was fun to be had leaping off diving platforms into the river, and you could hire large inflated  truck inner tubes to go floating down the languid river through the rain forest. It would take about an hour to reach the bridge where you would leave the river and catch a local bus back up to Bukit Lawang.

Floating down that river, not a sound except for the cawing of exotic birds and the burbling of water, your eyes gently feasting on the blue sky, lush vegetation, a smile coming to your lips at the sight of water buffalo wallowing in the river at the water’s edge.

Sheer joy.

I loved it, and I loved how it just came to me, and I loved how despite being in the depths of a hot and humid rain forest, an environment that would normally make me feel very uneasy, I was able to relax and enjoy it, with no fear of snakes, spiders or the numerous clouds of mosquitos at sunset overwhelming me. It truly was a tropical paradise, a phrase I would normally consider to be an oxymoron.

I had entered a very different state of mind, or perhaps I had let go of states of mind altogether and for a while was able to just be. The world we inhabit comes from both within and without.

After a joyous week or so I set out on the long trek to Bukittinggi, the final stopping off point for reaching Lake Maninjau. I broke the journey at the famed Lake Toba, but I didn’t take to it, and besides I was keen to get to Lake Maninjau so only stayed a night or two.

So early in the morning I took a bus for the final 12 hour stretch to Bukittinggi. An hour or so from Bukittinggi the bus stopped just before crossing the equator, where we all piled off to have fun standing astride it, one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern, taking the requisite photos and of course buying the t-shirt.

We  arrived quite late in Bukittinggi so I stayed one night and the next morning took the bus for the 2 hour journey culminating in a 44 switchback, 600 metre descent down into the caldera of the extinct volcano where lies Lake Maninjau.

Kevin was right, it was paradise.

A large, tranquil, placid lake, nestled deep within the extinct volcano. It had a road that circled it, the 600 metre slope covered in deep forest.

It was a remarkably peaceful, easy going place with no hustle and bustle.

I found a Losmen that Kevin has recommended to me, right on the edge of the lake. In the mornings I was able to walk out of my room, take two or three strides and dive into the clear, warm waters of the lake. Bliss.

After climbing out and drying off in the warm, fresh morning air I would sit down to a breakfast of tea, toast and the most amazing fruit salads I have ever seen. In the afternoons I might take one of the Losmen’s bicycles and cycle round the lake, stopping at small cafés for a cold drink on the way. The road was smooth for only about a third of the circuit and the rest of the way was quite bumpy with a smattering of private houses, and incredibly quiet. This place was something else.

I also visited Mr. Porcupine, at least that was the name that Kevin used for him, as he was famous for making necklaces from Porcupine quills that he would collect in the rain forest on the slopes around the lake. Kevin, who was a sceptic of the highest degree, was very taken with the charismatic power of this man who was known locally to be a powerful Shaman. I followed the directions to his house that Kevin gave me and found it easily enough. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a beaming face when the door opened, almost as though he was expecting me. I was welcomed in and given tea and shown his collection jewellery and  potions that he made from the bounties of the forest. He knew Kevin well and was very hospitable, offering to take me into the forest for a few days if I fancied the adventure. We chatted a while and I thanked him for his hospitality and I left promising to visit again soon.

After a few days Caz and Tracey turned up. I’m not sure how we coordinated it being in the days before mobile phones or even the widespread use of email. They had headed off to Aceh in northern Sumatra to go on a pre-booked river rafting expedition. I guess we figured out the window in which they were likely to turn up and had selected a Losmen they would initially check into on arrival. I remember that I would wander up to a particular Losmen in the early evening and see if they were there, and then one evening they were. Things were very different then.

I was delighted to find them and even more delighted that they had kept to our arrangement to try and meet up. I took them down to show them where I was staying and they loved it. The Losmen they had checked into was not on the lakeside so the next morning they moved down to the same place as me, right on the lake.

We all got on very well and soon got to know a nice bunch of people to hang out with. My birthday was coming up and once Caz and Tracey knew about it they decided they would throw me a birthday party at our favourite café, Café 44. We’d been there a few times and it had great food and cold beer and was incredibly good value as was all on Indonesia at this time as the Rupia had recently been devalued and the exchange rate was embarrassingly good for foreign tourists.

The day of my birthday rolled around and after breakfast I decided to wander down to see Mr. Porcupine and invite him to the party that evening. I arrived at his house, knocked and he opened the door, a big smile on his face. He invited me in and holding up a beautiful necklace made of deep red forest seeds and Porcupine quills, he said “happy birthday” and put the necklace around my neck. I was taken aback by his generosity given that I hardly knew him, and I was particularly taken aback that he knew it was my birthday as I certainly hadn’t mentioned it and no one else I met since arriving in Lake Maninjau had even heard of Mr. Porcupine.

I thanked him and we had some tea together. I invited him to the party that evening, and he said he would try to make it. I then went on my way mystified. As I walked back to my Losmen wearing my new necklace it was as though I was in a kind of dream world, I was wide awake and in a hyperreal state . I walked along and could deeply sense the world around me, with no thought, simply sensing everything very fully. I could even sense the deep forest on the slopes around me, I could feel it, all the creatures in it, it was as though I could hear them, and I had a sense of a Tiger walking along through the forest in the same direction as myself, yet it was a far distance away. I was able to go with it and not question it or over think it. I arrived back at my Losmen feeling a profound sense of peace. I had a swim and melded back into the rest of the day.

The evening came round and it was time to head to the party. Caz and Tracey spread the word and rounded up a good sized group of people, it was going to be a good night. I was wearing the Porcupine quill necklace and  much to my delight Mr. Porcupine arrived and I introduced him to Caz and Tracey. He sat quietly opposite me and watched the fun unfold. We had plenty of good food and a few beers and then the dancing got under way. I was in flying form and got up to join in with the dancing.

I was dancing away enthusiastically when I suddenly slipped into another realm. The music seemed far away and I was in a place that seemed to be a vibrant red with black spirit like figures all around me that would come in and out toward me, not threatening in any way, simply and beautifully mysterious. I could feel myself dancing more and more energetically, in some sort of wild trance. I was then aware of voices coming from far, far away and something shaking me, and all of a sudden I came out of it with Caz and Tracey looking worriedly at me asking me if I was okay. They reported that I had gone into a mad frenzied dance, muttering all sorts of strange words, ‘speaking in tongues’. It had freaked them out a bit.

I assured them that I was absolutely fine, which I was, just mildly shaken and bemused, but sublimely happy. I sat down to recover and looked across the table to Mr. Porcupine who smiled and nodded knowingly.

To this day I do not know what happened but it was certainly something. I have often wondered what I would have seen if they had not shaken me out of it.