Once the group arrived, it was a bus ride to Bukit Lawang. It was a tiny little town built around an orangutan rehabilitation center. The bus could only get to a point- then we hired tiny little Indonesian boys to carry our luggage across the river to our guesthouse.
We were in the rainforest- frequent heavy rain, lush vegetation. A quick lunch and most of the group headed for either a jungle trek or an orangutan trek. We opted to head for a walk through the town and found a great little bar/restaurant overlooking the river. What a scene- tons of Indonesian families in their makeshift picnic areas on the rocks with blankets and tarps. Most of the kids were in the river, just sitting, washing, or playing. It was so hot and humid—it looked like the best place to be. The river had a fairly active current- so tubers were racing down the river. After a few hours, we continued our walk and checked out the rest of the town.
At one of the local restaurants, we stopped for a beer and one of the locals asked, Where you come from”….so we made him guess. After guessing British, Dutch, German, Australians, we gave him a clue- “Bill Clinton”. He burst into laughter and said, “Bill Clinton- stupid, stupid”….then said, “Lewinsky- stupid, stupid”. It was amazing that everyone everywhere can relate to Bill and Monica. A light dinner and we skipped the group “orientation meeting”…already making a statement about our group participation.
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