The good thing about joining group tours when travelling is that the planning is all done for you however this also means the dates you travel are set and sometimes you can end up with free time between each tour. For us this happened to be between Cambodia and Vietnam. Where to go, where to go?! I had already done India, Thailand and Cambodia and I had Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China coming up so after some research Indonesia was looking good!
Before this trip the longest I had been away from my parents had been 2 weeks and even then I still spoke to my mum every single day, they love to travel and other than my brother who was already with me there's no other people in the world I wanted to see more than them……..‘Mum, dad, you fancy a few weeks in Indonesia?’ of course the answer to that question was a very firm YES!!!
This part of my trip, for me anyway, was more about having time with my family and sharing part of my experience with them above anything else. So we explored, we island hopped, we visited temples and we encountered incredible wildlife but after 84days apart it was just nice to be back with my family! Also there’s only so much you can see in just 3 weeks, we gave it a good shot but you're never going to see everything, there's over seventeen thousand islands in Indonesia!
Mum and dad were only able to come out for two weeks so that still left one week for me, my brother and a friend to find one of the biggest hidden gems in Asia. Two flights, 10 hour layover in Kuala Lumpar (incredible airport, with a Nandos FYI) and a 3hr drive we arrived in Bukit Lawang on the island of Sumatra. Not only was this small village on the bank of Bahorok River in North Sumatra beautiful, it was the place people came to trek the jungles on the lookout for orangutans in their natural habitat!
We stayed in a quaint hotel made up of individual bamboo bungalows, on the edge of Mount Leuser National Park, still one of the best hotels i've stayed in despite the 260 steps to reach it! Beautiful straw roof bungalows with hammocks hanging on the terrace, cobbled steps leading to an outside bathroom with coconut shower, all set in lush green grounds high up in the hills. Although missing Cambodia, Indonesia was looking good from the get go!
We began the week with a day relaxing in the quiet town filled with traditional shops lining cobbled streets running alongside the river. Little restaurants overlooking the water, locals swimming and tubing down the stream and villagers amazed by the ‘white people’ walking around their community, it took twice as long to walk around this place due to the fact you're always being stopped for your picture to be taken with someone. Actually in 1 of the temples my friend and I completely missed the entire tour due to a queue of people wanting pictures with us, is this what it's like to be famous?!
The next two days were all about the orangutans! We headed off through the national park with our guide, along rough muddy paths, up steep hills and down steps made from tree roots before we came to a sudden halt! Above us, swinging in the trees, minding his own business was a magnificent orangutan! These animals are incredible but to see them in their natural habit doing what they do best is a sight that takes your breath away! We were lucky enough to not only see this one but seven more throughout the trek, babies, mums, teenagers, all swinging through the trees or hunting for food on the ground, each one as spectacular as the last! We set up camp next to the river for the night where we sat around the campfire telling stories, singing songs and eating the most delicious freshly cooked food all before a night under the stars! The tents were way too uncomfortable in the humidity so outdoor sleeping it was, although I'm not sure the mosquito bites I received were worth it!
Once the sun came up it was a quick swim in the waterfalls before tubing down the river back to town and heading onto our next destination, Lake Toba! The drive from Bukit Lawang was long but so beautiful and there's so many places to stop for a bite to eat or just to look at the views. We arrived at the port for the ferry across to Tuk Tuk island, now when you are planning your own trip remember to research research research!!! I thought I did a lot but I obviously didn't take much notice when I booked this part. The hotel was beautiful and the lake was beautiful but there was nothing and I mean nothing to do! Maybe we came at a bad time or maybe we were in the wrong location but it was like a ghost town, luckily we weren’t staying for too long!
Within no time our first week was over like a flash and it was onto Jarva and the city of Yogyakarta to meet mum and dad!!!!!! Very stressful transfer and we nearly missed our flight but we made it, all together again! It was so nice to see my parents, we had so much to catch up on and so much planned together!
Because there is so much to see and do in Indonesia we moved around ALOT! Maybe there’s more to each place than we got to experience, maybe we saw the best bits and there wasn't much else but we packed in as much as we could as well as making sure we had time to just relax together, after all, after these two weeks it was going to be another eight weeks before I saw my parents again so quality time together was number 1 priority. Saying that, we did see near enough all the ‘top attractions’ Indonesia has to offer!
You can’t go to Java without visiting two temples, the Borobudur Temple and Prambanan. Borobudur temple is the largest Buddist temple in the world! This incredible place was built in the 9th century and although it's been restored over the years due to volcano eruption it is one of the most beautiful temples i've visited. Make sure you have a guide when visiting places like this to really understand the history and why it is so special! Prambanan temple is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. This temple is dedicated to the 3 gods, Brahma - the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva - the destroyer. This temple is very similar to Angkor Wat in Cambodia (and where we were made to feel famous!)
From Java we moved on to the Gili islands, via Bali (we come back to Bali later) The Gili islands is made up of 3 tiny islands – Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. Gili T is the party island, Gili Meno is the smallest and Gili Air is in the middle so Gili Air it was! People talk about paradise, white sandy beaches, crystal waters, quiet and peaceful….. Well this is Gili Air! No cars are allowed on the island and minimal bikes so you either get around by horse and cart or on foot! You can get around the entire island within two hours on foot. It's tiny! Here we chilled! We swam in the pool, walked along the shores, ate a lot of food and chilled, it was bliss!! There are watersports on the island which my brother enjoyed and massages overlooking the ocean which is more my kind of thing but really this place was just relaxing on a whole new level and our accommodation wow! Gorgeous little bamboo huts with outside bathrooms (it must be a thing in Indonesia), just steps away from the beach!
After a few days experiencing island life it was onto Lombok we went, although only for one night, as sort of a stop over on the way to Flores. The short stay was a shame, I've heard great things about Lombok since and the hotel here was out of this world! As a girl whose dream is to run her own hotel this is the sort of place I'd be basing it on! An infinity pool overlooking pristine beaches, restaurants and bars with no walls so you can appreciate the stunning views, rooms with absolutely everything you could need/want on holiday and an outside bathroom, again, with the most beautiful shower set underneath the palm trees! Double WOW!!
So onto Flores! Most people use Flores as a base point for day trips over to Rinca island, home of the Komodo Dragons! Now I love reptiles and have a bearded dragon at home so I was even more excited about this day than the others. These astonishing creatures can grow up to an incredible 3 meters in length and we saw loads wandering, well really just lazing, around the island! Once the aww'ing was over we made our way to the highest point of the island where you could see for miles across the ocean with lots of other islands around, it was truly out of this world! To top the day off we then stopped for snorkeling a few times on the boat ride back to Flores. The different kinds of fish were amazing and yes we did find Nemo but be aware some of these fish bite and actually do draw blood!
Our final stop was Bali! Now Bali is beautiful, yes, and we probably didn't explore as much as we should have done but to me it is an Australian version of Spain and too touristy for my liking. To be honest with only 2 days left of our holiday and our trip to the local market not being very successful (the sellers tapping your shoulder and pulling you into shops the whole time) it was lucky our hotel was so brilliant! It had everything you needed, bar’s, restaurants, shops, markets, pools, slides, lazy rivers, it had it all. It was like its own little city but friendlier than the really city we were in.
I had the most amazing time with my favorite people, these 2 weeks were jam packed with amazing places and incredible experiences but would I visit Indonesia again? I'm not sure, I know there's probably a lot more to see in this part of the world but personally I think i've seen the best bits already and there's so many other places in the world to explore I think Indonesia will take a back seat for now, if only you could get paid to travel forever then I'd be back ;p
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