Waterfalls and Jungle Facepaint

Breakfast with our jungle friends was soon followed by a trip to the local waterfall.  There, Chuck got the royal spa treatment to turn her into the jungle queen:

Jakka delicately crowns her "Queen Tomatoface of the Jungle" and declares his intention to marry her some day:

Jakka admires his work:

Then, after the jungle facial treatment comes a massage, care of the waterfall:

Lovely.

Glamping

At the end of our hike through the jungle, we arrived at the river's edge, sweaty and hot:

 

Ready for glamping (ok, not glamping, really.  just regular camping), we were greeted by this guy, our excellent chef de cuisine (whose name I cannot remember, because I am terrible person):

We were also by this lady and child, Jackie and baby-who-has-yet-to-be-named-by-the-authorities:

Jackie was just prepping our tent for us, we think.  However, we were informed that Jackie "likes to hold hands" but "doesn't smell very good," and thus we were to exercise caution in her presence:

Jackie and baby ultimately did not  bother us that evening, but instead chose to head to bed while we bathed in the river and got ready for this delicious dinner, which included chicken curry and tempeh, among other things:

After dinner we started with the "black magic," as our chef called it... card tricks, brain teasers, you name it:

Good times were had by all... we particularly enjoyed the La Dee Da cup game as well as a rousing game of "Jonny Woop," a game which can only be explained in person.

Jakka took these photos, proud of his campfire handiwork:

Our hiking clothes, dutifully hung out to dry, would never do so:

As I said, good times:

Why does Tim look like an old man in this photo?

Our awesome chef, cracking himself up by explaining that the more Jakka, ahem, partakes of the herbal remedy, the more he looks like "Japanese Bob Marley":

A portrait of the artist as a young man:

Simon, who loves the "La Dee Da" cup game despite his complete inability to play it without descending into the giggles:

The flames, the flames:

Jungle Joys

More fun jungle stuff...  in addition to all the monkeys and orangutans and sweating and giant trees, we also got to try cinnamon and quinine in the wild, see rubber being harvested, and catch a glimpse of this super cool wild peacock:

When they first pointed him out to me, I thought to myself, "Oh, he's sitting on a log."  Then I realized that what I thought was a log was really his massive tail feathers:

He, in turn, was thinking, "What are you looking at, tomatoface?!"

Video, complete with Tim's hand flapping in frame for perspective on how close we got:

Jakka took the camera to document just how sweaty and red-faced ("tomato-faced," as he put it) we were:

He also captured this (massive, like the size of a small dog) ant carrying a big load.  Then he ate an ant in front of us, claiming it tastes like lemon.  He also ate termites while on the trail.  We declined a taste.

Disappearing into the jungle:

Oh, there's his little tomatoface!

Termite mound on a tree trunk:

Twisty vines strangling a tree:

Tim, chilling:

Chuck, trying not to strangle Jakka for taking so many photos of her:

Simon leads the way:

"Seriously, dude. Stop."

We ate a snack with this guy up in our business the whole time:

Simon's glamor shots:

Jungle view:

Winding our way through the steep, muddy, vine-covered paths:

Back to Bukit Lawang: People of the Jungle

Last time I was in Bukit Lawang (with Colleen and Scuba Steve), I had such a good time that I insisted we go back for more jungle trekking, rafting and general shenanigans with our favorite guides, Jakka and Simon. 

We arrived late night and headed out on the trek through Gunung Leuser National Park early the next morning:

Right of the bat we were in greeted with some wildlife... a troop of Thomas Leaf Monkeys (remember them from last time?):

Then some greedy macaques (or "cheeky monkeys," as the Bukit Lawang folk call them).

We did some vine swinging:

Some massive tree climbing:

And then, voila, all of our orangutan dreams came true... Tim and Chuck got their first sighting, and then another and another and another:

All in all we saw 5 adult orangutans, each with a little baby!  Pretty awesome day.  No Mina this time, although I can't say I am too too disappointed about that, given her

reputation for being a bit bitey.  We did see Sepi and her baby, though, who I had seen earlier in the year at the feeding platform.  I said hi.  She seemed good.

We also each sweated approximately 2 liters of water each... ok, maybe 4 liters for Tim.

 These pics are like the Where's Waldo of the jungle... find the orangutan:

Photos of us are courtesy of Jakka, who enjoyed playing the tourist for a day and gently mocking us... "Your country is so amazing!"