September 2, 2026 – Lapin, lapin

Well, we forgot again.  Even after teaching our Sumatran guide and driver about lapin, lapin, on the morning of September 1, we forgot again.  I have many wishes in my back pocket that I’d make if I ever remember to say lapin, lapin (rabbit, rabbit) first thing in the morning on the first day of each month.  I always have wishes for our daughters, Tessa, all our kin, and for the world as a whole, but even without them being granted, I am thankful.

The past 8 days have been a whirlwind of crazy activity, starting with an afternoon flight to Medan, Sumatra, that was cancelled, rescheduled twice that day, then finally canceled at 1:30 am, resulting in another night spent in the airport.  At 2 am, the airline offered a bus for us and about 100 others to a local hotel, but we’d need to be back at the airport at 5:30 am. Ugh! Stan and I opted to stay put in the airport.

Thank goodness, though, the morning flight left on time, which enabled us to meet the Medan driver for our 7-Day Northern Sumatra tour.  We were a bit wonky, for sure, but super relieved that we did not get left behind for the tour.  As it turned out, our tour was a private one.  High tourist season in Sumatra is June and July; we paid for a group tour but received a private tour since we were the only booking.  It was a nice reward for having the previous day’s aggravation.

This excursion was packed with activity and was a really good one, well worth its cost.  I’ll just touch on the highlights. 

At Bukit Lewang, we slept under mosquito nets in picturesque jungle cabins before entering Gunung Leuser National Park for a fairly challenging 6-hour jungle hike.  We had probably hiked well over an hour before our first sighting.  First, we came upon several Thomas’s Leaf Monkeys, positioned low on the trees.  Looking like tiny wrinkled old men with extreme haircuts, these little guys were curious and friendly with us hikers.  They wanted to see us as much as we wanted to see them.   Later we found two Sumatran Orangutans.  Orangutans are solitary animals.  One was moving through the jungle; the other was dining on handfuls of termites.  We got a pretty good look at him. 

While our outing was 6-8 hours long, we did not hike the entire time. We stopped for a delicious ostentatious snack of fresh tropical fruits brought along by one of the guides in his backpack.  Then later, the guides served us a riverbank picnic lunch of chicken, vegetables, the always-present rice, fried tempeh (fermented soybean curd), kerupuk udang (shrimp crackers), and a fried mashed potato on banana leaves.  Then we got soaked on the river, tubing through the rapids returning to camp!

During these seven days, we got a real feel for life in Northern Sumatra. In addition to the jungle hike and seeing the Sumatran wildlife there, one of the thrilling moments was passing by farm fields with Mt. Sinabung in the background, standing tall in its characteristic volcano cone shape with white smoke piping out of its top.   The most exciting and most rewarding adventure, however, was our 4 am, 1.5-mile hike in the darkness of 4 am to the top of Mt. Sibayak to watch the sun creep over the eastern horizon.  Wearing headlamps, the hike was rocky, rugged, treacherous, and steep.  Even AllTrails rates the hike as “hard.” For us, it was horrendous; we stopped often to rest and catch our breath, but we made it.  As we rested and congratulated ourselves for having overcome that great hill without injury, we snacked on coconut cookies and home-brewed sweetened coffee brought by our guide.  We were cloaked in cloud mist.  Visibility was poor.  Of course we were worried that all that effort might be for naught, but just as the sun began to show its first light, the clouds moved away to present a brilliant red morning. 

Remember that con-shaped volcano mentioned above?  We took photos of it on August 26, as we drove by.  Just days later, on August 31, Mt. Sinabung exploded in a level 3 eruption that billowed smoke and ash, sending a column of ash 3,000 meters above its summit.  People in local villages evacuated, and the streets in the nearby town of Berastagi looked as if they had been hit by a snowstorm.  Ash was 5 to 6 inches deep.   The earlier clear blue skies Stan and I enjoyed days ago are now filled with ash covering nearly the entire island.

One last note: we spent two days with guide Yoga on the jungle trek, but we spent 5 days with guide Deni and driver Feri in Berastagi and Lake Toba.  While driving together much of the time during those five days, we got to know each other. Deni is tall by Sumatran standards and newly married.  Feri is married and father to a child of six, but he looks like a teenager.  I don’t think there is a topic we didn’t cover in those five days.  We talked about the pros and cons of palm oil farming and how it is done. We talked religion; we talked about being Muslim and about being a Christian.  We all believe we pray to the same God.  We discussed politics, and we talked about food. Boy, did we ever. We laughed and made jokes.  Stan was in his element and put on his comedy show, while Deni held his own.  We compared family life and traditions, and we taught each other a lot.  Most of all, we became friends and were saddened to say goodbye as they dropped us off in Medan for a brief stay before we head to the western part of this island tomorrow.  Deni and Feri, you are in our hearts.