Success

If a successful jungle trek is measured by blisters, then I had one (big ugly) success today. If, on the other hand, success is measured by the number of wild orangutan spottings, then I had 11 times the success. Woo!

I was hot and sweaty and kept being bitten by mosquitoes because my bug repellent was being sweat right off, but when my guide and I turned a corner and I saw my first orangutan, I knew it had all been worth it. Well, until my guide started freaking out a little bit and telling me we had to get away from her. Fast. I was like, dude, hold on a second, I'll kill myself trying to get down this hill if I move any faster. Afterwards he told me that her name is Mina and she can be very aggressive. She's actually bitten my guide before and he had to go to the hospital.

Besides the orangutans, I also saw lots of long-tail macaques and Thomas leaf monkeys, too. The national park where I was trekking is also home to elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses and man, wouldn't it have been cool to see those? But those aren't the types of animals that are hanging around the edges of the park and I wasn't up for a week long trek into the jungle.  

Well, internet in Bukit Lawang is expensive and agonizingly slow, so that's all for now. I will upload the rest of the monkey shots when I'm back in a city.