Medan Travel Forum

Dear all,

i've a couple of questions on subj
1) Till what time do the minibuses run to Bukit Lawang from Medan's Penang Barus bus station?

2) How much is a private/share taxi from Medan to Bukit Lawang and where to get it?

I'm afraid that we'll arive to medan in the afternoon and will be late for the public transportation, but want to avoid staying there overnight

Hi,
Not sure about the latest time the buses run from Medan. I think they run from Binjai one hour away until about 5.30 pm.
You can get a local bus to Binjai but I believe the buses at 5.30 pm would be packed full from Bukit Lawang people.
I went up to Binjai quite a few times during my 5 week stay in Bukit Lawang last year.
For your information mini buses do not leave from Pinang Baris bus terminal.
They leave from an unmarked area about 1 km away from the the main bus terminal.
Only the big buses leave from the main terminal.
Here is a link to a photo I took in Sept last year to help fellow travellers wanitng to go to Bukit Lawang.
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2000802180099969701QCVwlN
Print off and take with you and someone will direct you there.

Re taxi I do not think you will be able to share one because the chances of someone else wanting to do that woluld probably be remore-but you never know.
I think it will cost you about 300,000 + petrol because the driver has to return to Medan probably empty.

You could email one of my friends Ajad who works in a travel agency in Medan and this company reguarly takes people down to Bukit Lawang.
He may be able to co ordinate you with other travellers.
His details are in link below.
http://forum.indahnesia.com/topic/4514/0/recommended_travel_agent_in_medan.php

How long are you going to Bukit Lawang for?
If you get a chance hire a motor bike with rider and head down to Tangkahan- a magical paradise 2 hrs over bumpy road from Bukit Lawang.
Loads of info' on this site re Bukit Lawang.
http://www.bukitlawangfloodappeal.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=4b97a48fc9288945485abd5c6f9947ff

Wishing a great time in Bukit Lawang- I love it there.
If you have any questions just ask away and I will help.
Pamela- stuck in freezing cold Sydney now. This time last year I was in Malang in East Java basking in a wonderful tropical heat.

Hi again,
Here is the link to my photos of Tangkahan taken in late Sept last year.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/558220008eKUdnh

Also I think you will find this article interesting reading as well.
at last that old ricketty bridge at Bukit Lawang has been repaired by a group of English volunteers who went to Bukit Lawang in April to build a two storey medical centre and thought they would rebuild the bridge in their spare time.
What a wonderful gift for the village on both accounts!!
Amazing and wonderful people and a HUGE Thank You to Sue Gillespie for posting all this information on Indahnesia.com for all to read and pass on to others.
http://forum.indahnesia.com/topic/4960/0/visit_to_bukit_lawang_-_marchapril_2007.php
Pamela.

Good to hear that you already planed to come to my city(Medan). But, so sorry to inform you before coming. Medan and some region arround it(mostly North Sumatera) has raining almost the whole day for the last one week. According to the local Meteorologi center, this rain could be coming till the middle of Augusts. The rain started from early in the morning till at night, this suppossed not too great for your trip. But, bears in mind, that in 2004, Bukit Lawang had big flood after 2 days raining. It was killed more than 10 person including some tourists. Till now, the project to recovering the tourist object(Bkt. Lawang ) still not too good, as many people there still loose their house and their land/property. Some guest house/hotel even not exsist anymore nowdays as they sweept by the flood. Just considering the trip for the coming weeks,bro.
Another current news is, the "unmarked area" for cacthing the bus for bukit Lawang is now not safe anymore. Even the location mot more than 50 meters from one small tourist post, but still the crime happend almost every day. I would suggest to catch the bus/clear company bus to your transportation. The "unmarked area" at the corner of the road to inside the Pinang Baris terminal is DEFENITELY NOT legal. Nowdays, the police and some locals trasportation officer keep manage the bus/ chartered small taxi to not pick up passanger at the corner, besids too risky for the passanger itself. Besides, the authority already prepare the safety, clean terminal for every bus/ taxi inside the terminal with some directions sign to go with.
Btw, the road, lately for the last 20 kms up to bukit Lawang is so arwfull and hard to believe you will enjoy any kind of vehicle you might choose from Medan.
It almost terribelroad for the last 2 years.
Btw, mostly people get Bukit Lawang by public bus(a big one ) with people inside the bus could be arround 60 - 100 ppassangers. Some tourist enjoy it, besides the cheapest price, also can talking to local directly. But, you better take some private taxi/ chartered small bus with 4-6 person on van to get there from many local travel agents in Medan that seemed all of them have the trip/bus tour/chartered to bukit Lawang/ Parapat also..
I believe my reply is not all of them is a nice explanation. But, just trying to give the fact lately thaqt you might consider for memorable trip to Sumatera.
Please do not hesitate to give me some more question about Sumatera. it's nice to share on here.
Try to get me also on www.flickr.com/photos/phantom_toba
Or my email at jansen.h@mailcity.com

Pamela, I've been check the lonely planet forum(Tohrn tree) lately.And I found that same user name with yours. It's ridiculous, because if this still the same yours, then clearly seemed that U become so obsessive for advertising/promoting many people(locals with their bussiness) on every travel forum you stay, I mean evrytime, same person,same facilities you promote them.
Wondering can they just use the internet to promote themselves??
Or are you dealing with them for some tips later??
You advertising many localsguide/backpackers hotel almost in every tourist object in Indonesia.
So, currious... Because no one can prove the capability/skil of repeating names that you promote here and also others site you in. Are they keep their skill in good track years to years?? How could you so relief to promote someone(locals) that you've met 3-4 years ago, meanwhile you still in your country nowdays?? We all know that people changed by the time. Last thing to sure, are you taking the responsibility also when something goes wrong during the trip with people/hotel/guide you recommended(many times) ??
Just to keep safe during my holiday before decide to agree or dealing with people or hotel as you "advertising on cyber".

Hello,
There seems to be a campaign going on at the moment to discredit me-well keep posting whatever you like. It is nothing compared to what I have had to put up over the years.
I have been posting for a long time and this seems to happen to me from time to time.
But after awhile you all get bored and go onto annoy someone else.

There is one thing all of you who critcise me seem to NOT understand- fellow travellers want to know details about where different travellers have been, where they have stayed, how much they paid, what tours they did and which guides they used, what buses etc, how long the trip took.
I actually get enough emails from travellers- over 3,000 emails in almost 7 yr(since November 2000 after 4 months in Indonesia) since for me to know that the majority of past travellers or future travellers on the different forums appreciate the information I write on the forums.
Pamela.

Very easy to see it is a vendetta against me because you only joined yesterday and immediately attack someone who has belonged to this website since Nov 14 2001.
Seems like you have nothng better to do with your time.
What you don't realize in your complete and utter ignorance is that people reading this will make up their minds from my previous contributions to this website over the time and not take much notice of your negative comments.
Pamela.

Hi to the Original Poster,

I have no idea why one of the previous posters Jansenbosenk would try to make you believe that the huge flood of November 3rd 2003 ( not 2004 as indicated by him)) was caused by rainfall over 2 days- that is totally and absolutely incorrect.
Why this Indonesian person would be trying to dissaude you from going to Bukit Lawang I will never know. I am sure the people of BL would not be very happy, esp those who try to make a living out of guiding the traveller into the jungle.
I spent 19 days in Bukit Lawang in Jan/Feb 2005 and then 5 weeks in Sept/Oct 2006. Great laid back place. I really loved it there.

What happened in Bukit Lawang in Nov 2003 was that over the years with illegal logging and just natural happenings in the jungle like trees falling down- a huge natural dam built up and filled with water, eventually over time the pressure of the water broke the sides and a huge wall of water something like 60' high came down the river and washed the village of Bukit Lawang away.
The reason the village was so vulnerable was that when the river was redirected in the late 60's for irrigation the local people built on the reclaimed river land. Travellers came and enjoyed the feeding of the orangutans etc and so more and more buildings appeared.
A practice that would not be allowed in western and other develpoed countries.
Sadly a practice like this lead to the drowning of over 300 people and many other bodies were never found.
It was an extremely sad and horrible time for all of us and I spent hours and hours on the internet atthe time trying to lik people up with each other.
An Indonesian woman Yarty in England with the help of her English husband matthew set up this website http://www.bukitlawangfloodappeal.com/forum/
to raise money and to let the world know of the terrible tragedy of Bukit Lawang.

Last year when I was in Tangkahan I stayed at Jungle Lodge and the owner Sylvia showed where even the river running alongside her property had risen too about 20' high and you could see where it had damamged the bricks.
So you can imagine the volume of water that came from that dam up in the jungle when it had such a huge impact even in Tangahakan- 2 hrs by motor bike from Bukit Lawang.

Currently in Bukit Lawang there are many guest houses to stay in like
Jungle Inn, Garden Inn, Rock Inn, Canoopy, Bukit Lawang Indah, Sibayak, Yusman, Bukit Lawang Cottages also known as Echo Lodge,all down near the river and up the path alongside the river whilst Nora's homestay is in the village of Gotong Royong.
All of them offer different experiences so if you tend to stay for a while you could stay at more than one.
And re the mini bus terminal many Indonesian people use this one more than the foreign traveller. I have not heard about it being illegal, but will be able to confirm that through my many friends in Bukit Lawang and Medan.
Pamela.

When we were last year there, we just asked the taxi to be dropped where minibuses to BL go and within 10 minutes, we were on minibus to BL (pretty squeezed in last row, having 20 people in a van for 8, but thatīs the fun of it...). J.

For the Original Poster.
If you are interested in trekking in Bukit Lawang and would like to see some of the most beautiful pictures check out this new website which offers treks as well.
www.expeditionjungle.com/
Pamela.

Thanx to all esp. Pamela,

we made it to Bukit Lawang this summer))

Actually after arriving to Pinang Baris station we were touted to that 'unmarked area' and sice the big bus just left (we've seen it but there were no adjacent seats available) we were ripped of to take a minibus and buy 3 seets beside the driver (designed for two, but usually 3 people ride it). The total loss was 4.5 USD((

We learn from that 1st minibus experience on Sumatra and all the next ru=ides were not so bad for the budget, although very tiresome (being cramped inside breathing all that heavy smoking fumes)

Apart from those auful minibuses we loved Sumatra))

How much did you pay? At weekends I think it is about 12,000 for the trip, other times 10,000 though it may have gone up now. It is sadly 13 mnths since I was in Bukit Lawang.
You should have just said No! (Tidak) to that one and made them wait for someone else to come along. I cannot speak English but I do not some words appropriate for the occaison.
I am usually one who will pay for two to get that seat in the front and it has always been my idea. I did not know they would do that to travellers.

When I have travelled in Java from Cianjur where I used to have a small free English school for children( closed now) I always paid for the two front seats so I could accomodate my Big Backpack.
Glad you enjoyed Sumatra.
Where did you go in Sumatra- I am really interested to know.
Pamela.

The touts told us it's 20 000 for a peron so we paid 60 000 for two (to buy so-called 3 seats)

Going back from BL to Medan we paid just 10 000 for a person...

We've been to BL, Toba lake and Berastagi (climbed Sibayak)