6.5 Hours Later...

After 6.5 hours, we found an ATM that would allow us to withdraw money with a Bank of America debit card. I'm not exaggerating. I am actually rounding down. As I mentioned yesterday, the closest ATM was 25 miles away...but as it turns out, that one doesn't take visa debit (which is what BOA is) so we drove and tried and drove and tried and drove and tried until we were almost back to Medan (the city we flew into...three hours away). OMG. We can't possibly be the first people to arrive in Bukit Lawang without a ton of cash...but no one made sure we left the airport prepared for a cash-only-experience, so maybe we are?! Our driver was a great sport and we got to see some of the countryside, so cup half full.

This part of the adventure gives me a chance to describe the driving here. It is like nothing on Earth. Let's see....roads are paved and in decent condition. The vehicles are: some cars, some huge trucks, some pedestrians, but primarily mopeds carrying anywhere from 1 to 5 people or anything from 1500 eggs to 15 rolled up carpets- no lie. Technically one should drive on the left, and technically there is one lane for each direction. Technically. The entire drive was complete mayhem. We spent as almost as much time on the right as on the left. There was usually a swarm of bikes coming at us and zipping around us and swirling around each other. It got really interesting when we passed a car or a truck or became three cars wide on this two lane street packed with crazies. It was exhausting. I may try to capture it on film, but don't think it can be done.

Now with that story out of the way, I should say we had a great Valentines Day. We woke up to the sound of the waterfall, took a short walk in the jungle and had breakfast outdoors with the monkeys. Jim and Addi gave me some pretty earrings from Malaysia ...and then we had our 6.5 hour adventure.

We hope you had a great Valentines Day too!

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