Finally out of the jungle! Made it out of the jungle and back to Medan finally. Was a little bit of a trek and definitely harder than it needed to be.
Breakfast and Wrapping Up
Got all my stuff packed the night before, but got everything ready and headed to the main area for a little bit of breakfast and then settling up. Even with all the meals and stuff, still was only about $30 worth of food and drinks for all 5 days, so wasn’t too bad. Said goodbye’s and ended up getting into the van with just one driver this time (I guess they didn’t need both?). Like an idiot, I didn’t want to carry everything with me, so ended up chugging a huge bottle of water (cause you know, what could go wrong). Left around 9AM though and headed back for the city.
Pit Stops
Made it about an hour, before I caved and asked if there were any bathrooms along the way (because it was going to be an 8 hour trip).
I ended up finding a couple at some pit stops we made (for yet more cigarettes) and for gas. Still am not sure how the buckets don’t overflow since the water is constantly dripping.
Lunch
Driver forgot that I don’t carry cash with me and was going to take me to a couple different lunch spots, but eventually figured out what I was talking about again and brought me back to the place we went on the way, since we knew they would take credit cards. Had some teriyaki chicken and a melon juice.
Second Half
The second half of the trip was a little rough. It started pouring, so the road conditions were a lot worse, but we made it to the city around 5pm, but to my surprise, we were not just stuck in a ton of traffic, but also going AWAY from my hotel that I had booked.
Turned out that he had some cash from me and other guests that they had asked him to change to IDR, but didn’t bother doing it on the way back to the guesthouse, but instead took me with him for the detour. Added about an extra hour and a half to the trip as we went bumper to bumper through traffic. A little ridiculous actually, but at this point I didn’t want to make a ruckus and just wanted to get to the hotel after being semi-trapped for multiple days without having a way to get back to the city and around to different places.
This one car had a cute pooh in the back though. City itself looked actually pretty interesting, as much as I say I hate cities, I’d have enjoyed walking around a bit and seeing some of the parks and sights.
Hotel
The hotel itself was pretty nice. I had booked a 4-star near the airport with a shuttle for $20 USD (which can go a long way in Indonesia). Really nice space and was happy to get a shower in with running water and a running toilet. Beautiful views of the city as well.
Went down for the dinner buffet as well and had some delicious food and fruit (and a watermelon margarita).
Did a little bit of photo editing and uploading with the stable(ish) wifi, and mostly relaxed as I drifted to sleep in the air conditioned room.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy – finally back to the city!
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
Leave a comment