What the hell is Orang Pendek? (Sumatra, Indonesia)

For a revised version of this post, go here.

June 24^th, 2009 – I've been strategizing, planning, and getting sick . . . . again. This time I think the culprit was fried chicken. Damn Colonel Sanders!!! I’ve been trying to make jungle plans and have met with the usual amount of frustration. At my last hotel I inquired into the possibility of doing some trekking. The gentleman behind the desk made a couple of calls and a guide met me at the hotel.

Well, Yan is a former guide as I soon discovered but an extremely nice guy. We soon became friends. He told me that although he no longer conducted guided tours he did have a friend who would help me out. This friend (Sahar) had some interesting experience. Apparently, he assisted some folks working under the aegis of National Geographic and their search for the mysterious orang pendek.

What the hell is orang pendek you ask? That would be Sumatra’s version of bigfoot, albeit a scaled down version (about 3ft tall – Littlefoot?). There have been rumors for many years of a small hairy humanoid creature roaming the junglein Kerinci National Park. Sahar helped set up and maintain motion activated cameras in certain areas of the jungle. The experiment proved fruitless. The little hairy bastard is an allusive bugger (Check out the Orang Pendek Project homepage). I was also told that Sahar assists a professional photographer that periodically visits the area. I found this most propitious and agreed to meet him in his village after leaving Sungai Penuh.

Danau Gunung Tujuh (Sumatra, Indonesia)

For a revised version of this post, go here.

June 25^th, 2009 – Took a little jaunt up to Danau Gunung Tujuh (Seven Mountains Lake). I had expected a bit more exertion but there was not a whole lot to the hike. It is the highest lake in Southeast Asia and rather striking. The mountain and dense jungle backdrop make it well worth a look.

However, the excursion was not exactly ideal. Firstly, Sahar is not much of a conversationalist although he did start to engage me on the way down. And his languid pace was the result of his constant texting on his cell phone. Listening to the boom boom of Indonesian hip hop music every time his phone rang kind of killed the jungle vibe. Maybe I’m too old fashion.

We arrived at the lake only to find a group local adolescent males swimming and having a gay (traditional sense) old time. Swimming, laughing and behaving as boys of that age behave. They have as much right to the place as I do (if not more) so I can’t fault them but it was an additional vibe killer. Not only that the place was a mess with trash strewn about the lakefront. This is too bad, it is such a nice area. Sahar spoke with a few of the lads and a clean up was undertaken.