Best Guest House in Bukit Lawang
Sumatran Hospitality at the Garden Inn
If you're heading to Indonesia to see "jungle people" (a.k.a., orangutans), then stay a while at the number one place for comfort and friendliness on the Bohorok River.
Know Before You Go
Many travelers journey to far-off places to see, do, and experience things they just can't get at home. In Southeast Asia, primates are a major attraction for tourism. On Sumatra, the largest island in Indonesia, the orangutans of Bukit Lawang are on every visitor's "must see" list. A wide variety of accommodations have grown up along the Bohorok River that runs through Bukit Lawang to accommodate foreign adventurers.
As you plan your trip to Indonesia, you'll surely do a little research. You'll look inside your Lonely Planet. You'll surf the web. All the names of the guest houses sound the same. So do the descriptions. How do you get the scoop on the best place to say? Your best bet: get a full account of another traveler's experience.
The Perfect Place Makes for the Perfect Trip
When you're in a foreign country, it takes a while to get comfortable. Staying at a place with friendly people, good service, and good vibes makes all the difference.
To reach the riverside guest houses of Bukit Lawang, you must walk a ways, as they say, down a dirt path. You could stop short and stay at one of the guesthouses with a minimal menu of mostly fried dishes and perhaps a TV in the common area. You could walk all the way to the end of the road and stay at the Jungle Inn, the somewhat overdone tropical paradise that sports a honeymoon suite and a ridiculously overpriced fruit plate. Or you could find that place that's just right. The one that makes you decide to stay just a few more days by the river then you planned.
Your Personal Paradise
That place would be the Garden Inn. Fadil and his staff (two wonderful ladies in the kitchen and a handful of men who serve food, attend to guests, and just hang out) will have you smiling through sunny moments and torrential downpours, both frequent in everyday life in the jungle.
The food is fast and available practically all day long. It's also wonderful. The dining area is open and charming; there is a low table on a raised platform perfect for nighttime meals or rainy-day card games.
On the other side of the porch-like restaurant, there are an assortment of cozy, deep rattan chairs around a variety of coffee tables, perfect for lazing around in the early mornings, watching for monkeys and sipping rich Sumatran coffee or taking a rest in the heat of the afternoon with a lemon-ginger-honey tea while gazing at the majestic Bohorok as little boys in inner tubes race down the river.
The rooms at the Garden Inn are clean and spacious; the beds are comfy and the showers have good water pressure and heat. That's top billing in Sumatra where "make do" accommodations are part of the charm for tourists.
Garden Inn's main building is a modern two-story structure of six rooms with porches and balconies, double beds, shelves, and private bathrooms. Two wooden cottages offer the same amenities, but are slightly more private and exude that rustic jungle feel.
Finding Friends
What you'll love most is the company. Fadil knows everything there is to do in Bukit Lawang, but don't rush. You have plenty of time. Ask him to take you to the bat caves; go tubing down the Bohorok with his Batak friend, Bernard; go rafting down the Wampuh with locals and find hidden waterfalls and hot springs; take a ride on the rooftop of a van through palm fields and cocoa plantations. Just try not to cry too much when its time to leave for your next destination.
