Patra Parapat

... is becoming a habit) and almost immediately we are on the climb!! After a few brief stops for photo opportunites by signs which say things such as 'Not this way...wrong way' and also the removal of leeches from Miriam and Carolyn we continue our climb to the top of Mount Sibayak. Scrambling up hills, hanging onto branches, splashing through puddles we eventually reach the top and wow its just amazing!! Here we eat rice with our fingers and then head down into ...

... of us and that included drinks. Our favourite place to eat was the “Today Café”. We had to wait quite a while for our food to be served, but as everything was cooked fresh from scratch, it was delicious and well worth the wait.

Lake Toba is a beautiful clear lake surrounded by mountains and is the perfect setting for swimming. On our first morning, we awoke to the sounds of birds singing - such a welcome relief from the busy cities of ...

... night until we arrived at 9AM), the final annoyance was the air conditioning which worked but do drop freezing cold water through the air vents at irregular intervals through out the trip. Despite this I got 9 hours sleep…Paul got about 30 minutes. Fortunately we arrived at Lake Toba and found one of the nicest hostels of our trip so far.

Apparently, Danau Toba is the biggest crater lake in the world and in the middle sits the ...

... Batak used to be cannibals!! Scary! ;)

Anyways...
I share a Batak house with Lisa and my room, actually loft ;) is awesome!! With a great view of the lake and we pay 30'000 Rupies, which may seem a lot but it's only $3!!

Travelling around Sumatra doesn't seem fun at all! To reach the lake, 200km from Bukit Lawang, we took nearly 8 hours!!
The "roads" are full of holes and very bumpy ...

... Indonesian tourists there as we left at the weekend but the sums still don't add up for me.

Nowadays toba is sold to backpackers as a relaxing spot to do nothing for a few days and we could definitely see the appeal, with our balcony overlooking the lake and long walks aplenty to be had. In the end though, we could only stay for 2 nights because we had a reservation on a "super" executive overnight bus for Saturday night. We were looking forward to that.

... wyznawano animizm, wierzono w duchy drzew i kamieni. Ponad sto lat temu na wyspe dotarl holenderski misjonarz, ale nie umial sie dogadac i zostal zjedzony :) Po nim pojawil sie misjonarz niemiecki, ktoremu udalo sie wprowadzic chrzescijanstwo, glownie dzieki przetlumaczeniu na jezyk Batakow bibli. Jego nazwe nosi obecnie uniwersytet w Medan. Dalej w wiosce ogladalismy tradycyjne domy Batakow w jakich do niedawna mieszkali. Tradycyjnie domy z zewnatrz zdobione byly ...

... krol swoj pokoj. Sypialni nie nalezy kojarzyc z dzisiejszymi sypialniami. To byl lud prymitywny, spalo sie na twardej macie, potrzeby fizjologiczne w nocy zalatwialo sie w sypialni przez otwory w podlodze. Na dole krecily sie swinie, ktore oczyszczaly teren. Zona, z ktora chcial spedzic noc otrzymywala zielony listek pod poduszke. Zonami opiekowal sie wykastrowany ochroniarz. Krol mial potezny posluch wsrod poddanych. Zone wybieral poprzez ...

... eruptions and each meal was a delight as you could really taste the freshness of the food. The main tourist strip ...

... Optimismus auf bessere Zeiten. Leere Restaurants saeumen die Ufer des Danau Toba und mitunter bekommt man echtes Mitleid und man fragt sich, wie die Leute hier ueberleben koennen. Es gibt teilweise schicke Hotelanlagen mit 30 Bungalows, mit grossen Panoramafenstern, frisch renoviert - und leerstehend. Anna und ich haben uns in einem alten Batakhaus am Ufer einquatiert und nach anfaenglichem "O-gott-alles-Plastik ...

... Bussin edessa oli hirvee lossi kauppaamassa omia kyytejaan Medaniin. Se on Indonesian kolmanneks suurin kaupunki lahella satamaa. Eipa kuunneltu vaan mentiin siihen dosaan mita mukava virkamies tohotti. Tietty nekin sallit yrittaa elantoaan teha, mut kyl se aika arsyttavaa on, kun ne kay heti paalle, kun paasee talosta ulos. Onnneks Annika osaa olla kuuntelematta niita. Dosa Medaniin kesti sellasen 1.5 tuntia. Jaatin pois jossain vaan missa mutkin ja taas oli hirvee ...