Cycling the lake
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
94
153
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Maninjau,
Indonesia
Monday, November 12, 2007
Manninjau is a very beautiful lake, and due to its diminished size when compared to Toba, it feels much more like a volcanic crater, rather than just a huge lake. However, the guidebooks also said that the waters here were cleaner than those at toba, and from my experience on my first lazy day here that was definately not the case )i swam into several dead fish here), though it was much warmer.
Walked around the villages of Gasang and Bayur getting helloed left right and centre before stuffing my face with a truly delicious)and cheap) fried tuna steak and fruit shake )so good i contemplated licking the plate clean and had to seriously restrain myself from doing so) before getting a well needed 12 hrs sleep with only the waves of the lake to disturb me
lake maninjau
.Finally feeling refreshed after a hectic and sweaty few days, i decided id be considerably more active today )not too difficult) so after checking out the market )i luckily had arrived in time for market day, which was obviously great for me, more of my new favourite fruit here Salat) i hired a bicycle for the 51km ride around the circumference of the lake.
Dubious about the quality of the bike when i got it out, i should have trusted my instincts. I thought the gears weren't working properly, but he somehow managed to get them working before i left and convinced me that they were ok )i don't like confrontation, so its never hard to convince me!). Why is it these bastards have the uncanny ability to get the bikes working for just long enough that your too far away to take the bike back when it finally breaks.One hour into cycling, the metal coil inside the gear snaps, with the consequence that i can only change the front cogs and therefore can only peddle around in the easy gears, which although better than being stuck in the hardest gears, meant at times i was cycling along painstakingly slowly, much to my frustration. Eventually though i got over it and the swearing out loud to myself stopped and i began to enjoy the beautiful scenery again )I'm sure the fruit helped, fruit solves all my problems, I'm eating fruit as i write this now!) I was reminded of Cambodia and Laos when i looked around me at Manninjau; beautiful fields of farmers and thatch roofed huts amongst the rice paddies on one side, but then the huge volcanic lake on the other
the road there
. Stopped to drink tea botol )my first one, and for an Indonesian soft drink not too sweet actually) and talk about the usual things before i cycled back to my guest house and returned the bike.NOW IT ALL GOES TITS UP
Feeling pretty good bout the whole day, i decided I'd phone the ferry company to confirm my ticket for Friday back to Malaysia. Make the phone call and they tell me there are no ferries on Friday. Oh shite.ok, so i hang up. Its now Tuesday and I'm in Bukittinggi )or near enough), a whole days bus ride from Medan, where the ferry leaves from. If i miss the ferry on Thursday i cannot get one Friday so i will have to go on sat, incurring a $25 penalty for overstaying my visa. Being the tightwad i am, this is not an option, so a mild panic begins to set in. I realised that if i left that instant i could probably make the Thursday morning ferry, so i rang the company again and confirmed for the Thursday ferry, before legging it back to my guest house and beginning to pack my bags when obviously, in typical Ben style when it comes to luck, the monsoon rains kick in. Bags packed, i trudge through the rains to the bus stop to get back to Bukittinggi.
