Beautiful Lake Toba
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2004
1
42
50
Trip End
Nov 27, 2004
Samosir,
Sumatra,
Indonesia
Saturday, November 6, 2004
I have decided that the next part of my Indonesian adventures will be to an area of distinguished natural beauty and one that contains a rare phenomenon. The island of Sumatra was formed by a long chain of volcanoes, and the one I am interested in last erupted some 75,000 years ago. It was possibly the largest event in volcanic terms over the last 25 million years. What is left behind today is Lake Toba - a deep body of water occupying the caldera of the volcano which measures approximately 100km by 30km.
And the lake contains an island the size of Singapore. Samosir island is made up from a resurgent dome of magma - a bit like a cake base which is designed to rise in the middle. It is the largest island within an island, and the fourth largest lake island in the world. From any point on Samosir island, the inner walls of the volcano provide a spectacular backdrop of tumbling waterfalls and wild flowers. It is one of the most awesome places on this earth. Moreover, it is inhabited by the Batak people - Christians who worship together on a Sunday morning by singing hymns in small churches. Music which must sound like absolute heaven. When compared to the intrusive heckling from the speaker systems at the great mosque here in Medan.
The journey there from Medan is a bit of an endurance test. It's a series of three different buses and a short boat ride to the town of Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island. Lazy bastards can get a more expensive straight-through VIP ticket of course, but that's not travelling is it.
2. Batak houses at the lake
I go regular bus and the first is heaving with people. The third is an absolute wreck. From Siantar it farts its way through the rain and heaves itself over the lip of the volcano so as to deposit us in a place called Parapat. Where boats cross the lake to reach Samosir island. I walk the little circuit through the village of Tuk Tuk and decide to stay at Tony's guesthouse. Right on the lakes edge, it's a traditional Batak style house whose roof is difficult to describe in words. Viewed head-on, a series of them would seem to be like sharks teeth biting into the sky. In the main room there is lots of space and not much light. There is a ladder and a tiny second room above the balcony at the front. Tuk Tuk seems to have a good choice of bars and restaurants designed around the perceived tastes of foreigners. In reality, they despair for more visitors as tourism here is at an all time low. In Brando's ( the town disco ) I see Duncan, the dour Irishman who was staying at the Spoutnik in Medan. Duncan has an almost permanently morose disposition, it's part of his charm. I explain to him over a beer that I've had ' one of those days ' He replies, deadpan, that ' my whole life is one of those days '
This evening he introduces me to Toni , the most beautiful dark skinned island girl with a cheeky grin and a reasonable command of the English language. She thrashes me at pool which is hardly a surprise - I can't play. And while this is going on and drinks are flowing, it comes to my notice that the local lads are of a similar ilk to those before. I can almost feel them observing my every move. Penniless bloody scroungers gathered round one bottle of coke like hyenas. Waiting for the next chance to be try and be ' mates ' with some foreigner who may bowl in. Their opening gambit will be the promise of top quality weed. Beware ! I've already heard the warnings - that buying it from these boys spells certain trouble. Invariably, they'll ' grass you up ' to the law. Who'll turn up and arrest you for possession, and then pay a finders fee to the oik who orchestrated the bust. It happens regularly. The oik will scratch a living from what the cops pay him. The cops will make far more by way of a back-hander from Joe Foreigner who by now will have been in jail for a few days, shitting himself. Seeing that I am not wanting to buy their marijuana, the oiks try to score a couple of drinks instead. It's always a polite no. They are already scanning the bar for another possible victim.
Next ; Tranquility
