LAKE TOBA - INDONESIA

The original plan from Bukit Lawang was to go to Berastagi but involved going back to horrible Medan to change buses. We knew things like internet access we going to be very limited once we got into the center of Sumatra so we made the most of it there.

At the bus station (read loads of minibuses in a big dirty area with no signs) we were confronted by a large group of touts giving us conflicting information. In the end I noticed a bus with lake toba on it so we got on that. We arrived at Parapat after the last ferry so we stopped overnight there.

The journey to Samosir was not the best after being pestered since breakfast by an accommodation tout. He wouldn't leave us alone on the boat until I told him where to go. As we were undecided where to stay he would have got his sale if he had just left his business card and left us alone.





Lake Toba was one of them places I wanted to see long before I left home. Despite being stunning there was only a handful of tourists about the place. There were loads of tourists shops and eating places but all empty. Walk into a restaurant and the kids have to run off and fetch the owners.





We did find one place at night owned by a Swiss bloke that did good pizza and had a handful of other travelers to speak to.



I hired a bike from the hotel and went to explore the nearby villages. Around the lake was one of the best places to cycle round until I started to go uphill !!!!!!!



The locals were all very friendly all looking up from the rice fields, waving and shouting hello. On the way up the hill all the kids were running alongside my bike. Some did look at me as if I was crazy as it took a couple of hours to get to the top.



At the top I made the big mistake of going on and got very lost for about 3 hours down some bumpy dirt tracks. I bumped into a load of people repairing a bridge who made it very clear not to go further.



There was not a lot to do after that as it's obviously a "relax and enjoy the view" type of place. Due to it being christmas the transport was booked up solid so we had to stay a couple of days longer than we would have liked to.



It was the first Christmas away from home and a bit of an unusual place to spend it. We had food and drink at the place owned by the Swiss bloke....................