Ahh yes, one of the reasons I love this country: lots of public
holidays. The Eid ul-Adha holiday started on the 20th December, and went
right through til the 26th – so with a couple of leave days thrown in,
you can get a good week or two's holiday! (which is what I’ve done – in
fact I’ve taken the 31st as well as the 2-4th Jan off, so almost 3 weeks
in total. Yah!)
Anyhoo, so given that the plan was to
spend Xmas Day in Medan with my boss Paul, his wife Popi and a few work
crew, it was a good opportunity to get over to Lake Toba with the four
day break.
So after a few too many drinks at the
Aryadutha Hotel with Popi & Paul, Steph and Jon, Natasha,
Kiki, (all Simeulue staff) Chris and some of the other Susi Pilots on
the 20th, the next day Natasha and I boarded a bus headed for Prapat.
Ahh yes, 4+ hours sweating our arses off, crammed into three seats when
we really needed four. Not to mention the old man smoking right next to
us and dropping ash on Natasha! Boo!
Still, once we
got going it wasn’t so bad, and the scenery was interesting, especially
as we got closer to the lake and the elevation increased (and the
temperature dropped!). It’s a beautiful view of the Lake when you first
come over the mountain and see the water – and it’s a surprising
environment that you encounter. It’s cool (first time I’ve felt cold in
Indo), there are many pine forests on the mountain slopes, and the town
of Prapat looks almost European. In fact the whole region reminded me a
lot of Europe, particularly with the churches dotted around the place.
Amongst rice padis mind you, but still…
So once we hit
Prapat, it was on to the ferry to get across to Samosir Island, in the
middle of the Lake. Technically it’s not an island – it has a narrow
peninsula that joins the mainland – but it seems like one! We got
targeted straight up by a couple of local touts looking for business for
their hotel. We had a couple of places in mind, but given that it was
the end of the day and dark by the time we landed, we agreed to stay at
Lekjon hostel for the night. In the end we stayed there the whole time;
it was cheap, located in a beautiful spot by the lake and we ended up
spending a lot of time hanging out with our new buddies Romano and Juan.
They were great fun, and ran a nice hostel with a restaurant, pool
table, good tunes and a nightclub nearby – what more could you want?
They
also convinced us to cruise around the island on the first day on their
motorbikes. It was cool fun, a good way to learn about the Batak
culture of the island, get to know the guys, see all the touristy stuff
and check out the scenery without having to watch where you’re going!
The island is a beautiful place, churches dotted amongst rice padis
surrounded by pine-forested mountains cloaked in cloud, all surrounding a
huge blue lake; reminded me a little of Lake Geneva. It was strange to
think this existed in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world.
The next few days were spent riding bicycles,
eating and drinking, relaxing by the lake, playing pool, and hitting the
nightclub down the road. We met some cool people from Korea and Finland
(a hot firey, hello!), as well as some of the other locals who hung out
at the hostel. All up it was a really fun, relaxing time, a perfect
lead up to Christmas. I didn’t want to leave!
And while
Paul and Popi’s first baby was due New Year’s Eve, he came early – 23rd
December. So I was very excited when I went to the hospital on Xmas Day
and met little Adrian for the first time. Such a gorgeous little tacker
(so small!) and such proud parents. After spending the morning in the
hospital, Paul and I went out for lunch and gorged ourselves on the
things we can’t get here: a decent steak and bottles of red! We thought
we would be joined by a few work crew for lunch, but this didn’t
materialise, so we got pissed together and then cruised down to Sun
Plaza, a huge shopping mall, to check it out, eat ice cream and drink
more beer in the food court. Mmmm…. ice cream…
That
night we went out for more drinks with the work crew and some of the
Susi Pilots, went to the local pool hall and nightclub. In the end it
dragged on, and I didn’t really enjoy it all that much, especially
because the Susi boys were all chasing Indonesian skirt (I really don't
like the whole white man - young Asian girl scene ... it's a bit
disgusting!) and I was pretty tired from a day of drinking with the
boss!
Off to Singapore for Boxing Day, yah!
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