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Today's hike up to the volcanic crater rim of Gunung Sibayak was quite tame compared to yesterday's burner up Gunung Sinabung. Both are manageable day trips from Berastagi where I have based myself since flying from Malaysia to Indonesia last Saturday. I arrived in Medan, North Sumatra ~11:00 a.m. local time and immediately began plotting my departure from the furnace that is coastal Indonesia. I was offered a ride to a share taxi office for service to Berastagi but there was no space so I caught a moto-taxi to the bus staging area and was almost immediately on my way to the coolness of the Karo Highlands. I have actually been wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt at night in stark contrast to Thailand and Malaysia where I hardly wore any shirt at all.
$US ≈ 9,800 Indonesian rupiah (Rp)
Accommodation and food I'm staying one more night at Wisma Sibayak at the southern end of the main drag Jalan Veteran. Single room with cold water outside bath is 50,000 Rp. A hot water shower is available for 10,000 Rp. Double or twin rooms with private cold water bathrooms cost 100,000 Rp. Cold water wasn't too cold
even here at 1300 meters. Most places I remember from 2006 only had cold water
mandi which is basically a basin and a dipper cup to douse oneself. Wisma Sibayak also has a very good restaurant and WiFi. Up the street are a few night
warungs serving amazing grilled chicken or fish plates with rice, veg, and the hottest chili sauce I've had anywhere in Asia for ~20,000 Rp. Many places on Jl Veteran serving Padang style food.
Transport From Medan buses leave from Padang Bulan every 30 minutes charging 10,000 Rp for the 2½ hour ride. Not as uncomfortable as expected for the price with the exception of the endless chain smoking (yes, inside the bus, or inside anywhere, is unfortunately the norm in Indonesia). The plan is to leave here tomorrow for Ketambe which is in the heart of Gunung Leuser National Park. Buses from Medan pass through Berastagi hourly in the morning for Kutacane (5,000 Rp) where local transport should be available to Ketambe.
Gunung Sinabung I met my Russian trekking partner Vadim the previous night at the guesthouse and we agreed to take the first minibus to the start of the hike which left
from the bus station ~7:50 a.m. for Lake Kewar (7,000 Rp). We arrived about an hour later, paid our 5,000 Rp entrance fee, and we set off just after 9:00 a.m. The trail is well marked (once we found it) and a guide is definitely not necessary. The first half of the trail is through thick, moist, muddy jungle clambering up and over walls of mud and tree roots. The second half is over a very steep and exposed old lava flow. Because of the direct steepness of the trail we got to the summit by ~11:45 a.m. where the views were less than stellar because of the clouds. There is limited transport from the lake back to Berstagi so we didn't hang around the summit long and started the painful descent ~12:25 p.m. Since the lava flow was almost vertical in places we had to take our time descending and needed almost as much time as the ascent arriving back at the lake at 3:00 p.m. Around 45 minutes later a minivan showed up to take us back to Berastagi.
Gunung Sibayak I had planned to go to Ketambe this morning but was not up for a long,
cramped bus ride. Since the weather was clear I decided to tag along with Vadim for a hike to Sibayak which I knew from 2006 was not nearly as physically demanding as Sinabung. We left the guesthouse at 9:30 a.m. and walked through town to the start of the hike which follows a road for more than half the distance. Entry fee was 4,000 Rp. Eventually the road ends and there is a paved path to the crater which was difficult to find because of a landslide that I don't remember being there 7 years ago. We reached the sulfurous crater around noon when it started to rain. After the shower passed I tagged the trekking summit then we headed down a different path off the rim to the popular hot springs. The alternate path is a bit tricky to find if coming up the road. The descent was rapid and slick taking only an hour. We had to wait 1½ hours for the 3:30 p.m. minibus back to Berastagi (5,000 Rp)
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