Danau Toba, Part II

---

Danau Toba Part II



This blog is being written on a train to Beijing so bear with us while we figure out where we left off. Pretty sure we told you about our motorcycle trip to the north end of the island so we can pick up after that...

After seeing the north end of the island, we had yet another “nothing” day. That means we sat on our porch reading, taking regular swim breaks and not going much farther than our guesthouse or Joe's (a nearby restaurant with killer Chicken ala Batak) for food.

With so much time left, we decided we wanted to see more of the island so we rented a motorbike the following day and headed south. Our map had a barely legible written arrow that said “views” so we wanted to see what that was all about. San told us it would be no more than an hour and the roads were decent so off we went! We barely went 100m at a time without stopping to take pictures. Samosir has an unbelievably picturesque landscape. The further south we went, the higher up we went. The roads became increasingly windy and we were heading a bit more inland rather than the lakeside road we started with. We had absolutely no idea where these “views” were because the whole drive was gorgeous. Finally we asked a local to point on the map where we ended up and we had gone about twice as far as these “views” were, so we turned around to get back before the rain started. Around one of the corners a group of locals flagged us down so we stopped to chat for a bit. They talked us into sitting down and drinking some tuak with them while the guitar got passed around and everyone sang along slightly off tune. It was such a feel good experience!

The next day was Thursday. We told Roman that he needed to take a day off to hang out with us so him and Paul did just that. After breakfast, the boys went out fishing. Paul was diving with a spear while Roman and Tyler trailed him in a make-shift canoe. Tyler and Roman were probably not being as helpful as they intended and in the first hour only one little fish had been caught. That wasn't going to feed all of us! So Paul and Roman went out on their own for another hour or so in a different fishing spot. When they came back, they had a feast! There were probably 10 medium fish and one big fish. Paul stoked up the fire while Roman cleaned the fish and then the magic happened. Oh boy were those some tasty fish! Smoky and fresh and delicious! We had been planning on going into town for some drinks all week so when everyone got ready to head out around 9pm and Roman was missing Ty had to go pull him out of bed. Tired is not a good excuse! We all hopped on motorbikes and went to Roy's for some live music and beer. It was a really fun day but by the time we got home we all headed straight to bed.

Friday we took time to soak in as much of Toba as we could and then we moved on Saturday.

We will both say this again and again... Lake Toba is spectacular. If you go to Indonesia, you cannot miss this beautiful wonder.

Xoxo Ty+Becs

---