http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Indonesia , Sumatra , Lake Toba en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:46:41 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:46:41 +0000 I arrived at Lake Toba on December 22nd. Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world. It is 100k by 30k and goes down 505 meters at its deepest point. After a 30 minute ferry ride I arrived at Samosir Island the largest island within an island in the world. Sumatra is the 6th largest island in the world and Indonesia is the largest island country in the world with more than 17000 islands http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-462757.html September 14 2009 September 22 2009Exchange rate as of September 14 2009 1GBP Rp15724TRANSPORTHotel to Amplas Bus Terminal by motorized becakRp30000Medan to Parapat by busRp20000 5 hoursParapat to Tuk Tuk by ferryRp7000 1 hourHOTELSSamosir CottagesDbl cold waterRp119000 inc. breakfastOne of the nicest places on Samosir with very decently priced rooms with a good view of th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-437856.html Efter nogle dage i Bukittinggi var tiden kommet til at vi ville videre til Danau Toba. Vi undersoegte de forskellige muligheder for at komme derop og priser. Vi ville gerne rejse saa nemt og bekvemt da det var en bustur paa 15 timer. Valgmulighederne stod mellem minibus max 6 personer eller executive bus et saede til hver med AC og som ikke stoppede for at samle lokale op undervejs. Vi snak http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-435878.html So from Bukit Lawang it was time to head to Lake Toba. Unfortunately this meant going back through Medan. Which meant being a celebrity again. You see what I didn't mention last time is that because hardly any tourists stop in Medan those that are around are a great attraction to locals and everyone gets taught the phrase Hello Mister and isn't afraid to use it. It's quite a nice feeling http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-433819.html Time flows fast having funWe get a two month visa in Penang Malaysia take a boat to Medan Indonesia and a local bus to Parapat lake Toba. On this bus we have life karaoke on volume ten My knee's are forced in between the seats but the theatre of people getting on and of the bus with all there goods makes the five hour trip worth while. We arrive in the middle of the Saturday market the air http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-429164.html 11th AugWe were a bit anxious about our 15 hour journey today especially as we'd also booked this one with our friend 'Jake' the Indo Del BoyConman. Before we set off we booked out flights to Bangkok setting off on the 27th for the next leg of our adventure in Thailand. Back to the journey.....We were hoping to leave a little later in the day so that we could arrive at Lake Toba in time to get http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-429122.html Great place highly recommended http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-424069.html Andere Lnder andere Sitten. Und andere Taxifahrer. Ich habe ja in den letzten Monaten schon so einiges erlebt. Aber der nette Herr Taxifahrer aus Medan ist schon einer meiner Favoriten. Auf den Philippinen wird man als erstes oftmals gefragt ob man aus den Staaten kommt. In Indonesien fragen sie lieber gleich mal wieviele Kinder man hat.... das war wirklich eine lustige Situation. Es war ganz http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-414026.html I am now in Australia but here are some notes I scrawled ages ago as my Asia dream came to a close...Lake Toba was a hard place to escape from. If I wanted to head South which I did the only option by land was a 18 hour bus journey to Pedang with nowhere to stop on the way to break up the trip. It would be through beautiful mountainous countryside but it would be at night. And the road is a s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-408320.html Indonesia Sumatra Lake Toba Tuk Tuk25022009.As usual during my evenings here in Tuk Tuk I have moved over to Peter Nit Noi Chang039s guest house not to hang out with Mister Fatso the presumed child molester but to have a cold Bintang together with Mama Cesca his landlady.There is usually no mistaking Peter039s bulky shape sitting outside the guest house enjoying the last warm rays of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-406228.html Indonesia Sumatra Lake Toba Tomok24022009.The quiet foreiger039s enclave Tuk Tuk on the bulb shaped peninsula facing Parapat on the main land might be tranquil and peacefull given over almost completely to agriculture now that all the foreigners that once wandered around its winding and hilly streets are gone. The village has gone back to its quiet village life where gossip is the main http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-405897.html Indonesia Sumatra Lake Toba Tuk Tuk23022009.Though I039ve for a change moved into a topend hotel in Tuk Tuk still my room is in a serious state of neglect with an army of red forest ants marching right through the middle of the room coming out of a crack in one wall and leaving my territory again through a hole in the opposite wall. They start there endless trek at early sunup and fini http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-404974.html Indonesia Sumatra Lake Toba Ambarita22o22009.I leave the quiet foreigner039s enclave of Tuk Tuk and walk the 5 kilometer to the pretty village of Ambarita enjoying the typical smell of pine trees and the singing of birds.Wooden houses chicken with cicklets idling around in the undergrowth a few happy pigs dozing in pools of mud kids following me asking the usual questions trying to pra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-404314.html Indonesia Sumatra Lake Toba Tuk Tuk21022009.According to Mama Ceska untill about twelve years ago the Dutch airline company KLM used to fly into Medan three times a week with big Boeings unloading up to 350 Dutch and German holidayers all making it to Lake Toba the number one tourist destination on Sumatra. However the Muslim autorities in Medan realising that the Christian Batak people wer http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-403951.html Indonesia Lake Toba Samosir Island Tuk Tuk.20022009.Every year Peter comes to Asia for about fivesix months big and fat he is and somewhere in his mid sixties an aura of fat sigar smoke mixed with an unhealthy bodily odour rancid and salty perspiration poring out of his massive body and streaming down his fat in swollen rivers wheezing even when sitting down. A prime candidate for a fata http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-403322.html Indonesia Lake Toba Samosir Island Tuk Tuk19022009.Nets on the quay spread out in the early morning sun to dry and yellow colored plastic crates full with fish caught during the night attracting huge number of gulls in search of free breakfast screaming while flying overhead diving down during a moment of inattention to steal a fat pike his mates waiting up there in the air gliding on t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-403026.html 4 hours car ride back to Medan. At Medan we took this shuttle bus service Raja Taxi. 70K to get Lake Toba. It was very promising they have good cars with air conditioner they promised the 4 hours the longest to get Toba. It turned out like this2 hours they went around and around Medan picking up other passengers. They packed the car more than its capacity. At 3 pm suddenly the car stopped at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-392883.html Well Irsquom sitting here on the verandah of my opulent villa at Danau Toba sipping a Bintang as the waves gently lap the shoreline and I gaze at the shrouded volcanic peaks that ring the lake. Life is very hard here. I woke up. I had a swim. Had some brekkie. Tried to read a book. Swam again. Ate again. Took some photos. Had a beer. Thatrsquos it. And itrsquos been pretty well like that s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-365841.html Our journey to Lake Toba was like most in Sumatra long and uncomfortable. We had to get a tuk tuk to the bus stop in Bukit Lawang then a bus back to Medan then a minibus to the main bus terminal in Medan followed by another bus to Parapat which lies on the shore of Lake Toba before finally getting the ferry across to our destination Samosir Island in the middle of the lake. On the bus from Me http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-358113.html Horray for Air Asia Our second attempt at catching an evening flight into Jakarta airport and once again we were delayed until a 1am takeoff. After a 2am arrival with our transfer flight taking off at 7am we were once again looking for a place to spend the night at the airport. Having learned that there's nowhere to sleep outside we stretched out on a row of seats in the baggage claim hall. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Lake-Toba/blog-347806.html