April 30
We had had enough of the weather but wondered which direction to head, west via the central highlands then back down the coast, but Joan's preference was to head for Bukittinggi east on the other coast. Ferdinand met us on the street stopped a mini bus and told us it was going to Kabanjahe. At the bus station we were bundled off and were almost immediately on a bus to Siander for 1700r, a quick change to a minibus and we were off to Prapat on the edge of Lake Toba for a further 1000r.
Some time on this crushed journey I must have picked up a couple of fleas which were troublesome for a few nights until we twigged the bites were always occurring under clothing, a complete change whilst the clothes we washed and sleeping in swim shorts did the trick.
The market was just packing up but the usual crowd, surrounded us, buy your tourist bus ticket to Bukittinggi now, buy your ferry ticket to cross to the island (in fact they were the same price on the boat), 'what guest house'? The lad who asked me that last question was representing Christina's who we had already decided to try based on the advice of Maria from the Torong restaurant in Brastagi. We escaped the crowd by the simple tactic of going to a restaurant on the opposite side of the square, but even then we were approached by a polite talking about Samosir cottages but he disappeared when our food appeared. The ferry took about 40 minutes and seemed to go to the popular guest houses around the shore of the small peninsular Tuk Tuk facing Prapat, on the large island of Samosir which dominates Lake Toba. We were impressed by our first view, undeniably totally touristy but low level, very calm and with pleasant gardens.
Christina's hotel had somewhat older Batak style huts complemented by brick built bungalows but maintaining the same roof line. It had a lovely wooden door, a tiled floor and a lovely garden and two nice beds. The owner Rencita and some girls ran the place well, but like the rest of Tuk-Tuk it was virtually empty of custom.
That evening we walked from Christina's right through Tuk Tuk and back via the short cut to Church Road, proximity makes it an ideal location as near Tomluk as Tuk-Tuk. We ate at Christina's Joan did particularly well having chosen the Indonesian special Gado Gado, boiled vegetables with peanut sauce topped with a boiled egg, peanuts being fried with onion, garlic and chilli.
So to bed and a night of agony from bites. Joan eventually persuaded me to relax by holding my hand and sleep by 6am! Was it the result of bites in Loh Kawar, on our evening walk for there were clouds of midges in shaded area at dusk, or something biting in my bed.
1 May 1996
Although getting up late we made good use of the day by walking to Amborita, then by ride and bus to the museum in the Batak houses at Simanindo. Noted a German/Dutch couple got of a Shangri La, a remote GH which could be interesting given sufficient good company.
First impressions of the museum were spoilt by a woman who took us straight into a show house which turned out to be a shop! The museum in a different very small Batak building was full of interesting and highly relevant exhibits. Beside the museum was an old dugout war canoe, oars, fishnets and fish traps.
We got a lift back in a van carrying containers of rice wine which was full of an alcoholic smell. for an extra 1000r we saw the Elephant Grave (King and Queen) in Tomluk and listened to the spiel of a tour guide to a party of Dutch tourists. Then a pleasant hour long walk back to Christina's followed by another terrible night getting bit even worse, but handled much better than the night before. Rising hourly to stand naked in the mandi (water room) pouring water over my back and immersing my arms to the elbow. By morning I was of the opinion the problem was fleas under all clothing especially trousers and socks, notable because all the bites were in straight lines, but none were on face, head, neck or ears.
2 May
Joan washed out all of my clothes even my boots went out to be aired by the sun. We had breakfast with a British girl who was returning from two years working with VSO on the archipelago between Fiji and Australia where, as a PE teacher, she had set up PE for the islands. Unfortunately she didn't feel much had been achieved for complete lack of funding for her project, but luckily the Australian embassy could find some having a large fund as a reward for the islands support for their application for the Olympic Games.
A welcome swim in the lake which had an ideal warm temperature. After which I was sitting in a comfortable chair on the verandah writing this diary, listening to the water lap onto the shore, watching locals go about their lives washing both themselves and their clothes in the lake, hoeing the garden, baiting the nets on large bamboo structures just off shore accessed by walking along a single log held in place by an x-like structure of of pairs of bamboo poles which crossed underneath the log as anchors and above as hand holds.
The sun came and went through a sky half cloud and half deep blue, and once an hour the ferry came to Christina's landing stage to deliver diesel or to collect local passengers. Breakfast and all our fruit eaten by 12.48 precisely we went in search of more food, thinking how glad I was to have chosen this place which ought to leave fond memories to erase those of itchy sleepless nights. Not noted at the time I seem to recall that bites close together but in a straight line are a sign of bed bugs, but certainly recognise they were imported on my contaminated clothing rather than Christina's bedding.
In the afternoon we found superb freshly baked brown bread and carrot cake in the little Post Office where a New Zealand (Dutch) girl looked after a small shop with a young 30ish Indonesian cripple. The shop was full of second hand books and operated as a library and sold attractive hand painted batik post cards of which we bought many finding them vastly superior to commercial offerings in Britain. We sent many such post cards back to Europe, to this day some are displayed in the house by my French daughter-in-law. There was a breakfast bar on a small balcony overlooking the lake, below was a large fish keep surrounded by stone breakwaters and inside which were giant goldfish which grow to 15kg. The bread was toasted and gorgeous so that we vowed to go back next day for breakfast.
Friday 3 May
At breakfast the bread was steaming hot from baking. We ate with the postman who took our cards and a Finnish woman who had just left her job selling financial services for Reuters in order to travel in South Asia for six months. She was very interesting and had liked Sulawesi best of all but also Bali and Lombok and the Maluccas.
Walked to Ambarita where this time we found the stones and a old wizened possibly alcoholic guide who told us the history in remarkably good English. There was a prison under a Batak House and a circle of chairs to form a court with a bowl of fish representing spirits. Nearby was a large stone where a condemned man was repeatedly stabbed so he would lose blood and consciousness then to another stone where he got me to lay down and put my head on the block whilst he demonstrated the beheading ceremony. Back to the first stone for butchering the corpse and distributing it to the local people who were cannibals. The king drank the blood to give him extra strength.
We talked to Johnny an Indonesian who had gone to Holland with his family on independence and had now returned to work here for a Dutch company as a tour guide. He was very quietly spoken with a sympathetic manner and like Joan a keen interest in nature, who was now trying to learn Indonesian. He spoke fondly of a long summer spent with friends at a remote fishing village on Corfu and sleeping on the beach. Yesterday he had been cycling and had had to stay in primitive accommodation 1000r and gained a wide understanding of poor local people.
4 May
A large crowd left on the 6:45 ferry to Prapat some with food to sell on the market.
Rencita's parents either died or deserted her as a baby and she was brought up by the family living on the island's plateau who owned the Christina GH she now ran. Our choice of food was now limited not even bread for breakfast so we had to make do with pancakes!
She was rather depressed at the thought we would leave today for Bukittinghi that would leave the GH almost empty. Times were hard for her. A final swim and we all went together to the market by ferry.
In Prapat we went to Charlie Coffee Shop where we had eaten previously but this time with a nice comfortable sprung bed in a well carpeted room for 8000r having arranged for a call at 5am so as to catch the minibus.
We had had enough of the weather but wondered which direction to head, west via the central highlands then back down the coast, but Joan's preference was to head for Bukittinggi east on the other coast. Ferdinand met us on the street stopped a mini bus and told us it was going to Kabanjahe. At the bus station we were bundled off and were almost immediately on a bus to Siander for 1700r, a quick change to a minibus and we were off to Prapat on the edge of Lake Toba for a further 1000r.
Some time on this crushed journey I must have picked up a couple of fleas which were troublesome for a few nights until we twigged the bites were always occurring under clothing, a complete change whilst the clothes we washed and sleeping in swim shorts did the trick.
 |
| PRAPAT MARKET closing down |
Christina's hotel had somewhat older Batak style huts complemented by brick built bungalows but maintaining the same roof line. It had a lovely wooden door, a tiled floor and a lovely garden and two nice beds. The owner Rencita and some girls ran the place well, but like the rest of Tuk-Tuk it was virtually empty of custom.
 |
| Christina's GH, garden and landing stage at TukTuk Toba |
So to bed and a night of agony from bites. Joan eventually persuaded me to relax by holding my hand and sleep by 6am! Was it the result of bites in Loh Kawar, on our evening walk for there were clouds of midges in shaded area at dusk, or something biting in my bed.
1 May 1996
Although getting up late we made good use of the day by walking to Amborita, then by ride and bus to the museum in the Batak houses at Simanindo. Noted a German/Dutch couple got of a Shangri La, a remote GH which could be interesting given sufficient good company.
 |
| BATAK design on house TOBA |
 |
| Toba, Dug Out canoe |
We got a lift back in a van carrying containers of rice wine which was full of an alcoholic smell. for an extra 1000r we saw the Elephant Grave (King and Queen) in Tomluk and listened to the spiel of a tour guide to a party of Dutch tourists. Then a pleasant hour long walk back to Christina's followed by another terrible night getting bit even worse, but handled much better than the night before. Rising hourly to stand naked in the mandi (water room) pouring water over my back and immersing my arms to the elbow. By morning I was of the opinion the problem was fleas under all clothing especially trousers and socks, notable because all the bites were in straight lines, but none were on face, head, neck or ears.
2 May
Joan washed out all of my clothes even my boots went out to be aired by the sun. We had breakfast with a British girl who was returning from two years working with VSO on the archipelago between Fiji and Australia where, as a PE teacher, she had set up PE for the islands. Unfortunately she didn't feel much had been achieved for complete lack of funding for her project, but luckily the Australian embassy could find some having a large fund as a reward for the islands support for their application for the Olympic Games.
 |
| Ferry approaches Chistina's GH |
 |
| Washing in Lake Toba at Christina's in Tuk Tuk |
In the afternoon we found superb freshly baked brown bread and carrot cake in the little Post Office where a New Zealand (Dutch) girl looked after a small shop with a young 30ish Indonesian cripple. The shop was full of second hand books and operated as a library and sold attractive hand painted batik post cards of which we bought many finding them vastly superior to commercial offerings in Britain. We sent many such post cards back to Europe, to this day some are displayed in the house by my French daughter-in-law. There was a breakfast bar on a small balcony overlooking the lake, below was a large fish keep surrounded by stone breakwaters and inside which were giant goldfish which grow to 15kg. The bread was toasted and gorgeous so that we vowed to go back next day for breakfast.
Friday 3 May
At breakfast the bread was steaming hot from baking. We ate with the postman who took our cards and a Finnish woman who had just left her job selling financial services for Reuters in order to travel in South Asia for six months. She was very interesting and had liked Sulawesi best of all but also Bali and Lombok and the Maluccas.
Walked to Ambarita where this time we found the stones and a old wizened possibly alcoholic guide who told us the history in remarkably good English. There was a prison under a Batak House and a circle of chairs to form a court with a bowl of fish representing spirits. Nearby was a large stone where a condemned man was repeatedly stabbed so he would lose blood and consciousness then to another stone where he got me to lay down and put my head on the block whilst he demonstrated the beheading ceremony. Back to the first stone for butchering the corpse and distributing it to the local people who were cannibals. The king drank the blood to give him extra strength.
We talked to Johnny an Indonesian who had gone to Holland with his family on independence and had now returned to work here for a Dutch company as a tour guide. He was very quietly spoken with a sympathetic manner and like Joan a keen interest in nature, who was now trying to learn Indonesian. He spoke fondly of a long summer spent with friends at a remote fishing village on Corfu and sleeping on the beach. Yesterday he had been cycling and had had to stay in primitive accommodation 1000r and gained a wide understanding of poor local people.
4 May
A large crowd left on the 6:45 ferry to Prapat some with food to sell on the market.
Rencita's parents either died or deserted her as a baby and she was brought up by the family living on the island's plateau who owned the Christina GH she now ran. Our choice of food was now limited not even bread for breakfast so we had to make do with pancakes!
She was rather depressed at the thought we would leave today for Bukittinghi that would leave the GH almost empty. Times were hard for her. A final swim and we all went together to the market by ferry.
 |
| Lake Toba Ferry from Prapat around Tuk Tuk peninsula |
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