How many miles.... to Lake Toba?

Nov 9 How many miles.... to Lake Toba?

How many modes of transportation are there? How many can you use in one day to get from Point A to Point B? After today I feel like I have used most of the modes of transportation there are within the day (except anything to do with animals), it was a tiring and long journey and in the end I got really lucky to arrive at my destination within the day.

It all started with my pick-up to the Ferry in Pulau Weh. It was supposed to be at 7 am but at 6.20 someone knocked on my door, we gotta leave early as the ferry is full today, you have 5 minutes. I still do hope that I managed to pack everything together but I am confident I got my sh.t together on time. Ride to the ferry terminal in a minivan, get there get a ferry ticket, take the speedferry, hop on a Moto-Becak there to go to the Airport in Banda Aceh. Now the next adventure, I haven't booked a flight yet, since I really haven't decided where to go yet. Turns out there are only 7 flights a day leaving from Banda Aceh and 5 of them go to Medan. So I guess that's where I'll be heading. Suits me well, since I was thinking of going to Lake Toba. So buy a last minute overpriced ticket to Medan and am off an hour later. Traffic in Medan is terrible so instead of an overpriced Taxi I hop on a motorcycle with all my luggage. Good stuff I've been practicing that enough in Bangkok already, so no worries there. It's fast and efficient. I get to the bus terminal the minute a bus is about to take off to Parapat, on Lake Toba and yes, I made it. But this is where the luck turned slightly. I get the feeling I got the worst seat on the bus. The seat in front of me is broken and tilting back, leaving me, the by far tallest person on the bus with a full 6 cm of legroom. Shit! The guy next to me is also taller than the average Indonesian and we suffer together the long ride to Lake Toba. When they get the idea to place another person between us we do show them that's not really possible. The standing rooms fill quickly too and the bus is packed, with no A/C it's sweltering now. It stinks real bad, mostly smelly people. You almost need to be thankful to everyone on the bus that lights one cigarette after the other so at least it smells of smoke and not everything else. After many stops on the way we get to Parapat after a quick 4 ½ hours (average time is 6 hours). It felt 3 times that long for me but I am here now. It's 5 past 6pm now. The last ferry to Tuk Tuk on Pulau Samosir, the island in Lake Toba leaves at 6pm. They kindly drop me off right at the ferry terminal and I run and catch the last ferry. My luck has turned again. Yeehaaaa!

I am approached immediately by a few locals trying to get me to stay at their Hotels/ Guesthouses / Homestays. I listen to their advice on the island and options to stay and get off at one of their guesthouses which is particularly cheap. The rooms are big and clean but unfortunately no Internet there. Since I remember how I suffered in KL without Internet (yes, I am addicted) and that there's not so much else to do her, he drops me off (another motorcycle ride) to another place, cheap with Internet. Yes! So here I am Samosir Cottage in Tuk Tuk.

Since it's no risk no fun day I take the invitation of the locals to take me to some great place on the island. Meet in an hour. Take you on my motorcycle. Sure why not. So after settling in for a minute we set off to a nice restaurant that has some local Batak women dancing. After the dancing is finished some Batak men are singing local songs. Starts off with some traditional songs going over to love songs and finishing with drinking songs. There's few people but the atmosphere is good. Once the official singing is over Alex, one of the local Batak grabs a guitar, distributes Mandolins to his friends and they all start singing local songs. What a nice welcome to Tuk Tuk! And relaxing it is, that's what I needed after the day of traveling. Toba is Christian so alcohol is plenty and here Marijuana and Magic Mushrooms are legal. That's nothing for me, beer is still a bit expensive and the local 'Jungle Juice' taste isn't really to my liking. But hey, you gotta try the liquids that make the Batak sing those funny drinking songs. Bes drops me off safely back to the Hotel and we arrange to meet for an extraordinary breakfast tomorrow, stories of which have piqued my interest.