The flight went well and I arrived in Medan. From the airport I went to a small shop to buy some juice. Here they advised me, on which side of the shop the becak were cheapest. I took a becak to Tobali Taxi, one of the two companies that Yeti (Anjelita's friend in Medan) had recommended me - since the other one apparently wasn't driving that day.
Tobali Taxi was driving and I got a seat in the front. We made two stops on the way. One stop to buy Oleh Oleh (small snacks that Indonesians bring as souvenirs) and another stop to eat lunch.
The whole trip took five hours. And after two hours in Sumatra I had my first car accident.
Drivers in Sumatra drive really bad. Worse than anything I have ever experienced. Our driver tried to pull past another car and he hit right into a car coming in the other lane. The side mirror crashed and since the window was open, all the glass flew in on us.
I was lucky, cause the guy next to me leaned forwards, which meant that he got hit buy all the glass and I didn't. He even got it into his eyes. Somehow I think that he tried to protect me. He was so nice during the whole trip, even though we couldn't really talk, since he didn't speak English.
Arrived in Prapat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapat) at Lake Toba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba) I was immidiately shown to a ferry, which would take me to Samosir Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosir).
The right one below.
On the ferry I met Shasa, a girl from Jakarta. She had been in Medan with her work for some days, and when her colleagues were going back to Jakarta, she was heading for Lake Toba on her own.
We decided to explore the island together, until I had to go back to Medan.
After arriving on the island, we were walking around to find a nice and affordable hotel. In the end we settled with Caroline Hotel, which was also the one, we both had heard recommendations of, before going there. And they only had this one room available - just perfect!
Caroline Hotel had a nice spot for swimming. And the first thing we did: Taking a swim in the lake, while it was raining down on us. Beautiful and nice! And the temperature was great! Just like Denmark!
After the swim we changed and went right to dinner. I was very hungry and it had gotten dark.
The restaurant was open and we could look out over the lake and watch the lights on the other side of the water.
Food was good. I had some curry and ris and before that pisang goreng... Again!
We had an Asian looking girl, Alicia, and a white guy, Erik, sitting next to us. The girl was working on her laptop. And the guy showed to be Swedish. Both very nice people.
And Erik took a walk around Tuk Tuk, a peninsula on Samosir, together with Shasa and me.
Afterwards I went right to bed. I was very tired after a long long day.
Next morning Shasa and I got up very early to rent a motorbike and go around Samosir to see the most important touristic stuff and go souvenir shopping.
A motorbike is not really a motorbike. It is more like a scooter, but it can run as fast as a motorbike. You need a driver licence to drive such one, but none of us had one and no one checks it.
I bought a Batak calendar (the ones hanging down in front of us on the picture below), an Ulos (a typical textile of the Batak people) and a magic stick (The story is that a brother and sister were in love. Since they couldn't marry, they went to the forest to live together. One day the wife wanted her husband to get her some fruits. The husband climbed the tree, but the tree didn't let go of him. The wife climbed up to get him down, but the tree also captured her. Some people of the village tried to get them down, but also they got stuck. The king of the village decided to cut down the tree and it became a magic stick. The magic stick can remove black power and make it rain and similar things.).
The first stop after the souvenirs shopping was Ambarita: Stone Chairs where the King held conferences and beheaded criminals.
We had a local guide showing us around, and here is what we learned:
During ancient times the Toba Batak people of Ambarita practised a form of carnibalism (as late as 1900). What remains today is a small village and the cluster of stone chairs where the village elders held council.
Whenever an enemy was captured, the elders would invite the rulers of neighbouring villages to a conference, to determine the fate of the victim. The victim is held in behind bars under one of the houses.
If it is determined that the victim deserved death, he is taken to a dining table where he is clobbered to death. There is a boulder where the victim is beheaded. After that, he is chopped up, and his organs and blood is served to the tribal council!
After Ambarita we drove through the beautiful nature, took a lot of pictures and went to Tomok:
Traditional houses and si gale-gale.
The Toba Batak people of northern Sumatra create sophisticated puppets (si gale-gale) controlled by a complex system of internal strings and levers that allow them to move in a lifelike manner. Si gale-gale formerly played a crucial role in some funerary ceremonies. When an individual died, his or her soul became an ancestral spirit. For his or her spirit to enjoy the same prominence after death that the person had when living, the deceased's children had to perform the proper funerary rites. If a person died childless, a si gale-gale was created as a substitute to perform the necessary funerary rituals. When in use, the puppets were mounted on the front end of a long, flat box through which the strings passed, allowing the puppeteer, who sat behind the box, to control the puppet from some distance, giving the illusion that the figure was self-animated. Deftly manipulated by the puppeteer, the si gale-gale was able to perform all the required dances and ritual protocols for its deceased parent.
After the Si gale-gale we went to a place with the the tomb of the Sidabutar Kings.
The tomb of King Sidabutar and the other tombs in Tomok are made of natural stones, intact without connections.
Their bodies are not buried, but stored in the tombs.
The tombs are all covered with a textile with the colors red, white and black. Red = the world today, white = heaven and black = the underworld.
On some of the big tombs there was a face. This face should symbolize the face of the dead person.
We had to have an ulos over our shoulder to enter the "graveyard".
In the "backyard" of the "graveyard" there was a huge magic stick.
We went back to Caroline Hotel and had breakfast.
After breakfast I left for Prapat again, to take back Tobali Taxi to Medan.
I met a European couple in Prapat and we went to Tobali Taxi together. Here they tried to rip us of, but I even got the price further down than what the usual price was according to some of the locals we had talked to... ;)
Again we made a stop at the lunch place.
We were back in Medan at 17.00 and Yeti was picking me up at the office of Tobali Taxi.
Together with Yeti I drove around to have a look at some different hotels (four), before I decided for Gajahmada Hotel.
Then we went out to have dinner at a nice street with only restaurants. And you could sit outside!
Before bringing me back to the hotel, Yeti drove me around the city to show me, what Medan looks like. I think that I got a quite good impression. And there are difinitely NO high buildings in Medan. But the airport is also inside the city - maybe bad with high buildings...
Back at the hotel I was on the internet, took a shower and fell asleep immidiately!
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