Lake Toba - SE Asia's Minnesota?!

Oh hello der! We just got back from Lake TOba don't you know, and we sure found it cOzy! Like a little piece of hOme.

Mm, so writing in Minnesota dialect is challenging, so just read this with your best Minnesotan accent in mind!

Last weekend we had a great getaway to Lake Toba, on Indonesia's largest island, Sumatra. Lake Toba is technically a supervolcano and is the largest volcanic lake in the world! Within the huge lake is an (almost) island called Samosir, which was our destination - specifically a tiny little town on the northeast side called Tuk Tuk. Despite Minnesota's lack of volcanoes, Lake Toba was by far the closest approximation of a Minnesotan lake getaway that we've found so far in Asia!

The trip happened to coincide with my birthday, which worked out especially well considering that my present from Jacob was a gorgeous new 'mirrorless' camera - a hybrid between a true SLR and a digital camera - and our trip offered plenty of beautiful subject matter and time to play around with all the fancy settings! I think you'll agree, upon viewing the photos, that the quality is pretty awesome!

Despite Medan being a 1-hour flight from Singapore, getting to Lake Toba is quite a journey - but if it weren't hard to get to, it'd probably be overrun by tourists. After landing at the brand new Kuala Namu airport, we were picked up by a car arranged by our hotel. We quickly became thankful for an air-conditioned car and a competent driving because the roads were, frankly, terrifying. Honestly, probably the scariest driving I've ever seen (though I've never spent time in India, where I'm told it is even worse!). Motorcycles zip in and out; potholes, animals and small children line the roads; and passing cars (or, more often, giant trucks) is an exercise in prayer. Our driver chose the sound track for out journey - a good hour of Kenny G followed by some traditional Batok music (I preferred the Batok). Lake Toba is 3000 ft above sea level, so the drive went up and up until we crested a ridge and rolled down into Parapat at 5pm.

Lake Toba! Look a bit familiar, Midwesterners?

We grabbed a Bintang and some dinner while waiting for the 6pm ferry across to Samosir, reveling in the lack of humidity and cooling evening air. And playing around with our camera.

The ferry took an hour as the boat made its way around Tuk Tuk dropping passengers off at their hotels - most hotels had their own dock so we just hopped off at Samosir Cottages.
We were shown to our room - a bit old and lacking in design, but clean (enough) with a comfortable bed and - the best part - right on the lake. We began to explore Tuk Tuk, walking along the single main road past many small restaurants, bars, and tiny convenience stores run out of peoples homes. No Starbucks or McDonald's here - this is truly a remote little place!

We were joking about the spookiness of a black cat and a nighttime walk on Halloween when suddenly, the power went out and we plunged into absolute darkness! We fumbled with our phones' flashlights and decided to press on still, hoping that power would return. A few places lit up as generators hummed to life, but after a half mile or so, we turned back, questioning the wisdom of walking into the dark unknown.


Fortunately, the power came back soon after and we wound up at Jenny's Bar for more food. Jacob made friends with the local cat - until his barbecue fish came and the cat became rather miffed at not being invited to partake!

We finished off the evening with a birthday Magnum bar (we may have inadvertently shared a bit with an adorable local dog - or was it a ghost dog? OR was it COP DOG?! We'll never know!). And then we listened to the waves lapping the shore as we drifted to sleep, for once comfortably cool WITHOUT aircon!






We awoke to this view:

Our lovely little patio. The only downside of our room was that the hotel next door had a big (loud) party Friday night and hosted some sort of youth retreat Saturday night, which included loud Indonesian singing far past midnight, and again at 5:45am - greeting the sun perhaps? Sounded like they had a good time though! Between that and an almost constant smell of campfire, it almost felt like we were camping!

On Friday we devoured breakfast at our hotel, then took the staff up on their offer of renting a motorbike for the day! There are no taxis on the island, so this is really the only way to get around, and locals offer to rent you their motorbikes as you walk by. For 90,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($9ish usd), they handed us the keys, two helmets, and said, "you know how drive, right?" and "go slow, no insurance, ok?" Uh...sure! We climbed on - Jacob driving and me sitting on the back - and started slowly, especially on the dirt roads and in the constructions areas at the start. After a bit we gained confidence and once we made it onto the main paved roads we picked up the pace a bit.
IT WAS AWESOME! A little scary when you got passed by trucks, but the traffic wasn't too bad and it was just so fun!

We drove 10 or so miles to a group of Batok houses that had been made into a sort of museum. We arrived just in time to catch a performance of traditional Batok dancing - and even joined in on one of the dance. Yay for audience participation? The musicians for the dance were set up in one of the traditional houses.

Took this picture during the demonstration of a wedding dance - again, having lots of fun with our camera.

Totem poles like this one were common features around the island - and in souvenir shops too.

We stopped for a coke at the cafe next door (why is there something so quaint and travel-y about buying a $.40 Coke in a glass bottle?), then continued on our motorbike, following the coast of the island north until we rounded the top and headed back down the other side. Jacob did an admirable job driving as the traffic picked up as we neared the other main town on the island. We crossed the narrow strip of land connecting the (almost) island to the mainland and followed signs for the hot springs we'd heard about.
I've now been to a few hot springs or public baths (Malaysia, Tokyo), and have concluded that while they sound pretty glamorous, it is often sort of weird and pretty far from the spa-like conditions you'd expect from the name. Here, we found a sign outside a restaurant advertising the hot springs and after paying $.50, we changed and climbed the steps to, essentially, a warm pool behind the owner's house and restaurant. It was a bit run down, but the water was really hot, decently clean, and felt great.

Trying to bring some glamour! Jacob should use this on a album cover.

When we'd had enough, we donned our clothes and ate lunch at the restaurant before heading back to Tuk Tuk. All along the way we passed graves like the ones pictured here - some even larger and more ornate than these. When we got to a less traffik-y area, we pulled over and I got in the drivers seat to give it a try. It was super fun - I really enjoyed it. Turns out I'm a total pro at the driving part - but not so much the stopping part. When it came time to park, I may have cranked the throttle while also trying to brake. Good news is I only almost hit a front porch, instead of actually hitting a front porch.

I call this the, 'Is there a problem, officer?' picture.

As we neared Tuk Tuk, we spotted sign for Buddha's Cafe - vegetarian & vegan food, homemade sorbet. Of course we had to stop, and found ourselves in a little oasis. The sorbet was really fantastic - coconut durian for Jacob and coconut orange for me :)

We made it back to Samosir Cottages, parked the bike, then high-fived that we hadn't crashed or hit anything!

We went to Orari's restaurant for fruit smoothies and food while overlooking the lake and then there was a rainbow. Jeez. Ok, enough already Samosir, we get it - you're beautiful.

THEN we saw this dog. Altogether now: AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

And this POWER CHICKEN!

We spent the rest of the evening reading, playing cards and being lazy by the lake. We got more food at our hotel. We star-gazed.

The next morning I got up early (roused by some loud and rather oblivious neighbors) and went for a run. I got a lot of stares, as in 'what the heck is that lady doing?' and a lot of sweet 'helloooos' from kiddos. 
Then we hit up Popy's Cafe, where it took them a good 40 minutes to make my toast and Jacob's pancake. We suspect it is because most restaurants don't actually keep an inventory, but simply run out and buy ingredients once you order! 




The food did end up being delicious though, plus, you know, the view... and the company of this kitty. 

We then decided to walked to Tomok, another small town that was, by varying accounts, 3km, 5km or 6km away. We decided we could totally walk there, no problem. Well...let's just say it was a lot further than we expected. And when we thought we had almost arrived, we found out we had another mile and half to go. Feeling hot and a tad foolish, we finally strolled into Tomok and to a famous tomb of a king from pre-Christian times. (Interestingly, much of Samosir appeared to be Christian as evidenced by crosses on most of the graves).

Some pictures from the King's grave. As a token of respect, you were asked to wear a tradition swath of fabric on your shoulder.

Apparently the usual two boobies are just not enough! I like to think about the artist who looked at this and thought, 'yeah, four boobies, that's the ticket!'

Walking back to Tuk Tuk was not an option, so we hired to guys with motorbikes to drive us back - took 10 minutes, further underlining our silliness for walking all that way! We spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing by the lake.

Finally in a picture together!

We had to try out the sports/multiple shot option on the camera:

We watched the rain sweep in across the lake. Fortunately it didn't rain for long.

Dinner at Franky Pizza. Too bad we weren't relaxed or anything!

Then on to Roy's Pub:

Waiting for the band to start at Roy's Pub, Tuk Tuk once again lost power. The bartender quickly produced candles (it's like it's happened before or something!). So we took pictures of candles until they got the generator up and running.

The band was really good, playing lots of covers and trying to play requests (though usually they'd start the tune, then apologize for not knowing the words).

Our last morning involved packing, a quick swim, breakfast back at Jenny's Bar, and a ferry ride back across the lake. The return journey was much the same, so I'll spare you the description of traffic, minor carsickness and airport waiting. It was all worth it!


So would we gO back? You betcha!

Scammed

Our recent trip to Manila was, first and foremost, awesome. We had a great time and the majority of people were friendly and helpful.

However, we did have two unpleasant experiences of getting totally ripped off, and I had a lot of trouble not dwelling on those. Even though I can understand objectively that it wasn't personal, it still, essentially, hurt my feelings. It also made me think about the ups and downs of traveling and how to go about embracing the full breadth of traveling adventures, even when that means getting taken for a ride (literally and figuratively).

So both our experiences had to do with transport, and we should have (and sort of did) see them both coming.

We arrived at the airport late after midnight, exiting into a windy, rainy night. Our trusty Lonely Planet book has warned us not to hail a yellow (or was it white?) taxi, as those were airport taxis, not city taxis, and were a lot more expensive. It had also suggested going up to the departure level to catch a cab, which we did. We were quickly approached by a drier who ushered us into his taxi - which apparently was the wrong color, but I couldn't remember which was which. Jacob realized it, I think, but it was sort of too late to do anything.
He told us the metered rate - 10 pesos per 100m - but by the time we worked out the rate, we were off and running. That's $.23 US cents per football field, or $3.71 USD per MILE! So what should have been a 400 peso ride was soon skyrocketing to over 1000 pesos. He also ended up driving the long (wrong) way around a big circle (which even we could figure out), though whether he didn't know or was running up the meter is hard to say. In the end, the charge was 1300+ pesos for an 8 mile ride, and we were so frustrated. This is the part where it was hard to tell what to do - do we pay the full fare even though it isn't fair? Do we haggle and come off as total tourist jerks? We tried to find a middle ground, handing over 1000 ($24) pesos and telling him that was all we could pay. Yeah, it was a bit of a lie, and I felt crummy about it. I felt a little better the next day when we looked at a map and saw how he'd driven an extra couple miles before finding our hotel.
My two major flaws in a situation like this: I tend to pretend I understand what someone says, even when I don't fully understand, because I don't want them to feel embarrassed or to seem like I'm not in the know. And I don't like confrontation or suggesting to someone that I don't trust them - even if I don't, or shouldn't!

Our carriage driver and the ear of our horse!

The second event happened the following day when, tired after a whole day of walking, we decided to take a taxi to a cool bar we'd read about. Along came a horse and buggy - we'd seen a lot of them throughout the day and had been harangued repeatedly to take a ride. We decided that it was a short distance, so if the driver would agree to 150 pesos, we'd go for it. We asked the driver, saying 'one hundred?' and he replied 'one...one fifty.' 150? Sure, sounds good. (You can probably guess where this is going). So we enjoyed a nice ride - a bit further than we expected, but nice. Along the way, another guy jumped up alongside the driver, ('my brother' the driver explained - er, yeah, right.) 

We had a good time on the ride at least!

We turned down a side street and the driver told us the bar was just up the road we'd been on, one more block, then asked for 1,150 pesos. $33 for a 10 minute carriage ride?! We said no way, tried to argue that he'd said less, that we never would have taken the ride if we thought it was that much. He just kept repeating the price, and telling us how his horse was tired. We got out of the carriage and the four of us were standing around, the driver getting more agitated, threatening to 'go get his manger' and demanding that we pay. It started to get uncomfortable when the driver took his whip and smacked his horse hard (which made me plain old mad) and Jacob started telling me that we should just walk away (um, he was right - I was so mad I hadn't realized that the situation was getting dangerous. The driver flicked his whip at the horse and it actually brushed my nose and stung a bit, although I really don't believe he did that on purpose...) But we also didn't want to walk away without paying what we'd agreed to. We weren't trying to cheat him. We also lacked the small change that would have helped us offer a portion of the payment. Finally I just stuffed the 1000 peso bill towards him and we stormed off back to a busy street where we weren't alone, feeling shaky and pissed off. We calmed down and got some dinner at a nearby restaurant, and couldn't help but go over the situation again and again. Then, when we decided to go on to the bar we were going to in the first place, we couldn't find it. We pulled out a map and found out he'd taken us a mile past the destination - which explains turning down the side road and not taking us to the place. We should have insisted! But it was already done.

It is still a little frustrating to me as I write about it. I try to remind myself of other truths - or possible truths - about the situation. Tourism is an important industry in many of the cities we visit and some of it is predicated on taking money from tourists, even in unfair ways. Compared to the people doing the cheating, we are incredibly rich and while it doesn't feel fair, it isn't the worst thing in the world for them to try and take more than they technically should. To them, it probably does feel fair. They probably think we won't even miss it because we have so much. And when I think about it, I guess they're right. In the long run, are we going to suffer from paying an extra $50 during our trip? No. We'll be fine. And I comfort myself with the thought that maybe, just maybe, that extra money is going to be used to do something worthwhile - maybe buy the guy's kid new shoes or a school uniform. Probably not, but it could happen. And I try to remember that there are always a few bad apples, but that most of the people we encountered were polite if not downright friendly.

So getting scammed stinks. It makes me less trusting of similar interactions in the future. It makes me suspicious and guarded with people who may not deserve it. It hurts my feelings. But it is also just a part of travel. You can prepare and plan, read up on appropriate prices, learn about common local scams, and it'll help - but it isn't foolproof. In the end, you just have to count those extra costs as the price you have to pay if you want to go exploring. It wasn't the first time, it won't be the last. But we do like to explore, so I'll continue to try to make my peace with it!

Manila Part 3 - Trip to Taal

Taal Volcano

A quick picture-trip through our last day in Manila. We took a taxi to the bus station where we luckily met up with our travel-friend Francois - lucky because it was hard to find and we were late and we had no way of contacting him. We found spots in a van headed for Tagaytay, the town closest to the lake/volcano. It was a crowded, bumpy ride but at least there was aircon and sweet 80's tunes!!

We didn't end up riding in a Jeepney,
which is too bad because they look so awesome!

We hopped out at Tagaytay, where we were, again, immediately recognized as tourists and offered a tricycle ride to Talisay. Tagaytay is at the top of a huge volcanic ridge and the ride snaked down, down, down to Talisay, at the edge of the lake. Taal is an island in the middle of the lake, created by a second, smalled volcano inside the first.

Halfway down to Talisay - the island is Taal Volcano. The main volcano is
somewhat on the other side of the island - the on you can see on the far
right of the island is just a smaller volcano (I guess).

Our tricycle driver must have had a deal with on of the boat companies, because he took us straight there. But they gave us a fair price to take the 3 of us across and to wait for us while we hiked. Our tricycle driver also said he'd wait - convenient!
The boats were pretty, if a bit slow!

Approaching the tiny town on the island. We paid a small fee to hike, repeatedly declining the offer to ride horses up the trek. These horses were real troopers, you could tell - they had to deal with all sorts of crazy tourists. The horse-riding tourists, in turn, provided us with a ton of amusement. On the way up we saw a guy fall off his horse while it was standing still. 

The hike was pretty steep and very hot (no shade)! At some places, you could see smoke/steam coming out of the ground and smell the sulfur of the volcano brooding beneath our feet. Taal hasn't erupted since 1977, with the largest modern eruption occurring in 1965. When we reached the top, we bought a coconut and some cold cokes and listened to a local woman (who sold us the drinks) describe the 1965 eruption - she was 9 years old and living on the island at the time. The warning signs were not interpreted correctly leading up to the eruption, and evacuation didn't start until after the eruption had begun. She was lucky to be staying on a side of the island that was not as affected, though on the other side nearly 100 people were killed. She described how chunks of burning rocks rained out of the sky - unbelievable!

Not a bad view!!

You could pay for a bucket of golf balls and hit them into the volcano - or at least try to hit them into the volcano.

This guy only managed to hit them into the grass, and gave everyone, including the local vendor, a fright when he proceeded to climb down into the grass to retrieve a ball - that is one steep fall that you do NOT want to take! Tourists :)

So dreamy!

When we were done gazing - and frying our necks - we made the trip back across the lake and back up the hill to Tagaytay, where we found a restaurant with an unbeatable view and knocked back a few San Miguels and feasted a bit. I ordered pork bellies in coconut curry - holy moly. When it arrived, I pointed out to the waiter that there was a dead fly sitting in the spoon in the dish, and he immediately responded - by replacing the spoon! So again, I tucked in, secure in the knowledge that food poisoning was a definite risk, but one I was willing to take.

We hopped a bus back to Manila - and spent the next 3 hours in exhausting traffic! There was a lot to see though, as we drove through some of the city's slums. Definitely interesting. Back in Manila we bid farewell to Francois, then I watched and prayed Jacob wouldn't get hit by a car while trying to flag down a taxi for us. After a false start with a driver who claimed his meter was broken (nice try buddy, but we'd already been burned twice on this trip!), we hailed a cab and arrived home. We found a nice restaurant called Relish in Makati and ate a nice dinner, followed up by chocolate and ice cream at a dessert restaurant called Chocolate Fire! My kind of place.

The next morning we packed up and then walked over to the Ayala Museum in Makati - which ended up being AWESOME! We first explored a whole exhibit dedicated to GOLD, which featured this necklace of gold weighing more than 8 pounds! It was huge. There was also an exhibit of artwork by Hernando Ocampo, a modernist artist from the Philippines. I LOVED some of his canvases - the colors were amazing!

Finally, we used the audio guides provided to take us through 50+ dioramas depicting the history of the Philippines and it's struggle for independence. Before this trip, I honestly knew next to nothing about Filipino history, and while I probably couldn't pass a test on it now, I definitely have a much better grasp of the country's history and identity. Manila was a fascinating place to visit, and I hope we get the chance to see more of the Philippines someday!

View of Manila from a hotel window - such a vast place!