I got up a bit later than planned about 4.30am and got my stuff together and turned the motorbike around in the alley. I headed out through the city and traffic was light which was good. I put 30,000 of petrol in and the tank said full and then I tried to go fast and safe and was about 60-80km an hour as a top speed. Going fast meant the wind actually felt like something, even a small pain and turning my head with the helmet on was not that easy, but the journey was ok I just arrived closer to 6am at the hill a motorbike taxi guy had recommended yesterday, and I had to pay 30,000 to go and see. Most people were leaving as the sun had come and the view was not very good, I could hardly see the temple. I didn't stay that long as a result and when I left they charged me another 2,000 for parking.
I headed down to the proper temple and got a ticket. Most people inside were Indonesian as they pay a lot less and there were a lot of school children because of the holidays. The temple was pretty impressive and I wandered around taking photos before climbing up. A few kids wanted their photo with me and after the main temple I went down to see the museum which was about Indonesian seafaring and they had a ship that had been constructed based on old designs and sailed to Madagascar. Then there was another museum which had photos from the reconstruction of the temple and I left soon after to drive to a small temple nearby as they had built 3 in a row. I got a bit lost but found it and it really was small so was driving off when someone said I needed a ticket and there was a hut I'd missed by coming the wrong way. I reluctantly paid although it was only 3,500 and he said it gives me access to the other one of the 3. I drove there and there was a Buddhist monastery next to it which was well designed and the temple looked ok as well. Driving back afterwards was much slower as there was so much traffic and everyone wants to push forward at stop lights but then some go really slowly afterwards. I wanted to be careful which meant waiting until traffic had spread out before overtaking but it meant it was about 11.30am when I got to the train station. The place was fairly busy and I got told to get a ticket for customer services which I did. I also queued at the ticket machine and was at the front when my nunber came up so I went to customer services who they said the 3am train was now full. I couldn't look at other options so I went back to the ticket machine where the queue had grown and moved slowly. When it was my turn I found an afternoon 5.30 train for just 160,000 rupia to Surabaya so I got that and decided to spend the night there, not the best end to a birthday but at least I'm still moving. I went back to the hostel who said I could use the room for longer but I showered and packed up by 12 and left my suitcase to go to Prambanan temple. The drive there was not so far but traffic was not great. I got there and there were very few foreigners like myself but I did find some to ask if it was worth the 234,000 IDR and they said yes. So I treated myself and it was turning into quite an expensive day. A guide wanted to serve me but I didn't think it was worth it. I wandered in after some photos and a trainee guide offered his services for free so I agreed and he started by explaining how many structures there are before leading me up the steps of the main one where there was a statue. He described the statue by reading of a sheet and his English was not great so I couldn't understand some words such as highest and after we moved on to another room with another statue and so on with him reading off what the god was known for and what it had in its (often 4) hands. Quite a few school children were at the temple and wanted their picture taken with me which I obliged. With all of these people taking pictures it was like I was famous or it was my birthday or something. The tour guide finished up and I tipped him a bit to encourage him and went round the temple again before heading to the 2 smaller temples which had restoration work going on and the museum which just had photos of the place over time. I went back to my bike and rode into town stopping for snacks and food on the way. I got back to the hostel around 4.30 and returned the bike. The girl from the hostel offered to give me a lift to the train station and I don't usually like motorbikes with my suitcase but I did it this time. I waited at the station and boarded the train when it came and it left on time. I had 2 seats to myself so could rest a bit. Surabaya was a lot like other places with lots of taxi drivers and I walked the short distance to the hostel which was quite modern with a Japanese tube hotel feel to it. I walked through the town where they had a submarine and not much else before going to sleep after 12.
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The train arrived on time around 5am and I made my way through the throng of taxi drivers to the road where there were some hotels on the map. I walked to a couple but their prices were either too high, they were closed or they were full. I tried to check Agoda but my internet had stopped working although my wattsapp atill worked. So I went down a small side street which had more places but it was a similar story. One place that looked dodgy was still 200,000 for the night. I got to another larger street and there was a place for 120,000 but nobody around. When they did come it turned out they were full as well. There was a bike rental place for 80,000 for a day without petrol and I got to the corner where there was a hostel which said they have space but it was 140,000 for the night which is quite a lot for Indonesia. I walked on and found a room for 140,000, but it turned out that was if you only stayed for 8 hours and 24 hours was 240,000. I went back to the hostel as at least I might meet some people there which would be good for my birthday potentially. I asked for the bed and they said check in was at 2pm, so I left and went back along the road I'd been before but nowhere else was available and I got to a main shopping area which didn't have hotels but it did have free wifi so I was finally able to check agoda. I found 3 places which were cheap and had rooms so I decided to go to a place not to far away called Omah Cillic. I walked around to the right road but the hostel wasn't where maps.me said it was. I left my suitcase and walked up the road and found another hotel but they had no cheap rooms. The man there told me to try Onah Cillic and pointed me in the direction which was the opposite of where the map said it was. I went back to get my suitcase which was still ok and walked back past the hotel all the way to the end of the road without seeing the place. My legs were still hurting and I realised it was because of the shorts so I changed on the side of the road into my other shorts. My suitcase meanwhile was still a bit damp from the rain at Lake Toba as it hadn't been aired out properly since then. I asked someone where Onah Cillic was and they pointed back down the road so I walked that way and got back to the hotel where the man again pointed but added that I need to go right. I went back and found it down a tiny side street that motorbikes somehow went down. They had a dorm bed for 80,000 and let me check in. Agodas price had seemed cheaper but when I checked it was the same after taxes. I got to shower and freshen up before messaging the free walking tour person as it was the same company running tours here.
He hadn't got back to me so I walked to the area it was supposed to be and had some breakfast. I walked into a tourist information centre which was a proper one and they tried to contact the walking tour person but they got told that the tour was really short so I decided to walk the city including the palace and headed that way and stopped at a srtall to get a better sim card with telekomsel which has better coverage but cost 50,000. A man who I thought was the boss at the phone stand talked to me about the big temple and how to get a bus there as its cheap and that the palace is best later at 12 as there is a show then, but I should see a free art exhibition as its the last day and his wife is one of the artists. So I went with him as its just across the road and he pointed to some pictures his wife had done and left. The man who worked there took over and explained the pictures are all batic. Ba meaning line and tic meaning dot and showed me the stages to make a picture. He also explained that they can be washed as they are done on fabric (like the stuff in Myanmar). I looked around and decided a few were ok and thought maybe as a present but the prices were high around 1.2 million rupia upwards. I told him I'd think about it and he said they close at 12 so I eventually said no and walked off. I got a bit further and someone else said there was an art exhibition in a art school that is really good and I must see and I went with him. This time the place was really quite far and they had loads of paintings all lined up in the room like in a poster shop. I said I knew how batic is done and he gave me a price list based on letters as each frame had a letter. The prices looked high but when I compared size for size they were much cheaper than the other place. The stuff here didn't appeal to me and I left and got to a museum which was 5,000 entrance. The place was ok but some things were written in English, most in Indonesian but very few things had both translations. After I went to a nearby mosque before going to the grand palace which was 7,000 entry and just to make sure I paid 2,000 for a camera permit. The place was a bit disappointing though, just a few buildings that weren't so impressive and Wikipedia said the performance was on from 10-12 so I'd just missed it although it was just music playing and they'd had one person playing the traditional xylophone type instrument at the museum. I headed out and was asked by a couple of peopke to see an art exhibition which I ignored and came to the water castle area where I was invited to an underground mosque. I didn't think it would be good and wandered on but I saw that there were a few buildings I couldn't get in that were probably the mosque so it was quite big. I went back and there was a huge group of children going in so I walked on instead and got to the main water park where entry was 15,000. It was nice inside, with 2 pools and fountains surrounded by walls and a couple of buildings. I took some photos and moved onto the next area which wasn't as good before I realised I'd left the water park Confused I walked back in to see the other parts I'd missed but it seemed the ticket was just for that one space. I soon left the area and went to a fort/castle which was moden looking and then there were city walls so I walked all along which ws not a great idea in the heat. I headed back to the centre of the area where there is a park with 2 large trees which legend has it if you walk through blindfolded without accident will bring you good luck. I didn't do it and instead went to the underground mosque which turned out to be included in my water park ticket. The mosque was ok, rather plain with no decorations but there were too many people taking photos of each other getting in the way. I left and headed to catch a bus to get me to Borobudor temple and it was now around 3pm. I got a bus for just 3,500 but it only goes to a bus terminal and then I needed another bus which was 25,000. By the time I got to Borobudor it was 4.30 and after all the messing around with taxis and batic people I wasn't in a great mood and ignored the taxi people and instead walked. I went to the wrong place as I was looking for the exit as someone had said you can get a cheaper ticket there. It wasn't the exit either and I tried to take a shortcut but security was strong and they wouldn't let me through. I went back to the entrance and it was 260,000 to get in, which is quite a lot especially as locals pay 30,000. The temple also shut at 5.15 so you can't even see sunset and it would not give me enough time so I decided to cone back tomorrow even though I had to get here again. I hadn't booked my train ticket yet so lots of things could change and just in case I can't come back I decided to walk around it just so that if someone says did you see the temple I can say yes I walked all the way around it (I did also have a brief view before security made me turn back). So I walked around and the fence was pretty secure apart from a gate where locals were crawling under it apparently to get to the market where they work. The whole walk around was 5 or 6km and it was mostly on the road but there was a grass path along the fence which I took to cut the walking distance only I ended up in a farm. Thankfully this wasn't Texas and the farmer even pointed me in the right direction. I got back to the road and then to the bus station and it was after 6pm and getting dark and the bus station was empty. I asked and got told it was shut, no more buses. So I went to the main road hoping that there might be another local bus or pickup to take me somewhere where I could get another bus. The woman in a shop there didn't speak English but I used google translate and found that there was no buses but not what to do to get back. Then a nice white SUV parked up and offered me a lift to the road where the bus goes. The man was called Jonny and had his wife and daughter with him and was a big help even waiting for the bus to come for a bit. When he left there was another man there who was going to Jamblan bus station as well. We waited a bit and then he flagged down or knew someone in a car. He offered me a lift to the bus station for 50,000, but a guy on a motorbike had just offered me that so I wasn't keen until he agreed to take me all the way to my hosetl for 50,000. I ended up getting dropped off 10 minutes from the hostel and when I got back I had a rest as I was tired. Then woke up around 2-3 hours later and decided to try to see the temples tomorrow by motorbike and the girl working at the hostel helped me get one from the shop next door for 70,000 for the day. After that I stayed up until after midnight to see in my birthday and then went to bed. I woke up on the bench close to 5am and made it to the bus stop as a bus left. I wasn't sure where they were stopping as they dropped people off first but I found the place and didn't have to wait long and the bus took close to an hour to get to Gambir central train station in the middle of the city. I looked for a luggage storage place so I could leave my bag for an hour and eventually found somewhere with the help of customer services. After that I went to see if there were hotels nearby and I went past a national art gallery which was free but didn't open until 10am. I found a hotel which looked Pretty expensive, so instead of asking the prices I wandered around and went into their garden which had wifi I could connect to. They also had a model of a temple called Borobudor that this hotel was named after which looked impressive so I looked it up and it is near to Yogakarta where I was going next. I also used the wifi to download a map for central Java which I'd somehow missed and I contacted a walking tour person. I left the hotel and wandered into a park with monuments and fountains. I went on to some mosques and crossed to the wrong side of the railway tracks and wandered through a poor neighbourhood. The tour person gave me the details so I headed that way stopping for a convenience store snack for breakfast but I arrived 10 minutes late for the tour. They were still there and 2 people turned up after me as well. The tour was of Chinatown which I'd missed in Singapore but seen a bit of in Kuala Lumpur. We went into a few temples and a Chinese church and an old building. We also went through 3 markets where they had sea cucumbers (expensive) and frogs (alive or skinned).
There were quite a few people from Jakarta on the trip which might be because of the holidays, one of them called Felice who had set up her own food and design businesses introduced me to her friends. She later invited me to join them for lunch but I was worried I might not get the train ticket I needed as a lot were booked up already because of the holidays. I jumped on a train and had to get out a stop before at Jaunda as only national trains stop at Gambir (fairly inconvenient), but it was less than 10 minutes walk as long as you can get across the road. At the station I managed to book the train for that night leaving at 9 and arriving 5am in Yogjakarta. I left the train station and I went to the art gallery which was open and I used their toilet to wash myself a bit as it had been a while without a shower, at least I had that quick dip in Lake Toba. The art was all ceramic and fairly modern, some was interesting, others not. Unfortunately the coin museum I wanted to see was near the station I had come from at the end of the walk, but there were other places I wanted to see as well so I headed to the national monument and then museum both of which were closed as was another museum (a Monday thing). I visited a normal mosque and then got to the grand mosque where they were happy to show me around for a donation. The place is huge but not that photogenic from outside, the main hall was better and he explained how certain measurements were used to signify the Indonesian date of independence. I wanted to donate 10,000 at the end but didn't have change so I ended up leaving 7,500. I wonder if they expect more normally but most museums here only charge 5,000. After that I went to the nearby Cathedral which is also a good visit although not for as long. By now it was getting on and I took the train to see the bank coin museum but it shut at 5pm. I walked north to the old town which had lots of people dressed as statues and quite a few tourists. The main square was quite European with important buildings around it. I carried on north and the river had construction work but I made it to an old Dutch bridge and then I was out of the nice pedestrian area and back to walking in a big Asian city. I found a watchtower which was also shut and I headed to the maritime museum as the building was old if nothing else. I walked past a market stall and a man there started talking to me and asked if I wanted to see the museum. I said tes but its shut and he said no problem come with me and took me inside. He introduced himself as Chander and said the lonely planet have written about him which he seemed proud of. He took me round the museum fairly quickly giving brief explanations of things and expecting me to be so impressed that I'd want to take a picture of everything, so I took a few. After he said I should ser the harbour and he would give me a lift so I said ok and got on his bike and we went back to the watchtower first where there was a prison. Then we went to the harbour which is just lots of boats. He had asked me where I was staying and I said the name of a place on the map about 2km from Gambir. After the harbour where I had to take more pictures he asked if I wanted to go to a fish market and I said no. I got back on his bike and I expected to go back to the museum but it took a long time and when I asked he said he was taking me to my hotel. I didn't know where we were and traffic was terrible and then he didn't even know where my hotel was so I got off about 5km (check screensshots) from it. I was also quite far from the train station but I walked to it and took the train for 2 stops before walking to Gambir station. It was after 8 now which is later than I had planned , but I got some food, charged up power a bit as I was almost out, picked up my luggage and changed clothes in the toilet. I wasn't too comfortable and my legs were hurting, maybe from all this travelling without proper rest or shower or something. I went to get the train and that was all fine and the seats were ok with charging points, but for some reason even though the train was half empty someone sat next to me. Once the train moved off I got up and sat somewhere else to get 2 seats and I got some sleep during the journey. I woke up around 4am wanting the toilet and we stopped around 5 at a mosque which had one. The next stop was for breakfast and like most highway restaurants it was overpriced so I walked up the road and a woman beckoned me in so I went to her cafe and had nasi goreng for 7,000 and a tabs drink for 3,000. The drink wasn't great but they didn't have much else apart from coffee otherwise. The bus continued and we got to Bukkitingi around 11am which is pretty late. Some people got off but others got on so I couldn't find a better seat.
Traffic around Bukkitingi was bad and we moved slowly but at least I had a mobile signal now. We went past a swimming pool complex which looked nice but didn't stop. At 12.30 it started raining but stopped around 12.45 and I checked the map and found that we had crossed the equator somewhere before Bukkitingi. I'd read that buses stop so people can take pictures but I don't think we did. We carried on and the person next to me moved to the back so I had more space for about an hour until we stopped at the junction to the airport and I got out. The local minivans didn't seem to be going to the airport and I didn't want a motorbike so I crossed the road and walked along the road a bit towards the airport when a car stopped to give me a free lift to thr airport. The man said he was not from this area originally but I couldn't work out where he said, I thanked him when we arrived and went to see what there was at the airport. It looked pretty small and food was not to cheap but I tried out a chicken spaghetti in a chain restaurant for 18,000 and it turned out to be really small. Then I went through security at the entrance and my hip flask caused some questions but it was ok and I went to check in but it was too early and my flight wasn't checking in yet. I wandered around but there wasn't much apart from some overpriced shops. So I went to customer services for my airline (Sriwijaya) and they agreed to look after my suitcase. I headed out of the airport to find somewhere cheaper for food as I wasn't feeling too well from the 19 hours of travel. I didn't have to go far as there was a place about 30 metres away from the terminal where there were food stands snd I had a mie goreng (fried noodles with egg) for 12,000. I went to look for some good internet and went almost to the main road 4km away and found a place but my phone wouldn't connect properly. I headed back and on the way a local wanted a photo with me which does happen here a bit. I got back around 6.30 and had some rice and chicken from another cafe and started feeling better (from the fresh air I think). I used a free computer at the terminal which was good but couldn't be connected to before picking up my suitcase and I went to check in but my suitcase weighed 23kg and the limit was 20kg. So I took some things out until my rucksack was stuffed and I got the suitcase down to 20.5kg which they allowed. The flight was already delayed half an hour until 10pm and it was only 7.30 now, but I went upstairs and used the free wifi to download google translate which Matt had recommended and then read a bit and charged my power banks which were empty. I sat around reading mostly and found a row of plug sockets with one free I could use so I got on to charging. By 10pm nothing had happened and when I asked they said the plane had not arrived yet. We waited and waited and they gave everyone a paper bag with water and a muffin (for the delay) before the plane finally arrived around 11.30. We boarded and the plane was full and we arrived around 2am in Jakarta. I looked up how to get into the city and they have buses which run from 5am until 11pm for 40,000 or taxis otherwise which can cost a couple of hundred thousand rupiah. I looked for a nearby hotel as I hadn't slept properly for the bus ride and there was one a few km away. The taxis tried to charge quite a lot so I tried walking but then the roads did not turn out to be how they were on the map due to construction work for the train line they are building to the airport. I headed back to the airport and a van offered me a small lift for 5, which I was happy to pay. When we got there I felt generous and gave him 10 but he wasn't happy and wanted more. I said we agreed on 5,000 and he said 500,000 which is about the price of a flight. I left him the 10,000 and walked off and then decided to wait for the 5am bus and save another nights accommodation so I found a bench in the area to watch flights and napped. I woke up at 6am having not slept brilliantly as there was a mosquito in the room and it was also cold. I probably should have worn a jumper and trousers which is what I did now. I decided to see sunrise so got on the bike as my room faced west and headed to the south part of tuk tuk to get a view. The first view had some land in the way as did the second place but the third place I stopped at, an expensive hotel was good. By now the sun was pretty high so I got back om the bike and looked around tuk tuk for a shop or some food and nothing stood out so I went back going past the school where they were cleaning up from last night. I packed most of my things up and decided to swim today in the lake rather than have a bucket shower and had for breakfast of a potato omelette at the guesthouse which was ok but a bit plain. I messaged Matt but he wasn't responding so I decided to head out on my own and I checked out and left my suitcase. I took the motorcycle north and soon came to a place called stone chairs. It turned out to be an old area with stone chairs and a stone alter used for sacrifices. Seemed ok but there wasn't much written about it so I soon left. Driving north I came to 3 or 4 churches. Matt had said most people on the island were Christian and they had quite a lot of Christmas decorations as well. I got a message from Matt as he was up and thought about continuin to the northern most part of the island but that wouldn't leave much time for the kings tomb and the waterfall that were south of Tuk Tuk (the town), so I messaged Matt and headed back. I got back around 9.20 and he was eating breakfast and feeling tired but he said he'd be ready to go in 15 to 20 minutes. We left around 10am and headed south and got to Tomak which seemed busier maybe because it was a weekend. We needed to turn right which was not so easy but we managed and got to the museum, the first of 3 places here marked on the map. There wasn't much to see and the artifacts had their name on but nothing else was written so we didn't know what they were used for, how old they were and left. Next we went to the kings tomb, where there were stone monuments and someone giving a talk in Indonesian I think (which is pretty similar to Malaysian). We had to wear a cloth out of respect and the man taking it back asked for a donation which I didn't think it deserved but Matt donated 5,000. The final place in the area was a strange wooden statue which danced in front of a house with music. Tourists got to dress up and get led in a dance and there were quite a few people doing it and taking photos.
We left the area and headed to the waterfall where the road became a path and I took a wrong turn but we got to the place closest that we could drive and had about 900 metres left to walk. Unfortunately it was largely uphill and it was a bit warm so by the time we got there it was 11.40. There was no water in the stream which is disappointing but I climbed up and it looked like it would be good with water as it was a pretty steep high drop. We walked back and then drove back and I just got the bike back in time for 12.30 like I was supposed to. The man was about to give me my driving licence back but he spotted damage on the bike. His wife and daughter came out and they looked it over in turn. I waited to see what they would ask for and eventually they said 600,000 to fix it, to replace the panel, but I could tell from repairs they had already done that they were just going to patch it up. I said I would pay 300,000 and they came down to 500,000 after a while with the woman being theatrical about her 5 children she has and I walked away for a bit and went to s travel shop nearby to buy a bus ticket. The ticket to Padang cost 300,000, up from 280,000 apparently but still much cheaper than the 380,000 the man on the boat had tried to charge me yesterday. Buying the ticket meant I only had 200,000 plus some small change on me. I went back to the shop and we all said pretty much the same things over again before the man stepped in and said he would take 100 off the price so it was 400,000, the women were upset at this or pretended to and as early on I had decided that would be an ok price I was going to accept but I wanted them to feel like they had won, so I still looked unhappy, checked how much it wss in pounds, waited thinking before reluctantly agreeing. I said I needed an ATM and the nearest was 2.2km away. They let me borrow a bike and wanted me to take a different one but I couldn't use it so I went on the same one, took some money out and came back. I paid the girl while being humble and apologising, I had thought about paying 50,000 more but decided 400,000 was an ok amount and the girl thanked me very much which either meant they were actually happy with it all despite the drama or it was just a standard reaction as a shopkeeper. I went to get some lunch as it was 1.40 and I had to get the 2.30 boat and I saw Matt who was going for food so we went into bamboo restaurannt and ate there. I rushed off afterwards and took my suitcase down to the jetty in front of our hotel where the owner had said to stand and then wave at the boat as it went past. It was 2.20 so I was on time and I coulcn't see a boat coming so I decided I should have a swim in the lake as it would be a shame to come to a lake and have a beautiful day like today and not swim. So I changed and got in. I saw a boat moored to 4 other boats unmoor and I waved to it just in case and shouted Parapat (where the boat goes to) but they drove off without coming round. I thought maybe there was another boat or they come back so I swum for a bit and also jumped off the pier into the water. At 2.40, I went to talk to the hotel owner but he was sure the boat comes round although he looked at bit confused at the time as the boat should have come. I sat back on the pier a bit longer before deciding that I'd missed the boat as it hadn't come round and I didn't want to miss the next one so I headed over to the 4 moored boats which involved a bit of suitcase lifting. Then I had to carry it down a 5 foot drop and up some stairs. Nobody seemed to think this kind of behaviour was unusual enough to say anything and I sat near the boats reading a bit while kids ran and played on the boats. Where I was standing was not going to be good to get onto the boat so I climbed over the 3 boats and sat on the last one waiting for the next boat. The weather got bad and started raining and time moved on past when the other boat had left past the hour. At just after 3.30 the boat turned up and I got on. Then it went all the way around Tuk Tuk fairly slowly to the 2 jetties and picked up 2 or 3 other passengers. It was now 4pm and we were finally leaving the island and my bus was at 4.30 from the station about 1.5km from the ferry port in Parapat. I tried to phone the number on my bus ticket to see if they could do anything or help but I couldn't get through to anyone. Having read around the world in 80 days I thought of doing a Phileas Fog as he basically went around throwing his money at problems to get people to go faster. I went upstairs getting a bit wet in the process and struggled to get them to understand but google translate helped. They didn't quite understand so I went back and tried again, and he said we arrive at Parapat at 4.30. Afterwards he came downstairs and said they could go faster for 100,000. I said 60,000 and he said no. I waited while we slowly moved along checking the map to work out when we would probably arrive. The guy came back and said they can do it for 60, I agreed and the captain put on some acceleration. I paid the guy 60 and he seemed confused, not happy and embarrassed as well, apparently he thought I'd agreed to 90. He thought about it and said he needs 10 more so I paid it. I kept looking at the map and the time and we eventually pulled in at 4.30 and I had probably only gained 5 minutes which may not be worth anything if the bus is on time. So Lake Toba had caused me problems with the bike accident and also missing the boat while the river at Bukit Lawang had also caused me problems trying to cross it. I guess I should just stick to the waterfalls that I'm used to. Anyway I was first off the boat and looked around for a tuk tuk transport to get me fast to the bus station but there was none there so I got in a minibus which of course meant other people would get on and off. Still we were going fairly fast in the right direction but then he went a way I didn't expect and we were no longer going to the station. We carried on to the main road and I was worried we might carry on the wrong way but we turned left towards the station which meant if the bus left the station it would go past us so I was looking out in case I could maybe stop it somehow. We pulled up at the bus station and I paid 10,000 instead of the 5,000 fare. I went into the office and I got told the bus normally comes at 5 but because of the weather it would probably be late. I had a look around the bus station and found an internet place which printed my plane ticket email for just 1,000 and then I bought a few things from a shop to eat. The bus turned up around 6 and we crowded around to put our luggage on. The conductor got out and opened one compartment which was fairly full, next he opened another but the door almost fell off and he screwed it back on and didn't put any luggage there. Finally he opened the last door and pulled stuff out which they loaded in the back door before putting the luggage in. I got in and was sitting at the back next to someone and near to the conductor who was standing and holding lots of goods being transported. We drove off and stopped just 30 minutes later for food. Then we headed off again and the guy next to me had trouble with water coming from the vents. I found a way of hanging the curtains to block the drips and he gave me a thumbs up. We stopped and more people got on and even more luggage at the back but the conductor sat on some of it. We stopped later though and the goods / luggage got moved somewhere as the guy made a bed on the floor to sleep. My chair was broken in that the seat wasn't connected anymore and the back wouldn't move from its position of fully back, it's possible I should have had the seat next to it but I did book late so probably not. The bus would have been decommissioned in a lot of countries and the road was quite bumpy but at least they didn't play music. We stopped at 9 and 11.30 as well and after midnight I finally got some proper sleep. I woke up at 6 and headed out soon after even though it was still a bit dark and went to the cemetery first where I could see the sun rising over one side as the cemetery was on both sides of the road. I went past the mosque and came to a temple entrance so I went in and there was a group of people doing tai chi. The temple was quite big and possibly new as it was in good condition but it did not join up to the place with the big statue so I left and went in the next door and there were quite a few other statues and a stream around a platform on which the big statue was. It was quite a good attraction for a place nobody goes to. I headed back and arrived at the hotel at 7 which is when breakfast starts and while eating I did some research into how to get to Bukkitingi from Lake Toba so that I wouldn't get caught out and miss my flight and it seems the bus takes 17 hours and costs quite a bit as well. I went and had a shower and packed and thought about maybe going to Medan instead as there is a train from Siantar to Medan and it is a lot closer to Lake Toba which would save time and if I got a refund on my other flight it might not cost much more. So I spent a fair amount of time doing research and then I wanted to check my flight time and somehow I'd lost the ticket I'd only just printed yesterday. I searched and managed to break the zip on my suitcase again which led to a frustrating time fixing it, all of which meant I finally left around 9 and the hotel receptionist helped me get a minibus to the place where the minibuses go to Parapat. There was a girl on the minibus who was a teacher somewhere around the area who was on her way to work and spoke good English. I should have asked what times the schools are open but we arrived and I transferred to another vehicle which cost 40k to Parapat.
The bus was more like a SUV and there were just 3 of us passengers and the journey was quick. We got to Parapet and started going in a direction that was no good for me so I said to stop as I wanted the ferry and was going to walk but then he drove me right to the ferry. The boat left soon after and cost 15,000. There were 3 Indonesian women and one tourist from Australia called Matt who was going to travel all the way to England via Russian railways. There was a guy on the boat who tried to sell me a bus ticket for 380,000 as apparently the price had gone up, but I declined. We arrived at a town called Tuk Tuk, on an island in Lake Toba which is on Sumatra, an island, so it's an island within an island. Matt went off with a guy from the boat to a guesthouse called Bamboo. I walked to see what I could find and walked past a small boring church. A woman asked me where I was going and if I wanted a hotel, I said yes, how much, she said first you have to see the room, so I just carried on walking. I got to a place called Laster Johnnys that wanted 150 for the night but the next place called Aman's had a room for 75 which wasn't good but I took it. Matt was outside my guesthouse as he'd probably seen my suitcase in front, Bamboos had not had internet or phone signal and this place had both so he got a room there as well discounted from 150 per night to 350 for 3 nights. I went to hire a motorbike and he had lunch. I went to 3 places and none of them would do anything other than rent the bike for the day (return at 6) for 100,000. I finally found somewhere that rented it for 24 hours at a higher price of 140,000. By the time I got back, Matt had finished lunch so we headed off to see some of the sights and he wanted to go south to Tomok where they had markets. We got there and they had a few things, but nothing special and we carried on driving after a short while. The next place marked as an attraction on the map we just went past and I have no idea what it was, then we came to a waterfall which had no water in. We carried on to a lake (a lake within a lake), but they were doing construction work and draining the lake so it didn't look good. It started raining so we sheltered. It rained for quite a while and Matt told me he'd been worried about travelling but was having a great time and kept meeting people and also used Tinder sometimes to meet girls. It stopped raining so we carried on South and the views were pretty good as we were high up but it was also cold and neither of us had a jumper or anything. Matt was looking for a cafe on the cliff so we carried on and then the road got worse and worse with potholes and less tarmac. One pothole I was trying to go around made me lose balance but Matt managed to hold the bike up. I should have stopped and switched off the bike and had a rest but when I held the bike I accelerated it and I couldn't get my right hand to stop accelerating as it had to hold the bike so it skidded along a bit. We both had minor cuts but were ok to carry on. The road continued to be bad and eventually we turned around and 30 minutes later stopped at a cafe which had pretty good views. We had drinks which Matt kindly paid for before carrying on and then Matt saw the cafe he'd wanted to go to so we stopped there and got invited in by a guy called Rizal who was drinking Tuak (palm wine) with his brothers (anyone including Matt seemed to be his brother, apart from his sisters). I didn't drink anything but Matt had a glass of tuak while Rizal said it was great to see you and did lots of hand shaking. We took some pictures and Matt got poured sone more drink all the way to the top which was more than he wanted. Rizal said we must come back and see a big tree (12 metres diameter) and when Matt finished his drink he got poured another which turned out to be his last. We got some more pictures and left as it was getting late, close to 6. Rizal and Matt thought it was 20 minutes back but as the bike was slow I thought more like an hour. It got dark and Matt wanted me to drive carefully, and we still had a few bumps to go past and more traffic to deal with and we got back in the dark around 7.30, stopping briefly for the sunset on the way which turned out pretty nice. We left the bike and walked to get some food, going past a school where the whole town seemed to have gathered for some kind of show. Most places seemed deserted so we kept walking round until we got to a cafe which looked ok and I had a Goa gon (vegetable satay with rice), Matt had a chicken curry. Both were good and big portions. There were people drinking and singing across the road but we headed back after dinner and at 10pm went to our rooms. I read and then went to sleep. |
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