Sunday, 9 June, 2019, Lake Toba,
Sumatra
Lake Toba is huge! And the island we're staying on, Samosir, is 100km long. So we're sitting on an island, in the middle of a lake, surrounded by the rim of the crater of an extinct volcano. I am assured the volcano is well and truly extinct. It was obviously a gigantic volcano before it blew its top 74-thousand years ago. And scientists reckon eruptions continued for 15-20 thousand years. Yes, that's right 15-20 THOUSAND...
The map at left shows Lake Toba today - at this point, northern Sumatra is about 200 km wide, so the size of the lake is apparent.
Today's tour covered the usual sorts of things, tribal villages (interesting) traditional dancers (some very good, particularly the children), a royal graveyard (kings from a few centuries ago).
Our tour boat (right) was far too big for just the two of us. But that was what arrived at the resort wharf to pick us up – we didn't have any say in what boat we were allocated. (Any true greenie would have despaired at this waste of diesel, but....)
above: the boat we had all to ourselves
right: Dave in solitary glory on the back deck
This part of Samosir Island is obviously a miniature Gold Coast, lined with resorts and holiday houses.
nts
allocated. These punishments included reparation for minor crimes,
and execution for anything more serious.
It's just as well our visit to the village of Huta Bolon in Simanindo coincided with a tour boat contained a score of French tourists - otherwise we would have been watching the dancers in solitary glory.
For us, the highlight of the dancers was a troupe of youngsters who combined the dancing with balancing half a dozen china plates on their head and arms - and there was only one moment when it looked like it might have all come crashing down. But the dancer recovered her poise, and all was well.
Last
item on the tour list was a group of graves in Tomok village, those of
the original king of the tribe and his successors.
Although the island converted to Christianity from animism with the arrival of European missionaries 200 years ago, these kings are still revered, and all due respect has to be paid to their graves. So we had to don a sash type scarf called a ulos, worn over the shoulder, before we could enter the compound where their sarcophagi were resting.
*****
Tomorrow: An early start ...leaving the island at 5am on a charter ferry to reach the mainland for the three hour drive to Medan for a flight to Jogjakarta.