Finally, time to recover, relax and get a tan! We hopped on the ferry from Parapat to Samosir which is an island in the middle of Lake Toba. We got off the little ferry at Samosir Cottages and were met by a guy called Buddy who showed us to Reeption and welcomed us. Unbeknown to us he was just some random guy who didn't actually work for the hotel! There seem to be lots of these guys in Indonesia who are very attentive (often overly so) and then try to become your guide of chauffeur!
Anyway, we got a room right on the Lake with 3 beds for 120,000 Rupiah which was a bargain considering it had a hot shower and flushing loo. this was a real luxury after squatting in the jungle and washing in cold water! I quickly got into my bikini and promptly lay in the scorching sun all afternoon, regularly dipping into the clean, clear lake to cool off - perfect day. Later on, we met up with three of the girls we had done the jungle trek with - such a nice suprise - so we arrange to meet them for drinks later... We were just on our way out for tea when the power went out, apparently this happens all the time so was no big deal although we did wonder how our food would be cooked. We ended up having a fabulous candlelit dinner at Jenny's restaurant; fish curry turned out to be a whole fish covered in a paste / sauce which was just delicious. There were only about 8 people in the resaurant (nearly full!) and we were entertained by a fantastic Indonesian guy playing the guitar and singing. perfect end to a perfect day :-)
The next day we walked around Tuk Tuk which took about an hour - beautiful sleepy little place with lots of character and then spend the rest of the day by the Lake just lounging around. It sounds like we were very lazy, but after all our walking we were in need on lots of lying down! Buddy was still following us around and trying to heal Carolyn's poorly tummy with reflexology and herbs and leaves... very bizarre but seemed to help somewhat! We agreed with him to drive us back to Medan the following morning to catch our flights - it cost a bit more than a regular taxi but the air conditioning was worth the extra pound or two.
This was my last day with han and carolyn as they were flying to banda Axhe and i was going back to Penang to get a 60 day visa. I knew it was going to be a waste of 2 or 3 days but needed my visa so it had to be done.. I am due to get my visa today and then hope to fly to Jakarta tomorrow (11th). I had booked a flight from medan to jakarta but have missed it - total waste but again, i need my visa!
Will write again once i am in Jakarta or Jogjakarta (southern Java) and keep you updated. It's really hard to upload pictures on this system and takes forever to do on facebook - will try though! I managed to crash the entire Internet cafe in Medan the other day as i was faffing around with pictures - oops!!
