Day 4 - We leave Bukit Lawang for Medan. This is the only way to get to Berstagi on the Karo Highlands. Yet another mini bus that was virtually empty when we left, however we manage to squeeze it 15 or was that 18 including 2 on the roof!!!! Ali, is also with us as he is meeting some tourists at the airport.
Roughly 3 hours later and lots of bruises and backache we get to Medan. We are the last people on the bus and randomly stop and Ali puts us on another bus immediately. Luckily we had him as I am not so sure I would have managed that with my terrible bahasa. We think this is so good and efficient for Indonesian standards. We thought far too soon, as we pulled up outside a warung after being on the busapproximately 15 munutes and waited for over an hour - what for I have no idea!!!!!
Finally we get out of Medan and onto the winding single lane road to the mountain town of Berstagi. It is cooler and the sir thinner - a change to the jungle. Berstagi is an agricultural town and the surrounding fields are full of vegetables. OUr hotel for the night is a bit bit out of town but closer to Gunung Sibayak, our reason for travelling here.
We find our hotel, then venture back into town for food and try to organise a shared car to Lake Toba. Food was easy to sort out but transsport was a no goer. It looks like the public bus again tomorrow!
Day 5 - We are up at the crack of dawn to climb the active volcano - Sibayak. It is just over 2000m high. We start off well but realise it is getting steeper and steeper. The majority of the walk is on well maintained asphalt :-) We meet a couple on their way down, they atrted at 4am compared to our 6am start. However, they give us a good tip to finding the turn off point from the road to the next section of the climb.
This is the hardest part, climbing up limestone rocks and slipping and slidding in th muddy pool. The paths here are as well maintained, but we know we are so close. Just around the next corner we see the smoke bellowing out of the volcano.
