Today we took a car from Danau Toba to beristagi, a journey of about four hours. First we hiked a couple of miles with our rucksacks back to the German bakery which we had previously enjoyed for breakfast. Having taken full advantage of the buffet options, we caught the 9 am ferry to Parapet. There we were met by our prebooked car to drive us to Beristagi. The journey involved more random acceleration and deceleration, hairpin turns and blind overtaking it. I took my mind off it by spotting me favourite uses for a moped. They included twelve (or was it 13) children on one scooter travelling home from school, the man with a full size fridge freezer strapped to the back of his (how do you balance that?), the one with a home-made 6ft by 6ft “windscreen” made from bamboo and sheets of plastic, the ones converted in mobile hawker stalls who can pull to the side of the road, pop up an umbrella and cook you whatever you would like for tea, and the one with chickens on the back! I also noticed that in the UK we seriously underutilise the opportunies to honk our horns. Here you need to honk at every other vehicle and most of the pedestrians you pass. Plenty of value achieved 🙂
We’re staying somewhere a bit more upmarket in Beristagi but the altitude means that the temperature is lower. I think this might restict our use of the outdoor pool. Phil and Luke have braved a local barber for haircuts. luke looks like a different child – his hair is very short now! He’s happy and i’m pretending i don’t mind the lack of curls!
We’ve booked a guide for the climb of Sibayak tomorrow. We are all excited to climb a real live volcano, although there’s been no actual activity for a long time!