I left Lake Toba to go to Brastagi. Alex from Shugary Café gave me a ride to the bus stop. I’ve been eating at his restaurant since I arrived in lake Toba. He and his wife cook very delicious food. He offer to give me a ride to the bus station, where I took a bus to go to Brastagi. It was a very bumpy ride, the driver was driving like crazy. I even told him and he seems to like it because he was laughing when I told him he’s a crazy driver. People in Indonesia are very down to earth and very friendly. On the other hand, Indonesia is a very backward country. The roads are very narrow; there are no highways that I’ve seen so far in Sumatra. There’s widespread corruption that’s contributing to keep this country falling behind. Nature and the Indonesian people are the most beautiful thing in this country.
I arrived in Brastagi around 7PM and was lucky that the bus stopped in front of a guest house. I was very tired from the trip and went directly to the guest house and booked a room.
Next day, I went to Gunung Sibayak mountain-an active volcano on top of this mountain. It was really a wonderful experience; I left the guest house early in the morning heading towards the mountain. I started hiking and for a while I thought I was the only one because I didn’t see anyone. Then I saw a family in front of me, I started talking to them and they turned out to be from the Netherlands, on their 5th trip to Indonesia. I then continued in front of them and reached the hardest part of the hike, I was reluctant whether to do it or not and finally I continued the hike. I was concern because there were a lot of warnings of some tourists getting lost. I continued my hike and then once I got close to the top of the mountain, I heard some noises and all of a sudden I found these young men and young girls who were camping there. We chatted for a little, they were very friendly like most Indonesians I met so far. They are very easy going and were having good time; I took a picture of them dancing.
I walked a little more and I was right in the center of an active volcano that was on mountain Gunung Sibayak at around 2200 meter. Then I noticed the Dutch family approaching also. It’s an amazing family; they’re raising their kids by introducing them to the nature and to new cultures, what a wonderful way to make the kids value these things instead of the material things. We started seeing some other tourists coming up as well. Then we started our descent towards the hot spring. Along the way, I met 3 young Indonesians, I then offered them some biscuits and they accepted and continued my descent. Then while descending towards the hot spring, the 3 guys came on a scooter and they offered me a ride, I wanted to walk because I thought it wasn’t too far. I then realized it took at least 1 hour without seeing any hot springs and I wished I accepted the scooter ride offer. I then caught up with a French couple whom I met on the mountain. We chatted for a little and we found a little hot spring right there, we went in and took a dip in the hot spas, it was very refreshing. I then left them and took the bus with some locals, they were all women. They were dressed as if they were going to some type of wedding or some celebration. I asked for their permission to take their picture. I noticed that some of them were chewing beetle nut. It’s very popular in South East Asia to chew beetle nuts, just like in Taiwan. I asked one of them to take her picture and they started laughing. They were making fun of each other and of me. It was really fun to be able to communicate with people without speaking any language and yet enjoy ourselves.
