Indonesia | Jan 27-31 |
This was the "everything" ride in Sumatra, including equal parts spectacular coastline, twisty hills through palm plantations, a long mountain pass, long straight stretch, and descent into the crater of Lake Toba. I wasn't planning to cover the whole distance in one go,but managed to crank out 8 hrs of riding. Coming from the coast to the central plain of north Sumatra the demographic shifts to Batak culture, unique architecture and churches. As usual, the roads were great, though there were more big trucks, especially in the mountains. The last leg of the ride got uncomfortable, as the temperature dropped to 20c (believe me, this is the equivalent of freezing, near the equator in Indo), and it was starting to drizzle rain. Right when things were getting unbearable, I turned a corner and there was Lake Toba way down at the bottom of the hill. Rode one more hour on to Tuk Tuk, Samosir Island, the main tourist ghetto of Lake Toba.
Booked Vandu Guesthouse on Agoda, pulled in ad there was no one there, the place seemed abandoned. Finally connected with the "manager", and checked in as the only guest for most of the 5 nights I stayed here. The view was amazing, straight out to Samosir Island, a massive volcanic dome, that has apparently has lava 5x the volume of Lake Superior under it. This was the most chill stay of my whole SE Asia trip thus far, the place is fairly deserted post-Covid, and there's not much happening regardless. Lake Toba is truly one of the must-do destinations in the world.
Back story: Lake Toba is a volcanic caldera, the greatest volcanic eruption in the past 25 millions years or something. When it occured 75,000 years ago, theory goes, its impact was so great worldwide that it almost eradicated human life on earth. Oh ya: and magic mushrooms are legal and readily available there...
Ride: 332km | 8hrs
Stay: Vandu Guesthouse | $12 | 4/5
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