On the road again...: Lake Toba

My arrival in Indonesia was a bit more exciting than usual because it turned out that you can't pay the visa on arrival with a credit card in Medan. (The airport is called Polonia airport for some reson, btw). Not possessing US dollars either I had to resort for an unsupported currency (euro) and paid 20 euros for the 25$ visa. Still okay I think.

There was a flood of hellomisters at the airport and it was really hard to get out of there without a taxi or a tuk tuk. But made it still and walked straight after the ATM to the nearest street vendor, bought some of their "something in a dough, served with fresh green chilies". Also got a very vague instructions about taking a bus to the city. Well, after finding the bus stop and boarding one - errm, bus? - i was greeted with three teenaged indonesian girls who all wanted to take a picture with me. They also were kind enough to tell me how to get a minibus, or a questionably modified Toyota Hiace that would be more describing, to the city. Actually everything went really quickly and I was almost tossed to a bus to Parapat because I mentioned the Danau Toba trip. Paid 22000 rupiahs for the 5 hour ride. Mind you that 14500 rupiahs equal to 1 euro, so it was basically nothing. I was quite in luck because the bus made it in front of the Tuk Tuk Ferry about 4 minutes before the last departure.

Wound up in a way more posh accommodation than I had planned, with hot water, bathtub, balcony and a double bed. Three and a half euros per night, so no complaints. And marijuana and magic mushrooms seem to be very common around here as two persons have already tried to sell me some. "Remember, I've got the good stuff! So just ask me..." And this coming from a waiter in the guesthouse restaurant. Reminds me of Goa a couple of years back.

The nature is awesome and the sunsets are stunning. Nothing much to do around here but chill out and relax. Might rent a scooter some day now and take a little ride around. There is supposed to be some hot springs about 50km from here. But if the road is anything like the trans-Sumatran highway, I don't want to risk my life in that traffic. It is quite chaotic and in the buses and restaurants people are just smoking all the time. Pretty different from Thailand or Malaysia, where smoking is much more controlled.

Easy and carefree staying, but apparently there are a lot of finns here so quite a lot of "mitta kuulu? Mitas mies? Mitas tasa!" that I'm not too fond of. But the surroundings are very forgiving.