Japan! …then Home at Last!

Well, we made it home safely Thursday night (8/07/08), although weather delayed our final leg from Atlanta to Nashville. We really enjoyed the almost 8 hours of layover we had at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. On the advice of a Japanese born Nashville acquaintance, we took a city bus from the airport into the city of Narita since Tokyo was really too far for us to visit given the time we had. Narita gave us a very good taste of Japanese culture. We exited the bus at a large complex of Buddhist temples and related buildings built in a park like environment. Great photo op! We ate a traditional Japanese meal at a nearby restaurant and poked around a few shops…including one that makes and sells the multi-layer kimonos that are so beautiful. We loved Japan….so tidy and orderly after the helter-skelter swelter of Indonesia. We caught the bus back to Narita International and had an uneventful, but long (13 hours) flight to Atlanta. Thus ends our travel adventures, but we will continue working on this blogsite to upload many more photos, descriptions and videos. So….stay tuned! A note of thanks to all those who took time to post a comment on this site. Special thanks to all of you who kept the home fires burning and our loved ones taken care of…you know who you are!

Horas! ...and Farewell to Paradise

Tuesday morning the sky was gray in Tuk-Tuk, which made it easier to leave this eternal garden. We took the ferry back to Parapat where 2 cars with drivers had been hired to convey 9 of us to Medan: besides us, Aron & Hapne, Hapne’s parents, Maria and Stanislav, and Ronin. Our drivers were instructed to take the scenic route along the east ridge of the mountains overlooking the lake. We made several stops, one at a ridgetop hotel restaurant where we ate a very nice meal. Then we stopped at the north end of the lake to see yet another spectacular waterfall and overlook. The third stop was for a guided tour of a Karo Batak village. Their houses have a different look and as many as 8 families live under one roof. This village was still inhabited, so it felt a little strange and invasive to be led inside one of these structures for close inspection. Carol made the comment “worlds collide” as one of our group received a cell phone call as we stood inside a 300 year old Karo house watching a crouched man boiling water on an open hearth. Soon we were on our way again and the urban sprawl of Medan blotted the landscape for many miles before we reached this teeming city. By nightfall we arrived at the 2 story walk-up apartment of Aron and Hapne. It is in a gated community and includes tennis courts, swimming pool and gym. After a Batak meal of rice and fish prepared by Hapne and her mother, Aron took Carol and me for a stroll to the large Buddhist temple a couple of blocks away. What a magnificent place that was! Now we are ready to head home, but we still have more to see with an 8 hour layover in Japan.

Motorbikes, Mausoleums, and Mountaineering

Our last full day in paradise (Monday) was mostly spent on the back of motorbikes driven by Aron and Hapne. First we caravanned a short distance north of Tuk-Tuk to the village of Ambarita where Hapne’s grandmother is buried. Hapne’s parents and oldest brother also came along. Her father used his machete’ to hack a path through the dense undergrowth of a cornfield to get to the burial pavilion. Batak tradition is to bury the deceased until sufficient time has past for decomposition to occur leaving only the bones, which are then disinterred, cleaned and placed in an elaborate family mausoleum amid much pomp and ceremony. Sometimes as many as 20 years will pass before the relocation of the bones when the family can afford the celebration worthy of the individual. On this day, the family came to pay respects, clean off the grave, and place some favorite items (betel nut leaves and crackers). They brought water to cleanse their faces as ritual and to douse the grave. Prayers were offered. We feel privileged to have such an up close and personal view of Batak life—not what most tourists see. After that we visited a nearby historical site with a circle of stone chairs used by tribal elders and large stones for ritual executions of criminals and evisceration for the purpose of consuming the beating heart of the victim. Our favorite part of the day was the long motorbike ride up some steep and treacherous dirt and stone roads to the ridge of the mountains on Samosir Island. The view there was spectacular. Later in the evening we celebrated Hapne’s birthday with singing and cake at her parents house. For the first time during our visit it rained this evening—a hard, soaking rain. We got drenched walking back to our resort. On Tuesday we drive the scenic route back to Medan.

Bicycle Adventure

Hard to believe we’ve been here a week! We’ll be driving to Medan on Tuesday so that means Monday is our last full day in paradise. On Sunday, for much of the day we did a lot of nothing, just sat on our front porch basking in the scenery, reading, writing in our journals, and organizing the wonderful photos that we wish we could show more of on this blog site. We will eventually. Mid afternoon, we rented bicycles and the two of us pedaled 5 kilometers to the next village called Tomok. We saw some historical stone tombs of the kings of one Batak family. A man there explained everything to us and it turned out that he was a direct descendant. We also did a little shopping in the bazaar shops that surrounded this tourist site. They really are eager for tourists here. The tsunami that devasted North Sumatra Christmas of 2004 also nearly devastated the tourist business around Toba. After we pedaled the 5 km back to Tuk-Tuk, we changed into our swimsuits and took a refreshing dip in the lake. Aaahhhh!! This is living! Sunday evening we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Aron and Hapne at our resort.

Road Trip: Historical Sites, Scenic Vistas, Hot Springs

It is Saturday 11am and we are sitting lakeside in a restaurant enjoying traditional Batak music on tape and feeling the warm breezes blowing in from the lake carrying the faint scent of blossoms which are everywhere. Yesterday we took a 7 hour road trip around the north side of the island and across the almost imperceptible land bridge on the west side to the rim of the caldera. Aron had borrowed a Land Cruiser from Hapne's uncle and 8 of us altogether took the tour. We stopped first at a historical village and visited a museum and saw traditional dances, which I got to participate in! We stopped at a roadside cafe for lunch and then crossed over to the mainland and drove part way up the mountain road where Hapne's aunt and uncle have a cafe and operate hot springs bath, which some of us sampled on the trip down the mountain. We saw some spectacular scenery which was not easily accessed on these gravel and washed out so-called roads! Very rough going and very dusty from white sulphur. It felt wonderful to take a refreshing dip in the lake followed by a hot soak in the hot spings bath. We were exhausted upon return from yet another wonderful day of unique sights and experiences. Hope to show you photos soon!

Gilligan’s Island, Toba Style

Today (Thursday) we had a wonderful time on the lake. Aron arranged for a boat excursion to the far end of the lake. It was an 8 hour ride for 20 people, including family, friends and acquaintances from Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Australia, France, Russia, and the good ol’ US of A, of course. The ride was great fun with singing, 2 guitars, a bongo and assorted improvised instruments. Our destination was a beautiful waterfall, where we tied off for swimming and a Batak style picnic, which Hapne and several relatives cooked and served to all of us. There was rice, grilled carp, fried eggs, toast, French fries, spicy noodles, and sliced cucumbers. Always, there is that delicious Sumatran coffee and there was mushroom tea and the Indonesian beer of choice Bintang (which these non-beer drinkers say is not too bad). Along the way we made stops at two small settlements of very rural Batak (as opposed to the “citified” Batak of Tuk Tuk). Hopefully, we can post some photos soon to show you some of what we saw: coffee bean groves and beans drying on woven mats, rice paddies, streams traversed by fallen logs. The vegetation was lush and pigs, chickens, goats and dogs roamed free. It was odd in these environs to see satellite dishes erected next to huts with dirt floors. It made us appreciate home, but a little envious of the simplicity of life here.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Well, here’s a dinner party like none other we’ve ever experienced!
Wednesday evening we were invited to dinner at one of Hapne’s aunt’s house. We arrived at 8 and sat in a large circle on woven mats on the floor. There were 20 or so people altogether. Several aunts were involved in the production of rice, 3 kinds of chicken (fried, curried, and barbecued), and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Containers of water were placed around the mats for washing hands (but only one’s right hand, never the left). Our mugs were filled with hot water (to assure us that the drinking water had been boiled and was safe). There wasn’t a spoon, fork, or knife to be had. All food was served and eaten with the fingers of the right hand only. Other than these distinctions, it was like any large extended family eating together. A prayer of thanks for the food was offered in Batak, of course, and most of the chatter and conversation was a mixture of at least 3 languages (German being the third, owing to one uncle who lives in Switzerland with his Austrian wife and 3 children). We finished the meal with pieces of Swiss chocolate. It was a surreal dinner scene, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. When we thanked our hosts we were whisked away to our resort on the back of 2 motor scooters (sorry, Paula….no helmets here!).