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full of solidifying mud and sulphurencrusted steam vents that sounded like jets taking off. An amazing place.
But our main objective was further up the road to Lake Toba, a crater lake from a 75,000-year-old super volcano. It’ s definitely super – 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, the lake( that’ s just the crater, remember) is so big it has its own island, Samosir, in the middle; the eruption that formed Lake Toba is the largest-known volcanic event in the last 25 million years.
As it’ s high( about 1000m) and is close to the equator( a mere 800 + km or so) Toba has the balmiest, most welcoming climate you can imagine. We cruised the crater rim, marvelling at the massive multifamily longhouses in roadside villages, and trying to avoid dogs, chickens, parked buses, giant fish, children, logs of wood, drying crops, and massive potholes in the roads. We booked ahead in some places, but in most small towns there were small hotels and guest houses, so we didn’ t really need to.
After a couple of days in the sleekly named Haranggaol, we caught the foot / bike ferry to Samosir. We stopped for selfies with the port police who forgot to charge us boarding fees in the excitement, and after about 45 minutes( it’ s a freakin’ big lake) arrived at Simanindo, on the far north of Samosir. We were slightly surprised to see what looked like Switzerland all around. Fir trees, alpine meadows, grazing cows, wooden chalet-like houses, and all – add a few ski slopes and you could be near Basel, easy. The pace of life on Samosir was so engaging we stayed for almost a week, riding up into the hills on roads that maybe saw one car a day, overlooking views that would rival the Amalfi coast. Bizarrely, I bumped into a local guy who used to live in Hobart of all places, and who now runs the Hotel Reggae in Tuk
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