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Maninjau, Indonesia
0° 18' S 100° 13' E
Sep 09, 2004 03:17
Distance 432km

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Other entries in Maninjau

My birthday away from home

Text written in: English

So leaving Berastagi I took 2 buses and a walk over 6 hours to get to Danau Toba, a HUGE crater lake. The ride down into the crate was quite amazing, except there an immense haze over everything, so visibility isn't that great. The place I finally got to was one of the nicest I had stayed so far. Only $1.50. And my first hot shower in almost a month. Watched Troy in the cafe. Chilled. Next day rented a bike and rode to a nearby village to buy some souvenirs (hadn't done that yet in Ind.) I then took a ferry across the lake to catch an overnight bus to my next destination. It was an "executive" bus....but was executive only in name. Sure it had air con, but I froze while trying to sleep. Plus with aircon there are no windows, so nowhere to get fresh air as the locals drag on their many cigarettes. The aircon leaked above us, and the walls of the inside were covered in tape. To cover something up, or to hold the bus together? Hmmm..... well, at least the seats reclined to I got some semblance of a sleep. Arrived in Bukitinggi at 6:30am to check my email (24 minutes, time to read 2 emails before I gave up) and then took another bus down to Lake Maninjau, another, but smaller, crater lake. This is where I planned to relax for my birthday, so I didn't spend any of it on a bus. Found a nice but simple bungalow by the beach, but I must day it was pretty lonely. The night before my bday I shed 2 tears in self pity, but I was thankful to have one other traveller there to talk English to. I woke up on my birthday with renewed energy to do something, so I rented a bike and rode 4 hours around the hazy lake. Saw monkeys....actually wild enough to run away as I biked towards them, not come up to me to beg for food. That was pretty cool. Got back with really sore sit bones, and had a lazy float/soak in the lake. Had dinner, turned down the birthday toke offered by the guesthouse owner, had a fire on the beach, and went to bed another year older. But still younger than Jessica Simpson :)