The alarm went off at 6.15. This is the one day i have been dreading, a small plane to medan and then a huge hassle at medan with taxi drivers and then the 4 to 6 hour journey from hell to parapet before taking the ferry over to Samosir island in the midfle of Lake Toba, a hugelake in a volcanic crater. Well i am writing this so I made it!!! And i am still alive and kicking!

We got a taxi fairly easily and arrived atthe airport with plenty of time and hadbreakfast in the indian roti cafe. We went through departures and i had a wander around duty free, no gin but therewas 2 choices of vodka so went for the cheaper one. The flight wasok, a little bumpier than last time and i got by bag of peanuts, with about 5 peanuts in it and then choice of chrysanthemum juice, soya bean milk or water!

An hour and10 minutes later we arrived in Meda. We actually went through immingration fairly quickly and didnot have to pay for visas. Next was customs we had beem given leaflets and there were posters not to take through more than your allowance in fags, booze or currency orthere wouldbe hefty fines. I still had a small amount of gin from malaysia in my bag which would top me over. So decided i would take itout of my pack in the loo before customs and leave it there but there were no loos and itwould look suspicious in the customs lounge so we decide to risk it.I nearly died when i saw that we had to put our bags in a scanner before we went out. So with myheart beating like mad i proceeded through. Luckily all was fine we weren't stopped and celebrated in the thought that we could have a gin that night.

Phase 2 find a taxi. Once in the main airport we were approached by a fairly decent looking man if we wanted a taxi and we said yes to Parapet. He told us that would be 800,000 IDR we said too much and then a policeman came over and told him to move on and then told Finlay off and said he must go to the official counter. Anyway after a loo stop we started walking out of the airport ( to find a non official airport taxi) but it went past the taxi counter and there was the same chap. He said he had a nice ac toyota so we said ok but for 600,000 IDR he eventually agreed and we went to his car which was fine. A few mins after leaving the airport heveered offonto this tiny track and he asked us if we needed to change money. This seemed very dodgy but no this is Sumatra. These are the roads. The next 4 hours were probably the scariest ever. My heart was in my boots butour driver was better than most. I have never everseen so many motorbikes, not even in Vietnam. A constant stream of traffic, everyone trying to overtake everyone, around bends , wrong way on slip ways etc. An ambulance ( if you could call it could not get past, no one allows it.)
OMG what a county. Its not like anywhere i have been before. Everyone just lives by the road as the rest of the country is just jungle. The flora and fauna have just blown me away, and that doesn't usually rock my boat. The people are friendly but no onespeaks any english and they dontseem to be bothered to get our business. Itis very poor but probably less so here in lake toba. I i was from Sumatra thisis where i would want to live. Its scary asifanything happened to us we would be at least 2 hours from any medical help! This one woman running Jennys restaurant, who can speak a very small amount of english, is pregnant and she said if shehadan emergencyduring child birth theywould just die as they couldnt get help on time.

We got to parapet about 3.30pm and quicly bought some crisps and fruit before leaving on the ferry about 15 minutes later and a storm came from nowhere so quite a wet crosding, luckily we got inside. It took about 1/2 an hour to get to Samosir island and they dropped us off right outside our GH Hariara. We were shown our 2 rooms which zre great looking out on to the lake with a small garden in front. A sitting are on balcony and ine by the lake. The room is spacious but big with a dressing area and bathroom. The boysare next door with the same, i bet thet will be glad to have a break from me!
We checked in across the road by a girl who looks about 15 and they dont speak any english but we managed to communicate. I wzs just glad the rooms were there as i hadwritten by snail mail as noone answers emails.
the boys were happy asthey have wifi (BUMMER).

After a few vodkas looking out over the rain wedecided to get something to eat. We went to jennys which had been recommended by trip advisor and yes it was great. I had chicken, rendang and it was yummy. Everything is so cheap, even the beer is not so bad at 35,000 idr for 660ml bottle. The atmosphere was great and someother people too. I had a bit of heart burn (probably the anxieties of the day so went off to bed and left the others playing cards and some live music.