Indonesia (Lake Toba)

We flew straight from the luxurious and ultra developed, almost ageless city of Singapore into Medan. Our next destination is Lake Toba. The lake was formed 80,000 years through volcanic activity, 50,000 years later further volcanic activity formed an island in the middle if the lake the size of Singapore. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in Asia and the deepest in the world at nearly 500m.

We had spent a good amount of time trying to work out how to get from Medan to Parapat then how to get a boat over to Samosir island, although we had a plan it was all a very unknown trip and for every piece of advise you find online there also seems to be a horror story detailing some problem or bad experience people had making the voyage.

We landed in Medan's brand new airport which opened less than a month ago, I would still call it a building site to be honest. Toilets half built, things missing from everywhere, no finish on anything and I'm sure one of the terminals didn't have a roof but hey its all brand new :-). First challenge was immigration, we expected them to ask us about our travels and check our onward tickets but no, once we had paid our $25 (US) each we got our passports stamped and a 30 day visa. Next we were supposed to find a bus to Amplas bus station (60-90 drive from the airport), then negotiate a ticket to Parapat (5-7hr away) then a boat to the island, we both expected a long and stressful day with the possibility of being ripped of or scammed after reading various other travel blogs.

In reality once we had got through immigration we saw a taxi rank inside which looked legit and they had a sign for Parapat, boomtown baby! It cost us 75,000 (£5) pp and we had to wait for the taxi to fill up for 90mins but then were off in an a/c taxi with four other locals to Parapat. The journey is hair raising as the taxi driver seemed to like racing and taking over other cars and since all the roads are single lane, travelling at 120km/ph round a blind bend isn't what I'd call great driving but I did feel safe(ish), izzi slept most of the way :-)

We arrived at Parrapat and arranged our transport back with the same taxi firm for 6 days time. We headed to the jetty and jumped on a boat heading for Tuk Tuk, the place we wanted to stay. After paying our 10,000RP (1 US$) we were off, it took about 30-40 mins as we got our first glance of how big and beautiful Lake Toba was. Surrounding the lake are steep cliffs peppered with trees and grasses, the temperature is much cooler at 28°c as it is above sea level. The lake is heated by volcanic springs which means it's pleasant for swimming unlike most of the lakes I've swam in England which are always freezing.

We arrived and headed for a place called Bagus Bay Homestay and looked at the rooms available. For 75,000 (£5) a night we got a huge room, bathroom and cold shower, we took it. After spending nearly an hour squashing and clearing out the mosquitoes from the room we made the room mossy proof and closed all windows and got the mossy net up over the bed. Bagus Bay backs straight on the lake and is made up of several Batak style (local Lake Toba culture) house surrounded by gardens with swings, mini golf, badminton court and vegetable patch. The views over the bay are superb and to the right all the locals carry on there daily activities of fishing, laying Cray fish traps washing and cooking. After midday school finishes and all the children come to swim and play in the lake, this place has a very nice and homely feel to it. The people are so friendly, they talk to you as you walk round and try to help if needed. We ate at several small restaurant/cafes which comprise of usually a women with a few small plastic chairs and table and a simple menu. The food was always delicious and always freshly made, we ate several Rendang curries and local Sak Sang dishes, the good thing as they are a home made they all tasted different and you never get bored of them. One day I had some goat curry which was v v spicy which in my mind means it was probably a right old scabby decrepit goat and spice is to cover that up, it however tasted amazing also.

We needed some cash one day and the nearest ATM was in the next town so we rented some push bikes and took a trip, passing paddy fields, buffalo and numerous chickens and dogs as we cycled up and down the hills. The children aways shout 'hello', 'mister' and stick their hands up for a high five as we cycle by which was fun. Quickly on the island we soon began to feel very comfortable and at peace, the pace of life slow - the people and surroundings were welcoming and pretty, the food and lake were divine. This is without doubt one of our favourite places we have been and 6 days doesn't seem long enough now.

One thing we didn't know before arriving was locals seemed to grow magic mushrooms, we saw about 10 different places all advertising them with the preferred choice of consumption seem to be a magic mushroom omelette, bonus I love omelettes :-), shakes were also available for those who don't like eggs. All the houses seemed basic and reasonably traditional. At most house entrances where two huge Batak wood carvings, always two funky looking character representing the man and women of the house, we got a few small versions for souvenirs.

On the 2nd day we got talking to a Argentine man who was about our age and had been working in australia for a year and is now travelling for another year before going home. We spoke about the world, our travels and each others country spending the best part of two days together before he left. One afternoon whilst relaxing around the lake I dived in bit and forgot to take off my glasses, a total disaster but luckily our friend had a snorkeling mask with him so after about 30mins looking I eventually found them a few meters down which was extremely lucky.

On the final full day we planned to take a scooter and explorer further around the island but the heavens opened the day before and didn't really stop until the morning we left which put a dampener on that idea.

We headed back to Parapet the final morning and spent nearly 2hr waiting for the taxi to fill up before heading back to Medan airport. All in all a great few days and a great introduction to Indonesia, we hope its all like this but not sure it will.

Singapore

Flying to Singapore we had no idea what to expect from it. We understand it is expensive and very modern but par that we have no knowledge of the city. Arriving at the airport which is immaculate and clean, the toliets the nicest we had seen in a long time, we jumped in a taxi to get to our accomodation. The taxi driver is pleasant and spoke highly of his city saying the price you pay is for the luxury you get. He also reminded us that cheming gum is illegal which is good as we both got a handful of sweats from immigration as we went through which should keep us going. The city was immensely clean and pristine, the gardens and roads being worked on by masses of people sweeping and pruning the hedges. We have planed to stay at my parents' neighbour's apartment who works and lives in Singapore and has a spare room, a great help and would save us nearly £200 and means we don't have to stay in dorm rooms. On arrival at his apartment we had to wait for a few hours for the guard to come of his lunch in order to get the keys Jereon had left for us to use. He finally showed up and showed us to the apartment, it was really nice, a real house and place to live, even having its own kitchen and washing machine, we spoke about cooking but lets be honesty that was never going to happen. We quickly settled in and had a brew, scoping out trip adviser and finding a little Chinese cafe which we went to for lunch.

We explored the city every day visiting Raffles hotel, the national museum, the main shopping street as well as going to see some famous gardens and parks as well as Marina Bay Ssnds Hotel with a garden on the 100th floor. We ate out every day except for breakfast where we got some milk and cereal. The food was really good and you could still eat out cheaply at hawker centres and street food stalls for under $5pp (Singapore dollar). We headed to little India and China town to get some grub a few times and all was tasty and relatively cheap. On the last day Jereon took us out for tea, we had told him we missed British food so he took us to a gourmet British pub and we had fish and chips, roasted salmon, potatoe and veg, a real treat for us and it would have blown our daily budget out the window.

One of the top attractions was to go to Singapore zoo and night safari which is part of the zoo complex. It was easy to find and get a public bus to the zoo where you get a joint ticket for the zoo and night safair. The zoo sells its self as being different as there are no cages and the animals are seperated by moats from tourists. This is half true but I still felt sorry for these animals and I vouch to never go to a zoo again as it just doesn't seem fair. Don't get me wrong the animals seemed okay and some cages were big, others not so big, but they shouldn't be in a zoo in my opinion. We saw lots of things like white tigers, polar bears, lots of monkeys, everything you can think of from the plains of Africa and the jungles of Asia as well as much more. The night safari was defiantly something new to us, on arrival after it gets dark you board one of many small trams which do laps of the park. They stop off and you walk around different areas. The fact that it was dark gave a spooky feel as you walked around. The animals on show were nocturnal like bats, lepords and flying squirrels etc. The safari was okay but after spending most of the afternoon and evening walking around we were ready to go home, not getting back 'til after 11pm.

The nice thing about Singapore was the cleanliness and convenience of everything. Everything was always sign posted, the subway was really good, cheap and went everywhere you wanted. My only issue was it all felt a bit to controlled in the sense that everything was so easy and controlled it took a bit of adventure out of it and felt a bit easy. It almost felt like you didn't want to step out of line, cross the road without the green man, chew gum or drink and have a crafty fag in the wrong place without being pulled up and told off for stepping out of line. All the buildings seemed very new and modern, Jereon himself says the only thing Singapore hasn't got is anything old, some would say it lacked character as the old is quickly refurbished or replaced with the new and on turn losing some of the old which can be the most interesting and enjoyable to explore.

Singapore was no doubt a good city and enjoyable, its modernism and convenience a nice change and break for us. However one of the best things for us was the fact we stayed in the apartment, we took the opportunity to wash virtually every piece of clothing we had and it was certainly needed after a few days in the national park at Kuching.

We move on to Sumatra, Indonesia, next next and I think this will be quite different from Singapore.

Malaysia (Kuching)

We fly to Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia Borneo, to do some trekking and hopefully see the orangutans and others bits of wildlife. The flight over was okay however the more I fly on this trip the worse my fear of flying becomes, give me a train any day. We land in Kuching and get a taxi for a fix price to the hostel. The hostel is clean, nice and not too far from the centre. We plan what to do and speak to hostel manager who helps with transport and bus times etc.

Day one we spend exploring the city, it feels very different than KL, smaller and the people operate at a slower pace which is nice. We visit the two main museums to get some history about the local tribes and history of Sarawak. An easy day and we book a few nights stay at a national park about 2 hours away called Bako National park. We visit a large mosque and walk down the promenade which gives a beautiful view over the river which seperates the city in two.

The next day we get up and eat breakfast at a small Chinese cafe, fish and chicken noodles soup which wasn't the best to be honest. Our goal to visit the local orangutan rehabilitation centre where the semi-wild primates swing from tree to tree and occasionally come to some man made feeding platforms where visitors can hopefully see a glimpse of the magnificent orange beast. We got the public bus to the centre and were joined by about 50 other tourists. After a short 2km walk to the platforms we sit and wait patiently and a ranger comes and tells us to not use flash, keep quiet, don't get close if they come down and don't try fighting if one of them takes your bag, he hasn't seen anyone win yet. After an hour or so we see a few trees move in the distance and slowly two orangutans can be seen assessing the situation ahead. The rangers bring some fruit to try and entice them closer and it works. A large hairy man like creature comes swinging closer and eventually is in full view. The farcical expressions give them such a humanistic feel and character and they are so much bigger than I expected. One of them takes a coconut from the rangers hand and starts to crack it open using a twig and banging it against the tree, drinking the contents before nibbling the flesh. They were really interesting to see even if like other things sometimes other tourists can make it hard to appreciate due to their lack of respect and inability to follow simple instruction.

The next day we packed a small bag and got our trekking clobber on ready to head to Bako national park. After a shortish bus ride we arrived at the park head quaters where we organise a boat to take up river about 30-40mins to the national park base where you can stay overnight and go on several differing treks of various difficulties. The main draw for coming to the park is to try and see some animals in the wild as well as doing some of the trekking through the forests. The park was well kept and clean, we ended up seeing three different types of monkey, wild bearded pigs, flying lemurs, several different snakes, spiders, scorpions and bats on our treks. The thing we really wanted to see were some Probiscous Monkeys with there huge red noses, we thankfully saw several. A gang of macaque monkeys had taken up residence near the lodges so we saw lots of them, they had got used to people and were very cheeky stealing food from people so you need to on your guard when you're eating. We did 4 treks in total, nothing more then a few hours but still really good, reminded us a lot of being in Brazil in the Amazon and the Pantanal. The only downside was that there was a water shortage and showering from a tap with a bucket and cold water certainly woke you up and was a new one for us, I don't think izzi enjoyed that experience. On the eveing we went out with some rangers on a night trek which is were we saw florescent fungi which glowed as well as the flying lemurs and other night creatures.

Our final stop in Kuching is to go visit a traditional long house, normally tousits head to a few which have been built for tourists and are really just for show. This doesn't sound that bad but we meet and read about someone called Desmond Kon who worked for the national museum and has done some work with the BBC (I believe), after getting in touch we decided to take a full day trip with him to see a real working and loving village with a longhouse which is 200m in length. The drive was nearly 2 hours from Kuching to the boarder of Indonesian Borneo, Kalimantan. We stopped at a few places where he showed us cocoa plantations and a jungle market where produce from the jungle is sold by locals to locals. On the way we stopped at a small village to see some old carvings which are to keep the spirits away. Whilst we were there we got introduced (by accident) to a very drunk man and his friends. They were friendly and inquisitive and insisted we drank with them and Desomnd said it was fine. 4 shots and a beer later I felt a bit merry and considering it wasn't even 12 o'clock yet we headed quickly off before being drawn in to more boozy antics. When arriving at the house where we were warmly welcomed and began to hand out some small gifts to children including pens, papers and educational material. It was a bit awkward we thought, this was a very traditional villages and we felt a bit of culture shock. Some of the elderly women were topless and they seemed to live a very self sufficient and simple life. It was interesting and better then visiting a fake tourist built house but still so different from our lives at home or even when travelling. The longhouse is like it sounds, initally a family builds a house then as the family grows and others come to the village more houses are added and you end up with a stright long house. This one had two floors and backed directly on the a small stream and the jungle. A huge communal veranda style front seemed to be where people ate and socialise, like the focal point of the whole house. I asked what Desomnd thought would happen in the future and he said it would survive as they practice and pass on the traditions to others but I'm not so sure. We saw the odd TV and give it time the younger generation we tried to speak to went to school, spoke some broken English and had football shirts on (always Manchester united!), unfortunately people will move closer to a more developed society even if that may not be the best thing.

Kuching was a pleasant and activity filled stop off for us, a short trip to Borneo due to time and costs. Next we head to Singapore for a few days before jumping over in to Indonesia.

Malaysia (Cherating)

We arrived in Cherating for a short few days sun and beach time before moving further south to Mallaca for the end of the Muslim fasting month, Eid or Hari Ryia as people in Malaysia say.

On arrival the place seemed like a ghost town, no one was around, all we saw were closed shop fronts and restaurants. Eventually we found a small pizza shop and got some tea, average considering we waited ages and it was made fresh in front of us. We meet a local who told us things would slowly heat up and people will start to arrive in time for the festive celebrations.

The first few day we spent lounging on the beach and a bit of exploring. Only 6 people were on the entire beach the first day and it felt like ours, very quiet and the sea was warm and shallow for about 150m out. The only problem was there seemed to be jelly fish, we saw several washed up on the beach and several in in sea which we quickly ran from, not they they move fast at all. I don't know what type they were but they where large and later in the trip a young man got stung and had to be taken to hospital as it was so painful.

Second day we went to book our transport to Mallacca only to find that not only were all the buses fully booked until after we planned to leave but they werent even running over the holiday period. After some deliberation we decided we could do nothing but settle down to 6 days in Cherating and miss out Malacca before heading back to Kuala Lumpur to fly to Borneo.

Next day we headed to see the turtles at a protected beach nearby, we had no idea what to expect. We arrived to a small crowd of 30 which quickly grew to about 60/70 people. We got a quick intro and got introduced to three buckets full of freshly hatched turtles which were to be released tonight. The intro included why they do it and the success the sanctuary has had and why you can't use tourches or camera flash and why you need to be quiet on the beach to not scare the turtles. We headed to the beach and got told two green back turtles were coming ashore and would start to find and dig a nest to lay in. We slowly walked in a line to beach and got told to wait. We weren't allowed to distribute the turtles until they had chosen and dug their nest so all we could do was wait. We waited for an hour, one of the turtles had only three flippers and was finding it hard to dig the nest. The second one was more promising and nearly ready to go see. As we had such a big group we needed to break up in to groups of 5 then we could go closer and see it for only a few minutes. Watching the turtle lay her eggs was a very interesting and odd experience. It felt wrong that this beautiful animal was being disturbed and crowded round at such an intermate time. What made it worse was that the group was comprised of about 30 Chinese tourists who only seemed to care about getting a good photo. They were loud and used flash on their cameras even after being repeatedly being told not to. After the turtle had finished laying her eggs we could go and see her. Again this was nice but felt wrong having over 60 people crowd round this massive and beautiful creature all talking and taking photos again with flash which got me and izzi very annoyed. I even told some people to move to let other look as you only need a few photos not hundreds. The overall experience felt like a blessing and curse to the turtles, they receive money to help protect the beach but in turn this moment they have is ruined by ignorant and selfish tourists coming to get a good photo for facebook. It wasn't as we both expected and in hindsight seeing them in the flesh maybe isn't as good as we thought. Its better to see them on blue planet or something similar and to leave them in peace maybe? If the groups were more controlled and we felt like more emphasis was given to the turtle maybe we would have felt different. The last part of the trip was good fun, we all got given a baby turtle no larger than a couple of inches. We got told to line up along the shore, name them and on the count of 3 release them and hopefully in 5 years time they will also come back to the same beach. Izzi named hers Terry and mine was Teresa and they were off, the remaining were in not so gentley distributed along the beach straight from the bucket. Only 1% survive  until adulthood but I think ours were fighters and obviously would survive.

The remaining time we spent in Cherating was spent lounging around and reading with the odd game of pool thrown in. We meet a women who had been travelling for nearly 18 months and to be honest seemed a little odd and quiet stereotypical of some who travel who like meditation, praying and yoga. We however are far to realistic and conversation soon got lost after she would mention she needed to go meditate, prey and ponder the answer to something, how about just think about it and stop pissing about!

When Ramadan finishes and the fesitval season started we awoke to what felt like a different town. Hundreds of people and cars everywhere, atleast the shops were open but on the down side it took ages to get food as all the restaurants where full. We also had to move as the hotel we were in doubled its price due to the Bank Holiday but we found a nice guesthouse round the corner which was just as good and cheaper.

The final day we needed go head back to KL, we had a ticket but still had to wait nearly 2 hours at the bus stop as the holiday season was causing traffic jams and slowing everything down. The trip back was fine and we both slept. Arriving back in KL felt strange leaving such a small town and arriving back in this huge modern 24hr city. Only one full day then we fly to Borneo.

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

KL on arrival seemed a lot like Shanghai or any other masisve, hustling, bustling and busy city. We chose to stay in Chinatown mainly as its cheap and centrally located, we fittingly chose a hotel named 'Hotel Chinatown (2)'. The hotel was nice, a/c, good WiFi, centrally located and once I'd killed the cockroaches we were fine :-)

I was definitely in full illness mode by the time we reached KL, a daily diet of several paracetamol and ibuprofen washed down with litres of water seemed to only take the edge off my head and flu. It was nearly time to break out the emergency course of antibiotics we brought.

Chinatown was bustling and chaotic as most Chinatowns are. From early on the main streets begin filling with market stalls selling most things and various knock off qualities. By the time the sun sets the main street has been transformed into two small ally ways which on both sides backed by small stalls. 'Rodney' like characters saying 'new walet sir', 'handbag Madame', 'just look cheap price cheap price' as they wave you in and try various other tricks to get you to look and the genuine fakes on offer. A few evenings we went shopping purchasing some converse trainers and other clothing items, obviously izzi was shopping!

Around Chinatown were several local eateries which we used and ending up eating some delicious Chinese and Indian food. One of the hardest meals to source is breakfast when travelling in our opinion but luckily next to the hotel a lovely buffet style breakfast was on offer for only 12RM (£2.40) for people staying at our hotel, by comparison its expensive as we have eaten full meals for the same but still good.

In KL there is the usual things to visit but we wanted to see some different stuff so highlight a big park we could go to with the hopes of being able to rent a boat, trying to go up the famous twin towers, Chinatown and the national museum to give us some history on Malaysia.

The twin towers were first on the list but upon arrival they were fully booked until after we left the city. We changed plan and walked about 20mins to KL communication tower which had a viewing platform at 250m high. The tower was similar to towers we had seen and even had a big picture of the other ones we had seen in Shanghai and Berlin last year. The views were spectacular and we couldn't have picked a better day. The views looked almost fake, like you were looking down on little models and not the city below. The walk down also proved fruitful when we stumbled across a troop of monkeys relaxing and eating the new shoots of a tree. We got many pictures but the big male soon came over looking aggressive and showing us his teath so we moved on promptly to avoid a monkey beating.

We headed for a large park which had an orchid garden, a deer farm and a lake which lonely planet said you can rent boats on but we soon realized that the book must be out of date as no boats were to be seen. The gardens and park were nice, the deers just looked hot and didn't do much as they tried to keep cool.

KL has a good and cheap metro system and has main things a tourist can see and do, all in all it has been a pleasant stay even if I had been ill, we probably would have done more if I wasn't but you can't win them all.

One thing we have done is spend a few nights planning and booking things and we have booked tickets home. We will be flying back from Bali on the 20th September, mainly this is due to the fact you need onward travel to enter Indonesia. Booking flights home has been like a smack to the face by reality, talk of work, where we will live and what we will do have been on the agenda for the first time in several months. We obviously don't need to make all the decisions now but at some point we will need to. Travelling around means you make decisions about things much later and have a much more relaxed attitude. One day I will write a blog about what I think I have gained from doing a bit of travelling but not now, that seems too final for just yet!

On to Cherating next to see the turtles.