Blog 51a

A wonderfully relaxed 4 days. Nice not to be hopping onto the next place after a busy couple of days. We were recommended a place to stay and it's was perfect for us. A bungalow on the lake for 100,00 rupiahs, which is £4 a night. The market on the mainland opened every Saturday so we caught the boat back across after the first night to stock up on meals for a bit of home trangia cooking. These included pumpkin curry and green bean stir fry, all with the compulsory 7p instant noodles.

One of the highlights of Lake Toba was the misty moisty mornings over the lake and by 10am the sun had burnt through to unveil another roasting day of swimming, diving and jumping in the lake. The balcony of our bungalow was so close to the edge of the lake that that we could jump into the lake from there. It was immensely high and took a few attempts to build up the courage to actually do it. After the 1st time, I realised the adrenaline was addictive and there was no stopping me! Wish I could go back and do it one more time.

Another highlight was making our own orange juice from the cheapo oranges from the market. Actually the highlight for me wasn't really making it; I'm not a fan of incredibly sticky fingers especially when the juice dribbles up your arms. The fresh juice was to die for though!

One tour of the island on the bike was enough to see all there was to see, and the trip could've ended a little different when we almost fell off a single plank bridge. Luckily I didn't have the responsibility of driving this time or I'm pretty sure it would have ended like that! Thanks for a safe trip Brynbo.

A long sickly drive in the back of a car brought us back to Medan airport and off we flew to Java's capital Jakarta.

Love Jo x x x