So where were you on December 26th, 2004? It should be one of those dates that lives on in infamy- an earthquake of magnitude 9.3 struck off the western coast of Sumatra (a 1,200km section of the earth’s crust shifted beneath the Indian ocean and the earthquake released stored energy equivalent to over more than 23,000 Hiroshima bombs). Banda Aceh was the closest major city to the earthquake's epicenter, and suffered catastrophic damage and death when a...

We had experienced the Karo Batak culture in Berastiga and now on the volcanic 'island' of Samosir we were set to see the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in Toba Batak culture. Samosir used to be connected to the surrounding lake wall by a small isthmus, but that was cut through to aid boat navigation so I guess that, technically, it is an island- that's important because it makes Samosir the largest island-within-an-island as well as the fifth ...

Berastiga is probably most notable for it's proximity to two relatively active volcanoes, Sibayak, 2100 meters high and Sinabung, 2400 meters high. Sibayak is constantly smoking and, after laying dormant for over 400 years, Sinabung, in Sept of 2010, erupted pumping black smoke 5km into the air. We weren't planning on climbing either one, and with the overwhelming burn-off smoke blanketing the area, we couldn't even get a good view of the two sleeping...

We’re back in Indonesia with a fresh 30 day visa (losing another page in our passports in the process) but this time we’re on the island of Sumatra. We came in via Medan, but that was just to get our bearings and make our travel arrangements- our first real destination was Bukit Lawang which sits on the fringe of Gunung Leuser National Park and is one of the few places that you can visit with the disappearing Sumatran Orangutan- the chances of seeing ...

Before getting into our adventures in Bali, I have to ask our loyal reader- what in the name of Maple Syrup is going on in Canada?? We only get sporadic exposure to English news programs and, not too surprisingly, it's Asia-centric and Canada, if ever, rarely rates a mention....until recently. It started off with a bizarre story about a Miss Canada competition which seemed to imply that Canada's best looking woman was actually a man (even DH, who spits at...