An island in a lake on an island in an archepelago

Oh, Lake Toba. A mere 4 hour hop and skip from (supercrappy) Medan and you get to this giant freshwater lake in northern Sumatra - the largest lake in SE Asia. In the middle of the lake is lovely Samosir Island, which is lush and steep and has traditional Batak culture (which we learned about!). The main town on Samosir (at least as far as we can tell) is Tuktuk, on a little peninsula on the Eastern shore of the island. We arrived via ferry, which drops you at your desired lake front hotel in Tuktuk. Most hotels have swimming sections and black, white, and red Batak carvings around the fronts of the traditional buildings with thatch, saddle shaped roofs.

According to locals, tourism all over Sumatra has been down since the late nineties - and we were persistently questioned about why westerners we're coming there anymore. We maintain that it is simply far, far away from the U.S., but the truth is also that no one thinks of going to Sumatra on vacation. But you should! Its fantastic. There were very few tourists around, and we basically biked around the edge of the island, swam in the perfectly clear fresh water, read our books, and ate tasty food. We guess you can go to a waterfall or some hotsprings or something, but we didn't bother. It was awesome. Also, as a young man we met pointed out, the sleeping is excellent in Tuktuk because "Tuktuk no Wahwah" - meaning that there is no 5am call to prayer to wake you up. They are mostly Christian in fact.

The local people were also having a 4 day long wedding while we were there. There were giant woks full of food, dancing late into the night, flower arrangements, and fancily dressed people coming from both directions via motorbike (there's only one road around the island). The party straddled the main road, so you had no choice but to walk through it and soak up some of the party atmosphere and interesting traditions going on. After a couple of days, we were waiting to get our laundry from a spot near the festivities, watching a strange dance involving baskets balanced on people's heads and lots of hand waving. A young reveller from the village leaned over and asked if this was what funerals were like where we come from. "Oh, you mean weddings?" Kate responded. No, he said, this was a funeral. The woman had been 94 years old, so they were celebrating - with more than 150 family members in attendance. If it were a young person, it would not be so happy, but she was old so they have a four day long party. "So...this is a funeral?" We still could not believe it, but it did explain why we hadn't spotted the bride and groom yet.

Anyway, if you're anywhere close, go to Lake Toba. Its in the top 10. However, do your damnedest to avoid Medan, where we had to spend a night on either end of our Toba trip and generally wanted to kill ourselves. And there is much Wahwah when you stay between the giant masque and the karaoke bar in Medan.