There was an epic thunderstorm last night. It was quite loud on our sheet metal roof but the winds it brought actually lowered the temperature enough to make the heavy cotton blanket we have (no sheet for the bed, just a heavy blanket) useful. We went to bed last night just after 8 and woke up this morning with the sun at around 6. Before we got breakfast, we headed out for a walk around the area. While the view looking out the front of our room is gorgeous, it’s easy to forget that the view out the back is not quite so tranquil. We are staying on Samosir island, which is in the middle of Lake Toba. There are a couple dozen guest houses on Samosir and they are all clustered on one small outcrop of Samosir. The entire island is 247 square miles but you could walk from one end of the guest houses to the other in 15 to 20 minutes.
We walked out the back of our guest house to the road that runs around the island. Locals live in rundown corrugated metal shacks and we were out and about before most of the businesses had opened (luckily). There were a few tattoo parlors, some bars, and a lot of places selling magic mushrooms. These people are here solely to support tourist economy of the guest houses and I could feel that as we walked past them eating breakfast on the concrete slabs of their porches. We wandered for about twenty minutes before turning back to stop at another guest house cafe and get some coffee. Tabo Cottages was one of the places we considered when we first started looking at Lake Toba but it was about 6 times the cost of the place we settled on. That said, there was nothing stopping us from swinging by there this morning to get a drink and watch the lake from their restaurant.
None of their rooms were all that close to the lake and most of them seem to have a pretty obstructed view. The restaurant was nicer and they had a nicely manicured lawn, but our much cheaper guest house had character. We spent about an hour sitting there before heading back to our place, this time past open businesses. People called out to us asking if we wanted to rent a scooter, book a trek, come eat at their restaurant, or stop and look at their wares. It was hot, however, and we hadn’t actually eaten breakfast so we politely declined and made our winding way back to Romlan.
April and I have both discovered what will probably be our favorite dish of Indonesia and that is the potato omelette at Romlan. Thinly slice some potatoes and onions, grill them, then toss them in an omelette and you’ve got a cheap, delicious meal. We ate and then spent the rest of the morning sitting on the deck of the cafe reading and doing the NYT crossword puzzle. That afternoon, thunderstorms swept across the opposite side of the lake and their winds cooled us down nicely.
Ratman, (pronounced Rahtmahn), the sole employee of Romlan during the day and the most helpful person we met in Indonesia, helped us book a car from Parapat to Bukit Lawang for tomorrow. It’s a little bittersweet to think about leaving Lake Toba but April and I are both excited about seeing the rain forest and some orangutans.