Apr. 13, 1978 - Indonesia

Up early the next morning, thanks to Bryan’s new beeper alarm watch he bought in Singapore, to catch our flight to Medan in Sumatra.  In the waiting room we ran into Rifka and Ira Tuch, the Canadian couple we liked at Taman Nagara.  They had been held up in Kuala Lampur and were in transit on our flight to Medan.  We caught up on each other’s activities and the ½ hour flight went quickly despite the fact that we got no breakfast.  In Medan we went straight to the bus station to catch a bus to Parapet on Lake Toba.  Our taxi driver assured us that the mini buses were better and faster so we took his advice and paid our 1000 rupea each ($2.75) and got on the bus.  For ½ hour it was crowded but tight and all right.  Then they told us to get out and combined our bus with some other tourists.  We squeezed in and went off.  Then after about an hour we stopped again and were told to get on another bus.  No one questioned it and our mini drove off.

 Here I am trying to keep an eye on our luggage to be sure it was loaded on our packed bus.

We waited and waited and finally amazing numbers of people were squeezed on.  The bus had no window glass and was really just benches across where they stuffed 6 people.  Foreigners were so much bigger than the Indonesians that 6 foreigners is at least one too many.  We fought and yelled and finally drove off, stopping to take on a large load of wood – and more people!  The "conductor" rode on a ladder outside.  Poor him – it started to rain hard.  We pulled down the canvas over the windows but still got soaked.  The only thing that made me happy was to know that he was wetter.  The avarice is amazing; he would endure  that just to sell another seat.

We finally arrived in beautiful Parapet and it was worth the discomfort.  We discovered that our first mini bus had sold us out and the normal bus ride should be 750 ($1.80) straight through.  We were taken.

Fortunately for our frayed nerves and tired bottoms we found a beautiful lakeside hotel. They only had a family room available which we shared with Ira and Rifka.  The lake is clear and a swim was welcome.  The bathroom didn’t have a shower, but the sluice tub had cool water and buckets to ladle it over you – very nice.

We had an enormous Chinese dinner in Parapet that night and then went to see a cultural show at the Parapet Hotel for free.  They sang traditional Batak songs which had a distinct Spanish flavor and danced a slow step traditional Batak dance where the hand movements are stylized and sedate.  Afterward the audience was invited to join in and Rifka and I did.  I was amazed how much I enjoyed it: I miss my dance group in Addis Ababa.  I didn’t want to stop.  The lead singer took an instant liking for Rifka and presented her with flowers and asked her to stay.