Lake Toba pictures will be posted post haste
There are pictures to post but that will come later when I have more time.
We drove to Lake Toba on Saturday morning. Medan is an expansive city and it seemed to take more than an hour just to get outside the city limits. We then drove over pot-hole ridden roads for another three hours. Along the way we passed women standing in the middle of the road holding sticks out with attached nets that were for donations to the sufferers of something, my companion did not know what but said there was always someone who needed help badly. Lake Toba is Batak country. The Batak were an animist tribe that several hundred years ago practiced cannibalism as part of their war ritual. They eventually converted either to Christianity or Islam and since then have splintered into 5 tribes who don't get along at all. The lake itself is set right in the mountains and was as beautiful as everyone said it would be--the forthcoming pictures will bear this out.
Our first stop along the road was to look at some monkeys who either begging or hunting through garbage or both. They were everywhere. On the way back we stopped to see them again and one monkey came right up to the car on his hind legs and was clearly looking for food, he had pleading eyes. It's not that they're starving but they have learned to get their food this way. One of the monkeys was quite fat and my friend assumed that "he is the one who is stealing everybody's food."
For the price of about 36 US dollars we were able to stay in a very nice hotel with a view of the lake. We took a speed boat to an island and despite the fact that this was a Saturday, we more or less had the hotel and island to ourselves. The people here who rely on tourism for the meager livings were desperate for us to buy things and we did. Items were very inexpensive and one almost felt a moral obligation to give out the 25,000 rupiah (2.50, or so, US) for a T-Shirt or Batak calender. The latter is actually quite lovely.
We sat down at the tomb of a Batak king who died some 360 years ago. The local historian told us what the symbols and carvings meant in Indonesian and my friend translated. He showed us a staff that had two large geckos on it and four small female breasts. He started in about the geckos. My friend translated, "The king thought we should all be like geckos, friendly and everywhere." I nodded. That was it about the geckos, the breast information went on for some time. He'd tell her, then she'd translate for me, each time getting more embarrassed. The breast is the symbol of fertility and so large breasted women were desired more than pretty ones. Then she translated, "Uh, the ideal wife would have 17 sons, and 16 daughters." I said, "well, that goes without saying."
As we were a man and woman travelling together, the locals assumed that we were married and many men congratulated me on choosing such an attractive wife. Their next question was, "how many children do you have?" We'd say none, and they would say "I hope you have many, many children." Another man assumed, for some reason, that I was French. When I told him, no, American, he smiled and said "American! You will love it here. We are very beautiful people, and you can be very prostitute!" He meant prosperous, I think.
At the Batak Museum, very small, I was cajoled into dressing in the garb of a Batak king. Those pictures will not be posted.
We drove to Lake Toba on Saturday morning. Medan is an expansive city and it seemed to take more than an hour just to get outside the city limits. We then drove over pot-hole ridden roads for another three hours. Along the way we passed women standing in the middle of the road holding sticks out with attached nets that were for donations to the sufferers of something, my companion did not know what but said there was always someone who needed help badly. Lake Toba is Batak country. The Batak were an animist tribe that several hundred years ago practiced cannibalism as part of their war ritual. They eventually converted either to Christianity or Islam and since then have splintered into 5 tribes who don't get along at all. The lake itself is set right in the mountains and was as beautiful as everyone said it would be--the forthcoming pictures will bear this out.
Our first stop along the road was to look at some monkeys who either begging or hunting through garbage or both. They were everywhere. On the way back we stopped to see them again and one monkey came right up to the car on his hind legs and was clearly looking for food, he had pleading eyes. It's not that they're starving but they have learned to get their food this way. One of the monkeys was quite fat and my friend assumed that "he is the one who is stealing everybody's food."
For the price of about 36 US dollars we were able to stay in a very nice hotel with a view of the lake. We took a speed boat to an island and despite the fact that this was a Saturday, we more or less had the hotel and island to ourselves. The people here who rely on tourism for the meager livings were desperate for us to buy things and we did. Items were very inexpensive and one almost felt a moral obligation to give out the 25,000 rupiah (2.50, or so, US) for a T-Shirt or Batak calender. The latter is actually quite lovely.
We sat down at the tomb of a Batak king who died some 360 years ago. The local historian told us what the symbols and carvings meant in Indonesian and my friend translated. He showed us a staff that had two large geckos on it and four small female breasts. He started in about the geckos. My friend translated, "The king thought we should all be like geckos, friendly and everywhere." I nodded. That was it about the geckos, the breast information went on for some time. He'd tell her, then she'd translate for me, each time getting more embarrassed. The breast is the symbol of fertility and so large breasted women were desired more than pretty ones. Then she translated, "Uh, the ideal wife would have 17 sons, and 16 daughters." I said, "well, that goes without saying."
As we were a man and woman travelling together, the locals assumed that we were married and many men congratulated me on choosing such an attractive wife. Their next question was, "how many children do you have?" We'd say none, and they would say "I hope you have many, many children." Another man assumed, for some reason, that I was French. When I told him, no, American, he smiled and said "American! You will love it here. We are very beautiful people, and you can be very prostitute!" He meant prosperous, I think.
At the Batak Museum, very small, I was cajoled into dressing in the garb of a Batak king. Those pictures will not be posted.
posted by athensinternational at 8:37 PM
4 Comments:
Very interesting. I have been anxious to hear about this trip. Was your weather cooperative? Was it expensive to hire a driver and a car? How was the food there? I will look forward to the pictures.
Hi Michael,
It sounds like you are having a lot of fun. I finally caught up on all your blogs. You should post more pictures if you can. Did you get your guitar there yet? I miss you.
Kate
Overseas protest! Perhaps sought-after comments should be withheld until pictures of you in Batak king garb are posted. Such photos obviously exist... let's not let their existence be futile.
The weekend sounds great. I am envious. I, too, would love to see you dressed as a king. Don't hold out on us lowly Americans who are living an adventure through you. We need to see. I always feel it my duty to shop more then I need in those situations too. It feels good to give!
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