The biggest volcanic lake

Medan would become our hub. We took a local bus from there to lake Toba, central Sumatra. Local buses in Indonesia is a new experience. They are cheap as chips but so small. The chairs are half the size as we have it in Europe, they squeeze as many people in as possible and hardly no one smokes. The lake itself is actually a super volcano creator filled with water. In the middle of it is an island called Samosir. We checked for a place to stay at a village called Tuktuk. We found an awesome spot, next to the water front that rents bungalows. We got a basic one for less than 4 Euros. At this place were a lot of travelers and in the evenings we were sitting all around a campfire and BBQed our food. We have to say that we had the best fish ever at this place. The whole atmosphere was fantastic.

One day we rented a scooter and tried to go around the island, which are approx. 130 km. We underestimated the distance a bit in according to the quality of the roads and in the end we were totally exhausted. On our way we visited the must see from the island, the stone chairs from the Batak people. A few hundred years ago they offered people at this spot, it has a mystic vibe. Along the way around the island, we also saw some spectacular graves, churches and the traditional Batak houses. The last few km we had to go up in the mountains, it was freezing cold and we were only wearing shorts. The view was awesome, on one side you had the lake and you could see the shore with its volcanic hills and on the other side there were steep valleys down the mountains, in the middle there were terrace rice fields. We liked it so much at lake Toba that we stayed 5 days longer than we intended to.

Sumatra, Indonesia

Our Indonesia adventure started in Medan, Sumatra. After reading the Lonely Planet we expected the worse but for us it was actually like arriving back in Asia. The Asia we experienced the beginning of our trip. Medan is definitely not the most beautiful city of them all but its charm are the people and numbers of crappy food stands with basic but delicious food. It wouldn't be our last stop in Medan.

We took a flight to Banda Aceh in the north of Sumatra to make our way to Pulau Weh. This island is a small paradise for divers. We took some Indonesian motion sickness pills before we started the 3 hour ferry journey. The ferry was an old and rusty ship that was definitely overloaded but before we could really worry about it the pills started to kick in and we both fell asleep. The pills turned out to be way stronger than we needed. We woke up in the harbor and the rest of the day we were terribly tired and walking around like zombies.

We got a a tuktuk to one of the diving resorts, unfortunately it was fully booked, so we checked-in in one of the bungalows next to it. What turned out to be a good decision, it was cheap as chips. The beach was of course beautiful, and a favorite for locals. There were only a few restaurants, but the food they serve was delicious. We did some dives there and it was unbelievable. The water was so clear, and so rich on fish. We saw some large tunas in the blue, an octopus hiding between stones, fabulous corals. It felt like swimming in a aquarium.

We went back to Banda Aceh to catch our flight to Medan. (don't underestimate the size of Indonesia, it's huge) Banda Aceh is also one of the cities where the Tsunami in 2004 had a really big impact. We read stories from locals survivors where they were telling their experience about it. near Banada Aceh are also two mass graves and a monument, a big fishing boat on the top of a house. The city is almost completely rebuilt, thousands of houses were newly built within months and streets were new planned and built. All of this gives the city a vibe that you can't put in words.

The big cities

It was getting closer to Chinese new year so we headed for Kuala Lumpur, which is known to have a big Chinese community, hoping to see some fireworks. By the time we made it to China town we one only saw a handful of Chinese. There were Chinese signs everywhere so it was clear we were in the right place but all restaurants and shops were closed and no Chinese. It turned out (almost) all Chinese leave the city to celebrate year of the horse with their family and friends in more quiet places. China town is closed for 2 weeks and we booked a room in this deserted place. Maybe doing a bit of research sometimes has it's benefits. But we didn't, so; no party, no fireworks, no delicious Chinese food but a good time.

KL is a modern city with metro, monorail and lots of skyscrapers. With the most famous being the Petronas towers. The two round towers over 500 m tall which are halfway connected by a sky bridge. They are on every picture of KL and probably the first thing you think about when you here the city name. 

Standing on the foot of the towers is amazing. It's an awesome view. We like!!

On the bottom of the towers is the most luxurious mall we've ever seen with brand shops of stuff we can't effort. Here we found the wealthy part of the missing Chinese community. After spending some time between chic shops we wanted to get more of this vibe. We found a sky bar at a 5 Star hotel near the towers. As we reached the top we were speechless, it had a swimming pool and a superb view over the city.

From KL we went straight to Singapore by bus. After a few hours drive, our bus driver just kicked us out in the middle of the city. We had no idea where we were, looking around for a street sign or a metro sign and then we run into a Subway restaurant It is unbelievable how excited we could get for a proper bread with cheese and ham. After the best sandwich in months we stopped a taxi to bring us to the hostel we had booked. As we were cruising through the city we realized how clean and organized Singapore is. We think we have never seen such a clean Asian city before. Also the hostel we stayed was super clean and modern. They even had waterfall showers! Next to the hostel there were some food courts, serving mostly Chinese food. Caro was so happy to get her favorite soup again, WanTan soup.

After a comfy night in our hostel we went to the famous Singapore zoo. It took us almost 2 hours to go there because the city is just huge. We don't have to tell you what we did in the zoo, it is pretty obvious  ;). After walking around for hours we almost reached the exit, one of the last “attractions” was the leopard. As we passed by, a big stork fell out of the tree directly in front of the leopard. The predator was so surprised that it just looked weird while the stork had probably the most exciting minute of his life. The animals looked each other in the eyes when the stork spread it's wings to defend itself. The moment the puma started the attack, the bird, who still looked disorientated, was barely fast enough to fly away.

During an evening walk through the city, we found out you can cross Singapore via its 1 mio malls, not seeing the outside of the buildings. We exited the mall-infrastructure an were suddenly standing on a river front. A long the river were lots of beautifully decorated restaurants. We walked for awhile next to the river, till we reached a big square. Due to the Chinese new year everything was decorated with a lot of giant Buddhas. In the middle was a stage where kids were dancing a ballet. In Singapore they also have the highest Ferris wheel in the world. Of course we had to try it. It was pretty expensive but it was worth it, the view over the skyline was stunning.