As you can see from the map on the Sumatra page Lake Toba is a large lake in the middle of Sumatra with a large island, called Samosir, in the middle of it. The lake is supposed to be one of the biggest in the world and reaches depths at some places of 450 meters. The lake is basically a volcanic crater filled up with water. It is one of Indonesia's most popular tourist places.

We decided to spend four days here, partly relaxing and partly doing some outdoor activities.

The first day, after arriving to Samosir only sleeping at the ferry port, we just rested and enjoyed the view of the lake from our lake side bungalow.

The second day we got on our bikes and did a little day trip to Simanindo. The attractions were the views of the lake on the way, and a museum presenting the history and culture of the Batak people native to Samosir. The Batak are a tribe of people that have lived in this area for a long time. At one time they were cannibals and apparently ate the first few white Christian missionaries who came proselytizing. Things have changed since then, and the Batak eventually proved receptive to Christianity as 95 percent now claim to be Christian. Animist beliefs seemed to have never completely died out however and now Batak culture is a strange entity that is mostly preserved for the tourists. That was evident at the dance that was performed for tourists at the museum. The performers looked bored and their behavior before and after the show didn't demonstrate much of a feeling of representing a culture important to themselves.

This experience made us wonder about a bunch of things including the value of tourism, and the direction of cultural societies we would label tribal. Not sure what we all think yet but interesting issues, that is for sure.

The third day we took a hike across the island. We biked to the trail head, walked across the island and then caught a bus back to our bikes. This day was an interesting contrast to the previous day at the museum. On the trail we saw lots of people still living in Batak homes, speaking Batak, and making a living farming. So the Batak culture is adapting to the present day realities and is not only a show for tourists. The question seems to be however, has the culture changed for the better, and where is it going.

For our fourth and final day at Lake Toba we took it easy taking a small bike ride, eating a wonderfully prepared Batak meal, and packing for our move to our next destination, Bukit Lawang.