Our first stop was Lake Danau Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world. We spent 5 days on the island of Samosir (which itself is bigger than all of Singapore) located within the lake. At a higher altitude, the climate on Samosir was wonderfully mild and the lake was a refreshing temperature for our daily swims.
The people in the Lake Toba region are Batak, a traditional culture known for it's unique architecture and traditions, specifically regarding marriages and burials. We spent several of our days exploring the island on bikes. I got to join in with a traditional marriage dance demonstration which involved circling around a water buffalo while bowing in respect to each member of the other family (as an aside, I'm not quite sure why I always get sucked into these things while Nader sits back taking pictures.... that's going to change going forward I've decided :).
Due to Dutch and German missionary influences, most Bataks are devout Christians, and therefore very much in the minority within the staunchly Muslim island of Sumatra. At least partly stemming from this reality, the Bataks seem to embrace travellers in a more authentic manner than we'd experienced most anywhere else. We immediately felt welcomed and at home within this friendly community.
What was most interesting about Samosir was its existence as a traveller's ghost town. Huge hotel after huge hotel, most of them completely empty. There were approximately 50 travellers on the island while we were there. We estimated the capacity to be closer to 5,000. Danau Toba was a hotspot on the hippie travel trail back in the 60s and 70s. For whatever reason - perhaps the growth of party spots in Thailand and the number of disasters (both man made and natural) that have hit Indonesia recently - travel to the region has rapidly fallen off a cliff. Many of the travellers we did see where noticably older than who we usually encountered -- folks in their 50s who were perhaps coming back to revisit their memories of yesterday. It was a fascinatingly unique view on travel, and also meant that we (again) had a beautiful slice of Indonesia mostly to ourselves at a very cheap price.
After Danau Toba, we ventured into the Aceh region to the island of Pulah Weh, chasing what we'd heard was some of the best diving in Indonesia. The Aceh region has not exactly experienced happy times in recent history. The region has been highly instable since at least the 1970s when the Free Aceh Movement was formally established. Stemming primarily from a desire to control natural resources and Islamic law, Free Aceh members have fueled a separatist movement which fanned into a full fledged armed conflict in the early 2000s.
And then, the Tsunami hit in December 2004 with its epicenter just off the coast of Aceh devistating the region harder than anywhere else. It's hard to wrap your mind around the devistation caused by this disaster, even after visiting the region. 225,000 people died. That's 80x as many people who died in 9/11 and 120x as many people who died in Hurricane Katrina. We have visited the sites of both of these U.S. disasters, spending time at each taking formal tours and honoring the dead at memorials. In Banda Aceh, we found little in the way of formal rememberance -- apparently there is one museum but it's often closed according to other travellers. We did visit a massive oceanliner that still sits where it was carried by the storm, 7 km inland. Comparing the scale-to-response ratio of our national disasters versus those of this country was a stark contextualization of what it means to have the privledge of being born into one society rather than another.
The Tsunami sparked a tenuous peace agreement between Jakarta and the Free Aceh movement, one that's been in place since 2005 until the present day. For the past 4 years, Banda Aceh has had a relatively peaceful and international face -- with the myriad of international NGOs co-leading the reconstruction efforts. But now the region seems on the brink of entering it's third phase of recent history and it's anyone's guess how the cards will play out. This coming Thursday (April 9, 2009) are the Parlimentary elections in Indonesia. There is strong speculation that if the separatists win enough seats, they may launch another offensive. The military was increasing its presence in the region in anticipation. Coincidently - or not - most of the NGOs visas are also running out this week. Most foreigners were leaving the region just when we were for the dual purpose of renewing their visas and being off site for the elections in case any uprising ensued. It was an interesting time to be in the region and we'll be watching closely what happens.
The little town of Iboah where we based ourselves on the island of Pulau Weh was completely isolated from anything described above. Remarkably, Pulau Weh was mostly spared any devistation from the Tsunami. And being a small town mostly fueled by travellers, they are able to live outside the strict confines of Sharia Law, which has been in place in Aceh since 2003. (In an ironic relationship that often typifies this type of scenario, they buy their beer "for the tourists" from the police, paying a bribe which ensures they won't be caught). We stayed in a basic bungalow overhanging the ocean where we happily traded running water or a flushing toilet for a million dollar view. The diving was incredible and afternoons were spent lazing in the hammock. Norma who ran our guest house cooked up delicious communal meals for us in the evening.... It was a hard spot to leave.
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