Adios to Lake Toba

Sumatra,Medan.
27-02-2009.

Back in Medan, this dusty typical third world muslim town full with stinking open gutters, heavy traffic of the rusty type and people evrywhere going to and fro on a mad quest for Allah only knows what.

For the sake of convenience - and still having lots of local tatty notes of Rp. still in my pocket that need to get out of there - I decided on an airco minibus to Medan - 25.000 Rp. for a local bus and 70.000 Rp. for a airco minivan with the added advantage they drop you off in front of the hotel of your choice which in my case was Hotel Residence near the Meshid Raya, the main mosque an the location of the tourist district in Medam.

The Meshid Raya is also the only real place of interest in an otherwise very boring Medan unless you fancy walking around traffic congested dusty streets full with people, risking the health of your lungs breathing in all these exhaust fumes that cloud the air.

So it was goodbey and muchos saludos pero el tiempo de regresa a Bankok ya viene muy pront yesterday to all these willing to marry a ferringy male Batak ladies yesterday with the cleaning ladies from the Carolina Hotel waving me off and a SMS tekst message from Mamma Cesca on my phone while I was already well on the way to Medan.

Provided I wake up in time I`ll be on that ferry to Penang tomorrow. Another five boring hours surrounded by dozing locals dressed in thick coats because they can`t stand the ferry`s airco.

Two days in Penang, twnety hours by train to Bangkok/Krung Thep and on to that Male Kingdom that keeps coming back - one way or another - in my tormented dreams when I sleep in my own bed, in my own house, in Amsterdam. it is waving at me, gesturing me with obscene vistas to come back, to return each year. False promises of REAL LOVE with wintered prostitutes.

And after Pattaya is over, back to my beloved Amsterdam where I will slug it out another summer with the drunks, the hopeless and the lost souls in Westerpark!!!

Lake Toba Medan third world westerpark amsterdam

Lake Toba

Sumatra, Lake Toba.

So here I am on Lake Toba, the Tuk Tuk Peninsulam which is part of the greater island called Samosir if I am not mistaken.

A dingy little ferry that could house 91 passengers and a borewd looking crew. Most of the passengers being either indonesian or malaysians wrapped in coats as a protection against the malfuncioning airco system, carrying a whole lots of personal belongings, gifts for family and friends as well as lifestock with them.

A sign at the customs both in Penang as well as in Medan in Sumatra clearly warning people "No animals or flora lifeforms allowed to take into Indonesia", not that any of the customs officials on duty seemed to take notice of rowdy roosters or grunting piglets!!!

Medan seemed like a hell hole, a typical third world big city, exhaust fumes from heavy traffic, dusty streets with pedistrants trying franticly to avoid the numerous motorbikes.

I was glad to escape it all with a hired minivan straight to Parapat together with six other ferringhis, arriving late in Parapat which meant an expensive hotel and the ferry to Tuk Tuk the next day.

o here I am, the new thing on this travel, the new place for this trip...and so far no rerets.

Back in Penang

Malaysia, Penang.

Spending much more time in Krabi as planned, I did manage to get my ass on a airco minivan to Penang yesterday. A whole day of being locked up in the closed convinement of a thai airco minivan eventually got me and my fellowe travellers - two young french couples on their first budget trip in Southeast Asia - to this chaotic, multicultured and very funky city that has got a strong chinese feeling to it intersperced with muslim amd indian admospheres.

Spending my sleeping hours at the chinese hotel - I would rather call the place a rat house - Lip Peng where the foyer is inhabited by old chinese men, shirtless and in shorts, bedbugs aplenty and the ever present mozzies, light and fan switches outside the room and roilets downstrairs - witgh toilet paper though, let me be honest about that part!!!

An old grey haired farang on the first floor eating his evening meal, like the old chinese downstairs shirtless and dresswed in dirty shorts, an enormous belly full with indfian food no doubt, reading his english paper.

Not my first time in Penang but I plan on taking the ferry to Sumatra from here, 220 Ringet for a return ticket.

First things first though....several days of hiking and cycling, making notes and drawings in my sketchbook for my internettravelblogs and basically hanging out and having a good time before the Sumatra adventure.

Hanging out in Krabi

South Thailand, Krabi.

I am slowly heading south to Malaysia and beyond, to sumatra, the new destination on my list for this trip.

Lamai was fun to nothing special in particular apart maybe from the little plump restaurant lady I had a one night stand in my bungalow with. A bunch of german drunks that aint worth mentioning and plenty of cold Leo beer, relaxation and sun.

I presume I could have moved to Krabi yesterday but sitting in the songthaew to the nice little ferry city of Nathon i decided to hang around for one more day on Kho Samui soaking up some more sun and good living.

Got myself a 350 Baht room at one of the many guesthouses but I plan to move to a 150Baht cell like room to morrow, rent a bicycle and explore Krabi and the surrounding area for the next couple of days.

Krabi is not new to me - I was hanging out here 14/15 years ago - but this cozy little backpacker's heaven - ideal for hanging out in before taking the ferry to one of the many outlying tropical islands - might still feel the same, same laid back admosphere, but that is pretty much as far as my memories cocerning Krabi go.

"Danger Zones" for unattached european males.

Kho Samui, Lamai.

Because of some mistake by the travel agency back in Krung Thep/Bangkok I ended up on Kho Tao insyead of Kho Samui. No big problem though.

Easy enough to while away a few relaxing days on my old dscuba diving haunt Kho Tao - Turtle Island as it is aply called in Thai - and my scuba diving years might well be over, it is still fun to take a kayak out to neighboring Kho Nangyuan, do a bit of snorkling and look forward to getting to Kho Samui eventually.

Looking forward is a good choice of words since last time - four years ago - I was in Lamai I had two local lady-friends who knew squat about each other. One a cleaning lady at one of the resorts who would come to my bungalow late afternoon after her shift cleaning rooms and bungalows would be over, her panties soaking wed in anticipation nearly begging me for bhat free sex sessions while the other lady - staying at the same resort as me, just a few bungalows down the row - would be at the Muay Thay boxing stadium all day untill late in the evening renting out her motorbikes.

Each time the cleaning lady was gone - well satisfied and assuring me with a happy smile on her face " will see you tomorrow mi tikal" I would wander over to the Muay Thay boxing stadium, help Number Two Lady to close down her business for the night, take her out for dinner and off to her/mine bungalow for sex and booze.

They never found out about each other untill I was safe and sound on Phuket, amazing considering how the Thai ladies love the chit-chat stuff.

So now I have been here only two days and already had a lady staying overnight at my bungalow - I gave her 500 Bhat but it looked like her mind was more on the boy-friend/lady-friend sort of thing, wanting to spend the day on the beach together untill her shift would start at one of the many restaurants here in Lamai.

I picked her up in front of the 7/eleven, exactly the same place as where I met that cleaning lady 4 years ago....

Maybe these 7/eleven supermarkets are "Danger Zones" for unattached european males.