Some of the junior children at Lake Tekapo School, in the South Island of New Zealand, have sent their Flat Stanley’s on an adventure to Indonesia. Their class is learning about different cultures and their Stanleys are going to help out by sharing their experiences in Indonesia and maybe other destinations.

Monday 30 May 2016

Berastagi, Sumatra, Indonesia

Time to climb a volcano!

After arriving back in Parapat, we caught a shared taxi to Berastagi.



Our taxi took us to Pematangsiantar (B) first where we waited in a local cafe for our next shared taxi to depart for Berastagi.

The Stanleys in the taxi from Parapat.

It was very hot and the Stanleys came in handy as fans. Thanks Stanley!
Godley Class asked to hear some local people talking. Here is a video taken in the local restaurant where we waited for our car to Berastagi.

There was something else I thought Godley Class might be interested in, the toilet!

I've never seen a toilet like this before, it took a while to figure out how it worked.
Yes that is correct, it is a concrete room!
Once you have done your toilet business on the floor, you wash it away down the hole with the orange buckets of water.
It was an interesting experience.

Some sights I saw out of the taxi window...
A shoe shop

A fruit shop

A family on a motorbike
Berastagi
Click to have a closer look at Beristagi

I loved Berastagi! That may have something to do with the pancake I had at the local market when I first arrived. It was definitely a tasty start.


While the pancake was cooking, the man spread it with butter and sprinkled on chopped nuts, chocolate hail and condensed milk. When he folded it together it the chocolate hail melted and soaked into the pancake with the other ingredients.

Climbing Mt Sibayak

Nasi Goreng for breakfast

We caught a local shuttle to the gate where we paid 20,000 IRD
The walk from the gate to where you start to climb Sibayak is about 2 hours of up and down roads.

Luckily for us the van below picked us up after 40 minutes of walking and drove us until we only had 20 minutes walking to the start of the climb. The driver charged us 9,000 IDR.


There were lots of piles of rubbish near the start of the walk. Further up the volcano there was also lots of rubbish laying around. People had just dropped their empty drink bottles and food wrappers.
Some views of the track from the climb up Sibayak.



The Stanleys got close to the gas escaping through vents.


It was very noisy! 
Does the noise remind you of anything else?



The top of this peak was the highest we climbed.
Below is the view from the top.

Behind those clouds is Mt Sinabung which was erupting while we were in Berastagi. Unfortunately the clouds in front of it never cleared while we were there.



Berastagi is the main area for growing fruit, vegetables and flowers in North Sumatra.
Volcanic soil has lots of nutrients in it.

Vegetable farm

Local shop and local chicken

Baskets for the fruit and vegetables.



Around town

A donut on a stick

Noodle soup shop
They have a giant cabbage in the middle a a roundabout.
Another round-about. This one is a war memorial.
Vegetables

Some local students who practised their English with me.





Fruit and Vegetable Market

The Local Market


Snakefruit



Dried Fish


This is used to scrape the flesh out of coconut shells.



Cutting tofu


There were lots of garden tools for sale.

The water out of the tap is not clean enough to drink so everyone drinks bottled water.
All of Indonesia is the same.

Banana pancakes: banana and sugar wrapped in a pancake and deep fried.



A toy shop

The hairdresser


At lunch time, school children come a buy food, drinks and junk food from the food stalls.



Next stop Java.