Lake Toba, North Sumatra...

Toba is the biggest volcanic crater lake in the world, it's about 60 miles across at it's longest part and in the middle is a big mountainous island called Samosir. At 1000m above sea level, Toba has a cool foggy climate and is the site of the most recent 'super eruption' (70,000 years ago) thereby making it the most studied super eruption and scientists believe it may have nearly caused the extinction of our species by sending the entire planet into a 10 yr 'volcanic winter'..

I took a less beaten path and crossed the southern part of the lake to the island at a small port town that isn't even on the map. My horse wasn't happy when we got to Samosir to find unpaved and rocky roads, but never the less I spent a couple days pedaling around this area trying to comprehend the massive amount of fiery energy that the earth once released here many years ago..
For more reading on Toba click here..

Up into the mountains of North Sumatra

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. "
-Charles Darwin

Heading north up the West Coast...

I had more than 500 miles of beautiful coast heading north towards the infamous Lake Toba. A highlight was spending a week in a city called Bengkulu where I met so many wonderful people. Here are some photos/notes:

A smoky village at dawn...

Bathing in the 'Prisoner's well' at a small jail near the city of Padang..

Sunsets like this, combined with sounds of water hitting rocks and a fresh breeze, are a prelude to beautiful dreams in my hammock under the stars... Proving again that the best things in life are in fact free...

This is definitely not the most enticing looking water that I've ever bathed with, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

Water pounding the rocky coastline..

I was pedaling along in my normal hazy trance admiring the beautiful landscape when I noticed that the road ahead had fallen into the ocean!!!

A very lonely boulder stranded in the Indian Ocean.. I feel you buddy..

The main reason for my slow pace up the west coast was that everyday I would stumble upon places like this and spend the entire afternoon swimming!

I slept in this quiet spot on the beach every night for a week while in the city of Bengkulu... Still trying to figure out why on earth anyone would pay money to sleep indoors!?!?!

Pictured here with my Sundanese mother in Bengkulu. I ate breakfast here everyday because she has the best 'nasi uduk' (coconut rice) I've ever had. She was such a sweet lady and she would never let me pay saying 'you're my son, you don't pay.'

I met dozens of friends during my week in Bengkulu, but I will definitely miss Nia (aka frenchy) and Serly the most.. They are great girls and we hung out together almost everyday.. Great memories.

Hanging with Serly at the beach in Bengkulu...

The fruits of my labor.. Sumatra

I felt like a moron while hanging out with my friends in Kota agung after I had told them that I was a Professional cook in America, but I had no idea where things like cashews, chocolate, and coffee came from! I took my 5 week trip across one of the largest islands in the world as an opportunity to learn more about tropical fruits, here are some of my findings...

Rambutan is a lychee-like fruit covered in reddish hairs with an edible white core...

A star fruit which is a common fruit found all over Southeast Asia...

The little pod at the top of this bland fruit contains a single cashew..

I'm told that the English word for 'Nanka' is Jackfruit but I'm not sure. It comes in huge fruits and these little yellow pods are very sweet and mango-like.

Chocolate trees! Here are 2 types of Chocolate trees (red and yellow?), the seeds are coated with a thick white skin that tastes sweet when sucked on.

The seeds in these green pods will later be dried, roasted, and ground to become delicious cups of coffee...

Coconuts are possibly my favorite things to stop and devour on a hot day, after drinking the water the pulp can be scraped from the inside...

These 'Durian' may be the most famous fruit in Indonesia. They are expensive and known for their strong odor. The pulps have a very unique flavor that some might find unpleasant and the locals always warn that eating durian and drinking beer will cause the stomach to explode and death! (btw these are spikey and heavy, you wouldn't want to be under a durian tree when one of these fell!)

Although not a fruit, I thought these rubber trees would belong in this post. Slits are cut into the trees and the raw rubber is drained to make low quality tires and such.

'Gold Bananas' are very tiny and unique to the northern part of west Sumatra and once you have one of these, you will understand what a banana is meant to be. The inside is almost orange and has a 'twang' that makes the commercial Chiquita bananas seem like Styrofoam...

Papayas are everywhere in Sumatra.

'Red Pineapples' in the mountains of north Sumatra are unbelievably sweet and delicious and a whole pineapple costs 10 cents!