Back From Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia

by FH2o on March 26, 2008

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Sunrise across Lake Toba from TukTuk. 21st March 2008

I arrived back in Kuching around noon yesterday and after taking a shower, lunch and a short nap; it was back to work in the office and I’ll need to hit the ground running as we have a “corporate retreat” this Friday and Saturday. Don’t let the word “retreat” fool you as I’ve been warned that it’s anything but a retreat. Why companies need to lie treat their staff with such candor is beyond me.

I’ve taken over a thousand photos over the past 5 days in Lake Toba of our kayaking expedition and it’ll take me a while to sort out my photos and I’ll need to find the time to share the photos as well the experience of our adventures - so bear with me.

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Elke, expedition newbie, in her orange Feathercraft Wisper taking a moment to admire the sunrise before setting out from TukTuk on the 1st day of our kayaking expedition. 21st March 2008

It had been a challenging trip and I think we pushed ourselves pretty close to the limits of our physical and mental endurance. But we had fun despite the scary moments and exhausting as it had been; strange to say - we feel refreshed and reinvigorated now. It was kind of hard to ‘wind down’ after 5 days of hard physical exertions so yesterday after work I went to the gym to do some light workout. The general soreness everywhere is gone but the blisters on my fingers remains to remind me of the ‘ordeal’ we had been through. It was an unforgettable experience although I don’t think I can say “I wished you were there”!

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Beautiful morning @ Lake Toba on the start of our kayaking expedition. 21st March 2008

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 slenz 03.26.08 at 3:24 pm

i visited lake toba 10 yrs ago … the place was spectacular. however, i heard the place was badly damaged after the chaos in ard 1998-1999. been wanting to go back for a visit … but am concern of safety and been wondering how bad is the damage.

2 happysurfer 03.26.08 at 4:25 pm

Lake Toba used to be a very popular short-holiday destination those days.

Those are very nice pictures, FH2O. Looking forward to your other pictures and adventures or were they misadventures from what we’re reading?

3 Birgit 03.26.08 at 9:02 pm

Wow, Francis, the pictures you have posted so far look incredible! I can relate to how difficult it is to get back to the reality of every day life after spending several days in a complete state of living in the moment. Don’t let the “retreat” spoil the afterglow!!

4 ultranana 03.28.08 at 12:12 pm

Whoaaa… Nice pichas! If only can witness the views in reality. Shudda backpacked me. *sulk sulk*

The last picha of the sky, it’s so incredible!!

5 FH2o 04.01.08 at 8:37 am

slenz - This is my first visit there and I didn’t notice any damages from the riots but that was a few years ago and people must have picked up the pieces and restored whatever they could.

happysurfer - We had an adventurous time which I’ll write about when I find the time to do so.

birgit - Thanks but unfortunately the retreat was such a downer! And I’d rather not talk about it.

untranna - I don’t think you would really want to go through the storms with me at night with the waves and wind but no moon for company! We had a few scary moments - to put it mildy!

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