Takengon – bigger than we’d imagined
Closer in
Typical houses
A satellite dish half the size of the house and a water buffalo in the garden seems to be the norm
The local wideboys
Cool air, pine trees… Feels like anywhere but Indonesia
An afternoon dip
Travelling in style! Realising we could only rent meaty fully manual bikes here (and neither of us being able to ride them), met some guys from the local Vespa club (!?) who were starting a business taking tourists round the lake.
A lot of hard work
Local life
The air in Indonesia always seems to be smoky one way or another
Smoke of a different kind!
Push, push!
The secnd cave tour con of the lake… although this one came with a superb guide who spoke ‘English’ and seemed to be making up random facts, talking about giraffes and kettles! Well worth the money!
Back in town for a traditional coffee – raw egg and sugar whipped before pouring on hot coffee… mmm! (And did you know that Starbucks get most of their coffee from the Gayo Highlands!?)
The owner wanted to pose for a photo too!
An incredibly beautiful place – in which we saw no other backpackers at all… probably thanks to Lonely Planet’s warning that the area has been notably unstable in the past… and the lengths you have to go to to get there and onwards anywhere else!
Plenty of busses in the station…
… but as this is one of the better stretches of road, you can imagine why only bikes and small vans can go long distance
A lunch stop in the middle of nowhere. The villagers were intrigued to see foreign faces passsing through
