Lake Toba

Given the recommendation from our friend Chris Rockett, we wanted to check out Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world. The lake resides in an extinct volcano, with a Singapore-sized island in the middle, the remnants of the volcano's cone.
Apparently, Lake Toba's Samousir island was a tourist hotspot in the 90's, until Thailand stole it's thunder. Now it's very quiet, and mostly empty hotels are the norm. Luckily this meant cheap accommodation, as we stayed in a decent hotel with a nice balcony over looking the lake for $5 per night (for 2 people).
It's a very relaxing destination, and not much goes on there. The locals are all very musical, and when walking around you frequently hear them playing guitar and singing traditional songs.


Sunset view from our hotel room balcony.


Coucher de soleil depuis le balcon de notre chambre d'hotel a $5. Salle de bain et au chaude s'il vous plait!










Sunrise view from our hotel room balcony.













Lake Toba is a great place to relax and do nothing, especially for us after spending so much energy seeing dozens of temples in the hot hot Cambodian heat. However, we did get the motivation to rent some bicycles and go for a ride around the island, leading to some other nice views...







Does anything look odd in this picture?




Magic mushrooms are part of the traditional culture there, so nearly every restaurant sells them, either cooking them up into an omelet or making a not-so-tasty tea.
Anyways, when in Rome...