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On our mega bus trip today we stopped at Dokan Village to see some traditional homes. The women were all cleaning, washing and looking after children and the men that weren't working sat and smoked. The kids all played together and gave us lots of waves. We went inside a house that was over 200 years old made of wood, the beams like the ones you'd see in old English cottages. 8 families live in the house, it was hard to believe everyone would fit. The man of the family, Grandad was too old to work so stays home now, he was very smiley with no teeth and a little chequered hat and jacket. They had 2 fires burning in the house, no chimney so it was a little smokey in there but all the cooking is done inside the house.
I had my photo taken with the local shopkeeper at his request, suppose if I'm taking pictures of them and their village then it works both ways. A little boy approached me and asked me my name, he looked so smart with his spikey hair and his English was fantastic. He was looking after his sister who was wearing a very pretty dress, they looked like they should be going to a wedding. I wish I could remember his name because he was so sweet and so clever, he spoke better than some of the kids at home and we had a really nice chat. This is what I am enjoying most, seeing how people live and talking to nice people.
A few hours later we stopped at a lovely hotel for lunch, right on lake Toba with lovely views. A private boat took us to Samosir Island, we were headed for a lovely hotel but there was no way we'd be staying there. Turns out it was our hotel, literally on the lake, lovely gardens and the rooms weren't bad either. A few people have commented that I'm not grumpy anymore (me grumpy?!) so it's safe the say the jungle has a bad effect on me, this is my kind of place and I feel much happier now and back in happy holiday mode....oh and they gave us 2 toilet rolls instead of the the standard half....what more could anyone want?
I seem to have made a new friend, I made the mistake of stroking a little dog and now she won't leave me alone and follows me everywhere. I did manage to ditch her for my £6 massage, which for £6 was ok but pretty rubbish as usual. For dinner we found a pizza restaurant, exciting stuff! The service was amazing, so simple to order, simple to pay, food came out at same time, it was delicious...it made such a change and we all loved it. We drank beer and ate massive pizzas, it was a really fun night and hopefully there will be more to come with this group.
On Monday we went on a little tour and visited a couple of places on the island. It was pretty rubbish & at £7.50 very overpriced. Our guide was quite hard to understand, but lovely all the same. The most memorable bit was when he was showing us this massive wooden stick with carvings, he said the medicine man of the village used it many years ago. Apparently they used it to call other medicine men...like magic...but only until mobile phones were invented now they use them instead??! What a load of tosh! Then a very funny lady showed us what they did with criminals a long time ago, when the village people were cannibals. For serious crime like rape or murder you would be killed, on a day decided by the medicine man and his magic stick. They'd starve the men, then torture them to see if they had any black magic in their body, then chop their head off and the king would eat their heart and liver. But if the person doing the chopping didn't manage it in one clean cut, then he'd have his head chopped off. Women were never killed and eaten, they were just banished from the village to be killed by the wilderness instead.
I chilled out for the rest of the day, I almost made it for a run...oh well the thought was there. Went to visit the pizza lady again and entertained the staff with our drinking game.
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Alzira Slater When I was in boarding school we were given a toilet roll for a week! Was really tough in the winter when people had colds...... feel your joy at the 2 toilet rolls! Such a beautiful picture Emma. :-)