October 24, 2006
Rest Day in Tuk Tuk: Cycling around the island
The rhythm of a cycle tour is beginning to form: eat, cycle, eat, rest, eat, cycle, laundry. We have breakfast, read, have lunch then set out to cycle to Simanindo. Patrick will pick up his woodcarving from the crafts market in Ambarita on the way back.
Patrick was right, the hardest part of the ride are the short steep hills the first kms around Tuk Tuk. Yesterday, we had stopped in Ambarita to see the 300 year old stone chairs where village matters were discussed and wrongdoers tried.
We get to Simanindo and go into an old traditional house that is now a museum. It was the former home of Batak King, Rajah Simalungun and his 14 wives. There is a nice collection of weavings and carvings and cooking utensils. Behind a large stone wall is a compound with three traditional Batak houses across from a row of food storage buildings. The courtyard is used two times a day for dance performances that coincide with the arrival of tourist boats from Tuk Tuk or beyond. We don't get to see a dance, but our reward is getting to be the only ones wandering around.
We ride back the 15km to Ambarita, just outside the village is a "resort" where we make a reservation for a room Sunday night. Per the information we've been able to gather, yesterday and today there is a boat from Simanindo to Haranggad once a week, Monday morning at around 7:30am. We hope to get that boat and decide to stay as close as possible the night before. The "resort" is overrun with Chinese tourists from Medan today and expensive too at 200,000Rp a night.
Back in Amarita we find the shop owner where Patrick agreed on a 250,000Rp price for a nicely carved stick. The stick is about 6 feet 6 inches long and made in three parts so it can be transported. Patrick paid him a deposit yesterday and in return he has polished it up to a shine, very nice. We take some pictures of him working in his shop. He says it takes him 10 days to complete a stick like this. It's only 5km back to Tuk Tuk but the last part is very hilly and step. It rains again this afternoon and during the night, the sky has been getting clearer though.
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