Easter with the Batak at lake Toba

I usually don’t make a blog entry every time I head somewhere for an extended weekend. But I really had a crush on Lake Toba and the Batak people.

Lake Toba (Danau Toba in Bahasa Indonesia) is located 4 hours drive from Medan, in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The site is just incredible: the lake is inside a huge volcano crater, and is surrounded by pine-clothed mountains slopes. The lake is so large that you can’t see both edges at the same time. The scenery is just fantastic, and the little villages blend in perfectly in the landscape with their emblematic horn shape houses. The area is particularly wild and the atmosphere of peacefulness is a real relief after a terrible 4h drive from Medan on Easter weekend, when the regular small 2 lanes road turns into a heavily jammed 6 lanes “highway”…

The area is the home of the Batak people, who practiced cannibalism rituals until the nineteenth century, when they became Protestants due to the Dutch influence. And they like their religion! What a good idea to visit Danau Toba during Easter weekend! All the villagers brought their “A game” to go to the church, and they just couldn’t greet us, visitors, with enough “Horas!!!” (i-e hello in Bahasa Batak).

After quite a few travels in South-East Asia, I will remember Indonesia as the most beautiful country, full of variety. Variety in the landscapes, ranging from desert black-sand volcano slopes to paradise blue water beaches or breathtaking rice paddies… but also variety in the cultures, traditions, and religions. IMHO, it is the most attractive country for travelers in South-East Asia.

Thanks Marie & Vanessa for the nice pictures!

Finding George Orwell in Burma

Marie suggested me to read this book this book that, among others, made me want to visit Burma. If you are ever interested in understanding the connection between George Orwell, 1984 and Burma, go for it.

Via Bookist:
Larkin (a pseudonym), an American journalist based in Bangkok, believes that it was George Orwell's stint as an imperial policeman in British-ruled Burma during the 1920s that turned him into a writer of conscience. To prove her theory and assess what imprint if any he left on the culture, she bravely journeyed throughout the now brutally totalitarian state to visit the places Orwell lived and worked. A meticulous observer, she captures the masked spirit of a people monitored by military spies and constantly threatened with incarceration and torture. As her risky conversations with Burmese intellectuals, writers, teashop waiters, and students reveal, censorship is severe, yet Burma remains a profoundly literary country as people harbor secret libraries and talk passionately about books. Writing with admirable suppleness and understatement, Larkin reports that Orwell is known as a prophet in Burma, so closely do Animal Farm and 1984 reflect what has happened in this beautiful yet tragically oppressed land. Her quest for the past illuminates the grim present in this true-life Orwellian world.

¡Estoy en Mexico!

Finally made it to Mexico City after a hell of a 30-hours flight via Taipei and Los Angeles. I´m quite disoriented since I went through two nights and two days since I woke up (that´s the thing when you fly eastwards, days & nights last only about 8 hours)! The circle is now completed, I´ve been "round the world": I´ve been on each and every latitudes on that planet :-)

I have to thank Malaysian Airline´s crew for making this long haul more pleasant: we´ve been chitchatting to kill those long hours over the Pacific, and they ended up offering me a bottle of red wine as a farewell present when they figured I was leaving Malaysia for good! How nice is that?!?!

Jompalagi Melayu!