Reed About Beer: Berastagi, The Volcano Dominated Karo Highlands (More Bintang)

We left Bukit Lawang in an opelet back to Medan where we boarded another smoke filled local bus this time south to Berastagi. For the seven hour journey to our next port of call we were crammed onto the back row where Kate had an old lady that smelt like a dustbin asleep on her shoulder.

As we climbed through the Karo Highlands the weather became freezing and the heavens opened. We checked into the Sibayak Loshen Guest House where we had no sink, a squat toilet and no shower. Instead we had a bucket of cold water so we decided to skip personal hygiene for a couple of days.

The Volcanic Karo Highlands

The accommodation was a home-stay which was nice where you relaxed in the families’ front room. Due to the weather we found a cafe call Raymond’s and warmed up with a Chai, which like the transportation reminded us of India.

Indonesian Home-Stay

Chai stop at Raymondoes!

The weather held out the next day which shed a different light on the town that we saw yesterday. We decided to walk to Gundaling Hill 2km out of town. Here we were able to see the lush green countryside and hilly mountainous surroundings. Still struggling to walk after our jungle trek we decided against climbing the two local volcanoes of Gunung Sinabung to the west and the smoking Gunung Sibayak to the north. Instead we observed them both from a distance.

Gungaling Hill Back Drop

Local Village

Gunung Sinabung

The Smoking Gunung Sibayak

Brastagi dominated from the north

This left us to sample some street food and visit the local market, before once again moving on. Berastagi was an interesting place to pass through and more time would have been spent if climbing volcanoes was our forte. Next stop Lake Toba.