Lush jungle & deadly food in Tuktuk

Our adventure in Tuk Tuk started particularly inauspiciously, with dreadful food poisoning, exhaustion, and other delightful reasons to stay in bed.

Once feeling better, however, we began really enjoying Tuk Tuk, a little village on the volcanic island of Samosir. Samosir is surrounded by the Lake Toba, which provides breathtaking views wherever you are in the village. We were glad to be able to relax and take our time.

Everything grows everywhere here! On the side of the road, you can find wild mango, pineapple, guava, coconut, papaya, and lots more. We developed a ritual of going once daily to our favourite fruit stand, where I would get a juice (usually something with passion fruit) and Reka would get a coconut water, which the owner would prepare using a machete.

One day, we rented bicycles, and after getting a lift up a few hills (and down some for good measure), we rode back through some absolutely stunning scenery. Check out the picture with the coffee cup!

Staying for 3 weeks meant we were able to get to know a few of the locals, which was really special and made us feel like a part of this little community. I even played keys with the house band at Roy's Pub! I know it's a cliche, but people are very friendly here - always saying hello to us, giving us big smiles. We were stopped a couple of times by visiting groups of schoolchildren eager to practice their English, who insisted we follow them on Instagram after our charming chats.

Tuktuk was a booming destination for backpackers in the 90s, and it has visibly faded somewhat - there are a lot of empty restaurants and guesthouses, which we found sad. It also has the same problem as the rest of Indonesia - rubbish everywhere. Nowhere is perfect!

As well as lazing around in Tuktuk itself, we went on several days trips to explore other parts of the island, and areas immediately outside it on the larger island of Sumatra. The Efrata waterfall was a particular highlight.

All in all, despite some dodgy stomachs (a problem that is by no means over when we leave Tuktuk), we really loved it here. A fitting start to our 2 months in this beautiful country!

-AlexRead more