Berastagi

Berastagi is a great city. The weather is cool, it hasn't rained too much, and there are plenty of things to do nearby.

On Sunday we climbed Gunung Sinabung, an active volcano that is about 2400 meters high. The ascent through a fern and orchid filled forest was very steep and took 4 hours. The summit was very cloudy, and we only had amazing views for about 30 seconds. But on the plus side, the constant clouds and smell of sulfur made us feel like we were on another planet. The descent wasn't much fun and our legs were in pain when we left the mountain around 5:30 PM.

So much pain that we decided to climb another volcano today, Gunung Sibayek. Sibayek is smaller - about 2000 meters, and the ascent wasn't very interesting or difficult when compared to the previous day. The summit was filled with sulfur-spewing fumaroles, and the sky was clearer so we had some great views of the surrounding valley. After exiting the trail, we stopped off at some hot springs for a relaxing dip and hopefully didn't pick up a skin infection.

Tonight is our last in Berastagi. We hired a car to take us to some villages tomorrow and drop us off at the jumping off point for Danau Toba, a big mountain lake and the largest in SE Asia.