The quiet hostel

This week I arrived at Samosir Island on Lake Toba. I’m staying at Bagus Bay hostel in Tuktuk. When I arrived at the hostel, it was practically empty. The staff consists of 3 Indonesians. A receptionist, a kitchen lady, and a gardener. The kitchen lady and the receptionist mostly sit and chat in the kitchen. They’re friendly enough, but keep to themselves. There’s a bit of a summer-holiday mood over the hostel. The kind of mood where you’re at work, but not much is really happening. The maintenance list is done, so now there’s only the silverware left to polish.

The first couple of days I see 5 other guests. A French hiker, whom I talk with quite a bit, a pair of older French ladies who either can’t or won’t speak English, and a young British couple who occasionally switch into Russian. The Frenchman and I chat whenever we run into each other. He’s pleasant enough, but bored on Samosir. The weather had been bad in the days before I arrived, so he’s been stuck at a half-empty hostel waiting to be able to go on an excursion.

Apart from rain the evening I arrived, the weather has been good, with only a little night rain, which is fairly lucky, because it’s not the most interesting hostel. The hostel has a large restaurant with plenty of wooden benches and chairs that don’t exactly invite you to hang around for hours. Attached is a big green area with a basketball hoop, a badminton net, and swings. There’s also a small cement path down to the water’s edge, where you can jump into the lake or rent a canoe/kayak. The hostel, and Samosir in general, mostly speaks to outdoorsy people. All the cafés, restaurants, and hostels are open buildings, with only individual rooms closed off from wind and weather, such as toilets and bedrooms. I’ve gotten plenty of mosquito bites as a result.

Festival in town

Tuktuk is a small town with a fair number of cafés, restaurants, and places to stay. It’s a small tourist community, but not overblown like so many other places in Indonesia. For someone like me, who enjoys just sitting and enjoying a cup of coffee at a café for a couple of hours, it’s a perfect area.

Midweek it suddenly gets busier in town and at the hostel. A good number of new people arrive, and traffic on the small roads gets packed, sometimes with queues. It’s not Western tourists, though. It’s a lot of Indonesians from out of town. Some of the restaurants that used to close in the middle of the day are now open and seeing a bit of foot traffic. The sleepy little holiday town has woken up.

I’m sitting having breakfast at a café, where I strike up a conversation with the owner. She asks if I’m heading over to the festival later, to which I have to ask “which festival?”. It turns out I’ve apparently shown up right in the middle of the annual Samosir music festival, which runs over 3 days. There’s a stage with performances and family entertainment during the daytime. In the evening there are concerts with big national names. At the same time, there’s also a 10 km run and other sports activities.

When the town started getting more active, my first instinct was a bit of annoyance. The peace is over. The evenings go from being quiet, with only a little noise from the road and the insects, to a lively common space where, in true Indonesian manner, everyone sits with their smartphones either talking or watching videos at full speaker volume. At the same time, the neighbors have dug out the karaoke setup and are belting out some of the most off-key notes I’ve heard in a long time. And the quiet road has filled up with cars and motorcycles, all of which apparently need to honk as they pass the bend where the hostel is located. I can tolerate a lot of noise, but when a middle-aged man decided that 5:00 am was an excellent time to make an aerobics music-video guide right outside my room, I still had to get up and stare at him like he was completely insane, until he scurried off.

But if you can’t beat the noise, you have to join it. So I headed over to the festival grounds and spent the evening listening to the Bulu Mini band, who played cover songs of everything from “Can’t help falling in love” to “Knockin on heaven’s door,” as well as another band called Punxgoaran, which drew a fairly large crowd. The production quality was high, with a good stage show, sound, lighting, and camera work alike. A bit like Hede Rytmer in Silkeborg. Just in Indonesian.

Back to the projects

I don’t sit around at the hostel much. In the morning the backpack gets packed, and then I make my way through town until a good café turns up. There are enough options to keep me occupied all week, and some places are good enough for a repeat visit. For instance, there’s a small restaurant that makes pizzas and has seating with a view out over the lake. I’ve had dinner there a couple of times. I can sit with my computer and look out over the lake as darkness falls and the lights come on in the town on the other side. One evening there was a thundercloud rolling in over the far shore, giving nature’s answer to a fireworks show.

On the computer there’s a lot going on. I’ve gotten back into my writing corner, as you may have noticed. Even though my journey isn’t one wild ride after another, there are still plenty of stories I can pass on to you. Over time it’s also become easier, and a normal part of the day, to settle comfortably into documenting my experiences. Thanks for reading along, by the way.

It suits me very well to be able to combine a rich experience of the world with the well-trodden digital one. Looking back, though, I’ve changed my relationship to both sides. I no longer go on long walks to de-stress. Now I take them to see and experience whatever part of the world I currently find myself in. In the same way, I no longer sit and watch YouTube to unwind after a long workday. On the computer it’s mainly small projects that interest me, and I’m working toward developing a different side of myself than before. A more creative, and maybe even a slightly artistic, side.

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