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Welcome to my travellog. Here you can read about my journeys day by day. 
Jul 05, 2008 06:00 PM Tuk Tuk and Lake Toba
In the morning I took a public bus from Medan to Parapat (20 000 rupiah, 5 hours) on the shore of Lake Toba. The most inconvenience on public buses is that smoking is allowed on the bus and a lot of people in Indonesia do smoke.
A boat from Parapat to Tuk Tuk (a peninsula of Samosir island) takes 30 minutes and costs 7000 rupiah. They will drop you at the hotel you are going to stay as most hotels are located on the shore.
I'm staying at Samosir Cottages. A double room costs only 50 000 rupiah (5,5 US dollars) and there is hot water and western-style toilet. The room is clean.
It's not very hot here and the humidity is moderate, so it's much less tiring than other destinations in the region.
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Jul 04, 2008 06:00 PM Unexpected overstay in Medan
Huh, I thought I should catch it soon after arival. As you can guess I suffered a minor health problem that many travellers suffer in such destinations. But I'm better now and plan to continue my journey tomorrow. Calls of nature are less frequent than they used to be in the morning :)
I also changed my plans due to this one lost day. I will go directly to Toba lake and spend there a bit more time than I previously planned and will also go to Berastagi in a few days. Today I also booked a flight from Medan to Padang for Jul 11 (620 000 rupiah). Earlier I was going to catch a bus on this route, but the journey would take more than 15 hours and roads aren't very safe here. Flight is about thrice more expensive but faster and safer.
Today I was resting until afternoon and then I went to Istana Maimoon - a palace built in 19th century. Admission by donation. I also did some panning tricks with my camera - we'll see how the pictures came out (will publish them after getting back to Poland).
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Jul 03, 2008 06:00 PM Flying to Sumatra
I'm in Medan on Sumatra Island. I flew from the island of Batam (1 hour on a speedboat from Bintan, 50 000 INR). I flew with Mandala airlines. Actually I slept too long this morning but hopefully didn't miss the train. The taxi from the ferry terminal to the Batam airport is 70 000 rupiah (fixed price).
In Medan I'm staying in a cheap hotel - a double with fan and shower is 60 000 rupiah.
In the afternoon I went to the big mosque built in 19th century. It's worth a visit but mind your money - everyone wants something from you. Even kids who take care of your shoes.
I'm a bit worried of the presence of this mosque near my hotel as the muezzin here calls and sings very loud.
Tomorrow I plan to go to Bukit Lawang to sea the orang-utan rehabilitation centre and meybe do some jungle trekking.
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Jul 02, 2008 06:00 PM Pulau Bintan
The plane arrived in Singapore on time. The time difference between Poland and Singapore is 6 hours. From the airport I took a taxi (S$11, 1US$=1.35S$) to the ferry terminal. There are frequent ferries and speedboats from Tanah Merah Terminal. My one-way ticket cost 40S$ (a two-way ticket is only 10 S$ more expensive).
I decided to stay in Panorama Hotel (recommended by wikitravel). A standard room (double) is 120 000 rupiah (1US$=9200IDR). Not a very budget option for Indonesian standards, but a very good value for money and still very cheap. And I nead to rest after a long journey.
In the afternoon I took a walk around the town. It's not very beautiful and there's hardly antyhing interesting but for piers where you can see how fishermen live pretty the same life as they lived centuries ago. The only difference is motors attached to their boats.
It was difficult to find Internet access in Tanjung Pinang, the main city of Bintan island, buPos Batam (details in 'travel tips' section to come after my return to Poland).
Tomorrow in the morning I take a speedboat to Batam island from where I have a flight to Medan in northern Sumatra.
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Jul 01, 2008 06:00 PM Flying, flying...
Today I took the earliest plane from Wroclaw to Munich to have time for some changes if there are still problem in WRO, but hopefully I got to Munich on time. From Munich I took LH 790 flight to Singapore. Nothing to drone on - the whole day in planes.
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Jun 30, 2008 06:00 PM One-day delay
It's not a good start of my journey. My flight to Munich, where I change planes for Singapore has been cancelled due to a strike at Munich airport. As I want to be in Singapore early in the morning and afternoon arrival is not good for me, I decided to rebook my flight for tomorrow. I hope the plane at 7:15 a.m. will leave as scheduled and I safely arrive in Singapore in the morning on July 2. Keep your fingers crossed :)
Now I realized I could have taken next flight to Munich and stay there to see the city, but now it's too late to make any changes. I will spend another day in Poland, at home. Hopefully Lufthansa payed for my taxi from the airport home today and to the airport tomorrow (70 kilometers which is not cheap).
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May 28, 2008 06:00 PM From Gerona to Poznan
There are no direct cheap flights from Gerona to Warsaw, that's why I went to Poznan from where I caught a train to Warsaw. My host Lluis was very kind and brought me to the airport early in the morning (my flight was scheduled at 7 a.m.). We landed safely in Poznan 15 minutes ahead of time but there were many turbulences during the flight so it wasn't very pleasant. Also the staff wasn't very kind and sometimes even rude, but still this remains one of the cheapest carriers. I got to Warsaw at 4 p.m.
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May 27, 2008 06:00 PM Walking in Barcelona
Today I went on a day-trip to Barcelona. Is not far from Gerona - slightly more than an hour on a train. One day isn´t much for such a city and I just walked around and admired the architecture. The city has a very unique atmosphere with its narrow cobbled streets. Life there seems to be relaxed and people chilled out. I saw some buildings designed by Gaudi with La Sagrada Familia church among them. This church is still under construction and cranes still spoil the view. Inside you can see how the construction is going on, but I think it´s not worth five euros.
I also went to the La Boqueria market where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables as well as fish and meat. I like visiting markets as they add a lot the the atmosphere of the place.
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May 26, 2008 06:00 PM 6-hour delay
I lost the whole day. After arriving at the airport before noon and checking in it turned out the plane is delayed by 5 hours. They didn´t inform us about the reason for the delay and it was difficult to communicate with the staff in English. After some time some passengers got information from Spain that the delay is due to technical fault. All in all, the flight was delayed by six hours and I arrived in Gerona at 11 p.m. My host Lluis (with whom I also stayed when I was going to Morocco) was very kind and picked me up from the airport. Hopefully I´m back in Europe now and in two days I will return to Poland.
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May 25, 2008 06:00 PM The tanneries
The tanneries of Fes are the most famous ones in Morocco and maybe in the whole world. I decided to visit them in the morning as the guidebook suggested (the pits are then full of colourful dyes). If you want to see the tanneries and how people work with the leather you have to enter one of the leathershops. From their terrace I could observe how people work there and have to admit that the conditions are really poor. They have to stand in the pits with chemicals up to their knees. The shop owners expect you to buy something during such a visit, but if you don't feel like purchasing anything just leave a small tip (I did so).
I'm already a bit tired with medinas. I've seen a lot of things here in Morocco and I'm really satisfied with this journey, but it's good this trip is coming to an and. I still have one and a half days in Spain and plan to visit Barcelona. Tomorrow I fly to Gerona.
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