This was in end-Aug this year.
I had just returned from East Java. A news report caught my attention that said "Gunung Sinabung wakes up from its 400 year sleep"
Huh ? Where's this Gunung Sinabung ? Never even heard of it.
A quick search on the internet showed that it was in North Sumatra. Click, click, click. Search here, search there. Its so near a town called Berastagi - never heard of it too. Unless you've gone to Lake Toba, you would'nt even have bothered to find out about Berastagi.
Quick. Quick. Quick. Check LP Guide. How to get to Berastagi ? From Medan. How to get to Medan ? Silkair flies direct. BRAVO !!!
Called up my friend, Jia Hao. "Dude, we are going to Medan this weekend. This is our chance of watching a LIVE volcano. Up, close and personal."
I didn't give him a chance to protest :bsmilie:
Called up a guesthouse in Berastagi, Wisma Sibayak.
Do you have rooms available ?
Yes.
Good. Can you arrange for a car to pick us up from Medan ? We are coming this weekend.
OK.
Quickly booked tickets by Silkair for that weekend. It was never this easy
Well, with the easy part taken care of, now we were at the mercy of Mother Nature. And knowing my history of weather karma, as I looked at the satellite images, we were greeted with thick cloud cover over North Sumatra :mad2: Why, oh Why ? What had I done so wrong ? Anways, tickets had been booked, so put the plan in execution...
There were 3 eruptions on the day we arrived in Berastagi, but we missed all of them. One was at 430 in the morning, we hadn't even reached Berastagi. One was around 6 PM and we had just returned to the guesthouse as visibility was so so so poor because of thick cloud cover. But we did see a black plume of smoke from our guesthouse. And another, a small one, around midnight. We weren't fast asleep, but we didn't know about it until the following morning...
This photo was taken on the 2nd day of our stay in Berastagi.
1. Sinabung from a safe distance
2. Fresh lava flow
On the first day, we got the van that had picked us from from Medan to drive all around Sinabung. It was a damn stupid thing to do, but when there is an adrenalin rush, all common sense goes for a toss.
We went within 2 km of the volcano. Had it erupted, I doubt I would be here posting this...
I had just returned from East Java. A news report caught my attention that said "Gunung Sinabung wakes up from its 400 year sleep"
Huh ? Where's this Gunung Sinabung ? Never even heard of it.
A quick search on the internet showed that it was in North Sumatra. Click, click, click. Search here, search there. Its so near a town called Berastagi - never heard of it too. Unless you've gone to Lake Toba, you would'nt even have bothered to find out about Berastagi.
Quick. Quick. Quick. Check LP Guide. How to get to Berastagi ? From Medan. How to get to Medan ? Silkair flies direct. BRAVO !!!
Called up my friend, Jia Hao. "Dude, we are going to Medan this weekend. This is our chance of watching a LIVE volcano. Up, close and personal."
I didn't give him a chance to protest :bsmilie:
Called up a guesthouse in Berastagi, Wisma Sibayak.
Do you have rooms available ?
Yes.
Good. Can you arrange for a car to pick us up from Medan ? We are coming this weekend.
OK.
Quickly booked tickets by Silkair for that weekend. It was never this easy
Well, with the easy part taken care of, now we were at the mercy of Mother Nature. And knowing my history of weather karma, as I looked at the satellite images, we were greeted with thick cloud cover over North Sumatra :mad2: Why, oh Why ? What had I done so wrong ? Anways, tickets had been booked, so put the plan in execution...
There were 3 eruptions on the day we arrived in Berastagi, but we missed all of them. One was at 430 in the morning, we hadn't even reached Berastagi. One was around 6 PM and we had just returned to the guesthouse as visibility was so so so poor because of thick cloud cover. But we did see a black plume of smoke from our guesthouse. And another, a small one, around midnight. We weren't fast asleep, but we didn't know about it until the following morning...
This photo was taken on the 2nd day of our stay in Berastagi.
1. Sinabung from a safe distance
2. Fresh lava flow
On the first day, we got the van that had picked us from from Medan to drive all around Sinabung. It was a damn stupid thing to do, but when there is an adrenalin rush, all common sense goes for a toss.
We went within 2 km of the volcano. Had it erupted, I doubt I would be here posting this...