I woke and found the guesthouse reception and restaurant closed. On the street, it seemed rather quiet. Shops that were open were unattended. Then I realised it was Sunday and most people were either at church or recovering from the night before.
It’s hard to imagine that Samosir island some decades ago was home to the wild full-moon parties that’s now happening in southern Thailand. The Christian folk who quite like their tipple didn’t mind debaucherous guests. Somehow, the tourist trade was diminished to a trickle.
I thought I’d use the quiet day to catch-up on emails and writing but internet was down island-wide for the whole day. With leisurely meals and nice chit-chats, the day soon disappeared. Note that leisurely meals are not always voluntary … it can take over an hour for one’s meal to turn up around here.
I had a nice chat to a nice Catholic restaurant-operator who spoke good English. I gathered enough courage to ask if the good Christian folk (like the Toraja bretheren) around here like dogs (ie. cooked). I was met with an extremely positive response … in fact, people now steal dogs as they’re quite hard to source otherwise!
I think I’ve just confirmed my theory that Christians in the archipelago love their dogs. From direct enquiry and hearsay, I believe this love stretches from Sumatra to Sulawesi to Tonga … and let’s not forget Korea and China.
Travelling around, dog meat is sold more openly than in Sulawesi because there are few Muslims here to offend. The highlands are largely Christian. Dog meat is advertised as B1 (babi satu, or Type 1 Pork) while pork as B2 (babi dua, or Type 2 Pork as there are two ‘b’s in babi).