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Dear Members Norman Woods is organizing another SE Asian trip in 2015 on behalf of the Hong Kong Branch. All previous trips that Norman has organized have been mining oriented. However, this has resulted in a cap on the number of participants because of restrictions on numbers by the mining companies. Next year, it is planned that the trip will avoid mining sites and focus on geology, in particular volcanism. The destination for the 2015 trip will be Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Lake Toba, which is one of the biggest lakes in SE Asia, is the ‘hole’ left behind following the eruption(s) of a super volcano some 70,000 years ago. Whether there was anyone around at the time on the island of Sumatra to witness the eruption(s) is unknown but if there were, they would have been incinerated or choked to death. According to the experts, the eruption(s) put some 2,000 km3 of ash into the atmosphere and resulted in a considerable drop in worldwide temperature. There are differing views about the global effect of the eruption – some consider that it would have resulted in a large proportion of the humans alive at that time being wiped out (probably as a result of starvation because of crop failures). Why visit Lake Toba? – to visit the site of the biggest volcanic eruption in the last 25 million years – that should be answer enough. The trip will include a visit to the hot springs on Samosir Island in the centre of the lake and the Sipisopiso Waterfall where an underground river has cut through welded tuffs to descend 120m into the plunge pool below. LAKE TOBA The trip will also take in Mt. Sinabung which, in comparison with Toba, is very active indeed. The latest spectacular eruption was in February this year. We will visit the volcano monitoring station and have the opportunity to study the monitoring records taken prior to the eruption that forewarned of the eruption and resulted in the alert level being raised and people evacuated from around the volcano, thus saving many lives. MT. SINABUNG IN ACTION – FEBRUARY 2014 Details of the trip as follows – Dates: Thursday 3rd to Tuesday 7th April 2015 (Easter) so little leave is required from work. Cost: Not sure yet although it is expected that it will be in the range HK$6,000 to 7,000 including flights, ground transportation, accommodation and some of the meals. Deadline for Expression of Interest is Monday 25th November 2014. This may seem rather early. However, the need to confirm the size of the party is that in some places accommodation is limited and early booking is needed, especially as the trip will be over public holidays, and it is intended that all participants will have their own rooms. If you would like to join the trip please e-mail Norman Woods at [email protected] and copy to the Branch Secretary, Lawrence Lee, at [email protected] by the deadline.