Lake Toba

View of Lake Toba from Tele

This post has got nothing to do with diving and I am not ready to start another blog for travel. It was a detour from Banda Aceh before I fly home from Medan. So I might as well go look at Lake Toba from Samosir Island.

After hours of waiting at Iboih beach for the driver who did not turn up, ended up riding on a motorbike to Balohan port, waited an hour to board the plane then looking for the driver whom Romlan's Marion arranged but did not turn up, then finding a car pool at the airport and waited another two hours, four hours of stressful journey with traffic jams, pollution (driver smoking endlessly with windows wind down) with backache and discomfort in the car, finally arrived Parapat. The ticket kiosk was right in front of the port's entrance where I paid IDR4000 for one ticket. It was about 2115 hrs with a temperature of about 23 degrees C. Due to the cooler temperature, I forgot how tired I was but felt kind of euphoria "rushing" in with the anticipation of waking up with the beautiful scenery of Lake Toba from my bed.

Lower deck of ferry

Upper deck of ferry

The ferry was huge ... meant to transport cars/motorbikes on the lower deck. Not sure where I should settle, I went up to sit on the upper deck. It is dirty with empty cup noodle cups everywhere, small and had limited number of seats. However, there were less than 20 people on the upper deck. For those who need to eat, there is a small self-service kiosk for instant noodles and snacks can be bought over the counter. Felt uncomfortable on the upper deck so went down and saw a few cars and motorbikes and the passengers standing around enjoying the cool breeze of Lake Toba. It was nice smoking in cool air! There are two reasonably decent toilets (Gents & Ladies) with a tub of clean water.

Romlan Guesthouse

Arrived Romlan Guest House at 2230 hrs ... finally! After a long day since 0630 hrs, I was tired, cold and hungry! I could not walk anymore to find food, even though there is a restaurant still open. There was no more food at Romlan's restaurant so I only had a cake and two cans of Bintang beer I missed at Pulau Weh. I did not know that the hot/cold taps were not working so well that I had to take cold shower.  I was freezing in icy waters! Anyway, it worked the next day after some time getting used to it.

The room is well furnished and clean. There is a wardrobe, bedside lamp, side table with two settees and queen sized bed with two pillows and comforter. Even though there were many ants at the entrance of the bathroom, it did not crawl up the bed or bothered me. From the terrace of my room, I have a good view of the beautiful lake. I woke up with the beauty right before my eyes ... how enchanting ... the largest volcanic lake in the world. 

I had most of my meals at the restaurant. Whatever the guests consumed were recorded in the individual books which will be calculated upon check out. The alfresco restaurant faces the lake but part of it were blocked by the batak room. Anyway, it was so relaxing to sit, eat and watch the calm waters and clear blue sky.

After a relaxing breakfast, I walked out the main road and got a driver to bring me around.

By the time it was about 1100 hrs temperature was rising. It was quite warm compared to the temperature in the evening. It took about 30 minutes to reach the ancient batak village where you can look the the traditional batak house and the tomb of the king. This is the place with stone table and chairs and head-chopping block can be found in the nearby village of Ambarita. Ambarita is located three miles northwest of Tuk-tuk along the main road.

The stone chairs were used for meetings by the local king, and both a torture stone and chopping block were once used for brutal executions.

There is also a souvenir shop where they sell handicrafts and such. I was also encouraged to donate a token for visiting the museum.

We walked through an alley of tacky souvenir stalls before arriving at the King's tomb. Upon entering, we had to put on a batak piece of cloth over our shoulders which have to be returned prior to leaving. Legend has it that King Sidabutar was the first settler of Samosir Island with the indigenous belief called Parmalim which is basically another form of animism. However, in the 19th century European missionaries successfully converted this society into Christianity, which occurred during the reign of the third king of Sidabutar family. The royal graveyard at Tomok is the evident to this.

Next we went up the hill to Tele for a panoramic view where we past by some plantations of rice, chilli, cocoa etc. We had a relaxing bottle of Bintang beer and took some pictures.

 

The sightseeing took only 3 hours including a quick lunch at Tomok on the way back. It was warm at mid-day and I sat and relaxed at Romlan's restaurant where I chatted up with David from Berlin. He's a funny guy with lots of stories to tell. The next day we took the ferry together to Parapat where he went to the ATM while I took the bagus taxi (shared car) to Medan.

So that was the end of my trip to Lake Toba which also marks the end of my 10 day holiday. It was indeed an experience visiting places of a different culture and traditions.

It was tiring but worth the journey.