LAKE TOBA, MEDAN STOPOVER

Medan, Indonesia
6 September 2014

Abah took MAS flight 2 days earlier and Ibu joins later through Firefly Airline.

We stayed at Grand Swiss BelHotel a 4 stars hotel attached to a shopping Mall. It was a good hotel with excellent room and services, the price is quite affordable too.

From our Hotel we took a 4 hours car ride to go to lake Toba and Samosir Island at IDR 800,000 with toyota Innova and a nice driver.

 

It was a refreshing view with strong breeze of air as if you are in seashore.

Ok time to refill after 4 hours of hard-drive. Most popular is Nasi Padang.

As seen in these photos the town is deserted, very few cars trolling in the street. I guess its remote location does affect the numbers of tourist to this magnificent landscape.

Then off with a speed boat to Samosir Island (IDR 400,000), otherwise there is a ferry operating at every hour with very minimal fee of IDR 30,000.

On the boat ride to Samosir we stopped by to look at a popular local Batak myth surrounding the junting piece of rock formation at one of the steep cliff. Quite an awesome story.

In Samosir Island we were greeted by fun filled atmosphere of local girls swimming in the clear water of the lake...

View of preserved old Batak traditional abodes complete with family members and a congregation dance to commemorate the dancing statue of the prince of Batak.

 Below are the ancient tomb of the Batak Chief/ King presumably with Christianic beliefs.

The enthusiastic guide below was the descendant of the Batak King, spoke to us about the Dancing statue and the various utensils and armory belongs to Batak Families.

On the way back to civilisation we stopped by few places to watch various events; wedding receptions, Elephant riding festivals, Local mosque kids.

Dinner at popular "Iga-iga Sapi' restaurant near medan. "Iga" means ribs and "Sapi" means buffalo.

Next day for final day we walked few blocks from the hotel to purchase a famous local cake named "Bika Ambon".

We also witnessed a day-light snatch-and-run drama before our own eyes....just few meters from our Hotel. That made us u-turn and stay out of the road. 

Adios Medan, we'll come again next time.