- Toba Trip
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My luck continued with a weekend escape from an engangement in Medan to the Lake Toba ^^
The journey began in a drizzling Saturday morning. The driver took us in a roller coster ride (it seems to be a taboo to drive slow around here) with "Karet" and "Sawit" plantation lining most of the track. There were some spot with potential as the "Windows' hill" :PAt noon we arrived at Parapat, the last town before crossing to Samosir. As I was travelling with 2 inspiring photographers with their Canons along with weaponry of lenses and filters, getting off the car to catch a few frames was often performed. While passing time until the next ferry schedule, we visitted a church under construction and I posed with a group of very cheerful local school kids. The church gave a feeling of strolling in an old European town, but I think that's just me living too long in a Muslim majority environment.
I gathered most local tourists spend their time in Toba staying at a hotel in Parapat. There are quite an array of hotels and resorts providing water-related activities (jet ski, kayaking, etc) to choose from, one of which we visitted (beautiful swimming pool!). Shame it was still raining, so the view towards Toba was hazy and bleak.
A few hours later, we were on a ferry towards Samosir, which where most foreign tourists head to. Supposedly, there's nothing much to do in the 'island' except for enjoying the view and fresh air. Anyway, on the ferry, there were a few kids offering to sing Bataknese songs for some nickels. One of the inspiring photographers asked them to sing something from Nidji and Samsons instead while he took their pictures. Turned out they sang really well. Better than the average Jakarta's public bus entertainment, I'll say.
Less than an hour later, we arrived at the Samosir and headed to Carolina Hotel. The hotel's dining hall faced the Lake with Sumatran hilly landscape as the backdrop. It was very quiet there. There was even no TV in the room. For you planning a holiday in a budget and have no addiction towards modern technology and noise, I recommend this place as an alternative. Oh, and the fried rice is really tasty but be careful when you order the Taco.. the portion is huge! If you're artsy, there are some carving workshops and traditional galleries to visit around the hotel.
Before darkness started to fall, I got a chance to enjoy the chilly afternoon buying T-Shirts for folks at home. The sound of a Batak choir practicing in the background really set in the traditional atmosphere.
The best thing was when the sun started to rise the next morning. In the far end, the sun rays streak down to a foggy piece of land. Creating a "Lord of the Rings" effect, according to one of my coworkers. Trully, it was as if a scene from a fairy tale being brought in front of you. Peace materialized there and then.
When the sun was up high, we left towards the other end of Samosir, noticing the traditional Karo tombs around most of the larger houses, the wide spread of rice fields and the high population of bulls, hogs and dogs. With the occasional goats, hens and rooster, I'd say it's a complete cattle world there.
See, I used to think Samosir is a small piece of land in the middle of a lake. I drew the map for a geography test back in the elementary school and it was marked as correct. Turned out my teacher needed to go out more often. Firstly, the Samosir is huge, covering more than half of the lake area. Secondly, it was not completely detached from the main land Sumatra. There's still a strech of land connecting them that we passed through.
The next hour or so were spent on a bumpy ride up hill. The view was getting more fantastic every minute. Then we stopped by at the 'Tele', a high point where you could look down to the bays of Toba and also the Samosir. Too bad it was still heavily clouded. We could even see rain coming down in the far end.
The journey home through the trans-Sumatra was pretty boring, with jungle on your right and left and occasional small town blurring away. We stopped by to taste the durian along the way, but the rainy season sort of down graded the quality. However, it was quite an adrenaline pump when we sped down hill in heavy rain AND fog.
Oh, we had lunch at Brastagi, the last town in Indonesia's monopoly board which I personally think is not worth the spot. Brastagi to Medan is like Puncak to Jakarta, with much less banners and villas. Except for the large park with tiny riding horses, I found no other attraction whatsoever. Of course, you may be adventurous and try out the outskirt conservatorial forests and hope to catch a glimps of a tiger or something.
We arrived back at the hotel in the late afternoon, with a recharged soul to face the long week ahead -.-
~photos here
~mostly are mediocre taken by v3i - tR4vElL0gu3 | Comments (2) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0)
Posted by: ndin | 12/09 2006, 17:29
2 Responses to “Toba Trip”
my beloved toba and samosir really beautifull right?
the only reason i like when i've to go to sumatra.....because Medan is too hot for me
Hehehe.. if you go there and said my grandfather's name. They would know. I can remember back then when I and my mother went to Samosir, they treated us as if we were some nobles. ;P