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Published: October 15th 2009
Medan to Parapat
On the bus to ParapatSeptember 14 2009 - September 22 2009
Exchange rate as of September 14 2009 1GBP = Rp15,724
TRANSPORT:
Hotel to Amplas Bus Terminal by motorized becak--Rp30,000
Medan to Parapat by bus--Rp20,000 (5 hours)
Parapat to Tuk Tuk by ferry--Rp7,000 (1 hour)
HOTELS:
Samosir Cottages
Dbl, cold water--Rp119,000 inc. breakfast
One of the nicest places on Samosir, with very decently priced rooms with a good view of the lake. Swimming area on the lake, deck chairs, restaurant and internet available. Some very noises cats around though!
Abadi Guesthouse
Twin, mandi, squat toilet--Rp150,000 (not the normal price at it was Idul Fitri)
Very rustic place, with semi-traditional Batak houses next to the Lake. Rooms were clean though and it was quieter than the bigger places.
We got an early start from Medan and caught another motorized becak to Medan's other bus terminal, 6 1/2 km south. One thing you have to make sure of in Indonesia is that if you are negotiating a fare you need to make sure you listen to the small print and that the driver gets his t's crossed and his i's dotted! The fare was Rp20,000, Dan confirmed with the driver that it
Medan to Parapat
Now in Batak-land the churches started to appear was for the two of us. We're not sure if we received a 'yes' and that was our mistake. When we arrived at the terminal the driver wanted Rp20,000 per person. Dan told him that is only cost Rp25,000 from the other bus terminal, situated further from the city centre, so we settled on Rp30,000 for the two of us. Sometimes it's not worth the hassle to argue over such a small amount of money. We hopped onto a bus that was just about leaving for Parapat on the shores of Lake Toba. The journey introduced to us the Trans Sumatra Highway, which skirts the whole length of Sumatra from Banda Aceh in the North to Lampung in the south. This isn't a highway as such, but more of a narrow piece of road which handles all traffic through Sumatra, from chickens to overloaded trucks and buses! The journey took us just under 5 hours and we noticed that the nearer we got to Toba, the more churches we saw. We were entering Batak country, an ethnic group who are renowned for their cannibalism (back in the day of course!) The interestingly shaped roofs of their houses (meant to look
like buffalo horns) and the many tomb stones scattered amongst the rice paddies and of course the many churches. Churches outnumbered mosques 10-3 around this region of Sumatra and 'halo' is replaced by the Batak 'horas!'
The last part of the journey was very scenic as we descended down to the magnificent looking Lake Toba.
We arrived in Parapat and just missed the ferry over to Samosir Island. The next was wasn't leaving for another hour and this was convenient for the owner of a travel agents who told us we could wait in his office and have some food. He asked us about our travel plans after Toba and when we told him we were planning on heading to Bukittinggi on the 19th he told us all the buses were full and the next one wasn't until the 22nd. We didn't know whether or not he was telling the truth but as it was Idul Fitri we gave him the benefit of the doubt. The only issue was that we have a flight from Padang to Jakarta to catch on the 24th so we decided we had to scrap Bukittinggi or risk losing the flight. It was a
Medan to Parapat
Our first glimpse of the mighty Toba bummer but we decided to make the most of our 8 nights in Toba instead.
We hopped on the ferry to Tuk Tuk, on Samosir Island and it was then that we realized how cold it is here. It was windy and a bit rainy and as usual Dan didn't pack any winter clothes, but he braved it as usual!! We arrived at the hotel we booked, Samosir Cottages, on the northern end of Tuk Tuk peninsular. We told the owner that we now have to stay 8 nights instead of the 5 and he informed us that he could only do the 6 nights, as Idul Fitri was causing the hotel to become full of Indonesian's on holiday. The first thing for us to do was to find a place to stay for the remainding two nights. Every single place was full and we started wondering if we were going to have to camp out in the reception of our hotel instead. The owner of Samosir Cottages told us not to worry and that he'd find us somewhere, so that was that.
Now, there's not a lot to do on Lake Toba, apart from relax. The weather
helped that (or didn't) and it really felt like we were in Scotland or somewhere like that!! We made the most of the copious amounts of books we brought with us and spent the days lazing away.
We decided to rent a couple of motorbikes for a couple of days to explore the island. The first afternoon was pretty much rained off, as we got caught in a downpour halfway round the island.
The next day we decided to set off in the morning and make our way around the island, stopping at any interesting sites along the way, including the Stone Chair, in which Batak criminals were once tried, and then executed before being eaten! The tomb of a Batak king was also a minor attraction along the way.
Samosir island is HUGE and you don't really realize it until you try and travel around it. Going clockwise from Tuk Tuk and back is about 100km's or more! The first half is slow going, as you twist and turn over the mountain on pretty rough roads. Luckily the traffic is pretty minimal here so we could enjoy it even more. The scenery was stunning, and the villages
on this part were interesting. It almost felt like we could have been in the Andes. Pigs as well as chickens and buffalo's roamed around, throngs of kids came running out of the houses shouting the ever-familiar "halo mister!" and "Good morning!"...regardless of whether your a female or it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon! It was a great ride and as we came down the mountain the heavens opened up (again!) and we got a soaking. We kept thinking we had traveled further than anticipated, and when we stopped to fill up the tanks we realized we were only a quarter of the way around the island...after 3 hours!!
Through the stinging rain we trundled on and on.....and on and on and on! We were absolutely freezing, we were hungry, sore and wanting to get back. We finally got to the half way stage at the northern town (and Samosir's commercial center) of Pangunuran. This was after 4 hours, but we knew that from there back to Tuk Tuk was going to be around 42km. We needed to get back by 6pm to return the bikes and we didn't really want to be riding in the dark. We passed through
Parapat
Boarding the boat to Samosir Island Pangunuran and finally got onto a piece of road where we could open up the throttle a bit more. The plan was to keep above 40km/h so we could be back in about an hour. We did it in decent time and felt like we had had one major workout!! It's amazing how tired you can be after riding a motorbike all day!
The next day we were due to check out of Samosir Cottages and we still hadn't found anywhere else to stay. Everywhere was getting full and car loads of Indonesian vacationers were already packing the island. They know how to ruin a place, with tons of rubbish being thrown into the lake, and loads of noise and screaming kids keeping us up at night. And these were the higher class Indonesians. We noticed all the westerners had already left before hand and we started wishing that we had left also. The first mission of the day was to find an ATM and as far as we knew the only one was back on the mainland in Parapat. We had noticed there was one in Pangunuran in the north of the island and Dan figured it would
be quicker to rent a bike and ride up there within 2 hours. He was successful with the two hour thing, but the ATM was broken so that was a wasted journey. We had to go over to the mainland which wasn't simple and took a lot of time. The boats run every hour, it takes about an hour to get there after stopping at all the other hotels first, and then once on the other side we had to take a bemo to the ATM. The bemo took the long way around, through a village on the outskirts of Parapat, and finally back towards an ATM. After finally getting some more cash we caught another bemo back to the ferry and had to wait half an hour for that ferry which took another hour! We were right that it was quicker to go to Pangunuran. But we finally did it after about 6 hours!! The owner of Samosir still hadn't found anywhere for us to stay as promised and was still looking as we had some lunch. In the end he found somewhere nearby for Rp150,000 per night. More expensive than where we were staying and a lot more
run down, but we couldn't complain (even though the shower was broken and then beds sagging) as it was the only place available. It actually wasn't too bad in the end, a lot quieter than Samosir Cottages and right next to the lake.
The final full day on Toba was a nice one. Finally the sun was out, it was warm so we took the opportunity to sit by the lake and try and top up our tans. We finally got to swim in the lake and Dan took up a spot of (unsuccessful) fishing. The fish were pretty clever and never even got near the hook but it's something you need to try on Toba. That evening we spent having a few drinks (Dan sticking to Arak , honey and lemon to try and get rid of his cold), watching a fabulous sunset, and listening to local Batak music drifting in over the lake. It was a good way to end our time in Toba until it was time to sleep. At about 1am every dog on the island seemed to be barking, followed by all the roosters. Dan was under the impression that something was
Lake Toba
Traditional Batak house about to happen and when the power went out we were thinking of earthquakes, tsunami's and volcanic eruptions. Don't animals sense these things?? Nothing did happen thankfully, but after a sleepless night we checked out and waited around for our 3:30pm ferry back to Parapat, before our 15 hour bus journey to Padang.
To sum Lake Toba up is a tough one. Sometimes you open your eyes and wonder which country your in...with the weather, the lake and the mountains, you could be in Scotland or the Lake District. With the cute little churches on the lake shores, surrounded by the mountains you could be in The Sound of Music, with the landscape in the center of the island you could be in the Andes, and with the Batak music floating over the Lake you could be in Africa!! Bizarre, yet one of the most beautiful (and accessible) places we have been. Definitely worth a visit (anytime apart from Idul Fitri), with cute restaurants, friendly locals and fantastic scenery.
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