Breathtaking Toba and Brastagi

Day 1 - Medan to Samosir Island

I lost the camera along with the 300 plus pix and videos on our way from Lake Toba to Brastagi, hence I do not have any pictures of Toba to post on this blog. However, do google for images of Lake Toba and I assure you, you will be blown away by the pristine beauty of the place.

Jai and I decided to travel light for our 5 day trip so we packed all our things into 2 backpacks (medium and small). We threw in a foldable bag just in case we decide to do some shopping. We decided to be more adventurous this time around and relied on public transport throughout our journey.

We arrived at Polonia Airport in Medan at 8.15 am (9.15 M'sian time). Met up with the rep from Ravelino Tours (booked our hotels through them) to collect our hotel vouchers. Took a taxi to the public bus terminal and were in time to catch the bus to Parapat. It was relatively comfortable (very much like our Metro bus back in KL) and only cost us Rp18,000 per person for the 4 hour journey. Towards the last 2 hours of the journey, the bus became rather packed.

Reached Parapat and took a ferry over to Samosir Island which is located on Lake Toba. We were so mesmerized by the beauty of the lake and its surrounding. Even if I had photos to show, they would not do justice to the place. You must be there to actually fully appreciate what the lake and the island have to offer.

Met up with a Malaysian Indian couple, Mr & Mrs. Sivalingam, on the ferry who were there on their honeymoon who would also be staying at the same hotel- Carolina Cottages at Tuk Tuk.

Arrived at the hotel 30 mins later and checked into our room which had a great view of the lake.

Rented a motorbike for 2 hours to explore the surrounding area within Tuk Tuk. We overshot a little and ended up at the Ambarita Stone Chair Village where criminals were executed back in the old days. The Bataks practised cannibalism in the past and criminals who were executed also ended up on the dining table. Along the way, we stumbled upon a quaint cottage called Penny's Place which sold second hand books (Jai's fav).

That night, we went for a free Batak dance and folk song performance at Bagus Bay located 10 minutes from Carolina Cottages.


Day 2 - Samosir Island

Rented a motorbike for the whole day today for Rp 60,000. Checked out the Tomok market first just to find out what time it closed. Rode straight to Simanindao where we watched a Batak performance. Met up with the honeymooners again and decided to ride the bikes to the hotsprings together. The place was quite a disappointment. After our lunch at the hotsprings, we headed to Limbun Suhi Suhi, a small village where they textile weaving is a specialty. Missed the village a few times as there were no signboards along the way. Jai and I headed straight to Tomok for some shopping while Mr and Mrs Siva made their way to Ambarita.

We had planned to find a nice restaurant for dinner with Mr and Mrs Siva but due to the sudden storm, we decided to dine at our hotel. Had a great dinner thanks to them.


Day 3 - Samosir Island to Brastagi

As there were not direct buses from Parapat to Brastagi (there were plenty of private cars), we decided to check out early - 7am to be precise. Waited for the ferry to Parapat and we were fortunate that Chandra (one of the employees at Carolina) was also on his way to Parapat. Thanks to him we managed to get public van from the jetty to the bus terminal. At the Parapat bus terminal, we boarded a minivan to Siantar (1 hour) and from Siantar,we got into a van called Sepadan to Kabanjahe (2.5 hours). It was in this bus that I lost my camera. I had it on my lap in case I came across interesting sights to capture but in my haste to disembark at Kabanjahe, I forgot all about the camera and it must have dropped onto the floor. Dang!

Anyway, from Kabanjahe, we took a minivan to Brastagi (20 mins) and got off right in front of our hotel - The Grand Mutiara Hotel.

I must say we enjoyed our rides from Parapat to Brastagi even though the vans were really packed and many of the men were smoking throughout most of the journey. It was really a great experience!

The Grand Mutiara was excellent! We paid USD32 per night and found out that the hotel was fully booked for the weekend (thank goodness we booked early). Moreover, the weekend rate was Rp600,000.00 (USD70) per night.