Medan to Parapat, North Sumatra

We had an almost sleepless night in the Medan Airport Hotel, due to being able to hear final calls to board aircraft from the tannoy. This hotel was really in the airport! So we checked out around 10 am and set off to meet our driver Johnny for the long drive to Parapat. I had found his number on a Trip Advisor Forum and contacted him a while before for the trip. The price was reasonable and he seemed reliable, chatting to me in the third person!

The journey would take approximately three and a half hours with a possible stop for lunch.

Once we had negotiated our way out of the city it was a pretty nice highway to drive on. Either side of the highway there were just plantations of palm trees for miles.

Palm Oil is one Indonesia’s main exports, but now the EU have reduced the use of palm oil for health reasons and also deforestation. It is to be phased out as a use of fuel by 2030. Indonesia has filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization against the EU for its anti-subsidy tariffs imposed on Indonesia palm oil-based biofuels exports.

We had a brief stop to stretch our legs and use the bathrooms, this was at a dried fruit, nut and seed emporium. Anthony bought several types of peanuts for snacks with beer. It was here that we met two delightful ladies from Singapore who were also travelling to Parapat.

We arrived around 3pm, checked into Khas Hotel which sits on the lake front with a small private beach.

Our first sightings of Parapat with Samosir Island in the distance.

After a quick lunch in the hotel we set off to explore the surrounding area.

The photos above are from the hotel website, we stayed in a room like this. We could walk down to the beach from our room.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze blowing. Our hotel was in a small bay and we walked for around an hour taking in the views. As far I could see there were no other Europeans that we spotted and people were calling out to us hello, even stopping their cars and rolling down the windows to have a better look, quite bizarre.

We walked back to the hotel and Anthony suggested a swim in the lake below, I was a bit reluctant as we walked down the steps as there were several young girls swimming and paddling but fully clothed. Some wore jeans with a cardigan, nothing worse than wet jeans. I really did stand out in my one piece, and they didn’t hide their interest either. So I just waved and laughed as I swam about as they all watched and giggled. It was surprisingly warm for a lake, I had expected it to be much colder.

Lake Toba is the largest volcanic crater lake in the world. The lake is about 100 kilometres (62 miles) long, 30 kilometres (19 mi) wide, and up to 505 metres (1,657 ft) deep. Wikipedia

By coincidence the two ladies we had met earlier Elaine and E-Jin were also staying at our hotel. As we said we couldn’t seem to see anywhere decent for dinner within walking distance they offered us a lift in the car they had hired with a driver to look for dinner further afield.

Elaine also gave me some very good information about sim cards. I had never heard of an E-Sim, but if your phone is relatively new then there is a place for an E-Sim. She sent me a link to Airalo, it cost me just US$5 for a seven day package including data. This proved invaluable and came in very handy.

Later that night we sat outside our room and watched a wonderful electric storm.

The next day we would begin our trip to Samosir Island.