Heavily laden, we left the Khas Hotel at 11.30 to catch the ferry to Samosir Island. Leaving most of our luggage behind and taking only a backpack and small suitcase, Anthony was a man called horse. The walk was around 10 minutes, so not too far.

Never having carried a backpack before, I thought he did very well.

Before we had even left Parapat, a man with a mission jumped on board. He asked us what our plans were for the next few days and I mentioned that we were hoping to hire a driver and car to explore the island. Say no more, he had me signed up and parting with my cash in no time, let’s hope we haven’t been scammed. A driver would pick us up at 9.30 am the next morning.

As soon as he had my money he was off as quick as a flash and the ferry pulled away.

The ferry we were on takes around 45 minutes to arrive on Samosir, there are private speed boats but these cost way more than the ferry. Our fare was A$25 per person. There is also a car ferry. Although there was a timetable it seemed pretty flexible to me, always waiting those extra ten minutes to see if it will fill up. There were only three of us on board this one. It was a relaxing ride over with incredible scenery all around. Parts of Samosir looked very much like the Swiss or Austrian Alps in the summer.

Samosir Island is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba. The lake and island were formed after the eruption of a super volcano some 75,000 years ago. At 630 square kilometres (243 sq mi), Samosir is the largest island within an island, and the fourth largest lake island in the world. It also contains two smaller lakes, Lake Sidihoni and Lake Aek Natonang. Source: Wikipedia

We were staying at a lakeside hotel called Zoe’s Paradise Hotel, Tuk Tuk. This area is the busiest tourist area and where most of the hotels are situated. The ferry drops people off at any of the lakeside hotels and we arrived at 1.15 pm and a couple of the staff met us off the ferry. We walked up four flights of stairs to the reception and were shown into our room. A pretty basic room no aircon or fridge but looked comfortable and clean and the view from the balcony was stunning.

We asked one of the girls at the reception to recommend a place for lunch and she said there was a restaurant “just 50 metres” up the road. This was a phrase we would hear often over the next few days, I don’t think anything was just ever 50 metres away.

I have to say lunch wasn’t great, but everywhere is still recovering from covid and I think they were surprised to have any customers. Anyway the view made up for it. Everywhere you looked there was always beautiful scenery.

At least there were plenty of bananas and they were free!

A search for a decent coffee was next. We found a fantastic little cafe where the owner, Lam, roasted her own beans.

Next up was a walk around Tuk Tuk, which according to Lam would take around an hour. So we set off to explore the streets. We soon found out how friendly everyone was with people calling out hello and how are you. It soon started to rain so we were taking shelter when we could under awnings until a lady called out from her restaurant to come in and get out of the rain. This was Lynn who we got to know fairly well over the next three days. We had a drink here and she said we should go back for dinner the next day and what did we want to eat. So Anthony proceeded to give her a shopping list and even went into her kitchen to check her vegetables. We agreed on a spicy pork dish and sweet and sour chicken plus a vegetable stir fry.

She told us about her tough life and how everything came to a stand still during covid.

There were many restaurants and hotels that were boarded up, a legacy of covid. The island is self sufficient though with many crops of avocadoes, corn, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and other vegetables. They also grown their own coffee plus there is plenty of livestock.

We noticed many churches dotted around the place and not small ones either. We found out later that the islanders are very religious and belong to many different religious denominations. Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic. The Missionaries did a good job many years ago.

That night we had dinner in a place called Hot Chilli. We also met the manager, Joshua, an extremely funny guy on our walk. A very eclectic little place. There was no-where that served wine, the only place that sold wine was in a supermarket and we found just one brand from France tucked away in a dusty box. Oh well, needs must.

We had an excellent first day on Samosir, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful views and of course the friendly islanders.

In case you were wondering where in the world is Samosir Island

Tomorrow we explore the island…