North Sumatra – Travels with Ali

~ Samosir Island – Day Two – A drive around the North ~

As planned with the one toothed man on the ferry our driver arrived at 9.30 am to show us around the island.

We opted just for the driver and not a guide as this was much extra, plus I had google maps enabled and could see where we were going. This was going to be handy as our driver could speak no English. This was something we found interesting that many of the people spoke very good English and others none at all. Maybe taught at a basic level at school, but the people who spoke it well said they had learnt from tourists and watching tv shows!

I had an itinerary written out by our man on the ferry which I handed to our driver, I couldn’t read his writing and I don’t think the driver could either! So we missed the first place completely, him waving his arms saying later later at my objections.

Our first stop was Huta Siallagan, an ancient Batak village. Huta Siallagan village was built in the reign of the first Huta leader, King Laga Siallagan, A number of descendants of King Siallagan still reside here today in Ambarita Village, where tombs of their ancestors can still be found in the area. North Sumatra is home to the largest number of Batak people.

Another stone meeting place, this one including a long table for executions.

As usual the exit was through the obligatory gift shop and then out onto the street with more gift stalls selling trinkets made of wood (which we can’t bring back to Australia) and handmade blankets.

Our next stop was Batu Passa and Liang Sipogu, well worth stopping for.

As we were walking back to the car we came across a cave and a lady weaving baskets inside. Anthony was flexible enough to crab walk in, it was quite far back. I’m not sure how she managed to see as I had to use the torch on my phone to get this photo. There was a contribution box at the entrance which we put something into.

The beach was next and it was the furthest northern point on Samosir, Pantai Batuhoda. Very much like a holiday destination, with cafes and beach chairs and umbrellas along the sand. Anthony decided to go for a swim, it was quite rocky and I could see that reef shoes were needed. So I was happy to sit and watch.

**I could find no information about these stones!**

From here we drove up to the hot springs and then even further up into the mountains. To get to the hot springs you have to cross the Aek Tano Ponggol Bridge which links Samosir to the mainland. We could smell the hot springs way before we got there, the windows in the car were down as there was no air con, so we were blasted with hot smelly air! It was our intention to have a dip but I remember swimming in hot springs before and couldn’t get the smell of rotten eggs off my skin for ages, so we gave that a miss!

The drive to the top was extremely steep and the road very narrow. So many bends and not a smooth road, countless spots just gravel. We eventually came to a stop as I didn’t think the car could go any further.

Mr Driver (I never did get his name) wanted to continue down this track, but I had other ideas. I didn’t fancy reenacting scenes from The Italian Job. Anthony wanted to walk to the far peak, but sadly I had to put a stop to that too, there’s only so many hours in a day.

The surrounding scenery from all sides was breathtaking and the lake looked crystal clear. It was so silent up here with just the wind blowing my hair in all directions. We were reluctant to leave but time was ticking on.

Time for lunch and we had seen a couple of nice ones on the way up, overlooking the lake. It seems Mr D had other ideas and drove straight past even though I was asking him to stop and turn round! His ideas for lunch did not coincide with mine, after he drove through a dusty township at the bottom and kept pointing to dark and dismal places, which I vetoed. We eventually found somewhere on the beach, but I wasn’t happy at all. I still tipped him though!

We arrived back at our hotel around 4pm, in time to check out the hotel’s pool. Dinner that night was at Lynn’s place, called Tarian X-Iren Kitchen. It was a delicious home cooked meal. After we had finished eating she sat with us a while and told us a bit more about her life and she was also interested in ours. She offered me a ride to the hotel on the back of her bike, which I accepted! I haven’t been on a bike for over 30 years, little did I know I would be doing this again soon!

Three Days on Samosir {An Island on an Island} Lake Toba, North Sumatra

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.

Ploughing ahead

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.

**Very fresh, picked just that morning**

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…

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.

Medan – Gateway to Lake Toba

After leaving Bali we caught a plane to Medan, North Sumatra for the next part of our adventure. We stayed one night on the way and one on the way back. I had looked into staying longer here but after some research decided against it. So happy I made this decision as from what I could see from the car and hotel window it looked quite drab, apart from the enormous colourful mosques dotted about the place.

We flew on Garuda Air with a brief stop in Jakarta. Garuda changed our flight at least twice leaving us with no opportunity to stay anywhere but the airport hotel, we didn’t check in until 9.45 pm. When we arrived in Jakarta I panicked as I thought we had missed our connecting flight, only to be told there was an hour’s time difference, phew!

Downtown Medan is over an hour’s drive from the airport and as we had 10 am start the next day it didn’t seem worth the effort to stay in town. We stayed in Horison Sky Airport Hotel and the less said the better! Although as Anthony pointed out you get what you pay for.

The room was dark and small, but the worst was the smelly pillows. Actually the fact that there was no alcohol served here was probably a close second.

On the way back after our four night odyssey around Lake Toba we stayed at the Four Point Sheraton. As I mentioned before though, driving through the streets and from the window, I was in no way enticed to explore further.

Dreary, grey and polluted

Anthony wouldn’t have minded a walk around but I pointed out to him there were no actual pavements or sidewalks to walk on. You would be lucky if you could walk far without being hit by a bike or van.

This lovely young girl came up to me at Medan Airport and asked if she could interview me for her Uni assignment. I was very happy to oblige. She asked me questions about where I came from and where we had been travelling.

As you can see not much to say, but I will definitely have plenty to say about the next part of our journey!