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I went to Medan and Lake Toba some time in March this year. At one time I even thought I wouldn’t be writing about the trip at all :p I went with three other friends, who were a rather publicity-shy lot. Therefore there are less photos of people in this entry!

The holiday trip was pretty interesting as far as all my previous holidays are concerned, because it was the first time my flight got delayed not once, not twice but thrice. To make matters worse, we hadn’t booked any hotel because we thought we’d be able to find one upon arrival in Medan. Bad idea. We only booked the one in Lake Toba for the second and third nights.

We arrived in Medan well past midnight, greeted by hundreds of taxi touts and Chinese Indonesians. I was quickly reminded of Penang, because most of them spoke in Hokkien - the exact version we speak in Penang. We managed to bunk in a super budget hotel which made me wish that time would pass faster that night.

For me, a real backpackers’ accommodation should be something like this. The one we stayed in was totally below my expectations. I remember, however, the rates were super low. The room was spartan with only a king-sized bed with no space for walking. The bathroom-cum-toilet was next to the bed, and it shared the same lightbulb as the room’s. This means that you cannot turn on the toilet lights without waking up your roommate.

The next day we checked out and left for Lake Toba. I was glad I survived the first night’s ordeal. I began to have high hopes for Lake Toba. The 4-hour bus (which was what we’d call a ‘van’ in Malaysia) ride was bumpy, hot, and speedy. It took us to Lake Toba where we’d cross the lake to Samosir Island and check into the hotel we booked, Liberta.

The boat ride from the shore to the island easily took about 45-minutes. It was practically crawling on the surface of the water. Because it was a public holiday on Friday, hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of locals were on board that boat that day. It was tilted to one side as it glided slowly across the surface of the lake. It had to go slowly lest it’d capsize!

Our hotel, Liberta, wasn’t exactly a hotel we normally see. It’s more like a guesthouse, where the people are closer and the restaurant + hotel was managed by one main person, who was nicknamed Mr Moon. He was our host and a very excellent one at that. The accommodation was traditional Batak style, where the house was basically a very spacious room with a small attic.

To get into our unit, we had to walk up this stairs (ladder?). The lower floor was occupied by another guest. Traditional Batak houses are built with solid wood, and they usually have very small main door. They looked more like windows.

There is a balcony once you walk up the stairs. It’s pretty relaxing there actually. The air was cool (in case you do not know, Lake Toba is a volcanic lake, hence the height above sea level and air temperature!), calm and quiet.

The floor inside the room could easily fit 4 mattresses. We asked for two additional mattresses and they were similar to those you can find in ordinary households. Blankets came as standard because the temperature could drop quite low at night. And did I mention it was so cold and quiet that we didn’t need any fan/aircon? Very, very comfortable to sleep!

That’s how our unit looked like from the outside. Like I said, the lower floor was occupied. It cost us about 40,000 Rupiah, which was damn cheap but because the room was so damn awesome, I highly recommend this place for anyone who wants an affordable yet comfortable place to stay on Samosir Island, Lake Toba.

Breakfast was not provided, but it was reasonably cheap. The main block had a dining area on the first floor, above the kitchen. Mr Moon also had two very beautiful dogs. They were very friendly with guests!

I had chocolate pancake that morning and it was damn mouth-watering. Even looking back at the pictures now would make me hungry. According to the people who run the place, the French were the top visitors of the guesthouse.

On the second day we started to travel around the Samosir Island in a hired taxi. We took a package that would take us to some places of interests, which would cover the entire day including shopping.

From the taxi (everyone loves to use cars like Innova or the Unser - called the ‘Kijang’ locally - as taxis) the view of the huge volcanic was most breathtaking. It looked like a huge mountain with sparse trees, but had the whole mountain covered in green. It was interesting. Also note the uneven slopes.

There were children who’d ask for money, even when we were in the car, trying to pass them. It was a sad sight but there was nothing we could do.

We were first taken to this museum whose name has now escaped me. The buildings there have distinctive Batak design cues on the roof, which are most noticeable with the roof curved upwards at its ends. I remember one of the building was where they’d lock up criminals before they were sentenced for their crimes. There was also a court where the deliberation would take place.

The usual wood carvings as souvenirs. As much as I love to travel to these places for holidays, I rarely purchase souvenirs of such kind. Haha.

Our next stop was about 20 minutes’ taxi ride away. These are supposed to be the final resting place of some important people, if my memory doesn’t fail me!

This was a dance performance performed in a museum. Can’t remember the story :p

And then there was a call for audience participation. I thought what the heck, let’s have some fun.

Random. Nice shades ;p

Moving along now, our next destination was called Tele. I’m happy to say that this was the only name (of place) that I remembered because it was my major in uni. Haha. It’s pronounced as “teh-leh” though.

Tele was a place high up above sea level, and our taxi had to burn a lot of fuel to carry us up to the peak of the mountain. The ride was a little more than 30 minutes long, so here are some photos taken along the way, from the vehicle.

That’s the view of the mountain on the opposite side, which was where we were headed. I must also add that the road leading us up there was pretty narrow too!

View of the road by which we came up from. There was an observatory tower for photography buffs. It was a little scary because the whole structure didn’t look very new and there were cracks on the walls and floor.

Nevertheless, we ignored those nasty thoughts and proceeded to snap photos anyway. We were on top of Samosir Island, which was at quite a height above sea level itself.

The lake viewed from the top of the observatory tower in Tele. Can you believe the entire place used to be a huge volcano? It was amazing.

Our next stop was the hotsprings, where we could actually take a dip but none of us did that after seeing how the entrance into the place was actually like. It was a turn-off.

However we managed to sneak up to higher ground and see how the pool was like. The lower two pools were for locals (presumably priced differently), where one was for males and the other for females. The higher one you see (a round-shape pool) was specified for ‘foreigners’, where both males and females could go in together.

Next, time for more shopping. The girls were definitely more generous. These silk batik were hand-made and there was no question about its quality. The girls bought a couple of those after some bargaining.

Random. Taken while my friends were choosing their silk batik.

While on our way back, it actually rained. It was the raining season in March. Still, the rain was more like drizzle by Malaysia’s standards. It was nothing!

The final night on Samosir Island was particularly nice. We played the guitar and sang with the hosts, and everybody else (other tourists) had fun too. The hosts played a couple of (very very awesome) Batak songs which left everyone there wanting more. It must be noted that the Batak people are famous for their guitar playing.

The following day we returned to Medan to spend the rest of our holiday before flying home. We bunked at this very nice backpackers’ guesthouse called Angel, but not before enduring another 4-hour of terror ride in a 8-passenger Toyota Unser. The driver practically drove the wheels off that car! Screeching sounds were even heard during corners. It was sheer madness. One passenger offered the driver 40,000 Rupiah to ask him to take it easy. He took the money, but it made no difference.

Ok back to this Angel Guesthouse. There was a foreign couple occupying the room opposite ours. The guesthouse had a common living hall, where there was a TV and a bamboo sofa set. We reviewed our holiday photos using the TV by hooking up my camera to the TV using the TV cable.

Nothing fancy, very simple room. No blanket, obviously. One thing though, the place was mosquito-infested. Bloody hell I was itching the whole night through. Damn those mozzies.

(Photo courtesy of a friend)

That’s the receipt of our payment for two rooms in Angel Guesthouse. In Indonesia we call rooms ‘kamar’. Hehe. Each kamar cost us 50,000 Rupiahs. That’s about RM17.

(Photo courtesy of a friend)

The following day we took the motor-trishaw and explored Medan. Seriously, there were so many Chinese in Medan, it felt just like home. I walked into one of the shopping malls and they spoke to me in Penang Hokkien.

And we tried J.Co donuts in their country of origin! No difference obviously, but it was cool to try them there, considering we love them so much in Malaysia.

With only a couple of hours left before our flight, we decided to have hearty (read: more expensive) meal. We dined in a BBQ-buffet restaurant called Hanamasa.

Seen this picture somewhere? Not many people noticed the meatball. Haha. So now you know where it was shot!

Guess what, our flight home that night was delayed twice! It was already 11pm and we were still at the airport waiting for announcement of latest update. The very next morning I still had to go to work! Crazy stuff. Never take night AirAsia flights if you can avoid them, ok? Don’t say you haven’t been warned. We played cards in the departure hall while waiting for news. *Shakes head*