Danau Toba...

...It's been awhile since i really have a long vacation... To be exact it's been almost one year since i went to Sabah last year... So this time around, i'm trying to go somewhere further and get my passport stamped... =P and that's how i ended up at Northern Sumatra... Even thinking of going there get me excited but packing stuff was easier than i thought... Got it done by less than 20 mins... Luckily all those stuff that i brought along was enough to get me going over there... except that some ppl keep asking me to bring slippers which i never think it's necessary... hehhee... =P

Day 1...

...counting rupiah......T2 and SilkAir......Maimun Palace......Chinese temple at Medan......Our small 'balcony' at Grand Mutiara Hotel......Hot spring at Alam Sibayak......trees that lead back to our hotel...

Since we were taking a very early flight and i stay too far west, we stayed over at K's for the night... Manage to catch some sleep after we settled down there... Luckily the alarm was set coz we almost late for our flight... heeheee... Reached Changi Airport around 6am and walk around for awhile before checking in... Thought we will reached Medan earlier but due to some mechanical problems, the plane need to go back and get it checked... It took more than 30 mins and finally off we go... The whole flight only took about 1.5 hrs... We reached Polonia International Airport at Medan around 900am local time and greeted by our tour guide, Hari/Harry... then joined by two other ppl for the rest of our trip here in Northern Sumatra... The 1st destination was the Sultan's Palace, Maimun Palace (Istana Maimun)... The patterns on the ceilling was nice enough to keep me occupied there... =) Then we moved on to some chinese temple within the city... Nothing much there coz it looked like any chinese temple in Malaysia and Singapore... Before heading to our hotel at Brastagi, we had our light lunch at Medan Plaza and stop by the road side and had some durians... We finally reached our first hotel of the trip, The Grand Mutiara Hotel... Although it was located quite far from the main city, it was quite classy and i like the bathroom the most... so damn spacious...=P ...Since our hotel located quite near to a local hot spring, The Alam Sibayak, we decided to go there although we never really brought along our extra clothes... So i sacrificed one of my short pant and jumped into the sulfur rich swimming pool... Rotten egg stench of the sulfur was so strong that one can smell it everywhere at the hot spring... Sitting in the pool for awhile was quite relaxing although i need to bear with the sulfur smell all over my pant...

Day 2...

...Gunung Sinabung......Sipiso-Piso waterfall......the first sight of Lake Toba......it's acessible to go down to the waterfall but due to limited time, we didn't manage to do so... =(...a closer look of Lake Toba......another view of Lake Toba...=P...yet another one... was too excited that time, so took quite a lot of photos with almost the same angle... heeheee... =P...swimming pool in front of Niagara Hotel......jacuzzi......Agrowisata......One Tree Hill... =P...satelite disk of this size was put up all around the places... It's equivalent to our Astro disk in Malaysia... =)

...after having our buffet breakfast, we head off to some local market that sells mostly fruits, vegetables, flowers and its seed... From there, the active volcano of Gunung Sibayak was clearly visible... Since we had nothing to buy from the market, we went to Gundaling Hill to have a better look of both northern Sumatra active volcanoes, Gunung Sinabung as well as Gunung Sibayak... After some photo taking session at the hill and squeeze through the horse riding services there, we going off to our main destination where Danau Toba was located... About 1 hour later, we finally had our first glimpse of Danau Toba from where the Sipiso-Piso Waterfall was located... The waterfall itself was really magnificent with a height of more than 100m... We continued our journey and stop by at Rumah Bolon Adat which was equivalent to Malaysia's Long Houses... It's kindda funny to know that each of the wives of the ruling King that resided there had her own kitchen beside her bed... XD ...After 2.5 hours after we left the waterfall, we finally reached Parapat... ...Had some local lunch and checked in to our second hotel of the trip, the Niagara Hotel and Resort... This was the place that we will stay for the next 2 days and i like the jacuzzi the most... XP ...we had so much time there that we basically walking around the hotel and exploring every inch of the area surrounding the hotel... and came across an area called the agrowisata which i think it meant agrotourism... Corn was planted there and not to mention everywhere around northern sumatra... at least at all the places that i came across... =P

Day 3...

...Lake Toba is the heartland of the Bataks......Christmas wasn't miss out either coz it was celebrated by most Bataks......Across Lake Toba......sleeping Lake Toba cat... =P...2 lizards that signifies the ambility and hope for the sons to be able to adapt to the changing environment and thrive on it... 4 breasts signifies vitality, 2 for husband and 2 for son......stone carving......stone kitchen......Hong Kong Restaurant......Pineapples......Pineapples at farm......dog on duty...

...This was the day where we will be crossing through Lake Toba itself and head to Samosir Island which located in the middle of Lake Toba... After about 50 mins ride, we reached the first village at Samosir Island, Ambarita... Then we walking through the whole stretch of souvenir shops before reaching the Stone Chair of King Siallagan... When one of the tour guides finish explaining the story behind the history of the place, we were given some time to tour around the place... It was a nightmare coz we were surrounded by those persistent shopkeepers... Luckily i managed to resist them and walk off buying only those that i needed... =) The second village we visited was Tomok which located a few minutes boat ride from Ambarita... It was also a place that was filled with tourists and the main income there was obviously from tourism... After a brief story telling of the origin of some local king at Raja Sidabutar Tomb Tomok, we head back to the jetty and wait for our boat... When we reach Parapat, we had our lunch at some Hong Kong Restaurant which i doubt Hong Kong ppl will enjoy the dishes there coz most of them were spicy... Then basically after that we basically don't have anything else to do coz it was suppose to be free and easy for the whole afternoon... Since we over heard from other group of tourists that they were going to some pineapples plantation, we asked our tour guide to bring us there as well... So that's how we spent our next few hours by travelling in a van and eating some damn sweet pineapples... XD

Day 4...

...Lake Toba from Niagara Hotel......a closer look at Lake Toba......grazing horse......Agrowisata and Niagara Hotel...

...this was the day that we will be spending most of our time in travelling coz after checking out from the hotel at noon, we will be heading back to Medan... So after having our breakfast, we decided to walk around the explored area of the hotel... We headed back to the Agrowisata coz i wanted to have a closer look at a horse that was grazing at the field... Although not really sure whether it's been tied up or otherwise, we go closer and closer to it but the horse never really bother our present there... So after awhile, we got bored and walk toward deep inside the farm... After we had enough of feeding some local mosquitoes, we head back to our room and wait for check out... It was a long journey back to Medan from Parapat but we managed to reached there at around 5pm... After had some tour around the city and dinner, we settle down at our 3rd and the last hotel of the trip, The Best Western Asean International Hotel... The condition of the hotel was better than expected though... =) Since the night still young, we were resting at some air-con malfuctioned cafe at the lobby before we call it a night...

Day 5...

...motocycles......gingerbread house, Batak styled......Directory......Earthquake......morning rush hour... with tilt-shift miniature faking effect...

...it was the last day of the trip and we missed all the fun and those not so fun stuff during the trip... Had our late breakfast at the hotel and checked out at noon... The rest of the day was spent waiting for our flight back to Singapore... Thinking about it, we should have go for some movie rather than strolling around the shopping complex though... haizzz... anyway, manage to get some good old A&W root beer there... By the time we realized it, it was almost 7pm and it's almost time for us to leave Medan for good... Really going to miss the fun though...