Lake Toba - Sumatra - 2011
In June 2011 I had 2 IntrepidTravel trips in Indonesia - Sumatra and Lombok.
[Melbourne - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Sumatra - Lombok - Perth]
I flew to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia.
My 15-day Sumatra trip started here.
Lake Toba
From Kuala Lumpur we flew to Medan, the largest city on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra.
We travelled on a crowded local bus for 4 hours to Parapat on Lake Toba.
Then we sailed on a ferry to Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island in the middle of the lake.
Lake Toba (Danau Toba) is the largest and deepest volcanic lake in the world and was formed
by a massive volcanic eruption some 70,000 years ago.
Samosir Island in the middle of the lake was formed by a later uplift.
We stayed at Tabo Resort, a very pleasant place. It was run by a German-Indonesian couple.
They even had a German Bakery. Yes, they had wi-fi for my Netbook.
At 630 km² (approx 42 X 15 km), Samosir is the largest island within an island,
and the fifth largest lake island in the world.
The Batak people who live on the island are mainly Christian.
We visited the Kampung Tua Old Batak village museum.
The roofs of Batak houses are designed so the back of the roof is higher than the front.
The father of the house always sleeps at the front of the house and the children in the back.
The higher roof in the back signifies that the father wants his children to reach higher in life than himself.
They performed a series of traditional Batak dances for us.
In their tombs, the oldest person is buried at the top.
Jackfruit
We went for a walk up a large hill for a good view over Samosir Island and Lake Toba.
A small village at the top of the hill.
We were able to visit one of the Batak houses.
The elaborate tomb of a former army general.
Elizabeth, one of my fellow IntrepidTravel passengers.
Lake Toba Weaving Village
A useful wheelbarrow.
A one-time "Parliament House" ... in the open air.
Elaborate tombs of former rulers.
Stone figures symbolising the dances that we saw earlier today.
The ferry coming to collect us from Samosir Island.
After sailing back from Samosir Island, we drove around part of Lake Toba.
The countryside was beautiful.
Yes, that is an Australian eucalypt.
We stopped off at a hotel-restaurant on top of a hill for morning tea.
There were million-dollar views over the manicured gardens.
Durian fruit were on sale.
In June 2011 I had 2 IntrepidTravel trips in Indonesia - Sumatra and Lombok.
[Melbourne - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Sumatra - Lombok - Perth]
I flew to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia.
My 15-day Sumatra trip started here.
Lake Toba
From Kuala Lumpur we flew to Medan, the largest city on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra.
We travelled on a crowded local bus for 4 hours to Parapat on Lake Toba.
Then we sailed on a ferry to Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island in the middle of the lake.
Lake Toba (Danau Toba) is the largest and deepest volcanic lake in the world and was formed
by a massive volcanic eruption some 70,000 years ago.
Samosir Island in the middle of the lake was formed by a later uplift.
We stayed at Tabo Resort, a very pleasant place. It was run by a German-Indonesian couple.
They even had a German Bakery. Yes, they had wi-fi for my Netbook.
At 630 km² (approx 42 X 15 km), Samosir is the largest island within an island,
and the fifth largest lake island in the world.
The Batak people who live on the island are mainly Christian.
We visited the Kampung Tua Old Batak village museum.
The roofs of Batak houses are designed so the back of the roof is higher than the front.
The father of the house always sleeps at the front of the house and the children in the back.
The higher roof in the back signifies that the father wants his children to reach higher in life than himself.
They performed a series of traditional Batak dances for us.
In their tombs, the oldest person is buried at the top.
Jackfruit
We went for a walk up a large hill for a good view over Samosir Island and Lake Toba.
A small village at the top of the hill.
We were able to visit one of the Batak houses.
The elaborate tomb of a former army general.
Elizabeth, one of my fellow IntrepidTravel passengers.
Lake Toba Weaving Village
A useful wheelbarrow.
A one-time "Parliament House" ... in the open air.
Elaborate tombs of former rulers.
Stone figures symbolising the dances that we saw earlier today.
The ferry coming to collect us from Samosir Island.
After sailing back from Samosir Island, we drove around part of Lake Toba.
The countryside was beautiful.
Yes, that is an Australian eucalypt.
We stopped off at a hotel-restaurant on top of a hill for morning tea.
There were million-dollar views over the manicured gardens.
Durian fruit were on sale.
The
edible flesh of the durian emits a distinctive odour, strong and
penetrating, even when the husk is intact.
Most people find the aroma overpowering and offensive.
The
odour has led to the fruit's banishment from most hotels and public
transportation in southeast Asia.
