Lake Toba - SE Asia's Minnesota?!

Oh hello der! We just got back from Lake TOba don't you know, and we sure found it cOzy! Like a little piece of hOme.

Mm, so writing in Minnesota dialect is challenging, so just read this with your best Minnesotan accent in mind!

Last weekend we had a great getaway to Lake Toba, on Indonesia's largest island, Sumatra. Lake Toba is technically a supervolcano and is the largest volcanic lake in the world! Within the huge lake is an (almost) island called Samosir, which was our destination - specifically a tiny little town on the northeast side called Tuk Tuk. Despite Minnesota's lack of volcanoes, Lake Toba was by far the closest approximation of a Minnesotan lake getaway that we've found so far in Asia!

The trip happened to coincide with my birthday, which worked out especially well considering that my present from Jacob was a gorgeous new 'mirrorless' camera - a hybrid between a true SLR and a digital camera - and our trip offered plenty of beautiful subject matter and time to play around with all the fancy settings! I think you'll agree, upon viewing the photos, that the quality is pretty awesome!

Despite Medan being a 1-hour flight from Singapore, getting to Lake Toba is quite a journey - but if it weren't hard to get to, it'd probably be overrun by tourists. After landing at the brand new Kuala Namu airport, we were picked up by a car arranged by our hotel. We quickly became thankful for an air-conditioned car and a competent driving because the roads were, frankly, terrifying. Honestly, probably the scariest driving I've ever seen (though I've never spent time in India, where I'm told it is even worse!). Motorcycles zip in and out; potholes, animals and small children line the roads; and passing cars (or, more often, giant trucks) is an exercise in prayer. Our driver chose the sound track for out journey - a good hour of Kenny G followed by some traditional Batok music (I preferred the Batok). Lake Toba is 3000 ft above sea level, so the drive went up and up until we crested a ridge and rolled down into Parapat at 5pm.

Lake Toba! Look a bit familiar, Midwesterners?

We grabbed a Bintang and some dinner while waiting for the 6pm ferry across to Samosir, reveling in the lack of humidity and cooling evening air. And playing around with our camera.

The ferry took an hour as the boat made its way around Tuk Tuk dropping passengers off at their hotels - most hotels had their own dock so we just hopped off at Samosir Cottages.
We were shown to our room - a bit old and lacking in design, but clean (enough) with a comfortable bed and - the best part - right on the lake. We began to explore Tuk Tuk, walking along the single main road past many small restaurants, bars, and tiny convenience stores run out of peoples homes. No Starbucks or McDonald's here - this is truly a remote little place!

We were joking about the spookiness of a black cat and a nighttime walk on Halloween when suddenly, the power went out and we plunged into absolute darkness! We fumbled with our phones' flashlights and decided to press on still, hoping that power would return. A few places lit up as generators hummed to life, but after a half mile or so, we turned back, questioning the wisdom of walking into the dark unknown.


Fortunately, the power came back soon after and we wound up at Jenny's Bar for more food. Jacob made friends with the local cat - until his barbecue fish came and the cat became rather miffed at not being invited to partake!

We finished off the evening with a birthday Magnum bar (we may have inadvertently shared a bit with an adorable local dog - or was it a ghost dog? OR was it COP DOG?! We'll never know!). And then we listened to the waves lapping the shore as we drifted to sleep, for once comfortably cool WITHOUT aircon!






We awoke to this view:

Our lovely little patio. The only downside of our room was that the hotel next door had a big (loud) party Friday night and hosted some sort of youth retreat Saturday night, which included loud Indonesian singing far past midnight, and again at 5:45am - greeting the sun perhaps? Sounded like they had a good time though! Between that and an almost constant smell of campfire, it almost felt like we were camping!

On Friday we devoured breakfast at our hotel, then took the staff up on their offer of renting a motorbike for the day! There are no taxis on the island, so this is really the only way to get around, and locals offer to rent you their motorbikes as you walk by. For 90,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($9ish usd), they handed us the keys, two helmets, and said, "you know how drive, right?" and "go slow, no insurance, ok?" Uh...sure! We climbed on - Jacob driving and me sitting on the back - and started slowly, especially on the dirt roads and in the constructions areas at the start. After a bit we gained confidence and once we made it onto the main paved roads we picked up the pace a bit.
IT WAS AWESOME! A little scary when you got passed by trucks, but the traffic wasn't too bad and it was just so fun!

We drove 10 or so miles to a group of Batok houses that had been made into a sort of museum. We arrived just in time to catch a performance of traditional Batok dancing - and even joined in on one of the dance. Yay for audience participation? The musicians for the dance were set up in one of the traditional houses.

Took this picture during the demonstration of a wedding dance - again, having lots of fun with our camera.

Totem poles like this one were common features around the island - and in souvenir shops too.

We stopped for a coke at the cafe next door (why is there something so quaint and travel-y about buying a $.40 Coke in a glass bottle?), then continued on our motorbike, following the coast of the island north until we rounded the top and headed back down the other side. Jacob did an admirable job driving as the traffic picked up as we neared the other main town on the island. We crossed the narrow strip of land connecting the (almost) island to the mainland and followed signs for the hot springs we'd heard about.
I've now been to a few hot springs or public baths (Malaysia, Tokyo), and have concluded that while they sound pretty glamorous, it is often sort of weird and pretty far from the spa-like conditions you'd expect from the name. Here, we found a sign outside a restaurant advertising the hot springs and after paying $.50, we changed and climbed the steps to, essentially, a warm pool behind the owner's house and restaurant. It was a bit run down, but the water was really hot, decently clean, and felt great.

Trying to bring some glamour! Jacob should use this on a album cover.

When we'd had enough, we donned our clothes and ate lunch at the restaurant before heading back to Tuk Tuk. All along the way we passed graves like the ones pictured here - some even larger and more ornate than these. When we got to a less traffik-y area, we pulled over and I got in the drivers seat to give it a try. It was super fun - I really enjoyed it. Turns out I'm a total pro at the driving part - but not so much the stopping part. When it came time to park, I may have cranked the throttle while also trying to brake. Good news is I only almost hit a front porch, instead of actually hitting a front porch.

I call this the, 'Is there a problem, officer?' picture.

As we neared Tuk Tuk, we spotted sign for Buddha's Cafe - vegetarian & vegan food, homemade sorbet. Of course we had to stop, and found ourselves in a little oasis. The sorbet was really fantastic - coconut durian for Jacob and coconut orange for me :)

We made it back to Samosir Cottages, parked the bike, then high-fived that we hadn't crashed or hit anything!

We went to Orari's restaurant for fruit smoothies and food while overlooking the lake and then there was a rainbow. Jeez. Ok, enough already Samosir, we get it - you're beautiful.

THEN we saw this dog. Altogether now: AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

And this POWER CHICKEN!

We spent the rest of the evening reading, playing cards and being lazy by the lake. We got more food at our hotel. We star-gazed.

The next morning I got up early (roused by some loud and rather oblivious neighbors) and went for a run. I got a lot of stares, as in 'what the heck is that lady doing?' and a lot of sweet 'helloooos' from kiddos. 
Then we hit up Popy's Cafe, where it took them a good 40 minutes to make my toast and Jacob's pancake. We suspect it is because most restaurants don't actually keep an inventory, but simply run out and buy ingredients once you order! 




The food did end up being delicious though, plus, you know, the view... and the company of this kitty. 

We then decided to walked to Tomok, another small town that was, by varying accounts, 3km, 5km or 6km away. We decided we could totally walk there, no problem. Well...let's just say it was a lot further than we expected. And when we thought we had almost arrived, we found out we had another mile and half to go. Feeling hot and a tad foolish, we finally strolled into Tomok and to a famous tomb of a king from pre-Christian times. (Interestingly, much of Samosir appeared to be Christian as evidenced by crosses on most of the graves).

Some pictures from the King's grave. As a token of respect, you were asked to wear a tradition swath of fabric on your shoulder.

Apparently the usual two boobies are just not enough! I like to think about the artist who looked at this and thought, 'yeah, four boobies, that's the ticket!'

Walking back to Tuk Tuk was not an option, so we hired to guys with motorbikes to drive us back - took 10 minutes, further underlining our silliness for walking all that way! We spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing by the lake.

Finally in a picture together!

We had to try out the sports/multiple shot option on the camera:

We watched the rain sweep in across the lake. Fortunately it didn't rain for long.

Dinner at Franky Pizza. Too bad we weren't relaxed or anything!

Then on to Roy's Pub:

Waiting for the band to start at Roy's Pub, Tuk Tuk once again lost power. The bartender quickly produced candles (it's like it's happened before or something!). So we took pictures of candles until they got the generator up and running.

The band was really good, playing lots of covers and trying to play requests (though usually they'd start the tune, then apologize for not knowing the words).

Our last morning involved packing, a quick swim, breakfast back at Jenny's Bar, and a ferry ride back across the lake. The return journey was much the same, so I'll spare you the description of traffic, minor carsickness and airport waiting. It was all worth it!


So would we gO back? You betcha!