Samosir Island, Lake Toba

Early in the morning, we woke up and had breakfast (breakfast was provided for free) at the coffee house. The coffee house was quite far from our room. You could walk but Pak Hassan picked us up and sent us by car. I guess all the drivers get free meals at most hotels here as I noticed all of them relax aje mkn2 breakfast...:)

Anyway, today we would continue our journey to Samosir Island @ Lake Toba.

Before that, here are some info about Lake Toba & Samosir Island adapted from Wiki:

Lake Toba (Indonesian: Danau Toba) is a lake and supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long, 30 kilometres wide, and up to 505 meters (1,666 ft) deep. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900 metres, it is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. Lake Toba is the site of a massive supervolcanic eruption that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, representing a climate-changing event. It is the largest known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, it had global consequences for human populations: it killed most humans living at that time and is believed to have created a population bottleneck in central east Africa and India, which affects the genetic make up of the human world-wide population to the present. This hypothesis is not widely accepted because evidence is lacking for a decline or extinction of other animals, including species that are sensitive to changes in the environment.  It has been accepted that the eruption of Toba led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide decrease in temperature between 3 to 5 °C , and up to 15 °C in higher latitudes. Additional studies in Lake Malawi in East Africa show significant amounts of ash being deposited from the Toba eruptions, even at that great distance, but little indication of a significant climatic effect in East Africa. 

Hmmm....dasyat betol eruption di Lake Toba ni satu masa dulu, gulp..takot pulak membacanya....

Meanwhile...

Samosir Island, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The lake and island were formed after the eruption of a supervolcano some 75,000 years ago. The island was originally connected to the surrounding caldera wall by a small isthmus, which was cut through to aid navigation.At 640 square kilometres (247 sq mi), Samosir is the largest island within an island, and the fifth largest lake island in the world. It also contains two smaller lakes, Lake Sidihoni and Lake Aek Natonang. Across the lake on the east from the island lies Uluan Peninsula. The island is linked to the mainland of Sumatra on its western part by a narrow isthmus connecting the town of Pangururan on Samosir and Tele on mainland Sumatra. Tele consequently offers one of the best views of Lake Toba and Samosir Island.

Begitulah serba sedikit tentang Samosir Island ni tuan2 dan puan2...

Jadi, lepas breakfast, kami pon terus pack barang n checked out from Danau Toba Int Cottage coz after Samosir, we would continue our journey to Berastagi. If u have more time to spare, boleh aja stay for 2 days. Lepak2 kat hotel, menghirup udara yang segar dan nyaman...hehehe....

Perjalanan ke jetty sekejap aja, about 5 minutes drive. Naik ferry dlm 50 minit gitu...

View of the lake n its surrounding area
from the ferry

The two princesses

Lake toba shrouded in mystery

Penyanyi jalanan pon
ada dalam feri... carik makan...

Sampai dah....

Kat sini ada bnyk rumah2 ala2 tradisional
Penduduk di sini. X pasti pulak mereka mmg duduk
Dlm ni or just for exhibit. 

Pintu2 rumah di Samosir ni
ada 2 jenis to indicate the
gender of the owner.  Kalu
mcm ni, ownernya lelaki.

Rumah Batak dr
Pandangan sisi

Yg ni muzium Batak. Kecik jer muziumnyer...
Jom masok!

Dlm museum kecik tu, mereka pamerkan daily xtvt kaum batak... jom tngk apa ada kt dlm. Bila tngk interior rumah ni, teringat pula interior rumah pnjng di sarawak. Mcm ada similarity. ...

Mesin buat kain....

Alatan muzik

Replika rumah pasung. Dkt dlm tu merupakan
replika patung yg sedang tunggu masa untuk
Dipancong.

Kemain sukan budak2 ni lepak kat batu2 ni...

Yang ni plak penerangan upacara memancong kepala pesalah...
Ngeri wooo dengar citernya....

Masih aksi yang sama jugak...

Lepas jalan2 ape lagik, masok souvenir shop ler. Tp barang2 kat sini
IMO memang murah2 ler... Nampak kedai soft drink kat sebelah kiri tu?
Mahal ya rabbi air die, al-maklomla kedai jual air memang limited. Ada dalam
2-3 kedai aja.  Makin ke dalam, makin mahal woo... Kalah hotel

Silalah derma bg sapa2  yang
nk derma...

Back on the ferry. Muka masing2
Puas hati dh dpt cenderahati masing2. Knk2 pn
 mcm org dewasa juga, mesti nk belik souvenirs...:)

Selepas menghabiskan beberapa jam di Samosir, kami pon menaiki feri semula untuk ke satu lagi perkampungan Batak, Kampong Tomok.

Feri ni dua tingkat. This one was captured from the top floor overlooking
the ground floor. Feri ni style open air. No air-cond. X perlu pon
rasanya air-cond...

Other hotel at the other side of Toba

Anak2 kecil kaum Batak berenang. There was a scene that was a bit
disturbing to me. It seems that people will throw money into the lake
and these kids will swim to chase the money. Those who are fast will get
the money. Why don't they just give the money to the kids instead of throwing it
into the lake? To me, it's something inhumane. 

Kampung Tomok. Kami x turun. I just went
down to buy some drinks. Kena bayar nak
masuk kg ni, tp when i told them i
just wanna buy drinks, mika bg masuk free.
Bnyk anjing lah sini....

Feri berhenti kat sini x lama. Sementara feri berlabuh tu, adalah penjual2 datang jual ubi la, kacangla, kopi la..dan mcm2 lagi...

Lepas sampai semula ke Tanah Besar, kami singgah makan di Rumah Makan Nikmat sebelum meneruskan perjalanan ke Berastagi.

Kalau singgah makan sini, try masak lemak cili apinya...memang
sedap. Harga okla... berpatutan. Rasa? Ok juga...

Still the typical style of Padang Restaurant.

My fav item: I bought this antique mini iron at Samosir Island. Cuba teka berapa harganya? Di Malaysia, saya pernah nampak sejibon, harganya dlm RM80 tetapi di Samosir harganya cuma RP10, 000 (after negotiation). ..he..he..he...
Cute, isn't it?

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