Tuktuk, Toba Lake, Indonesia June 16th – 21st 2017

I paid 120,000 rupiah’s ($12.00) for shared taxi ride from Medan to Lake Toba, same cost as I will pay from Lake Toba right to the airport. it was suppose to be a 5 hour shared taxi ride from Medan to Lake Toba, but closer to 6 hours, then a 1 hour wait for the boat ride to take me across the lake to Tuktuk which is the most popular destination and main tourist place to visit at Lake Toba, and most travellers arrive at Parapat from Medan for a 30 minute ferry ride across to Tuktuk.

Tuktuk is a small peninsula of Samosir Island, which is the size of Singapore and is the heartland of the Toba Batak people. Tuktuk being a small village with many guesthouses and hotels is a nice place to “chill out” and relax and the scenery is very tropical and picturesque with the village people being most friendly indeed, always calling out “hello”.

Today being a Saturday the people come down from the mountain side to the market and sell their fresh fruits and vegetables, or fresh cut meats, fish, shoes, clothing and what have you at this big open market, it is called Tomok Traditional Market and I bought 2 avocado’s, 3 mangoes, 5 big sweet oranges for 50,000 rupiah’s which seems like a hell of a lot, but converts to $5.00 CAD, so not a bad deal at all, in fact very cheap considering in Canada people will pay $5.00 for a bag of chips, chocolate bar or an expensive coffee, these fruits are good for three big meals for me, again cheap and healthy.

I went online looking for a place to stay here at Lake Toba and found one where I could book without a credit card and it appeared to be reasonably priced so I simply reserved a 5 night stay without hassle, it was so easy and simply, it is called “Lake Toba Cats Garden” and “Uncle Bond” is the caretaker looking for travellers who are cat lovers and willing to give him a hand with the cats caring for them. At this time for my stay here there is no hot shower, no wifi, it is one large room, wooden flooring with bed and a door leading to a private bathroom, outside of the room there is a sitting area, a balcony over looking a beautiful part of the lake creating a small bay or cove, easy access to a swimming point, but no frills here just very basic and as I ventured out I found another place that was priced the same but with tv, better bed, more comfortable, cleaner, so I think for 200,000 rupiah ($20.00CAD) per night is a tad expensive the way it is now, thus it ended up being only a two night stay, but the caretaker uncle bond is a superb, helpful, genuine stand up guy that will be honest and extremely helpful in taking care of his visitors so that they are safe and not taken advantage of or getting into trouble, he will let you know where to go, and what to avoid, this is a man that has spent a couple of years in the jungle alone. I moved to Tuk Tuk Timbul just a 15 min. walk further down the road, a room, double bed, hot shower, wifi at restaurant area only, a beautiful quiet spot in a cabin all to myself touching the lake for 100,000 a night. The food in the restaurant was good and very presentable. The only part where the staff failed, is that I had a muscle knot in the back of the shoulder blade causing much pain in the neck and arm, where it was painful to raise the arm. I asked about getting a massage in my room and told I could, but later when I ordered such, they failed to have a massage lady for me, anyways there were two more attempts and I was expecting but again they failed in this area. I went walking and found a lady to massage out the knot myself. Tuk Tuk Timbul has a very beautiful view, a quiet area, and reasonably priced, I highly recommend a stay here.

Now Ambarita is a small village from here (Lake Toba Cats Garden) about a 30 minute walk, by the way from the same spot Tomok Traditional Market was about a 45 minute walk, I have been told this is where the Saillagan Stone Chairs are, but also big old grave sites such as King Sidabutar’s Tomb and the Royal family, the Batak Museum, Si Gale Gale Statue, HKBP Church, Tomok Resort and churches fill up this village being one of the most popular destinations again, for the famous Batak cultural sites & historical relic heritages of megalithic ancient age. Also there is the “Highlands” and I have been told there are two more lakes high in the mountain tops with much cleaner waters, thus being lakes upon a lake.

Now Lake Toba is the world’s largest volcanic fresh water lake, and it has an island that is very large same size of Singapore. Apparently the president has visited this area a few times and he wants to promote this tourist destination and a new highway is being built, so instead of this 5-6 hour winding, busy, bumpy, long ride from Medan to Lake Toba, it will be only a 90 minute smooth, fast journey to here, which will attract more visitors, investors and developers, expecting to make a profit I would imagine, now will this take away the peaceful relaxing, not so busy atmosphere that exist now, and perhaps become very busy and commercialized, only time will tell I suppose. On one hand having a new highway here is a good thing, but perhaps on the other hand if it takes away the peacefulness, the relaxation and very slow pace atmosphere that people come to enjoy and love, then not so good, because with progress comes cutting down of more trees to develop on more land and on and on, but great opportunities I believe.

After talking to a friendly local man, I agreed for him to take me on a tour with his scooter / motorcycle all around the island full circle being about 200 km and a 7 hour tour, stopping for a coffee, many photo opportunity quick stops and lunch, also seeing some of the attractions also, it cost me 250,000 plus buying him coffee and lunch. He wanted 100,000 for fuel which probably was only 30,000 and then the 150,000 for him, he did alright and for me it was ok, worked out to costing me $30.00 CAD. So we started off at Tuk Tuk and headed towards Tomok, and Tomok has the traditional market on Saturdays where many selling fresh fruits and vegetables, also Batak clothing, shoes and many other things, fish, meats. Tomok also has King Sidabutar’s Tomb. Then we continued towards a viewing area where we stopped for photos, the next stop was at Nainggolan Wharf which on this Monday was again their day for a big market and was it ever busy, crowded and noisy, but colourful and exciting, many photos taken here. We stopped at another viewing area just before Mogang, and carried onto Pangururan viewing area which one gets to photograph across the lake to view a beautiful picturesque of a small village at the bottom of the foothills liken to a valley. When we went around a bend a came to the village of Pangururan this is where the “hot springs” were heated water from a nearby volcano, we had lunch here also and I dipped the feet into the hot springs swimming pool. I walked into the waters at Parbaba Beach which was busy with many swimming and having fun at the beach. Simanindo Dock was another stop, as there was a tiny museum, and we had past a few other beach areas also. As we passed Ambarita there was the very popular tourist attraction of the Siallagan Stone Chairs, I’m glad I went for this day long tour of the entire island, we even climbed a couple of mountain tops were there was another lake, therefore “lakes on a lake”, and I saw a dried up waterfall area, this time of year no waterfall only in December and January period, I was told.

The shared taxi ride from Lake Toba to airport seemed much quicker as I believe it was a 5 hour journey,but with a 1/2 hour stop to eat, but these drivers are very crazy drivers risking passengers lives as they pass, zig zag in and out of traffic and do not have enough power to pass thus on coming traffic braking or turning away to avoid a collision. I really enjoyed the stay at Lake Toba, again the Batak people so friendly, the area so peaceful, relaxing and beautiful with nature, reminds me much like Canada with forests, lakes and rivers. I want to go back for a much longer stay as it is affordable or cheap place to stay and live.