Lake Toba vaganza part 2

so here is the 2nd part, this time its Berastagi - Tongging (sipiso-piso waterfall) and Simalem resort.
this time around we drive our own car, 1st stop we stop by my aunt's villa in Berastagi for some brekkie.

this is the 3 handsome dude from canada and the state at the villa

when i'm in the toilet suddenly i hear a scream "snake!!!" and i was like "yeahhhh!!" :p
so there is this snake in the kitchen coming out from the cutlery drawer when my mum open it to look for spoons. Its a pretty long snake, and then i decided to take an umbrella and escort it out of the villa (but of course being the photographer you will never see me :( )



anyone know what type of snake this is??

the market in Berastagi. most people call it the fruit market, but as you can see they sell more than juts fruit, thats hamsters, rabbits and doggies they are selling



the cute bunny rabbits, reminded me of my dead bunnies



having a fresh sugar cane juice. freshly cut and squeeze


and some hot corn

and this is the fruit market


the corn seller


some part of the road from Berastagi to Tongging is pretty bad, big pot holes everywhere


and nothing worst than stuck behind a big truck in a small road. Oh wait, stuck behind a big truck that keep spewing out black smoke in a narrow road is worst.


reaching tongging.
As a mechanic himself back in Canada my uncle is quite keen to find out how this guy is fixing their truck



more pashmina shopping!!! as if we didn't raid the tomok market enough

group shot, wait this is not everybody, some of them were too lazy to walk down this area


they were all pretty pissed at the sight of the burned tree. some kids having a bon fire and stuff and burn the tree i guess



unfortunate local kids behaviour. Even IF the indo's gov going to be serious in promoting Lake Toba, if the behaviour of the locals is this way, gloom days ahead.


Sipiso-piso waterfall



on the way down to the Lake side, looking for some nice fresh ikan bakar


All is local who operate a fish farm operate a restaurant as well, you can pick the fish straight from the net, just a warning that most of these restaurant they don't have much of anything else other than fish in their menu


before


after


Lalap. this is the only other menu than the fish. But they do have 2 kind of fish for you to choose, nila and ikan mas (heck, i have no idea what they called in english)

garlic, or isit onion?? errr i think it's onion. Am i rite?!?
as you can see, im not very agricultural savvy

the management office in the entrance to Simalem resort. And the rest of the pics in there, too lazy to type anything more, plus there is not much interesting happening anymore, so just let the pics do the talking

having a discussion about Sumatera tourism, i never realised one of my uncle "stole" my cam and took this shot untill im back home and looking at all the pics



the thing that sometimes make me so lazy to go Berastagi, small road and lousy trucks in all size. Its almost a guarantee that everytime to past this way you gonna see at least one truck broken down, and they will create a long queue.

Part 3 (last) is about the Balige/Muara Nauli/Hutaginjang (southern end of Lake Toba). will post it "soon"

Lake Toba vaganza part 1

ok..here goes

this is the 1st trip to Lake Toba, this is a family day trip with the far away cool uncle that I'm telling you about in my last post.

suppose to start the trip at 6am, but being Medan we finally board the big bus at 6.45am.

the pictures start at this small rumah makan somewhere before Siantar if Im not mistaken, and this stop is not requested by any of us but instead the bus driver wanna have some breakfast!! I think this is the first time ever i ever join the trip when the hired driver called the shot. But being a trip with mostly over 50 people not much dramas came out of this unschedule stop. Everybody is happy for the rest and toilet/tea/coffee break.






























and our own scheduled stop is in the town of Siantar, famous for Kok tong coffee house :p
and this temple where the giant Kwan Yin statue stands grandly.

this is the cool uncle who own a Mustang and Desert Eagle, at the statues of the 12 chinese zodiac

my mum in front of the prosperity stones or some sort, they say its a good place and all of them (exclude me of course) had a picture taken in this same spot.

one of the deity statue

my mum having a chat about this giant bell with my aunts

the giant bell

the giant Kwan Yin statue

family portrait


the bridge that connect the old part of the temple (its currently being torn down to make way for a renovation)


this is the older brother of the cool uncle, having a "moment" with the deity statue


lake Toba fishing farm, taken on board the bus


"the coin kids" who asked passenger of the ferry to throw coins into the water, they will dive and find it, and then they keep it in their mouth, since they are naked. But now that coins money are so worthless they start asking for paper money!!


teng teng for everyone!!



the ladies


the gentlemen




enjoying a local batak songs from the kids on board the ferry on the way to Samosir island


heading for Samosir


looking cool



reaching Tomok (Samosir)


buying and eating Samosir bananas


from a "just looking" to a shopping spree where in total over 30 pashmina were bought, happy day for this local merchant where business is usually very slow, especially in this low season


visiting the old tomb of the king of Toba



traditional Batak Toba house. you can see a wooden human shaped doll in front of the house there, its call the Sigale-gale. its a musical puppet show, legend has it that in the past whenever someone is dead, you can held a ceremony of spirit calling, where the spirit of the dead will entered a wooden doll and moved it, and the living can communicate with their dearly departed.

snapping the map of Lake Toba

me and my uncle in carolina hotel

group shot, this is everybody

another popular spot, everyone got their pic taken in this bending coconut tree


on the way home we had dinner at Simpang Tiga restaurant, at the original simpang tiga location in Perbaungan.

this is it, the next trip is another day trip to Berastagi, Tongging, Simalem.