Lake Toba

My colleagues and I have been talking about going away on a trip and one of them has always wanted to go to Lake Toba for years.  One day in September last year, after lunch, we just browsed the airasia website and decided there and then that we would be going to Lake Toba from February 4 to 7, 2012. 

Lake Toba is in Sumatra, Indonesia.  It is 100 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide.  It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world.  Samosir Island within the lake is the island within the island of Sumatra.

The flight is scheduled to leave LCCT at 11.35am when we booked and was retimed to 2pm.  We reached Medan airport at 1.45 pm and got on the car to Lake Toba.  The trip took about 8 hours inclusive ferry ride to Samosir Island and dinner at Rumah Makan Bayu Lagoon.  For dinner, we had ifumie goreng spesial

nasi goreng spesial

and indomie goreng spesial

The ferry ride took about 50 minutes

We checked in Samosir Villa Resort at 10pm.

Five of us stayed in the family room called Ekoantum with 2 bedrooms, a living room, a tv, a refrigerator, a kitchen, bathroom with hot shower and a balcony overlooking the ocean.

The other two stayed in deluxe room.

The next morning we woke up at 6am in the hope of catching the sunrise but it was cloudy... just our luck. 

After breakfast, we started our tour of the island. We went to Tele where there is a tower you can climb for panoramic views of Lake Toba and Samosir Island, hot spring, Simanindo ~ Museum of the Batak People, Ambarita ~ Stone Chairs where the King held conferences and beheaded criminals and Tomok - Tomb of the Sidabutar Kings.  

We were back in the hotel at 5.30 pm just in time for our body massage in our rooms.  One hour costs 100,000 rupiah.  We planned to have dinner somewhere nearby the hotel but it was raining so we had it in the hotel.

We tried again to watch the sunrise the next morning but it was also cloudy.  We checked out at 8.30am and left for Medan.  We went to see a waterfall and a temple.  We checked in Swiss BelInn at Medan at 7pm.

Before we checked out the next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel where we ate the local delicacy called bika ambun.

On the way to the airport, we stopped by Erna Bakery and bought bika ambun and lapis legit for our colleagues who didn't join us.  The flight took off from Medan Airport at 11.35am and reached LCCT at 1.20pm.

Do we regret coming here? No.  Would we be coming again? Unfortunately no. The travelling time is way too long. 

Till next week, looking forward to go on another overseas trip...