Stops: Parapat, Samosir, Tuk-Tuk, Tomok Village (Days 36-44)

Arranged a rent-a-car and driver from Medan to Parapat–the gateway to Toba. It all worked out in the end, but let’s just say if any other traveler reads this later, do not book a car through Traveloka. Just don’t. I got there, though. It was about a four hour drive.

I cannot tell you how many people have exclaimed–almost begging–“You must go to Lake Toba!” This started in Japan, but then continued in Indonesia. Co-workers who had been to Indonesia? Check. Batak locals in Medan? Check. Indonesian tourists from Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya I met in Aceh? Check. Old hippies everywhere? Check. I guess I had to go. The build up was a little intense. But, so is Lake Toba.

Typical “ghost building” from a failed or stalled development on the outskirts of Medan. See a lot of these around SEA cities. Note the black, white, and red hoardings around the site: Batak colors.

The landscape once outside Medan was just a sea of palms. Palm oil plantation monoculture as far as the eye could see. Later, as the land got hillier, the plantations shifted to rubber. It does not seem that rubber cultivation has changed much. The trunks are scored and sap is collected. Bamboo collection containers have been replaced with reused plastic bottles. But, it is still a lot of labor.

Glimpse of a rubber plantation from the car. Wish I could have gotten a snap of the workers riding dirtbikes with big chainsaws holstered on them Mad Max-style.

The other thing you see once you leave the city and then everywhere around the Toba region is churches. Churches everywhere. It was not quite as pronounced as Manado, which seemed to have at least one church on every block in the city, but there are a lot of churches. Most are HKBP (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan), which also operates a big university in Medan. I heard later that the fourth Batak king on Samosir converted to Christianity and the people followed. However, as with most missionary efforts in indigenous areas, the Christianity is a layered, maybe sometimes thinly, over the animist beliefs still visible everywhere.

Not my hotel. But kind of typical of parts of Parapat..

I stayed two nights in Parapat, which is more than you really need to, but I have time. And, I kind of liked it. Most people either zip through here as quickly as possible to the main event, Samosir, or this is as far as they get. It’s a gateway to the mystical island, or it is the one night stop over for a quick jaunt for locals from Medan who do not have a whole week holiday. Parts of Parapat have that slightly rundown resort town that has seen better days feel. It’s comfortable. Don’t expect much, but you won’t be disappointed. People were nice. Wandered around the town a bit. My hotel looks like to does a big wedding business but while I was there it was hosting a convention. Seemed to be a cross between an ecotourism training and a prosperity gospel revival.

There is also an absolutely enormous mosque under construction right smack in the middle of Parapat. There are not that many worshipers, but the edifice is impressive. It immediately struck me as more of a PR stunt or almost a provocation.

I did not have a reservation for Samosir Island, but had a couple of recommendations, so after the first night in Parapat, I took a ferry over to look around and check out the options. Every place looks great online, but some are better than others. Really, just taking the ferries back and forth across the island is a great way to relax and see everything. Two bucks one way for a half hour or so boat ride. Perfect!

I talked with a very nice woman at the front desk of Tabo Cottages and a few other places. Sat and had a martabe juice and a lemon muffin from the bakery, then went back out on the water. I wound up staying six nights at Tabo. When I finally checked out the owner said she thought I was never going to leave. It really was a great place to just relax or go out and see stuff.

Sitting out at the end of the water taxi dock and watching the clouds come in was a good way to end each day. There was usually at least a little bit of lightning.

Brekkies, plural each day, in the garden were perfect. Brekkie 1: Noodles and rice maybe eggs and curry. Brekkie 2: Fruit. Brekkie 3: Dessert for breakfast. Dragonfruit jelly is pretty awesome. The small cakes are not too sweet and go great with mugs of coffee.

Local Batak music and dance is everywhere in Northern Sumatra. In Medan, it was more pop instrumentation. I realize now that the band I saw one night in Batam was playing Batak music. Pretty much every night, every where I went there was at least some singing and dancing. One evening, the cottages staged a more traditional dance performance. Gongs, drums, and flutes not guitars and bass. The traditional clothing was beautiful. It was little touristy, but the performers seemed to be having fun. That last photo is after the show was done and the dancers and couple of hotel staff and the troupe’s driver, just kept on dancing.

One day, I hired a guide for a five hour “trek.” Really, it was a fairly gentle walk. It’s been dry, so it wasn’t worth hiking up to the waterfalls. It was just a nice morning, lunch, and early afternoon with Obby, a local guide, farmer, coffee shop owner. His approach as to really get into the plants. I learned which parts of which palms are used for which purposes. Now I can tell the difference between arabica and robusta coffee plants. Tried tasting a raw coffee berry, too. I have walked past dragonfruit plants so many times without realizing it. Tasted a couple of sweet edible flowers. We walked through some very small villages and visited all of the landmark tourist stuff: kings’ tombs, stone chairs, market, etc. Checking out all of the different kind of banana plants up in the hills was more fun.

My ride is here.