The beauty of Lake Toba and Samosir Island

Our simple break fast didn't create any complaints at all. We were all focused on one thing in mind. ‘Pulau Samosir’ . Samosir Island located in the middle of Lake Toba, built up by volcano eruption, according to our Tour Guide, Lisan.
At 9am, we boarded the bus. The bus went through a rough narrow road, passing by old looking houses along the way. We noticed most of the hut-looking houses were equipped with satellite dish, locally called ‘Parabola’. Lisan said, hundred of channel from all over the world are available to the owner to view. He also said, sometimes, the Parabola costs much more than the cost used to build their house. Interesting.
     
We were excited when the bus was approaching the jetty. Wonderful scenery.

Boarding the boat was another exciting adventure. I love it, I love it, I love it. I thought of Nadia, my daughter who could not join the trip due. I miss you girl. I captured these pictures for you  to see. Look at your Brother. He was talking to you on the phone.
   
The boat ride to the island took about 1hr 45min. The first village we visited is named ‘Kampung Tomok’, the place where the Kings of Tomok are buried. Lisan introduced to us the local dance as a welcoming gesture by the villagers to their visitors. We showed our supportive moves.
   
The local tour guide explained that kings of Tomok were not buried, instead their body were stored inside a coffin made of large stone, taken from up high of the mountain. The stone we were looking at consists of the bones belong to the kings of Tomok.

After listenning to the legend, we moved back to our boat. Along the way, we did a little shopping.
Back to the boat, we had fun looking at those kids, asking us to throw money to the lake, which they will jump in and rush for the money. First come first served.

We continued our boat ride to the other side of the island, where another village, called Ambarita, where, according to the guide, the prisoners long ago were executed by chopping off their head and distributed their flesh, bones and internal parts to the villagers.
At first, the king will call for a so-called justice-meeting. That was when the decision made, whether or not the prisoner would be executed and ended as delicacies soup for the whole village (yum..yum..), or safe to go. Our guide took a few minutes describing to how an execution of a prisoner was done.
 
We had a chance sitting on the meeting area. We also ventured inside one of the house, where the stove to boil the delicious soup is located.
 
Next, nothing much to shop, we were heading back to the boat.

On the boat , back to Parapat, we were entertained by a trio of Ukulele musician and singers of age from 13-16 yrs old boys. They were so talented.
My eyes  couldn't get enough of the sceneries. The bumpy bus ride bck to Medan didnt deter my affection on the perfect view. In the bus, along the way..snap,snap, snap, until my camera ran out of batteries.

2 hours of bus ride, we reached Sipiso-piso mountain, where located the highest water fall, 1.5km drop to the base. I found a shop selling batteries. Phew…
Mama, Papa and Adri. Posing for nadia.

Ther rest of the journey was very-very bumpy. At last we reach the hotel at 11:30pm. Exhausted. We all deserved a cosy bed and good morning breakfast as a 5-star hotel like J.W.Marriot. Thats where we treated all the staff on that final nights at Medan.
      

Upon checking out, we stopped by Tamrin Plaza to shop and lunch, before heading to the airport.
   




Home sweet home….. exhausted, but we enjoyed the trip.
 
As we reach our house area, we were shocked to see fallen trees along the roadside and sign boards where crashed. Apparently, we just missed a storm.
Malaysia probably missed us and ran ‘Amok’ on the trees.