The Saturday market at Parapat

Continued from The boat ride from Tuk-tuk to Prapat.

Arriving at Parapat we were greeted by this sight.

Then we were told this is the Parapat Saturday market.

Well, we're not here to shop. But what's the harm in looking around.

By then we have booked a hired car to Medan. It would leave at 2, after getting a number of passengers and we had time to explore also the nearby permanent market.

The boat ride from Tuk-tuk to Parapat

Greetings earthlings. In the previous article on this blogspot, The place where Samosir island meets the mainland I've said this : "God willing I will show some really nice pictures in my next round of postings, pictures taken as we left Samosir by boat to get to Parapat Saturday afternoon." Well. Now comes that next round. So feast your eyes...

Saturday 5th November 2011. Came the time for us to leave Tuk-tuk and the island of Samosir.

It's a fine beautiful day as we looked around waiting for our boat.

There, that's the boat.

Soon we're on board.

OK. When we entered the island 2 days before, it was already dark. So we didn't get to see the scenery.

Saturday was different. We came out at noon and the day was nice albeit a bit cloudy. The vista was really open... wide open and certainly eye-opening.

There. Just look at the mountains of Samosir island as we left.

But the boat was not ready to fully leave the island yet. Instead it stopped at a different part of Tuk-tuk to pick up passengers.

Now we're leaving.

After some time we could clearly see the town of Parapat on the mainland.

The place where Samosir island meets the mainland

At the end of the article First appreciation of the beauty of Samosir island at Tuk-tuk made 4 hours ago I said watch for the next article. I was then thinking of showing some really beautiful pictures to be shared of Samosir island and Danau (lake Toba). Then I went through my picture files again and find out that the best pictures were actually taken the following day, Saturday. But at this moment I'm still taking about activities done on Friday when the best sceneries were caught on videocam in HD (high definition).

Sorry to say I can't share what's on the videocam here as it is meant for a different project. But I did snap other pictures with the camera (yes, I brought a camera and a videocam although both devices can fairly do the job of the other). Well it may not be the best but it should do...

After making a semi-cricle round of northern part of Samosir we arrived at Pangururan, the island's administrative centre. At its fringe lies a bridge which connect the island to the mainland.

Here, only a small body of water which looks like a river or maybe a canal divide both lands.

Crossing the bridge we took a road up a slope.

From here we could have a good look at the northern part of Samosir.

Turning anti-clockwise one could see a part of Danau Toba opening wide.

And here's a look at a part of the mainland. God willing I will show some really nice pictures in my next round of postings, pictures taken as we left Samosir by boat to get to Parapat Saturday afternoon. :]

First appreciation of the beauty of Samosir island at Tuk-tuk

On to the 888th article of this blogspot. Continuing from The waterfall of Sipiso Piso.

In the last article I have shown how a high waterfall called Sipiso Piso is connected to the northern part of the vast lake called the Danau Toba. Now let me add, the surface of the lake lies 900 metres above sea level. At dusk we arrived at the shoreline town of Parapat and immediately got a ferry to cross the lake on to a big island called Samosir. Here are pictures taken the following day, Friday 4th November 2011.

Thank God we got a nice and affordable room at a resort in Tuk-tuk, the island's main town. Mind you, Samosir is about the same size as the island of Singapore! From the room we walked about 100 metres to get this view. And what breathtaking view it is... the vast freshwater lake, the mountains in the middle of the island which rose to more than 1,600 metres above sea level...

I've mentioned in the previous article that Danau Toba is formed from a crater created after a big volcano explosion said to have happened 74,000 years ago. The mountains surrounding the lake is the mouth of the crater while those situated on the island is the heap formed after the explosion. Look to the middle right of the picture. Notice the gap? To the right is the southern part of Samosir, to the left is the mountains on the mainland.

Turning back towards the resort it's time for us to explore the island. At first I just wanted to stay one night here. But the beauty of the scenery made me decide to stay one more night. And for the day we rented a motorbike to go around. Watch for the next article... :]

The waterfall of Sipiso Piso

Continued from Bukit Gundaling, the "Good bye darling" hill.

After having enough of Berastagi we took a hired car which brought us to certain place down south.

There is something special to be seen here. Notice it?

A close-up look.

Closer and there's no mistaking the fall of water. Welcome to the Sipiso Piso waterfall!

Situated at 1,000 metres above sea level it is complemented by an amazing surrounding.

You see, the waterfall goes down a deep valley forming a stream.

And the stream flows into an immense lake.

Walking down to a vantage point closer to the lake I could see better how the Sipiso Piso waterfall is connected to the lake.

While it's hard to have a good look at the stream as it is so far down the valley you could surmise it from here.

Ah. What a great view of the lake.

For the record this is the northern part of the great highland lake called Danau (lake) Toba, a giant lake said to be created from the crater left of a super volcano which exploded some 74,000 years ago!

Bukit Gundaling, the "Good bye darling" hill

Peace be upon you all. It's been more than 3 weeks since I made any update in this blogspot. Did I tell you that from November 2nd to 13th me and family was on a trip covering Medan, Danau (Lake) Toba and a number of places up to Banda Aceh? Then from November 18th to 22th I brought along my stepkids to places in Melaka, Muar and Negeri Sembilan. For the Nov 2-13 trip I've started a series in my main blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU... well, with only one article so far. Tonight I want to write the second article and with that I shall be making a number of supporting articles at my other blogspots starting with this. Come... :]

The trip was started by taking a plane from Sepang to Medan, the biggest city in the Indonesian island of Sumatera. For the record Sumatera is one of the largest island in the world with a size almost twice that of Peninsular Malaysia. From Medan we took a hired car to the highland resort town of Berastagi. The next day, Thursday 3rd November we started exploring a bit of Berastagi by going up a hill with some vantage views of the surrounding.

Mind you, Berastagi is situated at 1,400 metres above sea level. The top of the hill is about 75 metres higher, just 50 metres lower than the summit of Fraser's Hill in Malaysia but with a climate that feels the same.

Its name is Bukit (hill of Gundaling).

Interestingly the story goes that the name Gundaling is derived from the words "Good bye darling!". It is said that a Dutch officer once married a local and lived here. Something happened driving the wife to commit suicide. As as she jumped off the the top of the hill she cried out loud : "Good bye darling"... but in a dialect that sounds more like Gundaling!

Anyway Bukit Gundaling is a pride of the locals. For the record the town of Berastagi is located on a vast highland populated by the Batak Karo race. Here'a statue of their legendary medicine man ( I don't know from what era) called Pawang Ternalem.

Views of the surrounding...

And the town of Berastagi seen from the hill.