Lonely Weekend

Cloudy Saturday.. bored at home. No good movies played at Astro. I called up my friend to take a walk. Have a little breakfast then round-round town. Nothing interesting. We went to religious bookshop at Wisma Merdeka and saw an advertisement of Doulos coming down to KK.. and start today at 6.00pm!! wow... means I can have a lot books..hehehheee (ulat buku..). Too bad.. open at 6.00pm..sigh.. so, we decided to took a little drive away from town..and end up to Karambunai Resorts.. (cuci mata saja..hehehe..)

Far..far away...

One of the open restaurant in front of the swimming pool.. the food are quite expensive.. lunch cost RM150++ per pax.. including a glass of wine..phew..

Then we went to East Karambunai..Lagoon Park.. again.. cuci mata only..

Some activities at Lagoon Park..you can have one with the very moderate fee.. they count by hours. Entrance fee RM10 only..

Since it's a cloudy day..the water also look cloudy..hahhaaa.. I mean I hoping it's blue..

After sunsett mass..again.. this two single ladies..lol.. went to Doulos ship. Our intentions are only cuci mata and surveyed the price and come back tomorrow to 'invest' some money there. The price are based on unit. RM8 for 100 units. The price looked ok to me..coz you can have a lot of books such as religious, children bed time storybook and fairy tales, books by famous authors, educational, CD and etc which hardly to find at KK or Malaysia. If there is, price are expensived. But, I cannot control myself to have this book.. a cooking book. Very simple one. This what I'm looking for.. not much ingredients to prepare for one meal especially busy person like me..lol.. (atau kata lain...pemalas).

What you have to do is to prepare 3, 4 or 5 ingredients.. I bought it for RM32.. a lot of recipes inside.. from breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktail, party, biscuits, juices, salad... I'll try to make one this evening.. then tonite will go back to Doulus.. Planned to buy a fairy tales and educational book for children..save for X'mas present.. hahahhaa.. why not since you can get it cheaper right?..lol..

Medan Trip 09.08.2009 (2nd day)

As I promised.. here is my 2nd day of trip to Medan, North Sumatera.. hehheee...

Going through Medan-Parapat route seeing a lake as big as that made Samosir appear like an amazing grand island in North Sumatera.

There is the legend of Lake Toba and Samosir Island believed by the Batak people. Once upon a time..hehheee.. bed time story..ready? there was a man who named Toba lived around a ravine of Toba hill. Nobody knew when he arrived or where he came from. He lived in a small temporary hut on a farming area by the river, surrounded by an oval shaped hill. He was a fisherman. He also owned a garden. Once, he found a big fish in his woven rattan fish trap and it changed his life, in fact, he had never caught such a big fish before. It was an extra ordinary one. Then he put it in his hut and went out to think about how to cook it in a special way. After a little while, he went back to the hut. To his surprise, it was not an ordinary fish but a supernatural one. It had turned into a beautiful princess named Nauli. It is scales had changes in to beautiful jeweled ornaments and dresses fit for a princess. He then proposed to her, he asked her “will you be my wife” she nodded romantically.

The man was very happy. The princess said that she would like to get married to him but only with one condition. He should never tell any body that she had been a fish. The man agreed, she told hil that if he broken his promise that there would be tears and disaster.

Finally, they lived happily and harmoniously with their only daughter named Samosir. After the daughter grew up her mother always asked her to take her father’s lunch to him where he was out working in the fields. But unfortunately she was very greedy. Once , she ate up all the food that should have been given to her father. He was very angry when he saw her eating up all his food in the street. He shouted to her," you are rebellious. You are really the offspring of a fish". The princess heard the curse and felt that he had broken their agreement, arriving home the daughter asked her mother, who was crying about it. Without answering her daughter’s question, she asked her to go to a hill because there would be a disaster. After she had been praying for one minute there was an earthquake. Heavy rains fell down and springs came up from the ground. The place turned into Lake Toba and the hill into Samosir Island

See the 'small cruise' there? we used it as a transport to Samosir Island..

The heavenly beautiful of Lake Toba...

The Pride of Medan Indonesia. Lake Toba also known as the largest volcanic lake (crater lake) in the world. It is estimated that Toba Lake was formed during a volcanic eruption about 70,00 thousand years ago. After this eruption, a caldera was formed that was filled by water afterwards and now known as Toba Lake. The pressure from the dormant magma, which has not yet erupted, caused Samosir Island to emerge. Samosir Island are in the middle of the Toba Lake. Samosir Island is the world’s fifth largest island lake. Samosir Island is an approximately almost as big as Singapore Island, often described as the heartland of Batak culture, with their traditional dwellings are elevated house made of hard wood, and are located amidst beautiful mountain scenery.

HORAS!!!! is the local greetings delivered with enthusiasm. The Batak people love their lake and island, and many traditional local songs are written about it. We've been served with their local songs along the way to the Samosir Island sing by their 'local singers' hehheee.. too bad, I did not managed to took their pic's. I'm too amazed by the panaromic view of the Lake Toba. There are also some fine woodcarves at Samosir Island, as a glance at any of the souvenir shops will verify.

Batak handicrafts..

Batik and handicraft at Samosir Island

You can shop as much as you can.. and remember to bargain as low as you can..

Souvenir shops at Samosir Island..

Resort provided along the way to Samosir Island.. nice resort

Way to Samosir Island.. one of the local transport.. speed boat for the villagers to go to the main land.

Another island at Lake Toba

Nice view from my room.. you can see the Lake and Samosir Island

My 2nd day of staying..Niagara Hotel & Resort. Located at hill area, this hotel facing the Lake Toba .

Some facilities at the resort... I'm not dared to swim..hehehehe..beside swimming pool, you can have a karaoke and full body massage with 50,000 rupiah or RM17 approx.. yes, I did took the body massage.. sorry I cannot upload here..hehehee..

Evening view from my veranda room... Lake Toba with Batak legend.

Giant foot massage.. do you dare to go to the middle without slippers or shoes?.. hehehe.. made from original stone..
I've tried..painful.. managed to get to the centre..but cannot continued with the 'journey massage'.. I cannot stand the pain . I asked my friends to throw my slippers..hahhaaa..

Will post the 3rd and 4th day in my next post.. visits to Brastagi, active volcanos, love story of Gundaling Hill... wait.. lol..

08.08.2009 (1st day)

08.08.2009? hahahaa.. sound funny. This is my 1st year anniversarry of blogging.. hehheee. What's more? oh ya.. I've mentioned in my previous post that I'm going to 'short break' vacation. Yes.. I went to North Sumatera, Medan with a group of 40 peoples. Nothing much happen in a 1st day. Let the pic's tell the story.

Medan is a nice medium sized city. Top of the list as safest city to visit in Indonesia. Nothing much to see in the city, except and old mosque and a palace with some history behind it. City is clean by "indonesian standards". You wont see many tourists around, mostly passing through to Lake Toba. And I'll post about Lake Toba in my next post.

The city is Indonesia's third most populous after Jakarta and Surabaya, with approximately 2.5 million people. The city has a mix of communities, reflecting its history. It is famous throughout Indonesia as the home of the Batak people. More recently more and more of the Batak ethnic minority have come to the city to make what was once a minority become a fairly sized community. However, Batak homelands are found throughout North Sumatra. In Medan, there is few ethnics of Batak such as Batak Simalungun, Batak Karo, Batak Maindaling, Batak Pak-Pak, Batak Angkola, Batak Toba and etc.. I cant recall.There are many old buildings in Medan that still retain their Dutch architecture. I will post the pic's in my next post.. too much to choose hehheee...lol..

(pictures taken from tour bus...lol..)

Becak Medan (Trishaw) is ones of the transportation means in medan. Some becaks are pedaled, while others are machine propellers. There are also more common transport like taxis and minibuses, known as 'Angkot' (Angkutan Kota)

One of the famous hotel in the city after Polonia Hotel. Asean International Hotel is our 1st stay. Located at town area and very closed to the food shops and night market.

Our Tourist Guide at the front counter.. Dove Tours

Some souvenir shop at the hotel. Medan famous with Batik Halus and other handicraft.

Hahahhahaa... my 1st bed to stay at Medan.. sharing with my friend

HORAS!!!! means terima kasih, selamat datang and others welcome greetings.. will come back later in my next post for the 2nd till 5th day of tour..

Short Break..

Ready to go... (sorry for the blur pictures.. photo taken using hp)

I've committed my life to Christ and tried to walk by faith,
Deep within my heart, I want to be a man of God.
Yet sometimes I feel discouraged and alone,
Alone in my struggles to be a man of God.

Then God said to me:
I know what you are going through.
Why don't you play your life
to Me as your audience.
I'll give you the acceptance and love you need.

But I kept looking for results
and results have always made me afraid.

Then God said to me:
Just play your life to Me as your audience
and leave the results to Me.
Be not concerned with the crowd
But seek to please Me
Play your life to Me not the crowd.

I've compared myself to others
and tried to live like all of them
and uniformity proves to be a hurdle.

Then God said to me:
Just be yourself
for the body is not one member but many
and an eye is not an ear.
So just be yourself
and play your part consistently to Me.

I'm a Christian, I'm a man, a man with feelings,
Yet sometimes I'm afraid to own my feelings.

Then God said to me:
I've made man so be free to be human,
be free to own your feelings but do not deny Me.

I've committed my life to Christ
and with all my heart, I want to be a man of God.
Yet sometimes I've found myself anxious and restless inside.

Then God said to me:
Anxiety and restlessness are not signs
of the non-Christian life
for in the world you shall have tribulations.
But they may be signs
indicating that something is out of balance,
stop and look.
They are signs
pointing you back towards Me.

They shall produce patience
and patience develops character
and character begets hope.

But I've found it uneasy to be restless or discouraged!
How do I get out of this pit?

Then God said to me:
Come unto Me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden
and I'll give you rest.

And for that.. I’m leaving tomorrow… to the place I never been before.. to experience His love in everywhere… to take a rest from my sorrow, to take a breath from my worldly possessions, to leave everything that make me sick.. (for a while.. hehehe)