Saturday, August 22, 2009

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..


9 comments:

  1. More than a decade i been to medan.. must have changed a lot.. brastagi, yes i remember this place..can sit on horse one.. and going up the mountain to reach here, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi

    Medan surely looks beattiful. Looking at the stuff, i feel like shopping already. Hahaha

    And the hotel you lived in? Beautiful..got swimming pool some more. And it is good that we can have our own reflexology there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome!!!

    did u buy ole2 for me? hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw a movie about the legendary Lake Toba and Samosir Island. The story is different from yr entry. Toba married to Nauli and had a son named Mohsir. Their son was trained to be a warrior by a wicked man who was at first wanted to marry Nauli. But Nauli rejected his offer because she's in love with Toba. In order to get to highest level of Mohsir martial art train, Mohsir need to kill his own father. Blinded by the greediness in power, Mohsir stabbed his father but unfortunately Toba was a weapon proof and the dagger won't penetrate Toba's body while he was sleeping. Toba was outraged but he was calmed down by Nauli. One day Mohsir wanted to send Toba's lunch and on the way to the orchard, Mohsir was hungry and ate some of Toba's lunch. When Toba saw that his lunch had been eaten by Mohsir, he was very angry and cursed Mohsir as a descendant of a fish...>and the disaster part same as yours... The Local called the lake as Lake Toba and the Island in the middle called Samosir Island... jeng3X.. don know which version is preferable. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow...what a breathtaking sight...I always wanted to go to Lake Toba, nice view, fantastic legend ..hehe..
    Hopefully one day, dapatlah sia landing sana...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello C.Alv.B, I have never been to Indonesia, nor the Islands there.
    But really thrilled to see your beautiful pics.
    I hope one day can make a trip there.
    Love the Resort you stayed.
    Can see you had a fabulous time there too.
    How's the food? Spicy?

    That foot massage sure a torture more likely, ha ha.
    You have fun and keep well, Lee.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi C.Alv.B, HOLY SMOKE! Is that YOU? In the profile pic?
    Thought I had popped into the wrong blog, ha ha.
    Gosh, you are a beautiful lady.
    Hey, where were you when I was handing out my resume? Ha ha.

    You look really beautiful with that long hair....hmmmm, now I wonder how you look in a cheong sum or sarong, *wink*.
    Have a happy hari Merdeka, Lee.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Claire..yes you are correct. I did sit at the horse and took some pictures..hehehe..cost 5000rupiah

    Willie..put Medan on your vacation list hehee

    Phil..ole2 finished already..hehhee

    DZ..actually there is few version of story about Lake Toba. My version from the Tourist Guide. If you ask Batak people, the version will be different again..hehe

    Honey..bah put Medan in your vacation list :)

    Uncle Lee, Medan is very beautiful. I am having a good time there..but the food really kill me off..too spicy hehehe

    Uncle Lee.. thanks hehe

    ReplyDelete
  9. This page definitely has all the info I needed concerning this subject and didn't know who to ask.

    Also visit my page medal of honour warfighter release

    ReplyDelete