WONDERFUL TOBA

Lake Toba is one of the awesome natural wonders of the world. This enormous crater lake has the size of over 1,145 square km, and a depth of 450 meters, Lake Toba is actually more like an ocean. This is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and one of the deepest lakes in the world. Toba is a place to take in the view of the picturesque mountains set against the cool clear lake. The lake sits 900 meters above sea level.

The island of Samosir, situated in the huge lake crater of Toba, measures 45 km. by 20 km.
The island, together with its surrounding areas is the heart of the Toba Batak culture.
A visit to Lake Toba is not complete without a stay on Samosir with its many traditional villages along its shoreline. 

THINGS to DO in SAMOSIR
1. Exploring local market at Tomok Village.
Start at the market and learn something new about this exotic island. Experience the sights, the taste and the smell in their everyday life and you will feel just like a local.
2. Culinary Tour.
You can try Gomak Noodle is a traditional curry noodle dish of the Batak Toba. Mie literally means noodle and Gomak is native for ' digomak’, which means preparation by hand. There are two ways to prepare this dish – in broth or fried.
3. Go mingle with the locals.
By wearing an Ulos. Ulos is a typical traditional woven fabric that symbolizes the bond of affection between parents and children or, between a person and others. Ulos has a symbolic function for a variety of aspects in Batak life and different kinds in color and motifs of ulos have different ceremonial significance. Ulos is usually worn in traditional rituals from birth to marriage to funerals.
4. Perform Tor Tor Dance.
Tor Tor is a traditional dance of the Batak ethnic group. The name 'Tor Tor’ is derived from the sound of communal pounding of feet made when groups of people engage in this dance. Normally Tor Tor is accompanied by ceremonial music using instruments such as the gondang.

This village has performance of Tor Tor Dance and Sigalegale Dance.
They have some Bataknese Traditional Houses as a background. Many houses on Toba are also decorated with symbolic carvings of breasts and geckos (called cicak). The breasts are for fertility and the geckos are for protection of the house, while at the top gable is invariably placed the head of a water buffalo, denoting prosperity for the inhabitants.

The Batak Toba village itself, such as the village of Tomok, consists of a row of separate massive wooden houses with striking saddle-shaped thatch roofs made of sugar palm fiber (called ijuk), although many roofs have now been replaced by the more durable but unromantic corrugated sheets. Houses are raised and supported on large piles of one to two meters height, meant to avoid floods and wild beasts. The houses at Tomok stand with their backs to the lake.

Huta Siallagan village was built in the reign of the first Huta leader, King Laga Siallagan.
Huta Siallagan covers a total area of 2,400 square meters and is surrounded by a 1.5 to 2 meter stone wall. Built from sleekly structured stones, the wall was once completed with bastions and sharp bamboos to protect the village from wild animals and attacks from other tribes.
There is a two sets of large stones carved into chairs encircling a stone table. These fascinating sets of stone furniture artifacts are called Batu Parsidangan, meaning “Stones for Meetings and Trials”.

Si Gale-Gale is a wooden puppet used in a funeral dance performance of Bataknese. During the dance, the puppet is operated from behind like a marionette using strings that run through the ornate wooden platform on which it stands. The set up enables its arms and body to be moved and its head to turn.
Traditionally the performance was carried out of childless person. Batak Toba believes souls become an ancestral spirit and the children of the deceased perform funerary rites. If a person died childless a sigalegale is created as a substitute.

In the kingdom of Sidabutar, they practiced an indigenous belief called Parmalim which is basically another form of animism.
The king’s image is carved on his tombstone, along with those of his bodyguard and Anteng Melila Senega, the woman the king is said to have loved for many years without fulfilment. The tomb is also decorated with carvings of lion (mythical creatures with grotesque three-horned heads and bulging eyes).

Maimoon palace is one of the landmarks of Medan. Maimoon palace was built one hundred and twenty five years ago, in 1888, by an architecture who was a captain in the Royal Nederlandsch Indisch Legar (KNIL) called Theodoor Van Erp and built in the heyday of Sultan Ma’mun Al Rashid Perkasa Alam. This palace covers 2,772 m² with a total of 30 rooms.
Maimoon palace has an interesting and unique architectural design because the palace consisted of many different cultures, including Malays, Islam, Middle East, India, and Europe.

The Sipisopiso is a plunge waterfall in the Batak highlands of Sumatra. It is formed by a small underground river of the Karo plateau that hurls itself from a cave in the side of the lake Toba caldera some 120 meters (360 feet) down to lake level.
This fact earns it the title for the highest waterfall in Indonesia. This thundering waterfall is popular with visitors who come to photograph this magnificent natural wonder. Surrounded by a lush green mountains cape.

Medan is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. It is the largest city in Sumatra and the fifth-most populous city proper in Indonesia.

THINGS to DO in MEDAN
1. Try Durian while you were in town. The best durian ever in Indonesia.
2. Buy some fruits in Berastagi.
3. Do not forget to try the COFFEE!
4. Exploring local street food. Medan has the second best street food after Jakarta.

Aceh Noodle
Mie Aceh is an Acehnese curried spicy noodle dish, offering choices of beef, chicken, or seafood toppings
2. Beef Bone Marrow Soup
The soup is so savory and delicious, and you will need to drink the marrow by sticking the straw in the bones, and drink it up.
3. Rice Noodle Curry (Tabona)
The dish consists of juicy beef cuts (or chicken), boiled vermicelli and that mouth-watering orangy curry broth!
4. Soto Medan
Established in 1962, this famous restaurant serves heavenly traditional Indonesian soup called Soto Medan. You can choose to have your soto with beef entrails, meat or chicken shreds. The soto is served with warm rice.

And do not forget to try "BENTOR" or Becak Motor is 3 wheels vehicle motorbike while you do the culinary.

visit Belitung, Indonesia. Enjoy your family time with the beautiful view of beaches, islands, lake and many more. Enjoy your vacation with no regrets.