#160303 - 07 Lake Toba #4

Ambarita - ancient court

Here you will find some stone chairs and stone table, which make up an ancient court yard. Those were used a long time ago by the local king as a court of justice.

Traditional Batak dance.

Jetty @ Tuk Tuk

#160303 - 07 Lake Toba #3

1st meal on the way to Parapat. Mee Goreng, Nasi Goreng, BBQ fish.

Gado Gado

Breakfast @ Horas

One of the meal

Another one of our meal

Mee Goreng for teatime at a warung

Salad, chicken, pork & fish

Continental breakfast @ Horas

Ginger tea and Goreng Pisang @ Simarjarunjung

Avocado Juice

#160303 - 07 Lake Toba #2

On our second day at Horas, we had the Famous Horas BBQ fish dinner. It costs Rp 200,000 per person. The owner, Mr. Berend refused to tell us what we are getting for the dinner (there's no listing of dishes in the menu像台湾流行的那种无菜单料理) and told us that we have to accept his companion for this dinner.

Chicken satay as the starter

All homemade, all organic. Very good organic peanut sauce that suit our Asian tastebud.

The best and smallest crayfish that I've tasted in my life. In fact, I don't think that I can get this back in Singapore or Malaysia. It's so fresh and succulent. According to Mr. Berend, it's still alive 2 hours before our meal in the lake.

BBQ small fish

BBQ big fish

More BBQ fish

BBQ spareribs. Very tender, juicy and well marinated.

BBQ chicken. My favorite BBQ of the night. The meat of kampung chicken tasted ridiculously good!

They served also fried rice but too bad I was really too full to try it.

That night, we had a few hours chat with Mr. Berend. We learnt that he's a Dutch, working his whole life for Deltares, had been living in a few interesting countries like Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, etc. He's being shot twice in his life and he has shot others too. He first visited Tuk Tuk during his business trip with the Dutch government and since then he has fallen for this place.

I guess this trip is quite educational for me. 

I learnt the following:

- Batak tribe is the majorities around Lake Toba and Samosir Island, stand at around 6% of Indonesia population. Most of them are Christians.

- Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. (Mr. Berend has stayed at Pakistan for around 15 years and he can speak Urdu)

- There are a lot of oil palm plantations at north Sumantra and the owners are mostly staying at those big houses at Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

- The workers of the oil palm plantations earn around USD 100 per month.

- Even you have the money, you can't buy a land at Tuk Tuk unless you are married to local Batak people.

- "Horas" means "welcome" in Batak language.

#160303 - 07 Lake Toba #1

Several months ago, I decided to travel to Medan when Jetstar was having promotion, with an intention to recollect my childhood memories of my trip to Lake Toba 20 years ago.

Our accommodation @ Tuk Tuk, Samosir Island ~ Horas Family Home, with Batak architecture.

Mini organic farm @ Horas

My 1st time seeing broccoli plants

Feeding rabbits. This is really not my thing. I have never liked animals due to their smell.

First time taking a dip in a lake, the largest volcanic lake in the world to be specific. Not swimming pool, not sea! 

The undeveloped Tuk Tuk

Enjoying the scenic lake view

Rice paddy field at Tuk Tuk
I guess most Batak people here depend on subsistence farming for their living.