Prologue
Samosir, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Administratively, Samosir Island is governed as six of the nine districts within Samosir Regency. The lake and island were formed after the eruption of a super-volcano some 75,000 years ago. The island was originally a peninsula connected to the surrounding caldera wall by a small isthmus, which was cut through by the Tano Ponggol Canal in 1907 to aid navigation (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosir).
People say as it is the most beautiful island they’ve ever seen. Is it true? Well…let’s see.
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Day One:
It was raining on that day, Mom and Dad also another family were discussing whether or not we were going.
I played guitar with my sister when suddenly, Mum and Dad quickly announced we were going, but had to be quick because we weren’t going by a ferry.
On the contrary, we were going by car, passing by the huge Lake Toba and the woods with many nature-ey features!
That made me happy, but pretty sad because of not going by boat.
And, much more shocking, since I was playing my guitar, Mom told me bring it too 🙂 ???
I was confused. I mean, this was a first. I never bring my guitar on long trips…
After putting our stuff in our car (my friends’ family already went first) we climbed in and on our way we go!
It was fun actually! Road trip all the way to Samosir. Looking out all the nature features.
It was a three to four hours trip to get there. On the way, we saw numerous trees and naturism around! We passed a natural tourism site called Tele. Tele is a like a hill where we can see Samosir from there. We can also catch a delightful view of Lake Toba from there. There, the air is fresh so we opened our windows!
But be careful, for monkeys are also there too. Every time we saw one we would close our windows up again and put them back down again when they’re lost at sight.
After we crossed that, we saw a big statue/monument of Jesus Christ on a big hill, called Sibea-bea. My parents told me that we’ll go there…but just not today. We have many things to fit on our schedule for today. I’m pretty sad, but I was still happy because we saw many fresh lands everywhere.
Around half an hour later, we crossed a big, wide bridge covered in red paint. It’s called “Jembatan Tano Ponggol” which connected Sumatra and Samosir.
It was an amazing sight, but we couldn’t stop there (although we wanted to take a few pics). The road was getting crowded and was leading to a traffic jam, and a few people were taking some pics.
As we arrived at Samosir (we could say we already are in the regency), we tried to find hotels (we were planning to stay at a hotel at the other side of the island, but because we didn’t go by a ferry, it would be pretty difficult) to stay in.
It was raining and we tried two hotels, but they were literally full. A shame though. The first hotel had a beach with benches, so people are able to swim in the lake while taking a snack.
Our last hotel was our last chance and resort. It didn’t seem as if we would go all the way to the other side of the island in the evening! Our parents went out and asked the manager if there were any more rooms left. He said that there was no more, but only one, and that was a homestay.
I didn’t like the sound of that. I was imagining a beautiful hotel with a beach and a large swimming pool. But as soon as I went inside, I immediately changed my mind: The homestay contains of three rooms (we used two for a night. One for us, and another for my friend’s family) and a huge living room in the middle. There were three couches, and a big carpet on the floor.
There was even Netflix!
My friend and I wanted to relax for a while, but we couldn’t, for we hadn’t any dinner yet! We went to a restaurant that Mum went to when she had work in Samosir. But, like nearly all the hotels we tried, it was full.
We were getting hungry, so we went to a restaurant across the road (they didn’t really get our orders right) before going to a bridge where a colorful fountain played every 8:00pm and 10:00pm.
We were planning to join the 8:00pm session, but due to searches for dinner, we had to wait for the next session which was on 10:00pm. My sister didn’t really like waiting, so she turned a bit cranky, so Dad and I went along with the others.
Finally…the fountain turned on and everyone was so excited. They played it in different variations to various songs including Horas and Boom, boom, boom, boom by Vanga Boys or whatever the artist called their group (I didn’t know the title when it played, but I could’ve sworn I’ve heard it somewhere).
We were sad when it ended, but it was an exciting experience (definitely recommend).
We went back to our homestay, and fell asleep…
Day Two:
We woke up and had breakfast quickly (Nasi Goreng and tea. Delicious 🙂 ) while watching Dora the Explorer (we had Netflix on TV so we could watch literally anything).
My friend secretly wanted to watch One Piece, that anime thing (I’m not a big fan of Anime) so he kept stealing the remote from me. He said he liked it because it was ‘sus’ (don’t ask what it means) but we have a much younger audience with us, which is my sister, so insisted. It’s the live action Dora the Explorer and the Lost City of Gold, so he liked it eventually.
We finished and pack our stuff for the beach, because we are going to the beach!!!
We put a ton of sunscreen and started bathing in the lake. Of course, I didn’t really want to get my clothes wet, because I had no change, so I stayed pretty near the edge.
My friend, on the other hand, went straight to the lake, put his whole body in the water… and found Rp50.000,00!!! Unbelievable (he even got another Rp10.000,00 shortly afterwards).
He started splashing around so I went out and made a sandcastle. My friend saw me and decided to make and even bigger one! He then got out his sphere sort of toy and started splashing it on the water.
I got out and went to lay down on a deck chair with Mum and my sister. Mum insisted on me playing my guitar, even though I didn’t want to. I eventually found myself sitting on the sand whilst singing three songs there.
Dad videoed them (i share it on my youtube channel: https://youtu.be/X7T4ehrzfz4), and went back to our homestay after the others got changed. But as we got there, our stuff had already been taken out and the caretakers were cleaning our rooms.
Wanna know why? A few days ago, some Priests booked the homestay days before we stayed. They were giving us a night upstairs, where we’ll only get one room to ourselves with no living room connecting it, and no Netflix.
Never mind…we wouldn’t even have time to watch anything…for we were gonna go touring around the bridge we visited the day before!!! And, we also reserved our orders at the restaurant that Mum recommended the other day.
After taking a shower, and resting, we went out and headed to our food! We got separated tables, but got the right food (unlike the day before). Mum was right: Delicious food and the restaurant is so…vintage.
Afterwards, we went outside and walked through the long bridge (called ‘Waterfront City Pangururan’) until the balcony we were on Day One where we watched the dancing colorful fountains.
I was fascinated by the shimmering lake beyond us. We watched some kids do some ‘Tor-tor’ dance while playing bubbles (a little girl played along with us) until we got tired and went back. Honestly, it was exactly the same as last night. So. Many. People. That…was the last time we went there on our trip.
Day Three:
This was the last day. Sad, but…we are going to go to our final destination! Which is [drumroll please]…Sibea-bea!
Sibea-bea is a hill where we can go after we voyage across that bridge that links Sumatra to Samosir (AKA “Jembatan Tano Ponggol). Even from afar, we can see a big statue of Jesus posturing as the cross. It’s huge and should be one of the tallest Christ Monuments in the world when it’s finished (it’s finished now, but when we went there, it wasn’t yet). Not only the statue, but there’s an amazing view of Lake Toba from there!
I’d definitely recommend going there, but if it’s hot, I’d also endorse a hat, a fan, and wear a lot of sunscreen. Why? Because when we went there, it was BOILING! I was so scorched, that I drooped when going up the stairs to see Jesus’ Statue. Let alone from all that, the place was crammed and full!
Dad took nearly ten minutes searching for a parking lot for our car! Even Mum didn’t really seemed pleased when she found out it took that long! Apart from the parking stuff…my sister was absolutely cheerful and was jumping up and down every time she felt like it.
Me, on the other hand, was already drooping because of the temperature. Sure enough, we took a few pics and went back home by a long trip by our car. Of course, it was a fine-looking place to go!
Epilogue:
So…is Samosir the most beautiful island I’ve ever seen?
Well…yes. Definitely.
Not only the view and stuff, but the activities we can do there! Touring, watching dances, and even experiencing wonderful fountain show on the lake!
Honestly, I’d definitely recommend Samosir as your next site to visit! 🙂 🙂 🙂
~Agatha~
