3 days 2 night lake toba trip (Tuk Tuk, Parapat, Balige)

Lake toba is formed by a volcano eruption some time around 70,000 years ago. 

what is special is that in the lake, there is another island, which is the samosir island.

For the period of October, there are lesser tourist as it is the raining season.

Sometimes there are heavy downpour, sometimes it is drizzling.

Depending on the itinerary, tourist will usually go about the lakeside, sightseeing natural landscape.

The infrastructure isnt well developed. so you expect a more laid-back kind of living.

The weather is pretty cooling but there is still sun shining everyday.

Do bring along SPF.

boarding air- asia

tickets for return are about RM166, quite cheap

Air asia currently fly 3 times per week.

we just brought hand carry 

save money and hassle

my hand carry is only 4kg

please take note that Air Asia has a very strict policy on hand carry weight.

At the custom, they will weight your luggage

Anyway, Pack light, just a few pieces of clothing, Slippers, toiletries put in a clear pouch and not over 100ml of liquid.

Boarding at 10am, flight departed at 10.40am. it takes about an hour to reach Silangit.

The Indonesian time is an hour late compared to Malaysian timing.

Please study the map for convenience.

From Silangit, take a taxi to Parapat, 2 hours because there is no highway, only small roads.

the price for taxi quoted is 350,000 rupiah around RM115.

Quite cheap.

Then from Parapat, take a ferry/boat to tuktuk.

Ticket is around 20,000 rupiah per pax.

Bought noodles to eat on the boat.

15,000 rupiah for a pack of noodles.

the ferry will fetch you to your hotel.

I booked Mas Cottage, this is off-peak, really cheap as well, around RM75 per room.

Generally, the hotels are about the same, you get a lake view, some pricy hotels will have a small swimming pool.

Mas Cottage is near to the Batak culture village.

Problem for Mas Cottage is usually they do not have electricity and they will use a generator.

So please check the timing with them for hot water, lights.

the air is quite cooling at night, i just open the windows a little. no air-cond or fan which means save cost.

 beautiful flowers planted in mas cottage.

 Dinner at Jenny's restarant. they do a fusion of Indonesian food and Western food.

Grilled fish, grilled pork, mixed veg with peanut sauce

fried rice

Pineapple juice= 16,000 rupiah

view of hotels

beautiful sunset view 

Breakfast at Mas Cottage

 American Breakfast = 45,000 rupiah

Oriental Breakfast = 45,000 rupiah

Avocado toast with cheese and egg = 27,000 rupiah

the avocado toast taste great, i love how creamy the avocado is!!

look how serene is the lake

After breakfast, we took a ferry back to Parapat.

it takes about an hour to reach Parapat

Parapat - Balige by taxi

Lunch - not recommended, so expensive 

for 4 pax, around 220,000 rupiah

2nd night = Balige

one room for 2 pax = 200,000 rupiah

and have to pay deposit which is also 200,000 rupiah

toilet sucks

the room is quite basic, with air con, tv, wifi

Bakara Viewpoint

View of lake toba from above

plantations

The view is so gorgeous, you get lush plantations, blue sky, fresh air and of course a glimpse of lake toba

The journey to Bakara Viewpoint is tedious, suggest to go to Huta Ginjang for a paranomic view and its not far from Balige.

for dinner, i walked from my hotel to search for local food.

fried noodles = 20,000 rupiah

pantai bul bul

this is a lakeide with sand, so they named it pantai

3 km from my hotel OYO Rap

The sand is quite dirty, rubbish everywhere.

But you get a nice view of the opposite mountain view.

Next, we visit local stalls.

Fried rice with fried fish

noodles with egg

breakfast at a local stall.

fried fish = 10,000 rupiah

breakfast for 3= 70,000 rupiah

At about 10am, we took a taxi to silangit.

it takes about 30- 45 minutes from Balige, depending on traffic.

before boarding, coffee time

30,000 rupiah for coffee

The Silangit airport is very small compared to KLIA 2, so just head in, go through 1 security and you will reach the boarding gate.

roast chicken taste quite bland

Nasi Lemak on Plane, pre-book for free water.