Danau Toba

Excluding this post i have another 2 pending post which i have to finish before 26th April. We will go back to France for 2 weeks and im scared after we get back from vacation i will be more excited to write about our road trip to Italy instead of continue what i left behind.

Danau Toba trip was during CNY holiday in February and we went there for 4D3N. We landed in Medan and immediately headed to bus station and took bus to Parapat. Journey from Medan to Parapat took 6 hours by bus and we have to plan our time properly in order to be able to catch last Ferry to Samosir Island.

When we reach Samosir island it was already dark, full day already reserved for travelling and we was so tired. We already booked our hotel at Christina which the guy make a mistake by thinking that we cancelled. Fortunately they still have one more room which actually a traditional batak house design and can accommodate up to 5 adults. 

 (nice huh, the only big house at this hotel and facing lake toba)

(our bedroom, Kitchen & bathroom at 1st floor)

 (Nice view from hotel but its raining that day)

(on a sunny day)

(Local people doing laundry by the lake)

We asked hotel staff if we can rent motorbike somewhere and thankfully he arrange everything. Full tank motorbike for one day & nite cost us IDR80,000. 

The scenic view around this island will make you want to stop at every corner and turn you into a cam whore. There are hills and mountain, waterfall, paddy fields, river and churches.

 (simply breathtaking) 

 (they use this for wedding, funeral, event)

(Local batak house)

(Nico always excited with paddy fields but the mountain behind give extra bonus)

 (postcard picture)

 (park ur bike by the road, and this waterfall are 10m away :D)

(One of the jetty where you can take ferry and go around the island)

We was first visit Batak museum and see their traditional dance. We almost missed the show because having breakfast at nearby hotel which took painfully long to prepare our food. The museum was small, only provide basic history of batak people. The show was conduct with few houses as a background. Here you can see inside the house and can purchase clothes which they weave there. 

 (royal tomb, can see similar tomb all over d island)

(tourist can try too)

Local people here are very proud of their hot spring. So we decide to go have a look and maybe take a dip. When we first reach there we stop at one restaurant with hot spring sign. There's a lot of restaurant there with similar look. So we decide to eat something and then check the area. The place was actually look like bathing house, with separate area for men and women and swimming pool in the center. We not really fancy of this and go around to check other places. We end up finding this restaurant called Hot Spring restaurant. The rules to take a dip here is you have to eat and drink at the restaurant. And since we already ate we have to pay IDR5000 each. I just dip my feet in it and its definitely hot, my bf braver than me n take a shower in the hot water. This place also provide swimming pool since the natural area that collecting water are small and limited.

I was quite confused when they told us that we also can make a stop at a beach called Pasir Putih. Since we not at the sea this place is actually just look like one. Locals love to come here on the weekend to relax and picnic with family and friends. There's a lot of water activities involved, food stall, souvenir and toilet available. Its really a different experienced taking a swim with a nice view of surrounding mountain. 

(enjoying durian :D)

On the way back from pantai putih, we saw a row of shop selling souvenir and i haven't bought any fridge magnet yet. We walked around and its kind of annoying since everybody asking you to buy something from them but the best part is you can bargain hard. During weekdays there are not so many tourist and business really bad for this people. So we walk around trying to find something when we end up entering place called stone chair. 

 (also area for kings tomb)

(another batak house)

There's nothing top the feeling as we going up the mountain with our bike and looking at those scenery. Everything seems still and postcard picture everywhere. We just drove and thought that we might end up at the peak but we were wrong. Nico suggest we follow one of the signboard and we finally go through jungle track which lead to another village. We spend one hour on the bike since we cant go fast because of terrible road condition. I get so scared since we didn't know how far we have to go and we already far enough to turn back. I was then remember that batak people was once a cannibal and that was then i started to cry. To make matter worse, its started to drizzling and we only have one rain coat with us. Nico definitely have difficult time trying to be fast on that stony road, trying to get out of the jungle with rain which turn heavy and crying girlfriend on his back. Gosh, i love my boyfriend :) 

When we finally reach the end, we found out that we actually back to that hot spring town. So please dont makea  mistake as us and just take the road from hot spring if you were there. We still glad and laugh it off when we talked about that scary experienced today. 

 (i stop crying when i saw this)

Mabul Island

Island life, crystal clear water, cheap seafood, zillion star fish, memorable sunset and definitely gorgeous coral. That is what i can summarize about Mabul Island. The journey was unfortunately long, we took an hour car ride to LCCT airport, 3 hours flight to Tawau airport, another hour by car to Semporna and finally one hour boat ride to Mabul Island. Every minute was worth it after we arrived in Mabul Island and everybody was so excited to jump from chalet deck into the sea. 

We stay at http://scubajeffsipadan.com/ which is located in between so many other budget chalet in Mabul Island. What is good about this chalet is not only you can jump into the sea from it deck but you can also watch beautiful sunset from this side of the island. If you are a morning person, wake up between 6am to 7am and you will get a chance to see turtle which just under your deck every morning. We didn't see any because we woke up at 10. aahahahahha

(isnt that gorgeous?)

 (snorkeling right in front chalet)

 (they spend all afternoon in the water)

(waiting for our snorkeling trip)

Mabul and Sipadan Island famous for diving but if you are not a diver alternatively you can do snorkeling as we did. This is also the place where we all get excited for starfish, there are zillion of them, varies size and color all over the place.

We went snorkeling to 2 area, which is one near to Sipadan water bungalow and another one was called lobster wall. Since our waterproof camera have problem we didn't get a chance to take any underwater picture. Coral here was definitely gorgeous, lot of fish, you also can see eel and turtle if you lucky. 

Bajau laut kids like to come to this chalet, you can ask them to take you in their small boat around for as cheap as RM10. You have to negotiate with them for the price. These kids also like to ask you for money. If you see everyday life, RM1 to each kid already make them extremely happy. 

If you not here for diving, nothing much you can do except swimming and snorkeling. Alternatively, you also can pay a visit to Sea Gypsy Village which is accommodate bajau laut people. There's a lot of kids here and its fun to see how they go on their everyday life. Me and my girlfriend was so addicted to goreng pisang aka banana fritters here, first of all it was cheap, RM1 for 10 pieces and it was so good to eat after all those swim we did. Sadly, when you visit the village you can see rubbish everywhere. There's few villagers who try to have clean and nice environment but most of them simply didn't care. Plastic bag was everywhere and at some small beach there's even broken glass and bottles. 

 (they have fun jumping and i have fun taking picture, priceless)

(they don't have tablet to play games so they invent their own game)

 (kids clothes, seriously a lot of kids here :D )

(gov. should help and educate this people)

Sipadan water bungalow was at the other side of the island. We stay at scuba jeff so its mean we have to crossed the village to get there. It wasn't far, maybe 10 mins walk. If you not a guest at this resort, its not a problem, you still can come and visit for free. This resort built and surrounded by beautiful corals. Its nice that you can simply go down and already can find nice and unique sea creatures there. 

 (Observation deck view)

 (during low tide)

(Sipadan water village)

(small blue color fish)

Our vacation been blessed with a fresh seafood, right after bajau laut people back from fishing. They usually come to our chalet around 10am taking live crab, lobster and udang selipar(really dun know what this called in english) with them. We really regret for not taking blue lobster for RM180, when we went to Kota Kinabalu normal lobster already cost us RM200. Udang selipar however taste a bit like lobster and they sell it for RM10 each, RM20 in KK. We love crab so much and for 2 days during lunch we had crab. They sell crab RM20 for 6 nos. We then asked chalet cooker to cook for us and we simply love "ketam masak pedas" or crab in spicy sauce. 

(Bought it right from the boat)

 (otw to kitchen) 

(thats was udang selipar)

(masak pedas...nyummmmyyyy)

We are lucky to be able to see such gorgeous sunset on our second day in Mabul Island. Every body just sit by the deck, with drinks in hand and friends to hangout with and looking at the sun finish its duty for that day.  Mabul island is a place to relax, to forget everything and a place to have a humble life even for a short weekend.