Medan Journal (Day 3): Danau (Lake) Toba

Ferry Journey - An Anecdote

Waiting in the Ferry

The warm air swept across the lake, passing through the massive ferry, onto my face. The air was so refreshing. This is not the first time I travelled on a ferry, but this particular time it felt different. It doesn't have the typical smell of the sea breeze. The air here is so clean, unlike the musty, sticky, salty air of the sea. It was a lake after all.

Can you see four people at the edge of the ferry, waiting to jump off?

While enjoying the gorgeous scenery of Danau Toba, I suddenly saw someone jumped off the ferry. Followed by another one. Then another.

"Why would they do that?!" I asked myself.

Young Men Overboard!

Fortunately it wasn't anything bad. It was actually the locals on the ferry, kids really (?pre-teens maybe), who wanted some money. They would jumped into the water and the people on the ferry will throw some coins into the lake and he kids will dive after them. I'm pretty the other newbies on the ferry (ahem, like me, ahem) were pretty stunned at the beginning, but after a while, the ferry was filled with cheering, money-throwing and whatnot.

What a creative way to make a living, isn't it?

The faces of happy citizens. 

Danau Toba

Danau Toba & Lake Samosir - A Perspective

Credit: Google Maps

A. First off, a little bit of history and fun facts on Lake Toba:

• Lake Toba: Length - 81km, Width - 30km, depth - 505m, compared to Samosir Island (in the middle): Length - 44km, Width - 20km
• It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world.
• It is the site of a massive supervolcanic eruption that occurs more than 70, 000 years ago, the largest known explosive eruption in the last 25 million years (yup, very powerful!)

B. With regards to Samosir Island:

Paddy Fields on Samosir Island

• This island was named after a Batak King, King Samosir. 
• Main occupations of the people here: farmers & fishermen.
• The Batak nation (major ethnics inhabiting this island) was divided into six tribes that inhabit the Northern and Central Sumatera. Among them are Batak Karo, Mandailing and Toba. I reckon this is Toba's territory. It can be seen through their boat-shaped roof design and finely decorated carvings. Batak Toba's tribe has two pointy ends. The Minangkabau for example, had mutliples of rooftop 'spike'. Karo had four. 
• Ridu said that this place also has 'zero crime rate.' When asked how is it possible, he replied that they have a very strong sense of culture here. They don't have any policeman or soldiers roaming around the village, except for certain specific jobs like post-guarding (I don't know what does that mean, but that was what he said, I think).In their culture, anyone caught stealing won't be jailed as per standard procedure but will be sentenced to death instead. That.Is.Scary.So that is Samosir Island in summary. Oh, did I also mentioned that Samosir Island (640 km²) is not that far off, area-wise, compared to Singapore (716.1 km²). That's worth noting I reckon!

Anyway, it's getting late. We arrived at Tomok Jetty after ~30 minutes ride, and drove for another 1.5 hours (from Tomok jetty to Amabrita and Tuk Tuk) before reaching our accomodation at Bagus Bay, just in time for the Maghrib prayer. We had dinner and slept early that night. I really can't wait to explore the island tomorrow!