Tag Archives: Samosir Island

We love Sumatra and in Sumatra, we love Lake Toba so much so that we ended up spending about 60% of the month we had in Indonesia in Lake Toba which also meant we could not move to other parts of Indonesia besides Sumatra. Now you must think, since we were in Lake Toba for 17 days, we must have seen all that was there to be seen, done all that was there to be done many times over. But our laziness was at its peak in Lake Toba, we managed to tick a few things of our list. We present to you the 5 things we really enjoyed in Lake Toba. Almost all the accommodation in Lake Toba is in Tuk-Tuk village in Samosir Island and there is only one connection to the mainland, and if you are here in the off-season you are likely to know most tourists. We bumped in most of them at the many sites that are scattered in various parts of the island. Lake Toba is the largest lake in Indonesia and the world’s largest volcanic lake and Sumatra is home to Bataks, the natives of Indonesia. The setting is very pretty, people are nice (this applies to all places in Sumatra, all of them love Indians and they are big fans of SRK) food will please your taste buds if you don’t experiment too much, and you can walk for weeks and are likely to find some hidden corner to sit and admire the view. Here are the top 5 things we enjoyed in Lake Toba. Walks around the Island – It takes about an hour to walk its circumference of the island. You can sit any guest towards the lakeside, and enjoy a nice cup of tea, coffee (both with condensed milk) …

We stayed on the beautiful island of Samosir surrounded the mystical Lake Toba in Sumatra at an expense of around $22 per day. Rate 1 USD = 10,800 IDR Rate 1 USD = 60 INR Expense Item Per Day (USD) Total Stay 17 Days (USD) Per Day (INR) Total Stay 17 Days(INR) Breakfast 4.17 70.8 250 4250 Lunch 2.22 37.8 133 2267 Dinner 2.22 37.8 133 2267 Special Dinners / Eating Out 2.31 39.4 139 2361 Juices / Drinks Etc 2.31 39.4 139 2361 Accomodation 6.48 110.2 389 6611 Water 0.83 14.2 50 850 Laundry / Miscellaneous 0.93 15.7 56 944 Total $21.48 $365.2 1289 21911 We know its not easy to keep a track of your expenses especially while traveling but we did it. And we have renewed our love for PIE CHARTS. Where we spent our cash: 1. Accomodation: Rooms are cheap at Lake Toba. We got a beautiful, spacious room with a huge bathroom at 70,000 IDR. 2. Food: Breakfast 45,000 IDR Lunch and Dinner would usually be one dish each about each costing 12,000 IDR so average IDR 24,000 We kept our health in check and had a glass or two of juice each day about 8000 – 10,000 IDR. One 4 nights we ordered Vegetable Pizza’s and always ended up getting a 2nd one. Each costing about 30,000IDR. 3. Eat outs: We ate out only once at a place called Junia which was way expensive than Liberta Homestay and one meal cost us about 100,000 IDR at our friend’s recommendation. He later agreed that the food at the guest house we were staying at was not just the best value for money but most appealing to taste buds as well. 4. Sightseeing: All the sight seeing we did was on foot, but we paid entry …

How many days can you stay back for this view? When we started this trip we intended to go to quiet places, find a comfortable place to stay with open spaces, preferably close to a water body where we could relax, read, talk, write, walk and introspect all day. And when we look back there is one place more than any other that could be the stress free abode that matched all the necessary criteria where we stayed on amazingly low budget with amazing hospitality and courtesy extended by the owner. Even at the end of seventeen nights we were not willing to leave and had to drag ourselves out because our visa was about to expire. That place was what we like to call is Mr. Moon’s traveler’s heaven – Liberta Homestay. Mr Moon is a kind gentleman who was once a farmer before he moved to Samosir Island in Lake Toba in Sumatra to run this place that was set up by his brother and his wife. His brother and sister-in-law decided to go back to Germany while Mr Moon willingly took over Liberta homestay that he now happily manages with the help of dedicated staff and family members. This the first and only place rooms in all of our travel that offered rooms at fixed prices only – no negotiations or testing the waters with each traveler. The prices are written on the reception and are so reasonable you wouldn’t want to bargain. And even during our stay there was never any overcharging or issues that were not readily dealt with. Mr Moon’s Batak houses are split level accommodations with bathroom and sitting space at the bottom and you climb a cute little staircase to sleep at the top. They are neat, spacious, charming, well built and …