The Trip To Parapat [Day Two]

This is Part Two, Part One can be found over here.


“In my dreams… you are still here.”
“Like you’ve always been…”

I had one of my hardest and the most uncomfortable sleeps ever that night. It’s not only because it’s so cold at night, although the air conditioner had been set to twenty something degrees, but it was also due to the fact that I was sleeping on a wooden stick covered by a jagged sheet in the narrowest position anyone could imagine one person could sleep in. If I had rolled my body over to the left, I would be hugging Hendrik, literally, and if I was to roll right, I would fall down from bed and hit on Sugianto right on his face. That way, I could only sleep by facing the ceiling. I woke up every hour, once at 1 a.m., once at 2, and I woke up again at 3 to go to the toilet, a place I’d rather be at that moment. At least it was spacious in there :D.

The last person to go to sleep that night was Ngariwan, who was outside making phone calls to a Dutch girl, which activity he carried on even after he went inside the room. Unfortunately for him, there was no more space for him to sleep on. The bed, the mattresses, and even the floor had all been occupied. So he wondered around looking for a place to sleep and it just cracked all of us. I think it was the longest anyone could laugh in the middle of the night. Bandy was laughing non-stop which was so funny that drew all of us to start laughing all over again. But eventually Ngariwan squeezed in on the floor between Sugi and Apau.

The first thing any of us did in the morning was to take a shower. It was a cold and refreshing shower. A new day had begun. The second day. It was Friday, October 3rd, 2008.

The Villa offered us breakfast for two (despite the fact that we’re twelve), one of which I took gladly. It was a fried noodle. Quite delicious too. The rest of our group made sandwiches. I also ate several of those. I guess that’s why they all thought I was a fast eater, and they always gave me all the left-overs, so I could finish them, sort of as a living garbage can. Hehehe.. But I didn’t mind, and I didn’t eat all the things they gave me, though. I wasn’t really that ravenous.

The plan was to go to Samosir that day, and so after we’re all set, we went downstairs to meet our drivers. They would be the ones to drive us to the quayside. But they were nowhere to find. They’re also not answering the phone. So we all agreed on walking. It’s been quite long since I walked a long way. I used to walk very often when I was in high school or when I was still living in Jakarta. Walking used to be my hobby. I think it kept me thin. But ever since I had Smashie, it’d become less likely for me to walk far. So I was happy for the opportunity to really walk again. Not to mention this time my friends were with me. So there were definitely some moments too.

That was me walking with our group from our villa (East side) to the quay (North) where we would be waiting for the boat. It was quite a long walk. I also had the chance to take some pictures…

Those were Steven and Suwandy. Random photos, Real moments.

We also passed the Statue of Lake Toba. It is a popular statue. I didn’t think everyone noticed that statue, although they were all passing it. They were too busy walking and talking. Haha.

That was Michael behind the girls. Oh no.. it’s not as hot as the pictures look. It’s quite breezy actually.

The first harbor we went in offered us the trip to Tomok and back for Rp.20.000,- per person. The boat-guy told us that we would be seeing Batu Gantung as well. We all thought it was too expensive. Yuvina and Bandy said that it was only Rp.5000,- per person, and since we’re heading for Tuk Tuk anyway, we refused that offer and continued walking to another dock.

Several minutes later, we found ourselves a new dock but the boat-guy over there also asked for Rp.20.000,- per person. It’s the same destination with the previous one we asked. He said that the “Rp.5000,- per person” price didn’t cover a return trip. So, realizing that we’d be hard-pressed to find another dock with lower price, we accepted the offer under one condition : we got a discount. It was all settled. Two of us didn’t have to pay.

And while we’re waiting for the boat, it’s pictures time again… Hehehe…

I was the first one to photograph a posed take that day. Those were the girls. The second one includes Steven, Suwandy, Bandy, and Riwan. They all said that I took too many pictures, but yet they all posed eagerly and were grateful all along. It’s for the sake of memorizing, wasn’t it?

And we were sailing on a boat like these.

There were lots of pictures too. Let me just post them and we can enjoy pictures rather than reading too much.

That is a pretty cool picture of me and Bandy with cool style… Wakakakaka..

That’s Hendrik with his usual charming smile :P, and I swear I wasn’t trying to capture Lia. I was meaning to take the view because those buildings far over there were our villa. Lia just “appeared” there :D

Again, it is Steven and Suwandy. They took awful lot of pictures together :p Oh and that’s Susanty talking with Ellys. I love this picture. It looks more real.

The Guys… we were sitting on the boat’s roof. It’s very windy there… and in a minute, all of it changed as the sun was smiling vivaciously from above us. And so that we’re not all burnt out before we reached Tomok, we went under and sit there… but before that… one or two last pictures…

The beautiful pose of the beautiful girls in a beautiful view of the Lake.

This one is too. :P

Here are the pictures from inside the boat… Apau and Bandy with their cool faces… and Yenni with Susanty against the greenish water.

Beautiful take, this one.. I must admit. See Vera raising her hand as if she didn’t want to be missed? Or she’s just putting spirit of eagerness to the group..? Haha.. Either way, this photo rocks.

“Why was my face so round?” — Yuvina on this photo above, last night when we met.

Steven and Ngariwan, Vera, Ellys, Hendrik and Suwandy were all on board…

Well, more pictures before we go on the real trip…

Here are the vertical takes… A Chuan and Ngariwan, Me and Hendrik, Riwan and Michael…

The Girls, once again.. Hehehe.. Notice that Lia was actually smiling.. she didn’t do that very often :P

Ok.. so our boat was finally sailing after one hour waiting… The view was incredible.. Let me just explain it by pictures…

I don’t think I need to explain those pictures above. Hahaha.. The point is we had a great time. Yuvina and I took many pictures. She is great. And that’s the sleeping Michael.. whoa.. he’s sleeping everywhere, I tell you. Also, there was that funny expression of Yuvina… hahahaha

Some journey.

The picture above is my favourite picture from the boat… It just looks marvelous.. Cia Cia on the other hand, thought that her hair was so wildly ridiculous.. Hahaha.. But her photo on the right is just cute, I gotta say… shorter hair suits her.

Cia Cia and Yuvina. Again, Cia Cia’s hair jumped upwards :P… and btw… I like the water…

And finally, we arrived at the Batu Gantung. I’ve never seen it before.. so I wonder what it looked like. But I gotta tell you. It’s nothing spectacular. Just a hanging rock in the middle of a cliff. Not that big a deal. The local people might have dramatized it, creating a whole story of how a girl was hanged upside down and then was petrified as a stone for all eternity. Yawn. Legends.

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t seen it…

And this is the girls examining the hanging stone (or whatever the name is)… I’d rather photographing them photographing the stone than photographing the stone myself (you get that?).. I found it more interesting.. Hahaha…

Yuvina was the only one posing hahaha…

At last, we were nearing Samosir island. Our first destination was Tomok, a place to shop with additional cultural amusements.

In Tomok, we saw many different things… the first thing I saw there was the harbor that was crowded with people. We tried not to be separated. But when we entered the jam-packed street where lots of people were selling clothes and souvenirs, we had been divided in a second. Lolz. I bought myself a white shirt.

And then we went to a graveyard of some king in the past. I took several pictures there..

The journey moved on, and we went into the Puppet Show of Sigale-Gale.

The puppet could dance if we paid Rp 60.000,-. It’s funny. I guess the “No Money, No Lap Dance” rule doesn’t only apply in Strip Bars.

The Puppet Show of Sigale-gale

Oh it’s me, it’s not the puppet…

That’s the puppet standing beside Yenni and Steven.

So we didn’t pay for the show, we just posed there :p. Our next stop was the Bataknese Museum, located in the furthest corner of Tomok. The sky began to turn black, as we walked up to the building. The path was climbing and then descending.

The museum was just a small house. There was a modern café right beside it, in which we rested for a while later. And so we entered the museum. We saw lots of ancient artifacts of Batak people. I took some pictures here too, take a look :

Yuvina also took lots of pictures. There was a thing that used to be the Batak people’s means of music. Cia Cia played with it, and so I followed too..

This photograph was funny. I like that very much.

But then it was raining hard, so we took shelter in the café below :

After the rain slowed down a little bit, we proceeded to gather with our group. At first I thought it was time to go back to Parapat, since most of us had already exhausted, A Chuan had even wanted to poop so bad that he kept resisting it up in his bowel.

But we didn’t go back. Steven said it was still too early, so we had our lunch there at Tomok’s Rumah Makan Sederhana. It was truly ‘sederhana’ since we only ate rice with chili and eggs.
While we’re eating, Bandy went outside for reason only known to himself. Turns out he rented a small “sudaco” car to take us to Tuk Tuk. When I first saw the car, I’d doubted it. I thought, since it was so small and all, it ought to be able to fit 10 people max. But once again, I was surprised. Nineteen of us was pushed and snuck forcibly in to that mini car. It was the weirdest experience, sharing a car with exceeded capacity, but it was also ridiculously hilarious. You can only imagine (since I didn’t get the time to capture that moment—I was busy holding Sugianto on my lap), five guys (including the driver) sat in front of the car (when it’s usually three people only), and the other fifteen people was stuck behind. The driver advised some of us to climb the car and sit on top of the car, but we didn’t want to do that, just in case it’d be raining again. But it’s a personal record for us to be able to fit that way.

The journey to Tuk Tuk took about 20 minutes.

The view from Tuk Tuk was different if not more beautiful. There was a corner where our car had to mount carefully to finally unfold a breath-taking view that was Lake Toba seen from Samosir Island. Our first stop was Hotel Carolina, assumed to be the most expensive hotel in Lake Toba, not to mention the most beautiful. It has a small beach with lots of statues and a park for people to relax there. We went in there to sit and talk. Pictures weren’t forgotten, too. But the best thing in Tuk Tuk was that when we sat there, just sat there seeing the view that was in front of us. Suddenly, it was all worth the journey, the bumpy road trip we had had earlier… :D

Ellys and Me, we found a little spot with two fish standing… hence, a nice place to take pictures… and that’s Cia Cia. I have a bigger version… here :

Well how bout that? Cia Cia’s got a huge stick. Lolz…

Don’t ask me… I don’t know what Sugi’s looking at.

There, we spoiled ourselves in the most peaceful place anyone could want.

Below are two of the other pictures that are just amusing.

In Tuk Tuk, Steven took the chance to be with four awe-inspiring women…

Personally, I think it’s creative… “Same background different ladies” :P

Our next trip turned out to be NOT home. We cruised for another journey to the other part of the island. We visited Ambarita, an old country of Batak people with their old houses, old tools, and old culture.

And so we hopped in to the super crowded car again.

Here’s Ambarita, a place where an old king of Siallagan used to live several generations ago.

The notice board was so funny I could laugh. Their English was too awesome..

“Name name local guide ambarita for specech inggris”

XOXO

Then we hired a guide to show us around and he explained the history for us. It was a long and funny one actually. He brought us to the old Court, to the execution chamber, and he demonstrated for us.

That’s when we’re sitting in the stony court listening for the guide who was telling us how Batak people used to judge one’s crime.

Then he did a reconstruction of how it was back then when they’re beheading people who betrayed the country. Apau played the spy. And he went through some excruciations before his head got chopped off from his body. We all just watched and laughed at several moments (read : at all times).

But that was our last adventure on the island, or at least that was our plan. On our way back, we hit a huge and long traffic jam as hundreds of car were waiting for the ferry to bring them back to Parapat, and we were stuck in that crowded car. So we all came out of the car and walked our way to our boat. We needed to hurry to find our boat. But the road was far-off. We walked and walked while the sky was raining drizzlingly. Wanna see the queue?

That’s cool.

And “that” was our last adventure in Samosir. We headed back in a boat on a stormy lake. From where I was sitting on the boat, I could see a beautiful rainbow which was so short, it came out from the lake and barely form a half circle, it had ended. But I couldn’t capture it because I was wet owing to the rain that kept showering me. My friends were stupid enough to miss that too, and now we’re just regretting. Lolz..

We walked again from the harbor to our villa. We were all super exhausted at that moment, but we had to keep going, because the rain was still pouring harder and harder. I took several of the last steps to the villa running. After all of us were back in the villa, we’re all tired and needed a good sleep, but we’re all dying to have some more good times and we all knew that it was too good a chance to ruin by just sitting around and sleeping around. So we showered and got ready for the night journey. That took about two hours.

We planned to go back to Niagara Hotel but only for Karaoke, and that was my idea. The girls were just agreeing the second I came out with that plan. As to Steven, he said, “Sure, why not?”

So we ate first at a spot on a random sidewalk. We sat behind a long table while the outside was raining. But at least this time we didn’t have to walk anymore, our bus was already waiting for us in the villa. And the drivers were confused why we hadn’t called them all day. Hah!

The trip to Niagara was usual. There was no surprise. And then we were there.

Karaoke was my favourite hobby besides traveling. I just love to sing, and since this is my favourite and best trip so far, it woudn’t feel right without some singing action. Hahaha. I told you I’d promised myself to sing in Niagara.

That’s a little preview of us singing. My first song was of course the one I always love to sing : Ronan Keating’s When You Say Nothing At All. I also sang “From this moment”, “In the end”, and in the picture above, I sang Celine Dion’s “To Love You More” for the first time ever. I’d never sing that before anywhere. I barely memorized the lyrics. But I pulled it off with Yuvina’s amazing voice by my side. My mouth opened that roundly because I was singing its last part, where I supposed to yell for twenty seconds. Yuvina said she couldn’t do that… hahaha.. what a great moment.

Have I mentioned that it was a hell of a great day? Yeah, I know. I must have. A thousand times… But it was. It really was. I’m just so happy.

We sang until the place closed. It was the most extraordinary day. It was a really long day. I should know, because this writing alone has surpassed 3000 words, and it’s barely part two. There is still day three to come. The last day.

I think this vacation was the best one I’ve ever had. Friends like them were really hard to come by. I like that they respected me as a person among them. I was no lower or higher. We were all the same. It’s what friendship should be like. When I recall some of my best friends throughout my life, besides the seven els “Erick, Buchan, Liting, Dabin, Jimmy, and Harry”, this group is just as great.

The day hadn’t ended yet. After we came back from Niagara, we started another game night which was just as great as before, if not better. This time, we played the game “Cassette-Passing”. Until all the “dare” instructions in Steven’s possession had played out, of which punishments I suffered for 5 times and breaking records as the most unfortunate person in that room… (and that was 1 am in the morning), that was when we stopped. And finally, we slept again to embrace the final day…

… which we knew would be amazing.

[Read Day Three Over Here]