MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEWING SPOT IN DANAO TOBA (MEDAN, INDONESIA)

Did you like these pictures? We took these pictures during our trip to Medan. We were so lucky as the weather was so nice and the sky was so gorgeous. We did not put any filter to any of the photos for this entry to show you the originality of the places that we've visited. 

 

If you were thinking about travelling to Indonesia, Medan will most probably be in your mind. Medan is one of the main tourist attraction in Indonesia. We ourselves has travel a few times to Medan. This year we have one more visit to Medan, but this time we decided to go some where other than the normal tourist attraction location which only the locals know the whereabouts.

 

In Indonesia, the car rental normally included a driver. Well, of course you can drive there, but, if you are not used to the surrounding it's better that you rent a car with a driver because there are not many signboards around and the road is a bit tricky. Not to mention the heavy traffic and uncontrolled vehicles coming in and out of the road. Anyway, we did once tried asking about renting a car without a driver, however, even the car rental company advised us to include a driver in our rental for safety purpose and the rental price has already included the driver's fee. However, please note that fuel price was not included in the can rental price, you'll be needing to pay for the fuel that you are using. 

Nevertheless, if you are planning to travel far from the city center, you might need to add some money to pay for the driver's accommodation and food. It's not that expensive though, it'll just cost around 40,000 - 100,000 rupiah per day (which is around RM12-RM32 per day) depending on the distance and location. 

We were so lucky as our driver was a very understanding, patience and polite person. His name is Pak Fery. Here, we include his phone number just in case one day you would like to use his service.

+62 812-6919-6169 (Pak Fery)

We've stayed in Medan for 1 day, after that we began our journey to Danao Toba. From Medan to Danao Toba it takes around 3-4 hours depending on the traffic and the speed of the car. The normal speed here is around 60-80km/h because most roads run through houses and terrain which make it difficult for you to speed. But hey, we came here to enjoy the scenery so we would love to have a slow and steady trip. Whenever we saw any nice view we would stop by and take photos and we do stop for every half and hour for food and toilet. Hehe.. That's why our trip took longer than 4 hours, too many pit stops. Haha!

Danao Toba is one of the largest lake in South East Asia. From top you can see that the lake was so huge it looks like the sea which surrounded by many beautiful islands. 

 

Our driver told us that the Batak people was the origins of Danao Toba and they have their own unique history while living in Danao Toba. If you would like to visit the Batak houses, you can go to Parapat, take a boat to an island where the Batak houses & tombs is still preserved. From there you'll need to hire a tourist guide to guide you around the island while explaining about the Batak history.

I still remember my last trip here, the tour guide asked us whether we wanna see the skeleton of the previous Batak Leader. It is said that even though many years has passed by, the hair of the leader is still growing and still black in color. Might be because of some black magic. I don't know much about it and of course I refuse to see the skeleton. Okay, fine. I admit I was scared, furthermore, you need to pay a certain amount of money to see it which I rather use my money for food and shopping.. Hahaha!!

Because we've alread come here so many times, thus, we decided to skip the trip to the Batak Island. Instead we decided to drive along Danao Toba lake while enjoying the view. 

The real fun begin during our ride along the Danao Toba Lake. We stayed 1 night at Parapat and the day after we began our trip driving all along the Danao Toba Lake. Please bare in mind that this is not a normal tourist route. We personally requested Pak Fery (our driver) to take us to all beautiful places in Danao Toba. Danao Toba is quite a cold place not like Medan. For us who travel from hot climate country like Malaysia, we prepared ourselves with sweaters / jacket. 

 

As you can see here, there are a lot of viewing points along the road which you can stop by and take photos. Some viewing point has small food stall and toilet for you to rest while enjoying the scenery. But, if you find any man made viewing point such as this, you can climb up to take better photos of the surrounding, take a selfie perhaps, but you'll need to pay around 5,000 - 10,000 Rupiah (around RM1.60 - RM3.10) depending on the owners. Each viewing point structure has their own respective owners. 

Let us tell you a secret. The most beautiful viewing spot in Danao Toba Lake is located at Bukit Indah Simarjarunjung which famously known to the locals but not to the tourist perhaps because the road here is small and not as good as the main road. 

Here, you can find so many gorgeous viewing points which having one of the best view of the Danao Toba Lake. Just look at the creativity shown on every viewing point structure / arts. This one looks like a huge bird nest which you can climb up to take your own photos or to have a better look of the Danao Toba Lake. 

Voila!! These photos are our master piece. The sky was on point the the lighting was just perfect. No filter, no editing. This is real.

Alhamdulillah, we managed to take many beautiful photos during this trip. 

So, the money that we didn't use at Parapat we spent it here. Rent as many viewing point as we could, take hundreds of photos & videos, drink hot cafe, eating delicious steamed corns - relax and just enjoy the view. 

My sisters love to play with this swing. I didn't managed to get their pictures but hey this photo is cool enough without them.

Can you see it? So many viewing point arts & structures.

Our Mother don't wanna be left out and also wanted to join in the fun. So, we take many beautiful photos of hers too.

Oh! Not to forget Dad too. Haha!

 

 It's not easy asked her to sit there and wait for me to take her photos, even though I'm the one who's paying. Duh! At the end she do love the photos of her that I took.

My Genie Sister...

There's no picture of me as I was the who's doing all the photo taking. I don't want others to take my photos as it'll usually turn out bad. Duh! I knew it. Not gonna post it. Why can't people take nice photos of me? Sigh~

Okay, this awesome view was taken from Bukit Indah Simarjarunjung. Didn't I tell ya? It was picturesque. 

 Some other photo of my sister.

I asked her to do other posing but this is all she could do. She's not a natural born talented model so this will do. Haha!

This is the last photos that we took at Bukit Indah Simarjarunjung, after this location we cannot see the Danao Toba Lake anymore. My sister was sooo lucky as she has the most beautiful photos. I'm not jealous though as I was the one who take these photos. Hehe.

I hope you've enjoy our photos, if you are planning to visit Medan someday, perhaps you can come here to Bukit Indah Simarjarunjung. Pssst!! This location is our secret, kay?  ;-)

Love;

Le BARISHA