Day 11

31st March 2018
Our second day in Berastagi started out on a slow morning. Breakfast was from 7am till 10.30am. Everyone was able to sleep in a little more before the presenters meet our facilitators for one round of practice. During which, we were criticised and had our work commented strictly due to the expectations of such a project.

In the afternoon, we had lunch in a local café in the city square of Berastagi. If there was one thing that was unique about this café was that it serves avocado juice with espresso shots on top. It was a weird drink but it was extremely delicious. You couldn’t taste the avocado that much as it is infused with the espresso shots.

After lunch, we made our way to the Golden Temple (Lumbini Natural Park, Berastagi) which is a replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar. The temple stood out amongst the greenery fields as it was gold in colour.

After visiting the temple, we prepared ourselves for a two-and-a-half-hour road trip back to Medan. We were all sleeping in the bus as the ride was longer than expected due to the jam. We arrived back in our hotel by nightfall, with enough time to get plenty of rest.

Do stay up for our next blog ! :)

Day 10

30 march 2018
Starting our first day in Brastagi, the first place we head to is the traditional market. Imagine Singapore’s geylang market but outdoors, only one level? Yeap, here in Brastagi! Despite the scorching hot sun, we could still feel the cold breeze caressing our cheeks.

In the traditional market, there are many things sold there. The vegetables and fruits are fresh and are produce locally. Other than that, the butcher slaughter the animals such as chicken on the spot, making the meat fresh.

After visiting the traditional market, we head to Mount Gundaling, where we are able to see astonishing volcano scenery and whole view of the village. Opposite the active volcano was a mountain so it was 2 in 1 beautiful view!

Sheltered picnic areas are also provided, which are chargeable.

We then ended up the day with our dance practice, beating the cold weather of 18 degrees while admiring the sunset.

Stay tune for our Day 11 post :)

Day 9

29th March 2018. Today is the day we bid farewell to our stay at Lake Toba. Here is the last time we will be having our meals with this view.

Before starting our ride to Berastagi, our scholars presented their first round of their presentation. Three main topic covered are visitor experience, sustainable tourism and marketing campaigns.

After that, since we were rushing for time, we had our packet lunch at the hotel and proceeded to Pematang Purba which was a kingdom back then. Statue of Buffalo are seen around the kingdom. This animal represent humble, hard working and strong like a Buffalo. Some facts of the area are,  14 kings rule the kingdom.
The 1st king was a hunter before he became a king. He used birds gate to take the seeds and grow plants. 
King 12 rebuild the place.

After that, we proceed to Sipisopiso to admire the landscape. At the same time, snapping photos of the waterfall and the view.
Catching the last view of Lake Toba.

Proceeding on, travelled about 2 hours to the place where the refugees were lodging and our team gave some dry goods.

Finally, we reached our final destination of the day, our hotel at Brarastagi. Filling up our tummy with a meal.

Do stay tune for our day 10 blog !

Day 8

28th March 2018. It was another day in Niagara Hotel/ Lake Toba and me and my roommate headed out to eat breakfast.

After eating our delicious Indo breakfast, we went to meet up with the rest of the TFISCALE members in the Parapottan Hall and we continued with our Project. Now, it was just us against time

3 hours later, almost all of our brain juice were gone. Some of our stomach started to rumble, a signal that we needed food thus we parted ways from our Indonesian team members and went to lunch. Lunch time was the best and delicious food was served to us.

After getting back our energy and brain juices, we met up again at Parapottan Hall to finish up our work before the presentation. 5 hours pass and everyone diligently worked hard to finish up the Powerpoint.

Finally, everyone had manage to finish their work and some had time to went up to the restaurant for some coffee and tea and to enjoy the beautiful view.

Day 7

Hi guys! We've finally reached day 7 of our trip and it has been a very hectic one which we believe that you guys have seen from our past days, going around doing the data research and all the compilation!
We started off today with a surprise celebration for one of our leaders, Bernice! Hope she likes the surprise celebration we thrown for her 18th birthday!

We were thrown back to reality when we all went back to our teams and continued the compilation and discussion of all our findings and research.

We did not only stop there! While half of us continued their data collection, the other half of us continued the discussion at our indonesian friends' hotel!

Oh did i mention that part of the half who did data collection managed to meet a kind samaritan who gave them some durian to eat???

After we gathered everybody, we stocked up on more ration before we hit the road for Brastagi and we came back to start our dance practice.

2nd day of dance practice incorporated things such as positioning and the inclusion of transition and placement of us. We found out that we had to work with limites space as the stage is small as well. That being said, we shall improve on our dance and we hope to present the best during the closing ceremony!

Do stay up for our day 8 blog post!

Day 6

26th March 2018. Today is the 6th day of our TFI SCALE IV programme. Time really flies with great company and hospitality from our Indonesian hosts.

The day started off at 9am right after breakfast at our respective hotels. The students from Indonesia arrived at Niagara Hotel to discuss about the progress of our findings. We collaborated to improve on our findings by consolidating the data we have collected so far. The teams are fine tuning the research to meet our specific goal of sustainability in Lake Toba.

After all the discussion and hard work, our Singaporean scholars came together to learn the dance choreography of our farewell performance. Our dance was led by our beloved performance director, Suzy! With her guidance, we managed to learn the choreography within a short span of an hour.

Even though dancing is not everybody’s forte, we managed to overcome this challenge by cooperating and having lots of fun. Tough times do pass quickly with joy and laughter.

After the practice session, some of our Singapore Scholars went to Atsari Hotel (where the Indonesian students are staying) to continue on discussions that were left out earlier.

While some scholars were out, there were a handful of scholars who stayed in Niagara Hotel and we had our own free time until dinner. While some of us were resting in our rooms, some were busy exploring the compound of the hotel.

All in all, it was a pleasant day for all of us. The day ended with less faithful as compared to the previous days where a lot of walking was required.

We hope that we will learn more in depth and gain new perspectives about the culture and sustainability of Lake Toba in the next few days.

Do stay tune for our day 7 blog for more updates!

Day 5

25th March 2018

Our journey begins at 9am, where we made our way to Samosir Island once again. However this time, for data collection.

On our boat ride to Samosir Island, we were entertained by the local children, who sang songs about life in their village. It was pretty funny when they sang about girlfriends cheating on their significant other; instead of arguing, the boyfriends go to a boat and sing about it. It really is a funny song if you could understand. It took a while for me though. Hehe.

Upon arrival in Tomok Village, we immediately began our data collection, looking for both domestic and foreign tourists. The shopping streets were bustling with activity and potential interviewees even more than yesterday. The streets had tourists from Canada, Thailand, Bali and Jakarta. Whilst interviewing tourists, we managed to look around at different stalls to shop.

When it came to lunch time, we headed to Tuk Tuk Village, where there were mainly resorts around the area. We had lunch in a resort called Tabo Cottages. It is a German-owned resort that offers local Batak cuisine. The food was delicious.

After lunch, we walked around the cottage, collecting our respective data for our project.

My team stumbled upon Ms Annet, the owner of Tabo Cottage. She has been living on Samosir Island for 20 years, helping out the locals in improving on the island. She's an interesting person to talk to as she has  worked with both locals and tourists on finding ways to improve life on Samosir Island. She has also integrated herself (adopted) into a local Batak tribe and is considered as one of them. It was really an eye opener for all of us.
We got to listen to a lot of stories from Ms Annet which was really inspiring and we gained many insights about it.

At the cottage, we found a treehouse and we climbed up to the top as well. The scenery was really beautiful from up high.

After collecting our data, we got on the ferry again and headed towards toledon inn for data collection once again. The area near toledon inn has bars, and we were hoping to find more tourists that we will be able to interview. But unfortunately, we were not able to encounter many tourists because it was still early and people seldom visit bars at that time. Thus, we decided to  head back for dinner.

On our way back from toledon inn on the ferry, we got to see the sunset. It was a beautiful sight and it will definitely become an unforgettable memory for us.

Today was an exciting day and we got to know so much more about how tourists feel about lake toba. We hope that the data that we have collected will be useful for the project. Do stay tune for our Day 6 blog !

Day 4

Our day started off at 7am where we ate breakfast at the hotel as usual where after that, we board the bus to the jetty at 8am. We then met the Indonesian students at the jetty itself to board the ferry to Samosir Island. We may choose to sit outdoors which was on the top level or on the main level which was sheltered.

Sitting on the ferry gave us a closer look to the houses and architecture of Lake Toba. The view was majestic, as compared to a landscape of green that we see from the hotel. Our tour guide, Pak Agus, then briefed us on today’s itinerary.

We were entertained by 4 local boys who sang for us their traditional songs and a bonus! Hegi, one of our Indonesian students, in blue top, joined them too!

Samosir Island, an island in the middle of Lake Toba? Yes! Our first stop was Tomok village.

The first village we visit is called Tomok village, it is a tourist hot-spot where most of the tourist from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand come and visit the village.

The place we visited after we reach is cemetery, where all the kings are buried in. Before we enter the holy site, we need to abide the rules of putting the cloth on the right shoulder. The cloth is called ulos batak, it means shawl in english. The brighter color cloth is for female, while darker color cloth is for male. The cloth is only make by batak people have as it is the pride of batak people. 

The first king died 250 years ago. The batak people believe that when someone died, they have to bury them into the stone tomb. The first king predicts the future for his own grandson, where his prediction is that his grandson will become a great man. Thus, he took care of his grandson, protect him and shower him with love. When he goes out of the palace, he always brings him out and carry him by his shoulder.

The second king is the first king's grandson.

The son did not become the king is because his grandson is better than the son in terms of wise and greatness.

Under the regime of the second king, Tomok kingdom reach his glory, as he fight against other kingdoms and expand the territory. However, his love life is not as prosper, he so busy with the war that he kept postponing the wedding. However, his fiancé stay loyal to him, even after several kings had proposed to her. One of the king got angry and send black magic to her brain, causing her to lose her mind and disappear. 

The last king is a special king as he is the first Christian king. 

There are several small tombs behind the tombs of the kings which are commanders that they died in the battlefield. In a respect for them, they bury their bones into the tomb.

Sigale-gale is a statue that was used in funeral ceremony to entertain the deads, however it serves as an entertainment for the tourists these days as it has become a part of the tourist attraction.

After visiting the Tomok village, we took a short ferry ride to the next village which is called Siallagan (huta village).

This village is a small kingdom and the entrance of the kingdom used to be guarded by soldiers. The surroundings of the kingdom is filled with bamboo as it helps to protect the kingdom from enemy. Although the village become a tourist attraction, the houses are still in use. They have both wooden and concrete houses and they even uses sugar palm tree to build their roof. The Bataknese put lizard as ornament, as they believe that lizards lives at any surroundings and they want to be like lizard which is able to adapt to any changes. 

 Besides that , the Batak people think that the more children they have, the more prosper they are as they ask the children to work in the field with them. 

They put offerings under the tree as they believe that the good spirit lives on the tree. 

This is the house that they decide the punishment. Shaman predict the time to kill the criminal.  The Wooden criminal in the prison is a replication of the past criminals that are waiting for execution. 

The doors are small, this shows that when someone enter the house, they would need to bow before entering the place, this is a sign of respect to the ancient kings.

Execution place :

Batak people are brutal they wanted the criminal to suffer instead of killing them.

Process:

1. They stab the criminal to make them suffer and allow them to say their last word.

Most of the criminal will ask for delicious meal which is Arsik Carp. However, if the criminal ask for postpone of execution or letting them off from the crime, their last wish will be ignored.

2. After the criminal is stab they are pour with lime juice

3. The heart of the criminal will be eaten by the king as they believe the king will improve his power if he eat the criminal heart.

4. The flesh is cooked and distribute the meat to the villages

In order to prevent the criminal spirit to haunt the village the village will share their flesh, they practice cannibalism. At the same time,  it serves as a warning to the enemy.

  

The Bataknese are well-known for making Bolon Kulowus and wear it for special occasion such as wedding ceremony, funeral and even church service. However, the youngsters nowadays does not wear it as they find it not trendy.

When the criminal is executed, they will cut their hair and place on the stick, as they believe that the power of the criminal will be transfer to the stick and making the king stronger. 

After visiting all the villages, we have free and easy time with the Indonesian students. Overall it was an enriching day we get to not only visit historical places but also learn the history and culture of the place...

FUN FACT ! :

The bataknese are great singers, they believe their great voices are mainly because of the ancestors as they live in the mountain rage in order to communicate with one another they have to shout across.And that is how they train their vocals! 

Want to know more fun facts and interesting stories?  Stay tune for our next blog !