India was supposed to be my last trip before finding a new job. However, just days after returning back, during the meeting up dinner with my Uncle and Aunt, they were asking me and my hubby if we wanted to join them for a trip to few places in North Sumatera, Indonesia, such as:
Pematang Siantar, Medan, Lake Toba (the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanoc lake in the world),
Samosir Island, and one of the only two
Soda Springs in the world, at
Tarutung.
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| Fate brought me to visit Avalokitesvara Temple at Tebing Tinggi - North Sumatera |
I'd heard my parents, siblings, even my son going there before. It was located not very far from Singapore. There was a direct flight and it took us only about one hour to reach. I told them that I'd checked for the ticket before agreeing to their offer. Days later, my sis-in-law said that she was interested to go there with her daughter too and everything went very fast. My brother helped us checking the flight's schedule and price, booking our tickets, even fetching us to the airport. It seemed to be the God-will to let me joining them to this trip.
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| Our meal from 6am to 12pm :D |
I reached here yesterday. From
Kuala Namu Airport we took about 2.5 hours journey to
Pematang Siantar where my Uncle's friends were staying. We stayed there for a night. They treated us with non-stop eating and drinking and I felt that I'd have gained at least a kg on my first half day there.
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| Avalokitesvara Temple at Pematang Siantar |
We visited another
Avalokitesvara Temple, this time was in
Pematang Siantar. The size was much bigger and there was even a Buddhist school located just next to it. We offered our gratitude there for letting us coming to this place safely and for the good health that we all had.
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| Coffee time at Kok Tong old coffee shop at Pematang Siantar |
At 3 pm we were brought to
Kok Tong's first coffee shop in town. I ordered kopiping, which means coffee with milk plus lots of ice cubes. It tasted really delicious. And we ate it together with few different types of
Pao or steamed bun with fillings.
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| Lesehan - Sitting on the floor and eating using hands - delicious local food |
At night we were brought to the
'lesehan'style restaurant, means we ate using hands (no spoon or fork) and sitting on the floor. The food served was grilled and fried fish, fried chicken, fried tofu, tempe bacem, fried vermicelli, spicy brinjal, grilled petai (smelly beans), various chili and so on. We all ate very full and went home afterwards.
It was raining at night. It's giving out the cold air which made me good to sleep. The house was big, had simple design, and clean. With a thin blanket I went to the dream world peacefully. And now I gotta sleep too. My eyes are heavy. I hope I can post the today's trip tomorrow, if I have enough time ;) Keep reading la! ^^
