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Tuk Tuk is a tourist service town with a rural flavour. A short stroll away and you will be walking past rice paddies and water buffalo, and chickens can be seen everywhere.
Chicken crossing
The Lake Toba region is home to the Batak people, who make up one of the largest Christian populations in Indonesia. This means that pork is available on the menu here.
Pig and chickens
Cost Of Living: Tuk Tuk, Sumatra – Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the best value countries for travel in Asia. To give you an idea of the cost of living I have kept track of a days expenditure for where I am staying in Tuk Tuk, Sumatra.
The following expenses are food, accommodation and other sundries. Travel expenses are not included here as I will not need to travel for a month.
Daily Expenses
The Indonesian Rupiah is highly denominated but it is easy enough to keep track of as 10,000 INR = $1 USD.
Accommodation 60,000 INR ($6.00 USD)
Internet (2 hours) 30,000 INR ($3.00 USD)
Bottled Water 5,000 INR (50 cents USD)
Breakfast
Banana Pancake 9,000 INR (90 cents USD)
Coffee with milk 5,000 INR (50 cents USD)
Sumatran Coffee
Banana pancake
Lunch
Nasi Goreng 12,000 INR (1.20 USD)
Banana Shake 10,000 INR (1.00 USD)
Nasi Goreng
Banana smoothie
Dinner
Veg Rendang 15,000 INR (1.50 USD)
Rice 4,000 INR (40 cents USD)
Sprite 6,000 (60 cents USD)
Vegetable Rendang
So tallied altogether my expenses are:
Accommodation 60,000 ($6.00 USD)
Internet 30,000 ($3.00 USD)
Water 5,000 (50 cents USD)
Breakfast 14,000 INR ($1.40 USD)
Lunch 22,000 ($2.20 USD)
Dinner 25,000 ($2.50 USD)
Total: 156,000 ($15.60 USD)
This total is kept down as I have no daily travel expenses here. I also only eat meat a couple of times a week so a vegetarian diet tends to be less expensive.
My $6 accommodation consists of a cottage room with a king size bed, a bathroom with hot water and a view of the lake. Rooms without hot water and a view can be found for $3.
If you are a meat eater and like to snack more during the day you will still come in under $20 USD a day. If you really wanted to you could get the expenditure down to $10 a day, making it one of the best value countries in Asia.
The domestic Asian water buffalo are a common site around Samosir.
Water buffalo
Mud buffalo
There are mango trees everywhere in Tuk Tuk. It is not uncommon to see mangoes on the road that have fallen from over hanging trees.
Mango tree
I had never stopped to consider where a mango grows. If you had of asked me I might have said that they grow on a tree about the size of an orange tree. In fact mango trees grow up to 35–40 metres in height. In Tuk Tuk I have seen mango trees this high, with mangos in the top branches unable to be reached by even the biggest ladder.
mangoes on tree
In the southern states of Australia a mango can sell for up to $3 each, though the variety grown in Australia is twice the size of a Sumatran mango. Here in Sumatra you can buy them for about $1 a kilo.
Wheelbarrow full of mangoes
The family tombs of the Batak people can be found all over Samosir Island.
Tomb with a view
Lake Toba in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, is the world’s larget and deepest crater lake. The lake has a surface area of 1,130 square kilometres and is up to 500 metres deep at its deepest points.
In the lake is the island of Samosir (Pulau Samosir), which has the distinction of being the worlds largest island within an island. The island is nearly the same size as Singapore.
[Lake Toba]
Tuk Tuk is the main tourist area of Samosir, reached by ferries from Parapat. Tuk Tuk is on a small peninsula on the island and it is not over developed. If you have been in the cities of Indonesia you will notice the relative peace with very few cars and motorbikes in the town.
Tuk Tuk has a great selection of guesthouses available so the prices are good value. There are restaurants, bars, internet cafes as well as book stores and travel service shops.
If you want to explore the rest of the island there are plenty of places that rent out motorbikes for the day.
Batak Cutlure
This region of Sumatra is the home of the Batak people, and Samosir is the centre of Batak culture. The Batak population in Northern Sumatra is around 5 million and they are mostly Christian.
A feature of Batak culture is the Batak house. These houses are all over the region and have a distinct roof that curves up at each end. The house consists of three levels and range from simple farm houses to grand and ornate homes covered in intricate carvings.
[Batak Houses]
Also dominant in the Batak landscape is the family tomb. These mausoleums can be seen next to the family house, by the roadside or in the rice fields.
[Batak Family Tomb]
Getting to Lake Toba
Tuk-Tuk on Samosir Island is accessed via passenger ferry from Parapat. Bus services from north and south Sumatra stop at Parapat.
[Lake Toba Ferries]
The easiest way to Parapat is via Medan, which is five hours via bus, or four hours via private van.
Medan has domestic and international air services as well as a ferry service from Penang, Malaysia.
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