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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
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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.
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The domestic Asian water buffalo are a common site around Samosir.
Water buffalo
Mud buffalo
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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
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The family tombs of the Batak people can be found all over Samosir Island.
Tomb with a view
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I have set up shop in Tuk Tuk, Indonesia. The town is on the island of Samosir in Lake Toba, Sumatra.
Lake Toba used to be on the backpacker trail but it has fallen on quiet times of late. There are lots of vacant rooms here and you can rent a cottage by the lake for $6 USD a night.
Lake front cottages
There is no wireless on this island, only internet cafes, so my work day requires some planning. I go to the net cafe in the morning, plug in my laptop and save what I need for the day. I then do all of my work offline, return to the net cafe in the evening and save my work.
Office with lake view
I always thought that I would need wireless to live somewhere, but I have found that my productivity has actually increased without it. I don’t have the distractions of news sites, facebook and random surfing. I just have to get on with the job of writing and making websites.
Of course it is not all work. When I need a break I can step outside and jump into the swimming pool that is Lake Toba.
My front yard swimming pool
There is no bridge to this island so there isn’t as much traffic as you find on “mainland” Sumatra. This makes it a great place for me to stay for a while.
Sunset on Lake Toba
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I had originally intended to get the bus from Padang to Jakarta, until I discovered that the cost of flying was only a few dollars more than the bus. Seeing that the bus was also going to cost me 30 hours, flying was an easy choice.
There are plenty of flights between Padang and Jakarta so the tickets are reasonably priced evena few days before flying.
Jakarta air lift - Padang Airport
What I like about AirAsia is that seating is assigned, so there is no mad rush for seats like on Ryanair and easyJest.
When you book online you can pay to pick a seat. You can also pick your own seat at check-in without having to pay. I was fortunate enough to get window seat behind the exit row. This is possibly the best seat of the lot as there is no seat in front of you.
The best seat in the house - behind the emergency row
If you are going to be flying to Jakarta, get a window seat so you can see the Thousand Islands chain. This evocatively titled island group is closer to 100 islands than 1000, but it looks great from above no matter how many there are.
Thousand Islands - more than just a salad dressing
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Sumatra is not the most wired Island I’ve ever been to so I was surprised to find free Wifi at Padang Airport.
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Australians travelling to Indonesia are issued with a 30 day visa upon arrival, which costs $25 USD (payable in USD or Indonesian Rupiah). If you plan ahead you can get a 60 day visa before you arrive, which costs about $50 USD.
A 30 day visa to explore a country with over 13,000 islands a ridiculously short amount of time. It’s a hassle when you compare to visa offers in neighbouring countries. Malaysia give you 90 days upon arrival, as does Singapore, Thailand is 30 days if you arrive by air, and they are all free.
With 30 days my plan was to spend around 10 days each in Sumatra, Java and Bali. Quite a whirlwind trip when you consider the distances involved and it allowed no room for plan deviations.
My plan was blown away by an extended stay in Tuk-Tuk on Lake Toba. I got the overnight bus from Lake Toba to Bukittinggi which takes about 16 hours. It travels on the Trans Sumatran Highway, which is a highway by name only.
Bukittinggi is a pleasant enough place but it’s not really a destination, more of a base for exploring the regions mountains and lakes. I have to be in Padang in 2 days to get a flight to Jakarta so my time in Sumatra has all but run out.
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Public Toilet: Tuk-Tuk, Indonesia
For some reason a man is more manly if he smokes. Now that I think of it though I haven’t seen any women smoking here.
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