Travelling

One of Indonesia's most exotic destinations, Nias Island combines a great surfing break, the most beautiful of beaches and a culture older than history.

Nias has the size of but outside of the months of June and July it is a quiet place and great to relax. The most important places on the island are Gunung Sitoli in the north, and Teluk Dalam in the south. Teluk Dalam is close to Lagundri/Sorake which has the best beaches and surfing. Lagundri/Sorake is called the CITY SURF by tourist who ever visit Nias Island.

After the movement of Nias people from Gomo to others place, they were going to make a new settlement at the new area, and it might be close to their origin. One of the places they have reached is Teluk Dalam at the South of Nias Island. In the time of inventing the new life style and the growing population, the people of Nias made the community of life more advanced and more organized. Such as they built a village ruled by the land lord, the houses bigger, the construction stronger, more finely, and the new rules.

Source : world66

The fact that it is laid on the high plains is also the reason to address this area as The legend of Lau Kawar (Kawar Lake) is one which is widely spread among the people of Karo regency, North Sumatra. This regency is 2, 127. 25 km2 wide and locates on the Bukit BarisanTanah Karo Simalem. Its climate is chilly with the temperature around 16 to 17 Celsius scale. The soil is fertile as well. Therefore, it is no wonder that this area is surrounded by beautiful views. One of those natural views is the Lau Kawar lake which is situated in Kuta Gugung village, Simpang Empat Sub-district, Tanah Karo Regency. The clear and calm water as well as the beautiful orchids in the surroundings make it even more beautiful.

The people believe that Lau Kawar lake was once a village entitled Kawar. It was a fertile area that its people depended their lives on farming. The land produced wonderful harvest though not even an amount of fertilizer or such kind was used to help the plants grew. However, there was once a disaster that turns the village into a lake. What did happen actually? The complete story is as follow.

***

Village. Its people were mostly farmers, and the land did produce wonderful harvest. It is said that one day the harvest was doubled compared to the previous year. The barns were extremely full with rice that they Once upon a time, there was a very fertile land at the Karo Regency. It was known as the Kawar couldn`t store the whole harvest. For this reason, the people agreed to work together and have a selamatan by performing cultural ceremonies.

The selamatan day came at last. The village was decorated wonderfully. The people were all dressed up colorfully with various accessories here and there. The females were busy cooking many kinds of foods for the ceremony.

A performance of Gendang Guro-Guro Aron (name of dance party) was also held during the ceremony. This performance was a special art from the people of Karo. Certainly, all of the villagers attended this annual ceremony except an old woman who was paralyzed. Nevertheless, her son, daughter in law, and grandson were all at the ceremony.

The old woman lied on her bed alone. “I really want to be at the party but I cannot even stand on my feet”, sobbed the old woman in her deepest heart. She could only see the merry party from distance. The faint sound of the Gendang Guro-Guro refreshed her memory when she was still a teenage girl. The boys and girls would usually dance in pairs when the Gendang Guro-guro was performed in a party. It was a beautiful moment for her. No matter what, all was past. Nothing she could do but just to remember the days when she was still young. She was alone with no one talking to her. She would just cry and cry to relieve herself from such a burden in her days as an old woman. No one really cared about her. Everyone minded their own business, and she was abandoned like a trash.

The lunch time came and all of the people at the party gathered around the table for the foods that had been prepared. Many kinds of delicious meals were on the table: grilled lamb, pork, and chicken which were just finished being cooked. All of them enjoyed the foods happily, and they also laughed once a while. The cheer crowded atmosphere somehow made the old woman`s son and daughter in law forget about her. They completely forgot that the mother was alone in the house.

Contradictory to what was going on at the party, the old woman was starving in the house. She didn`t eat even a bite since morning. Being so hungry, she really hoped that either her son or her daughter in law would come and bring her something to eat. It`s been hours she spent waiting for someone coming with something to eat, yet she was still alone in the house: no one came as she expected.

“My goodness, I am so hungry. Why any of my family didn`t come to bring me something to eat?” sighed her with her body shivering for hunger. She forced herself up from the bed and searched for something to eat in the kitchen, but nothing, it was all in vain. It was that the daughter in law had planned not to cook that day, realizing that foods would be prepared in the feast.

The poor old woman powerlessly came back to her bed. She was so disappointed and sad that her tears dropped. She cried for her poor life. “Dear God, how could my children do this to me? How could they enjoy the party without even thinking about me? How could they be so cruel to me My God?” cried the poor old lady.

The lunch was over after several hours, and suddenly the man remembered about his mother. He rushed to his wife, “My wife! Have you brought some foods for mother?”

“Not yet” the wife responded.

“Wrap some of the foods for her then, and ask our son to take it home for mother” asked the husband.

“Alright”, said the woman while hurriedly wrapping the foods for the mother. After that, she asked her son to take the foods home for her as her husband told her previously, “My son, please take these foods for your grandmother”.

“I`ll do mother”, said the son and then he rushed to the house. He immediately handed the foods to his grandmother as soon as he reached the house and then he ran back quickly to the party.

The old woman was very happy for the foods. Finally, she got something to eat. She unwrapped the package happily and was so astonished for what she saw in it. She was so disappointed to find only leftovers: there were only some bones of beef and lamb which were almost without any meat to eat! “What is this! Do they think I am an animal? Why did they give me leftovers and bones!” moaned her furiously.

The mother stored complete grilled meat into the package in fact. However, the grandson ate the foods on his way to his grand mother that only bones were left. The old woman did know anything about this that she thought her son and daughter in law did it on purpose. She felt so disappointed and humiliated that she hardly held her tears to fall down. She then prayed to God to curse both her son and daughter in law.

“My God, they were sinful to me. I beg You to punish them!” said the woman in her prayer.

There was a very strong earthquake not even a minute when the woman completed her prayer. The sky was suddenly dark and cloudy, and there was a great thunder followed by heavy rain. The crowd in the party ran here and there in panic. There was no more laughter in the party, replaced by cries and shouts from every direction. No one could escape from the terrible disaster. The wealthy village was drowned in a short time and there was not even a single person survived.

The drowned village turned into a big crater several days later and it was flooded by water. The people in the surroundings later on call the it Lau Kawar. And this marked the origin of the Lau Kawar in Tanah Karo Regency , North Sumatra.
Source Thanks to : literature.melayuonline

Nias Island lies about 125 km of west Sumatra Island on the Indian Ocean. It is part of North Sumatra Province. The water surround the island is great for sea activities, such as surfing and scuba diving. The people also have curious culture, which will enrich visitor's heart. The island has some prehistoric remains, which built on megalithic Stone Age, and considered came from the oldest megalithic culture in Indonesia.

The local call their land as Tano Niha or "land of the People", while the people calls them selves as Ono Noha. Ethnically, the Niasers are involved in to the Ptoto-Malay ethnic who once ever get with the Asian Proto-mongoloid world. Niasers speak a kind of language related to Malagasy. Because of the similarity in languages, custom, body size of the Niasers with the Bataks on Sumatra mainland, it is possible that the Niasers have derived from the Bataks.


Source : indonesia-tourism

Lingga village was 15 km from Brastagi City, this is a unique Karo village where traditional houses are still well preserved and inhabited today. Five to six families live in each house and for a small donation will give you a tout of the house.

The visitor also could visit Tuk Tuk to look for accommodation (inns and hotels), 42 km from Pangururan to Tuk Tuk or one-hour trip on car. Approximately 50 inns and hotels in various classes are available in Tuk Tuk. There are also several high-class hotels here. From the positive aspect, clearly tourism supported the local business. On the other hand, the physical development practical ignored principles of the business and town planning when businessmen rushes to built hotels, guesthouses, etc.

Entered Tuk Tuk is like visiting Legian or Sanur Bali in the early stage. With several shops displayed clothes and art objects, followed by cafes, discos and hotels. At night, a lot of rejoicing tourists (mostly domestic) surrounded campfire while playing the musical instrument and the typical Batak song.
Source : indonesia-tourism

Tongging is a small town in North Sumatra. Its call to fame is its strategic location in a valley on the northwest of Lake Toba. From the viewpoint in Tongging, visitors get the most spectacular view of Lake Toba.

Source : asiaexplorers

Sibayak Mountain

Berastagi to Sibayak Mountain distance are only 7 Km, this is why the hikers choose this City, as the closest alternative to reach the mountain peak (2.094 meters from sea level). With the currently available infrastructure, the vehicles could reach close to the mountain peak that was known with its beauty nature. On the Peak of Sibayak Mountain, we could see a sulfuric crater lake with wide around 200 x 200 meters, with temperature 119.6 Celsius and the temperature of surrounding air is 21 Celsius. The other scenery of Sibayak mountain peak is Sinabung mountain peak (2.451 meters from sea level), located in the west.


Not just that, near Berastagi, on the side of Sibayak mountain peak we could find LauDebuk-Debuk Hot Water Springs. Located in Daulu and Semangat Gunung village, this hot water springs flowed with the temperature of 35 Celsius emerged through the lava cracks in the volcano slope that afterwards was accommodated in the bathing place ponds. The climbers usually use this hot water reservoir to release their fatigue from the trip. Now, there are also an electrical generator (power plant) on the hot spring upstream that had the temperature above 150 ° Celsius. The visitors could see a power plant, which produces electricity from geothermal vapors.
Notes : lau (karo language) = water

Source : indonesia-tourism