Due to works especially, I am not able to update this blog as often as before. Having said that I managed to squeezed some time to go to Medan & then to Danau Toba to capture its beauty after I saw Doc Budies’ pictures. I know that October is not the best month to visit Danau Toba but I just can’t wait to see the landscape with my own eyes. I called my buddy, dR Ali who as I expected will say yes to go with me. Then Badang also sms/emailed me his eagerness to follow us. Emran also wanna go but his father fell sick & it is better for him to stay with his family.

To cut the story short, I made a few calls & emails to Dr Budie & on 10th October we flew to Medan, my first time to Sumatera.

Me & Ali drove to Badang’s house in Danau Kota on 9th Oct just before Marghrib. Reached Badang’s house at about 10PM. Slept in Badang’s house & Joe, Badang’s friend sent us to LCCT at about 4:30AM 10th Oct.

One extraordinary incident happened, Badang left his Nikon D700, an expensive full frame DSLR which is great for landscape in his drybox at home!! At first me & Ali pity him but later we teased him “kaw-kaw”. How can one forget to bring camera to a photography trip!!!

We boarded AirAsia AK450 to Medan ontime. Upon arriving at Medan, we were greeted by a man inside the terminal building who shouted my name. I was so surprised! How can someone know my name here. Then he introduced himself as Doc Budi’s friend. Oh! Wow! We bypassed all security & immigration checks. We went straight to collect our baggage & Dr Budie was already there waiting for us. He must be ‘some body’ in Medan……

However the humble Doc Budie immediately ushered us to his car & we drove to a Petronas station. Another suprise for us! A Petronas station in Indonesia! We had our breakfast there. There we waited for Pak Johnny & Dr Anwar. We exchanged souvenirs there. Pak Johnny is the admin for Toba Photographer Club. And we got ourslef a nice TPC vest! Dr Anwar is a O&G specialist who own a private hospital.

So many things to tell, but let me just summarise what we did in Medan & Danau Toba.

Day 1 – 9AM-6PM – We were driving in 2 separate cars, me, dR Ali &  Badang in Doc Budi’s car. Pak Johnny & Dr Anwar in Dr Anwar’s car driven by Dr Anwar’s driver, Pak Nordin. Our aim is to reach Parapat, a small town in Danau Kota by 4PM to meet with more photographers who were there for the Danau Toba Festival 2009. We stopped at various places. But we packed our lunch first because we were told that there will be difficult to find good muslim reataurant along the way. We then continued our journey and the first place we stopped for photography was Penatapan, a rest area where we were able to see & photograph Medan.

We continued the journey & stopped at various places for photograph. Some farmers & their farms, church but the highlight of the day is the breathtaking scenery at Sipisopiso. I am not so impressed at the waterfall….but the scenery of Danau Toba!!!

We stopped at few more places after that.

Then finally, we stopped for lunch at Restoran Pandang Simarjarunjung.

I’ll continue later.