Danau Toba: the largest lake in indonesia

Last january, i got an wedding invitation from Ira in Medan. After short discussion with my travel mate, we decided to go to the event. Medan is the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia. Located on the northern coast, Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia (behind Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung).





Medan have a lot of delicious culinary. Hahaha... since we went to Medan with Lani's little daughter so we're not doing "extreme activity" :P We just visited istana maimun, lake toba and doing culinary. Lake toba is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. We went to toba by renting car (thanks to abang binsar, who helped us to find the car). It took 5-6 hours in the morning to reach toba.







Finally after 2 years, we visited toba! :)









Cheers!
NN

Karimun Jawa

Karimunjawa is an archipelago, approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Jepara. The best time to visit the islands is during the dry season, generally from April to October. I'm not suggest you to go during the monsoon since the islands are influenced by the northwest monsoon. :) We went to Jepara by using nusantara bus. The cost is only 120.000 and it took 11-12 hours.

There are few ways to tackle karimun jawa. The first option is using Kartini ferry that leaves from Semarang. It only take 3,5 hours to go there. The trip is quite fun aboard this modern vessel. Both the VIP and Business sections (there is no economy) are both air-conditioned.

The second option by using local ferry (Muria) that leave the port of Jepara (about 1.5 hours drive from Semarang).The Muria is a mixed vehicle, cargo and passenger vessel which takes approximately six hours to make the crossing and costs 32.000 rupiah in economy class. The economy section is open air and not really comfortable. It took 6 hours to reach karimun. T__T Since our trip is backpakers trip so we prefer to using local ferry.



There is no public transport around the main island of Karimunjawa meaning that if you want to visit some of the deserted beaches, you'll have to rent a motorbike for the going rate of 75,000 rupiah per day. The roads around the island are generally in good condition, but getting to some beaches requires a journey down a dirt track. From the port which is in the southern part of the island, it's 18 kilometres to the airport in the north and a further five kilometres to the northern tip of the island.



There are few guest house in KJ, but we prefer to stayed in "wisma apung" (75.000/night). Wisma apung owned by bapak joko, or familiar with "breeding shark". If you stay in wisma apung, you got free ticket to swam with the sharks, hahahaa... :D

Most of the islands in Karimun are blessed with sandy beaches that stretch along the shoreline. Imho, if you're looking for colorful coral reefs, i though KJ is not the best place. The underwater view is not amazed (oh wait, i wrote this after i visited NTT :P). But if you're looking for white sandy beach with clear blue water...then karimunjawa is surly recommend trying!

Quite interesting ya? surely! Lets visit Indonesia! :)


Cheers!
NN