Berastagi Day Tour

After a wonderful 2 nights stay at Tabo Cottage in Samosir Island, we left the beautiful lake unwillingly. I booked a transport from Parapat to Swiss Berlinn Hotel with a 1 day trip to King Palace in Pematang Purba, Sipiso-piso Waterfall,Berastagi Fruit Market and Mt Sibayak . We booked the tour through TobaTransporter by sending an email to tobatransporter.ricky@gmail.com.



On the way to Sipiso-piso Waterfall, we came to a great spot to capture the awesome view of Lake Toba. So, we requested a 10 minutes stop. We really miss this place muchie. A peaceful lake with great view, don’t ask us what to do at this beautiful place. We did nothing here, we talked and laughed most of the time as we have lots of stories to update after I left Penang for 1 year. Oh ya, not forgetting we had a 1 day motorbike tour to the Hotspring, If you are looking for a place to relax in Indonesia, Samosir Island should be in your list.

Opposite us is the Samosir Island.Photo above shows a peninsular-like piece of land protruding into the lake.Yours truly in ill look.

King Palace in Pematang Purba

Frankly speaking, I think you can skip this place if you are in the rush. Not really a worth place to go, it was once the King’s Palace, but due to the poor maintenance, for me, it looks like a spooky place to visit. We spent around 15 minutes here, and without a tour guide, we know nothing about the history of this palace.

Sipiso-piso Waterfall

We had our last few glimpses of Lake Toba at here. We stayed quite some time at here, enjoy ourselves with the natural beauty, Lake Toba on our left and Sipiso-piso Waterfall on our left.

From here, we can see the northern tip of Lake Toba.
Pretty right~?

Sipiso-piso which means knife, is the highest waterfall in Indonesia, with a height of 120 meters.

Water drain out from a hole in the mountain(?!)
which makes it looks like a knife.

There are steep cases for you to go down and have a close view of waterfall.
It’s pretty far, and please take a bottle of water with you.
It took my life to hike up back to the parking lot.

Berastagi Fruit Market

Berastagi is a town located at highland, which is about half way between Parapat and Medan. Mt Sibayak and fruit market are located in Berastagi, however we only visited fruit market, because Mt Sinabung(another active volcano in the town) was erupted day before our arrival. Thus, Mt Sibayak was closed due to safety purposes.

The volcano spewed ashes into the air and makes Berastagi a snow-like-town.Fruits and vegetables here are so fresh and we bought some of it home at cheap price.

We then left Berastagi and headed to Medan city.

WTF

Hmm, suppose to update my blog site with a new blog post.

But I was too upset and frustrated plus annoyed to post one?

Why?

My accounts(from FB to chat apps eg wechat, LINE etc) was hacking by someone else for MONTHS!

WTF, seriously spoil my days and months!

That's all from me today.

Icy Beans Refreshment House, Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a city located next to the beach, so seafood is the one that makes most of the tourists have drooling saliva. But not for me, I had high serum cholesterol level with low HDL(good cholesterol) level, that’s why, a big NO to seafood. I craved for desserts and then I found a blogger introduced this restaurants in her blog entries.

Icy Beans, is actually a restaurant offered Thai foods, and also Ice Cream with Beans as the name implies. We took our lunch before we went to Icy Beans, so missed the chance to try its foods. Foods and drinks here are offered at reasonable price and the most important identity here is foods/drinks/ice cream that made from beans.

The whole building is under the same property.
Icy beans at the ground floor, and hotel rooms on the second floor.
The menu with boss at front page.The counter area.
T-shirts, fridge magnet(bought one), keychain for sale at reasonable price.
And visitors’ pictures on wall.Ice Koo+Red Bean(70THB).
Refreshing after a 15min walk under the hot sun.My friends’ ice cream.Random decorations in the restaurant

Solo and group pictures at Icy Beans.

DetailsAddress: 10 Naebkehat Road, Hua Hin
Operation hours: 11am - 5pm (closed on Tuesday)
Tel: 032-512 208, 081-751-7057

If you are interested to stay at this cosy building, google “Naab K Heart Hotel”

Chocolate Ville, Bangkok

I would say the last Bangkok+Hua Hin trip was a mini World Tour for me. After visiting Santorini Park, Swiss Sheep Farm and Venezia, the top 3 country-theme-based tourist spot at Hua Hin, I visited a America style village in Bangkok town. 
Chocolate Ville, is a restaurant located at the northeast area of Bangkok city and there is nothing here is related to Chocolate. Despite its far location from the town, but it grab our attentions to visit because of its unique environment, which features the European Village with the concept of “Dining in the Park”. The restaurant start its operation time from 4pm onwards.
We took a meter cab from Chatuchak Market to Chocolate Ville at 160THB and 400THB(6 ppls sharing one cab) from Chocolate Ville back to our hotel in Pratunam. Remember to print out a copy of map to Chocolate Ville in Thai version, because most of the taxi drivers we met refused to fetch because they not so sure about the route to Chocolate Ville.
We reached there at 5pm, and after a tiring shopping at Chatuchak Market, the only things appeared in our minds: “FOOD!” Thanks God, we got a table upon arrival although it was weekend, unlike other travellers that need to take numbers and wait for their turns.  I gained energy after the meal, so we started to take pictures around this lovely place.

Pictures time:

Welcome to Chocolate VilleOne thing I like about Chocolate Ville is Props are everywhere.
Sorry little lamb~~~

Normal foods served. Or we ordered the wrong foods?
No alcohol taken. For photography purpose. :-PLove the lighthouse for unknown reason. haha!

Panoramic view from lighthouse.
Public are allowed to go up to the light house.
Hi to Sally Duck!The Observatory Garden.Sommerset CottageGraduates captured their sweetest moments at this lovely place.
Envy, why no such place in Malaysia?Village Post Office.Old Town Wine Cellar.Enchanted Bridge.
Prints on camera lens spoiled the image Boat HouseWaterfront GlasshouseLayout of Chocolate Ville

The best time to visit Chocolate Ville is at late evening(before it turns dark), so you get to enjoy the view at its daytime glory, as well as its night time charm when you are dining in. Overall, I would say, this is a must-visit place. No entrance fee and you can snap photos till you drop (even though if you are not dining here), and not forget that you get to had your foods in this beautiful environment.

See you again, Chocolate Ville.