Exploring Tomok

Traditional Batak house in Tomok, with grain being dried in the yard, and a less-than-traditional satellite dish at the back.

Tomok is one of the main towns on Samosir Island, in Lake Toba. It has a jetty for ferries coming in from Prapat, which is 30 minutes away on the eastern bank of the lake.

Hugging the Tomok jetty are souvenir shops, again every store selling almost the same items. Tourists thinking of buying cheap t-shirts should try them out before purchasing. What I discovered was that the Indonesian sizes are much smaller than back home, so the same size might not fit.

The main draw of Tomok must surely be the King Sidabutar's tomb. Apart from that, there are also traditional Batak houses with the curved roor ridges to be found here. Further inland is a Batak Museum that was being made ready. When I visited, the workmen were putting on the finishing touches to the museum.

A short distance from the jetty, and within sight of it, is a church. While waiting for the ladies in our group to be done with their shopping, I went over to the church to explore it.



Another ancient Batak tomb, this one located near the lakeside in Tomok.