My first visit to the place was when I visited Lake Toba which appeared to be the biggest lake in Southeast Asia as it comprised of 1707 square kilometers. At the middle of the lake is a wedge-shaped island called “Samosir.”
My second visit was when I visited Nias 125 km of the West Coast of Sumatra through Medan.
Nias has beautiful artifacts. It was unfortunate that they don’t have documents to explain the artifacts as they follow the oral tradition.
Legend tells that Niasans are descendants of six gods who settled in the islands. Anthropologists link them to the Batar of Sumatra, _______ India and the aborigines of Taiwan.
In Medan, I’m reminded of their good food. While Korean food has various appetizers before the main course, the Sumatrans have various viands which are immediately served and that they are eaten with bare hands.
When I went to Mentawai Islands, I had the opportunity of visiting “Bukitinggi” whose houses are characterized by pointed spheres.
The museums displayed among other the abnormal animals like carabao with two (2) heads and goat with eight (8) legs, etc.
The animals in the zoo were sleepy and looked very tired like the one making this report.