Imagine... soaking yourself in a hot natural spring pool while enjoying the awesome sight of the surrounding paddy fields and lush green mountains. Well... an extraordinary experience some may say.
But what if I were to say that the pool mentioned actually contains gallons and gallons of 'soda' warm water. Now... that is an 'extra extra ordinary' experience, isnt it?
To put it bluntly...it is like immersing oneself in a pool filled with gallons of warm fizzy drinks. Yeah. Soaking in hot, bubbly 'Sprite' or '7 Up'!
Indeed, that is exactly what one would experience when he/she goes to Parbubu Soda Water Hot Spring in Tarutung, Sumatera Island of Indonesia.
After I landed at the Polonia International Airport of Medan, Sumatera, I quickly made my way to Medan City. The next day I took a bus to Parapat. The 176 km trip took about 4 hours.
Parapat is a small scenic town located at the edge of Danau Toba/Lake Toba. There are all types of accommodation available to suit one's budget. So, worry not:)
Now... Lake Toba is an awesomely well known tourist destination within the Malay Archipelago region and infos related to the place can be found in abundance. So I would not go into details here about this heavenly place except for some 'quickies'....
- Danau Toba/Lake Toba is the biggest volacnic lake in the world
- 100km long & 30km wide
- 505m maximum depth! (longer than the Petronas Twin Towers! Its like... 'diving' from top of the twin towers all the way down to the ground level...and more! Brrr...eerily deep!)
Early next day I took a boat to cross the lake and landed myself at a spot called 'Tomok'. The place is actually the 'gateway' to Samosir Island.This fascinatingly beautiful island is located right in the middle of Lake Toba. With an area of 50km long and 15km wide, Samosir Island is actually about the size of Singapore! Samosir is also the heartland of 'Batak' people and their culture.
Done with Lake Toba, Samosir and other popular 'touristy' spots of the area, I then decided it was time for me to move on. I was thinking of the 'soda' hot spring of Parbubu.In order to reach Parbubu from Parapat, one needs to take the road that leads to Padang Sidempuan via a small town called Tarutung. Tarutung is actually some sort of a 'transit' town for people traveling through Medan, Parapat and Padang.
From Tarutung one can take the Public Transport (called 'mikrolet') to go to Parbubu. It is only a 15" drive from Tarutung town centre and the 'soda' hot pool is located by the road side. Surpringly, one will find that the entrance to the pool is actually for... FREE! Yeah, quite hard to believe but then again this is due to the fact that the site is used as a common pool for locals to take a bath.
Parbubu 'Soda' Hot Spring is truly a unique bathing site. The warm water of the pool really does taste like soda water! But please be cautious as not to actually try to 'gulp down' or drink the water. This may make you feel 'sick', especially in the areas around the eyes and nose.
And also, as advised by the locals...please,please refrain yourself from saying any bad words while bathing! If you may ask me why is that so and what will happen if one to ignore the advise... wellll...let's just say that ... after done with Parbubu, one would later be on the road again to head back to where one comes from. And that presumably would be a one hell of a looong journey. Along the way...many 'things' or possibilities can happen... so... 'watch' your words.
But then again... the experience of soaking and indulging oneself in the hot 'soda' water while enjoying the beautiful view of the paddy fields and the green hills is truly a remarkable experience one should not try to miss. Even, when one has to 'zipped-up' his/her mouth all the way while soaking in that bubbly-good-feeling hot soda water of Parbubu! Enjoy!
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