Thanks to my parents who allowed me to join this trip, where I'm not dealing with FKR company.
Only 2 younger girls attended this trip:
1) 6 years old, Esther from Sibu, Sarawak (came with both her parents),
2) 12 years old, Xiao Wei from Kota Bahru, Kelantan (came with her mother, and uncle - Mr. Chua)
Another 2 youths (me belongs to this category) :
1) young man from Segamat, Johor
2) Ms. Wong
the rest are all above 20s and veteren...more men than women...
day to day, from tired trip by bus to luxurious stay
trip by bus from Medan airport to Parapat took around 4-5 hours, from Parapat to Berastagi took around 4-5 hours also...
most luxurious stay was the last night in Medan, JW Marriott Hotel, 5 stars hotel.
the 1st night @ Niagara Hotel in Parapat (along the long and winding road, a lot of churches along the way, and also stalls and wooden houses) and 2nd night @ Grand Mutiara Hotel in Berastagi (also long & winding road, wooden houses, and some better houses, own farms, and churches, christian graves) were 4 stars hotels
Day 1, while waiting for Penang's tourists, went to a Chinese temple & Fashion Outlet (similar to our F.O.S. - factory outlet store), lunch at Hotel, 5 hours tour to Parapat stopped at PATEN (nuts shop) - bought some sesame nuts biscuits...stopped at petrol station for toilet time...dinner at Hong Kong Restaurant.
Day 2, tour by ferry to Lake Toba, Samosir Island, Tomok (bargaining time with seller, best bargain should be 70% discounts from the price offered by sellers, sellers simply drag, touches your arms - way to persuade you to buy souvenir), lunch at Niagara Hotel (with Passion fruit juice) Sipiso Piso waterfall, beautiful view, dinner at Grand Mutiara Hotel, fresh vegetables from farms in Berastagi (similar with Malaysian's Cameron Highlands).
Day 3, Berastagi, fruits market (horse riding available), at fruit market, one lady from either Penang or Ipoh commented seeing a girl similar with my look, during her previous trip with FKR, asking whether I have a sister who study Law? I was like, okay, interesting, but not me nor my sister, however, it's great knowing there are people similar look as me...meaning my look is common.
Gundaling Hill, visited the Istana Maimone, built in 1888 (shoes to be taken off before enter), lunch at Simpang Tiga Restaurant with their special drink Avocado juice with chocolate, Sun Plaza/SOGO @Medan city, GALA night dinner FKR at JW Marriott Hotel, with some entertainment - dancing by children, and songs by FKR's workers and tour guides (mostly oldies, Hokkien, Chinese, English songs, one Indonesian song sang by Arifin, crazy stunts by some FKR employees)
Day 4, luxurious breakfast @ JW Marriott Hotel, Medan City, SOGO, lunch @ a restaurant with mixed fruits juice called Rasa-rasa (6 fruits mixed - mango, avocado, passion, water-melon, etc.)
Meals always started with soup and ended with desserts (usually tropical fruits - papaya, water melon, melon/honey dew, pineapple)
Overall, it's pleasure vacation, below are the leaflet and name tag (to be tied at bag) given before the tour...
lastly, thanks for all the fun, really enjoy the tour...it's nice being the Eastern billionaire in Indonesian Rupiah, great to know some people such as GM and Secretary of FKR.
