"Original Houses in Lake Toba" Sumatra by jorgejuansanchez

Sumatra represented for me a rewarding rest after travelling around the Pacific islands on the cheap, sleeping in beaches, during several months.
For just a few US dollars I rented a house like the ones that you can see in the picture, for me alone, in an island called Samosir inside the salted Lake Toba. The house belonged to the hostel Bagus, in the village of Tuktuk. The natives of the island were batak.
You can reach Lake Toba by direct bus from Jakarta (about 40 hours plus the time lost in the constant bus damages).
If after Sumatra you plan to visit Malaysia, then you have two main boats services. The first sails from the port of Medan (Belawan) until the lovely Pinang Island, or you can descend to Dumai and board a ferry to historical Melaka.