Pesta Danau Toba: Not that bad

I was curious about Pesta Danau Toba, because since I've been working in Laguboti, I've never been to that event. At first I was afraid I couldn't go to that event because of my strict schedule and over weight job :), but then I heard that the closing of the event is delayed until 18th July 2008, and so the chance for me to go there finally came up.

So I went to this event on 18th July 2008. What makes this event special was that the president of Indonesia, Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will close the event by himself.

I arrived at Parapat in the afternoon, I thought that I late but the event hadn't started yet. The event would not be started until Mr. President showed up, and we all waited for Mr. SBY about 2 goddamn hours (it's rainy there!).

But the waiting was worth it. The shows were very fantastic. Pretty contradictary with what lots of people said in mailing lists. They said that the event wasn't as good as it's promoted in the media. Maybe they came at the wrong time :)

The event was started with a traditional dance from Simalungun, called "Harian Bolon" (if I'm not mistaken). The dancers dance the dance in the rain with joyous terpsichore. SBY was amazed with the dance and the dancers zealously that he invited all the dancers to perform at the Palace.

Then come the speech parts, opened by the Minister of Culture and Tourism. I didn't really pay attention to what he said :) (Hey, I didn't come to this event only to hear that boring speech, hehehe). Then continued with speech from Samsul Arifin (Silaban). This new North Sumatra Governor is really funny that Jaya Suprana gave him a reward from MURI as the funniest governor in Indonesia ever. The speech then closed by SBY.

After that, there's a show about the longest Ulos in Indonesia (and even in the World, claimed Jaya Suprana) and also a traditional dance of Batak Toba, called "Sigale-gale". The dance was very awesome, unfortunately I didn't have a nice view to record the video :(

The most interesting part of this event is that SBY and all ministers, chief of BUMNs, etc sang a Batak song called "Na Sonang do Hita Nadua". I recorded the video, but I didn't quite sure I could share the video of the president :)

After the closing of the event, there's a music shows from famous Bataknese singers, such as Jack Marpaung, Joy Tobing, Bunthore, Nauli Sister, etc. There was also a performence by the famous Batak Commedian, Nai Malpinas dkk. I recorded almost all the shows.

The show was planned to be ended at 1:30 AM, but too bad I can't stay that long, I'm afraid that there will be no transportation mean available for me, so I went home at 00:30 AM from Parapat, and I arrived home at 2:30 AM (yeah, the transportation was very rare at that night).

Ah, what an experience :)

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