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SIMALUNGUN |
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The Simalungun or Timur ('Eastern") Batak
occupy the highlands between Lake Toba and the east coast, today a key
plantation region with huge estates producing palm oil, rubber, cacao,
tea. The area is traversed by a 100 km stretch of the Trans-Sumatera
highway leading up to prapat via Pematang Siantar.
Medan to
Tebing Tinggi
Cermin Beach A turn off at Perbaungan leads north to Pantai Cermin ( Mirror Beach ), a favorite local holiday and weekend picnic spot, 45 km from Medan. Here a casuarina-lined beaches for swimming and fishing, though incomparable to those along the west coast. About 76 km from Medan you enter the large town of Tebing Tinggi, the east coast rail junction where lines link Pematang Siantar with Medan and Rantau Prapat further to the south.
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Pematang
Siantar Pematang Siantar, North Sumatera's second largest city, is the administrative and commercial hub of the Simalungun plantation area. Colonial houses can be seen in the centre of the urban area, and at 400 m above sea level the climate is cooler than on the coast. The
Simalungun Museum on jl. Ahmad Yani has an interesting collection of pustaha
laklak, the bark books in Indic batak script used by datuk
magicians to record their sacred formulae. It also has notable examples of
stone pangulubalang or Simalungun guardian images colected during
the 1930s.
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Simalungun
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