Berastagi is one of the subdistrict towns in North Sumatra that I want to visit. Sunday 18 March 2018, is my holiday day and family, I made a simple itinerary for my visit to the Karo Highlands. To reach the place of destination, my family and need a long time approximately approximately 8 hours drive, this is because the location of my house is in Langsa City. Aceh which is located far from lumbini natural park. I drove a car at 12 AM and arrived at Berastagi at 8 AM. Arriving in the city of Berastagi me and my family did not directly visit the lumbini natural park, however, we first visited a river located in Karo district. We spent time in the river about 1 hour to take a bath and enjoy the cool water of the river that feels like ice water.
Figure 1: Water Bath In Karo District
After we were content to enjoy the coolness of the water, we hurriedly changed clothes, enjoyed a delicious meal and then rushed to the lumbini natural park. Lumbini natural park is located in Tongkoh Village, Dolatrayat District, Karo District. From the road, the end of the pagoda stupa was visible, a sign of where I was headed not far away. After arriving at the entrance, I wrote a guest book at a security post, my bag was checked by one of the security guys there. To enter Lumbini Natural Park visitors are free of charge, but visitors must comply with all applicable regulations there, including not bringing food and drink inside, so that two bottles of drink from Medan, I was forced to leave in security post. But then I took the drink back after I finished the visit there.
As I entered the entrance, there was a magnificent gold-colored building, a place of Buddhist worship, similar to a golden pagoda in Myanmar.
The pagoda in Lumbini Nature Park is a replica of the Shwedagon pagoda located in Yangon, Myanmar. According to the litelatur I read, this pagoda was inaugurated in October 2010 and has a height of 46.8 meters, making it the highest pagoda in Indonesia.
I was out of luck, because that day the pagoda was being used for worship, so non-Buddhist visitors during the day were not allowed to enter the pagoda building, could only look outside. However I am not discouraged, although from the outside, I can enjoy the architectural beauty of this building. I went around looking at the beautiful pagoda reliefs and many idols.
Figure 4: Budha Statue
Behind the pagoda, there is a beautiful garden that can be enjoyed. The park is equipped by a suspension bridge along approximately 20 meters. For those who have a phobia of altitude, the manager provides stairs to descend to the bottom of the park equipped with several gazebos to rest. Shortly after descending the stairs, I rested sitting in the gazebo in the garden.
After we are satisfied to enjoy the beautiful scenery in lumbini natural park, not far from our garden visit chili garden, we also visited the flower market located in Karo. there are so many beautiful flowers that we see there, tourists can also be pampered by riding a horse.
Figure 7: Riding a Horse
Hopefully my visit information is useful for all stemian friends ..