Parapat downtown is included as a safe place for travelers. We were free to have a night walk without worrying the trouble such as robbery, thief or anything that could disturb us. So, feeling this safe, I decided to have little night walk with my friend to Parapat downtown, not really far. You can reach this place around 20 minutes. During the night walk, you can see the dark view of Toba lake, and the building lights came out from the buildings along the lake. It is a firm town that serves you variety of souvenirs.
When you arrive in this city. It is quite easy to find a hotel, it got many suite hotels for you. If you don't have enough money to book a hotel room, there are some cheap guest houses around the town that is easy to book. Considering, I had a short trip, I preferred to stay in affordable guest house. Small town, calm street, only few buses and private cars passed this street. I walked through the path slowly while watching people were in and out from the hotel. Most of them were visitors who wanted to go to Parapat market.
The town of Parapat was built on lakeside with shops and restaurants, houses, hotels, and guest houses all piled up on top of each other with a series of interlocking alleyways and a single narrow street zigzagging all the way down to the center of the town below. There were lights everywhere. This vacation season drew me to experience the sense of this town, but the place was still crowded with people determined to enjoy the unique souvenirs that were being offered.
Most of the people in Parapat market were so excited to find the unique kinds of stuff, such as the clothes, mini-statues, necklaces and other traditional accessories. It took me twenty minutes to reach the town center, a melting spot that had grown into a dense and cluttered town. The buildings were simple in different styles: wooden shops, concrete building and a field for local concert. From the marketplace I could hear the beat from the stage, the school event was held on that night. In the coolness of the night was regarded as of no more important than the cracked sidewalk or the chipped lamp-posts. Indeed the shoppers wished to buy a handful souvenir as the proved that they had been to this town.
Even so, I still loved exploring this market, finding a shopper was selecting a suit long dress while the others bought some clothes for their family. These kinds of stuff were affordable, and you can ask for a discount, most of them were given away if they suit with the price. I was so tempted to collect the souvenirs that were displayed at the front store, and I decided to buy some. The cheap price was either way to buy the unique clothes and other necessary stuff.
More than an hour I spent in the marketplace, tired, hungry killed me. I wish I could find the cafe around this spot and as new in town, I was blind to find a cozy coffee shop. We returned to the guest house and in next couple minutes, we decided to go to another part of town. We turned right to find the right cafe so we could experience the culinary in this island. Apparently, we still have a night walk, less 1 kilometer, we managed to walk thru the glimpse of city light. Anyway, it was not a coffee shop, but fine to have some food. A narrow shop that served people with the variety of food. I ordered a ginger drink instead of coffee and a plate of chocolate cheese canai, a delicate food.
This food was good for me, a ginger drink that could kill my weariness, plus a plateful roti canai. As far as I walked, I just found out this kind of shop located close to the main road of Parapat city. I did not expect more, all I wanted was, I could taste the real food in this town. The clock ticked so fast and time to go back to the guest house had come. That how I ended my night walk in Parapat downtown.
