World famous is the crater toba lake in the batak highland approximately five hours drive from Medan . to a lake is the largest lake in south east Asia and also one of the most spectacular, surrounded by tall mountain and with the large island of samoir in the middle if we descend from the mountain we see the lake glittering in all its beauty . the dutch writer Rudy kousbroek even call to a lake , " the most beautiful place on earth " most visitors stay on the peninsula of tuk tuk on samosit , name after the linguist Herman neubrinner van den tuuk . in general people stay several day on samosir to discover the island , to visit traditional batak villages , to swim in the lake and go to the hot springs in pangururan .