Tourism comes to Lau Debuk-debuk

By Apriadi Gunawan

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): The mountain breeze blows quite strongly, making the vicinity of Lau Debuk-debuk tourist resort, which perches at an altitude of 700 meters above sea level, feel very cold. The soil of the fog-blanketed tropical forests is wet with dripping dew from the lush trees. In brief, that's the feeling that Lau Debuk-debuk tourist resort leaves you with: being cold and fresh.

However, the cold should not discourage you from feasting your eyes upon the natural beauty as the scenic forests provide you with a variety of breathtaking sights. One of them is a natural hot water spring to stave off the cold and freshen you up. Skin problems? You are well advised to take a dip. The sulfur-scented water will take care of the rest.

A Rp 2,500 bus fare is all you have to pay for a single trip to the spa at Lau Debuk-debuk, some 60 kilometers from Medan, accessible by public buses plying the Medan-Kebonjahe route. However, unless you want to make the effort to plod all the way up or have some form of private transportation take you along the less-than-a-mile-long country road, forget about enjoying the hot water spring. To get to the spot, visitors normally set off from Simpang Doulu, about one kilometer away and then walk a 300 meter-long shortcut.

Lau Debuk-debuk located in the village of Doule, Kebonjahe District, covers 7 hectares of tropical forest. Before being designated a tourist destination in 1980, the forests were declared a nature reserve in a decree issued by King Deli on Dec. 24, 1924.

Sacred spot

Apart from its fame as a tourist spot, the area is widely known as a place for religious rituals as there is a hot spring regarded as sacred by the Karo people. From the well, crystal clear water oozes and flows into square ponds used as places for sacred bathing and rituals - a belief practiced by pagans locally known as Kalak Pemena or Pembegu, meaning animists.

On certain days every month, according to the Karo calender, the followers of this belief perform what is regarded to be the most sacred of ablutions called Erpanggir (the flower-scented bathing) in the ponds around the spa. In the ceremony known as Lau panggiren, the pond water is scented with various aromas such as rough-skinned lime, lemon and certain flowers. Prior to the ablutions, they usually place the offerings at certain places adjacent to the hot springwater.

Ponds

Ani Subakti, in charge of managing the spa, said to make their wishes come true, the Karo tribe and people from as far as Medan, Rantauprapat, Pakan Baru, Jakarta and even Kalimantan swarmed around the spa to perform the Cukra dudu/Cukra Lau ceremony. They come to this area with different objectives.

The Karo people believe that bathing in the spa will purge them from their sins. Some come to worship the supernatural powers believed to able to give help in life while others visit Datuk (grandpa) for his blessings.

Ani Subekti told The Jakarta Post that just a few years ago the ponds were still in pristine condition, but when the local administration started to make it a business enterprise, everything gradually changed.

"There was originally only one natural pond, now we have five" Nani added.

Each pond has a different temperature, one of them is specially used for those with skin problems while the other ponds with higher temperatures are for final cleansing.

Faizal, a pond caretaker, said:" Anybody can bathe here, provided that they are not naked; this is to honor the datuks who guard the spa".

In order to maintain a constant level of sulfur and heat, the ponds are normally cleaned once a week. Faizal said the cleaning of the ponds had to be done simultaneously because after the ponds were emptied, they had to remove the mud left at the base.

Faizal said, pointing to the source of the spring in the first two-meter-deep pond, "The base of the pond is not cemented and it has the highest temperature. The springs are at the base of the pond."

Affordable holiday

The spa offers a very relaxing and cheap holiday. A visitor need only spend less than Rp 10,000 to have fun: Rp 800 for an admission ticket, Rp 5000 for a hut per day and Rp 2000 for an inflated tube for children to cling on to while in the water and Rp 500 for a dip in the pond.

Unfortunately, the facilities around the spa are not well taken care of. Visitors to the spa can't spend the night there as accommodation is not available while the nearest hotels are in the town of Brastagi, some 10 kilometers from the spot.