Trip to Medan

April 29, 2013

Trip to Medan

Hello again~~ feel so happy since I have a new story to share to you guys. Thank you for waiting & reading my blog, highly appreciated :). This year started from Sulawesi, West Java and now North Sumatera. I went to Medan, Fri 19 – Sun 21 April 2013 (3D/2N). Another being solo backpacker, kinda feel like a wanderer in my own country hehe. Of course due to promo flight ticket :D I decided to go to Medan.

Day 1 – Friday, 19 April 2013

I took early flight with Citilink, my flight at 6.55 AM and I woke up late! I should leave from my house at 4 AM but I just woke up at 5 AM, so it’s kinda frustrated a bit in the morning, what if bla bla bla..haha already negative thinking. But thankfully Citilink closed their check-in counter 30 minutes before flight time. And I arrived at CGK airport around 6.20 AM. After 2 hours on flight finally I arrived at Medan, the weather was nice. From airport I went to main gate of airport outside, so from the door turn to the right, around 150m to get to main gate of airport. I took Becak which I was mistaken to say Bentor (Becak-Motor), Bentor called in Makassar but in Medan, they call Becak for both (bicycle or motorcycle) so ppl didn’t understand when I said Bentor kkk XDD. I went directly to my host house at Glugur area, cost IDR 25,000. At that day, my host sister took me around Medan by motorcycle since her sister still at work. Their family were really kind, helpful & care with their guest. First destination on that day is Crocodile Farm, actually I’m not into animal so much but just wanna see. Entrance fee IDR 6,000 for adult and IDR 2,000 for parking. A little bit scared to see all those crocodiles coz there are so many!! There is a very big crocodile, I forgot how old it is. From there I went to Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni, it’s a Catholic Church with a great design, Indo-Mogul style, it is located not far from Crocodile Farm. The prayer hall located on 2^nd Floor, there’s a spiral slope to go up. And in the spiral slope you can see the painting & art about when God create universe from 1^st day – 6^th day, that’s awesome. The interior in the Prayer Hall was very beautiful, it really made me calm & peaceful to see it. ” Come to me, all who laboured and are heavily burdened, I will give you rest” you can read in front of church podium, the word is quote from Bible, God’s word ^^ Third destination is Masjid Raya (Mosque) built in 1906 by Sultan of Medan, maybe because the history & cool architecture, this Mosque become place to visit for tourist and I feel a lil bit commercial when I visited that place, too bad. I was passing Maimun Palace (Istana Maimun) when I went to Masjid Raya, but not interest to get in :D coz I heard there is nothing to see inside, since the left and right side is someone’s house. So from Masjid Raya we went to Rumah Burger instead to have meal, the burger was WOW~~ kkk XDD see my picture below. At night I tried Kolak Durian near my host house.

Crocodile Farm O_o

the big one o_O

Kereta mean motorcycle in Medan :p

Graha Maria Anna Velangkanni

located inside that street

Masjid Raya

very big portion!! XD

Kolak Durian IDR 7,000

Day 2 – Saturday, 20 April 2013

I changed my plan for that day, my plan was from Medan will go to Berastagi then to Lake Toba, but I changed my mind because my host tell me its better to go to Lake Toba through Parapat. Because if you want to go to Berastagi, she is afraid if I could running out of time since the public transportation are not easy to take. So I went to Terminal Amplas in the morning 8 AM by angkot about 30 minutes then I took Bus Sejahtera to Perapat (IDR 25,000), I waited about 30 minutes on the bus to departure. It took almost 5 hours from Medan to Perapat & quite a long journey :P I got off at Ajibata Harbour then take boat (IDR 5,000) to Samosir Island (Tomok) about 30 minutes, actually that experience kinda amazed me since I was traveling alone to Lake Toba hehe, feel proud of myself :D Lake Toba is not photogenic, but when you see with your own eyes you're gonna be so amazed like I did. Because Lake Toba is extraordinary big & wide, couldn't imagine how biiiiiiiiig the volcano explosion in million years ago, sugoooiiii!!! ^o^ so at Tomok, I already gathered information so I went to Sigale Gale wooden puppet, from harbour there is a main road then just turn to the left, go straight and there is an uphill road on your right, full with stall which sell souvenirs, all locations for place to visit in Tomok is in one area & for free but you can give some donations if you want :), it’s very easy to find all these places. From Sigale Gale I went to Sidabutar Tomb, I followed a touring group so I could hear the tour guide explanation at Sidabutar Tomb, to get in this tomb you need to wear Ulos fabric, he said Tomok means fat, healthy. From there I’m looking for Batak Museum, it is located at the end of stall, there is a Batak house, but I didn’t get in. There was a naughty monkey who steal a girl glasses, pity her. I bought few souvenirs at Tomok then I’m planning to go to Tuk Tuk to find a guesthouse. I took a walk and the distance was pretty far for me, I ignored all offer like motor-taxi or angkot because I’m going by walk and it was really tired -_-, it took more than 30 minutes for me to arrive at Tuk Tuk, I already walked around 5km from Tomok to Tuk Tuk. At Tuk Tuk I’m planning to stay at Liberta Guest House in Batak House but it sold out & the room left is a room in front of lobby IDR 35,000/night, bathroom outside. So I thought that I will only stay for 1 night so that’s okay. There were so many travellers stayed at that Guest House, the staff were really nice and it is located in the edge of Lake Toba, so I love it. It is really a calm place & I feel so peaceful in there, chatted with a few travellers there or hearing their stories made me happy to hear that. Unfortunately I only have 1 night because tomorrow I have to go back to Medan. But I recommend to stay at this Guest House, I heard actually the owner is Germany, named Mr. Moon, he must be really like that island ^^

the boat that took passengers to Tomok IDR 5,000

Sigale Gale

Market to buy souvenirs~~

Sidabutar Tomb~~

Batak House

me :D

Bad monkey!

in fire to go to Tuk Tuk by walking~!

tik tok tik tok

beautiful!! XDD

ngosh ngoshh..but the view was wonderful!

arriveeedddd ^.^/

my bed IDR 35,000/night

backyard in my guesthouse

in the edge of Lake Toba~~~

next time there would be someone sit next to me :D

Batak House in guesthouse

still inside my guesthouse

Day 3 – Sunday, 21 April 2013

Woke in early morning, enjoyed & breathe so deeply because its rare for me to get fresh air in Jakarta, too much pollution ^^;; I checked out around 7 AM then took a boat back to Perapat (Tiga Raja Harbour) IDR 10,000. The harbour is really near from my guest house, even the staff was really nice coz he took me to harbour in the morning. Being in the middle of Lake Toba in the morning was really nice, thankfully rain only coming at night, when I need to sleep. From Tiga Raja Harbour I took angkot & went to Ajibata harbour to take Bus Sejahtera back to Medan. About 30 minutes to wait until Bus leaving for Medan. And get ready for another 5 hours journey again. I went directly to my host house, chilled out a little bit and talking with them, then they took me to buy Bolu Meranti & Bika Ambon, I ordered Bolu Meranti with cheese (IDR 45,000) & Bika Ambon (IDR 40,000) then before going to airport, they took me to Merdeka Walk, actually this is the place when many ppl will come to hang out especially at night because there are so many restaurant, I went to this place to buy Pancake Durian because I heard this place has a delicious pancake durian than others store but it's quite expensive (IDR 37,000/2 pcs). My journey has come to the end, they took me to airport & waiting for my flight back to Jakarta, I feel so happy they were really kind & care, enjoyed talking with them, got new few words :p