Friday, September 2, 2011

Medan, Sumatra

We left Penang late on the 25th for a short flight on Air Asia to Medan, Sumatra. Medan is North Sumatra’s capital and the fourth largest city in Indonesia. We’re meeting my friend Tim in a couple days and he arranged everything – the hotel pick up was at the airport and we were quickly processed through immigration.  On our drive to the hotel, I was got excited as the city looked amazing: huge homes, mansions with gated drives and palm trees lining the streets; I was sure my guidebook was wrong (it claimed the city was dirty, congested and polluted).....

Day 2
Our hotel had a balcony and across the street they were working on this house:

Massive! Most of the money here is from palm plantations - rubber was the number one export but now it's palm oil. They are destroying ancient jungles to make room for these plantations.

So, as we usually do, Ian and I decided to head out for a walk and see what the city was like. Turns out, my guidebook was right. Not only is it dirty, but walking here is worse than walking in Malaysia – sidewalks are few and far between and traffic is crazy with lots of honking. It’s difficult to cross the streets, they are wide with no lane divisions and very few intersections. We ended up imitating the locals: waded into the traffic, walking slowly with a hand up in the stop position. Cars slow down and bikes weave around you – very scary.
Clearly the night sky on our arrival hid the dirt because this city is filthy. We walked through garbage, past dead animals, stepped over missing grates with the sewer running below us and gingerly walking along the road with the traffic whipping inches by when sidewalks disappeared. This place is not made for pedestrians, even our server at lunch wished us a safe journey when he heard we were walking.
We continued on to the tourist information centre and met a very nice woman who gave us some information about the few sites to see here. The Tjong A Fie mansion was next door and a tour was less than 4 dollars each so we signed up – and got our own guide. Turns out, Tjong A Fie is a nephew of Cheong Fatt Tze of the Blue Mansion that we visited in Penang.

This mansion was very similar to the Blue Mansion – had 5 courtyards, 2 storeys, 35 rooms and was completed in 1895. Some of the family still there in a section of the house closed off from the area we saw. Unlike Fatt Tze’s house, you could take photos.


This photo of the courtyard is almost identical to the one in Penang and was the centre of energy for the house.  The house wasn’t restored completely; some rooms did not have the original flooring and many stood empty.  Still, I did enjoy it.


Following our tour was lunch at supposedly the oldest restaurant in Medan – our server was very informative. We had rice, jackfruit, chicken, gado-gado and drinks for about 6 dollars. We made our way back down a side street thinking this might be an easier walk but that was a big mistake.  There were lots of men and very few women and I caught a lot of unwelcome stares – no smiles. Despite my  confidence, I did feel rather intimidated and really wanted to get out of there but didn’t feel like backtracking in the oppressive heat, so we pushed on.  It really is frightening walking on the streets because the traffic whips by you at a scary speed and you just hope that your elbow doesn’t get clipped by a bike or mirror of a car.  Whenever we could, we got off the road but that was difficult.
We came across a market and mosque with a demonstration going on outside the gates. I could hear them yelling “America” but Ian plowed ahead, weaving through the group, so I followed him. Afterwards I asked him what they were demonstrating – they were pro-Hezbollah anti-USA. That explained the unfriendly looks I received.
Tim arrives tomorrow morning with friend and baby in tow. He has arranged for a car and driver and I can’t tell you how happy I am about that!
Day 3
Tim arrived and is in the adjoining room – Banju, his son, is adorable and just starting to walk.

Michelle, his colleague, is ‘aunty’ and originally from Taiwan. We got reacquainted and then went off to lunch at an Indonesian restaurant taken by our driver. We had a range of dishes to share, all placed before us and any we didn't eat – we were not charged for. We ate so much food – chicken, rice, jackfruit, spinach, potato cakes, fish, etc. and the entire meal for all four of us came to about 25 dollars. This type of meal is called Padang.
For the afternoon, our personal driver chauffeured us in an air conditioned car to Maimon Palace, the Sultan’s palace but clearly, the Sultan does not live there. It was very anti-climactic as we were only allowed into one room – I took a few photos and I think these make the place look better than it actually did – it was getting pretty run down.

We then decided to head to the Great Mosque where we first had to don skirts to cover our bare legs and Michelle and I had to put on head scarves. Both of us were sweating from the extra clothing – it’s amazing how a head covering can make you HOT! We removed shoes, and Michelle and I headed to the women’s entrance but merely stood in the doorway. I felt odd because many people were praying while others were napping on the floor. The ceilings were incredibly high and intricately painted – quite lovely.
We returned to our cool oasis, the car and then the hotel – it’s just too hot in the afternoons here.
For dinner, we went to a very popular Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum and I have never seen so much food. There were at least a dozen dishes, if not more, and the entire bill came to 35 dollars for 5 adults – the 5th being an Indonesian fellow that Tim had met at the pool.
Tomorrow we head to Lake Toba, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake and possibly the world’s deepest at 525m. It was created 80,000 years ago when a volcano erupted and produced a caldera that imploded – leaving a large hole soon filled by water. 30,000 years ago a smaller volcano erupted leaving an island the size of Singapore. Surrounding this lake are very large cliffs covered in trees and moss.
Both of us are very happy to be moving on – other than the food, Medan isn’t a place we want to hang out in for long.

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