MEDAN, INDONESIA

Last week, my wife and I took a short break in Medan, Indonesia. We touched down at Medan Polonia International airport after one hour flight from Kuala Lumpur. It was our first trip there and did not know what to expect - however, we found that Medan was quite an amusing city with thousands of motorcycles, "Becak motor "(trishaws or pedicabs), colourful mini vans, black cars and black MPVs jamming the roads.

Part of the city view from our hotel

Medan is the fourth largest city in Indonesia with a population of over 2 million people. I was told that the main tourist attraction is Lake Toba, the largest lake in South East Asia. It would take about 5 hours to get there. Since our stay was short, we preferred to relax in the city. Like in Malaysia, driving is on the left hand side of the road. Driving in Medan could be challenging (or nightmare) for visitors. If you can drive in Medan, driving in any city in the world should not be a problem. Motorcycles and Becak motors were everywhere. They seemed to ignore all the traffic laws. Our taxi driver told us that there were hundreds of accidents daily involving them. I noticed that the becak motors were "kings" of the road. They never signal to indicate their intention to make turn or overtaking. Our taxi driver was quite patient in tailing these "kings" It was ridiculous to see how a mother took her child on this motorcycle - just tight a sarong around her and her child. I presumed that was the normal safety precaution in Medan. A common sight on the road - transporting goods - a ladder and stools.

We tried the Becak motor - but it was a bad choice as there was hardly any room for a comfortable ride. It was dangerous as the becak driver swayed from left to right trying to squeeze through the traffic. It was worse when we had to endure the black fumes from other vehicles and the dust during the short ride. The mini vans or " sudako" is one of the public transportation. They are painted in bright yellow, blue or red. I did not see any bus stop for these "Sudako" and they just stopped to pick up or drop off passengers anywhere along the road contributing the traffic jam. Like any other Asean city, food stalls could be found at almost every corner of the streets - We decided not to try the food after seeing the condition of the stalls.Another roadside hawker stall.

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The city of Medan has a few shopping complex. The largest is the Sun Plaza where the "Sogo" department store is. The other popular one is the Medan Fair.

We spent one afternoon in these two shopping complex but did very little shopping as the pricing was comparable to Kuala Lumpur or Kota kinabalu. The only unusual shops were these Indonesian fast food outlets

A shopping alley in Medan Fair.

We bought some of the Indonesian batik in one of the many Batik shops there. Overall, we did enjoy our stay in Medan. The good food and the 5 star hotel were fabulous. I shall publish them in my next blog.