Medan, Capital of Sumatra, Indonesia

After our arranged tours in Bukit Lawang and Lake Toba we had a couple of days before flying from Medan, the capital of Sumatra. When making the flight plans I thought it would be interesting to spend them in Medan, an Indonesian city that is not on the usual tourist list. It turned out to be interesting, but not entirely in the way I was hoping. 

Leaving our island retreat in Lake Toba was bittersweet — it was fantastically beautiful and relaxing but we were on to Kuala Lumpur next and I was really looking forward to their famous street food.

One of the colorful ferries came to pick us up. It says TUK-TUK on it,not because it is like the little tuk tuks that taxi you around the big cities of Central America and Asia, but because the peninsula our lodge was on is the Tuk-Tuk Peninsula of Samosir Island.

We had arranged with the owner of our lodge for a driver to pick us up from the ferry and transport us to Medan - about four hours. We had also arranged for him to stay in Medan overnight and be available to drive us around the city the next day. This turned out to be very fortunate. 

On our way up the long hill from the lake there were monkeys hanging out on the guard rails hoping for passing motorists to throw them some food.

After that, the drive was pretty boring, now that we were familiar with endless rubber plantations, ramshackle buildings, and lots of slow traffic on narrow roads. Same old, same old.

When we got to Medan, our driver used his GPS and made a phone call to our host to find our airbnb location which turned out to be a townhouse in a narrow residential lane. We were let in by a security guard at the gate. However, it didn’t look like the photos of the place I had booked online. The kitchen was dingy and poorly equipped; there was no a/c in the living area and it was stiflingly hot and humid; the bathroom floor was underwater; and I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. I sent our host a text message asking why we were in a different unit than the one advertised, which had lovely photos of a comfy and nicely decorated place, and waited to hear back while David went in search of provisions for dinner at a market we had passed on the way. By the time he returned, I was already researching hotels in the area. When we discovered that the one cooking burner in the kitchen wouldn’t work since it wasn’t hooked up to a fuel source, that clinched it. We were leaving in the morning. So I booked a room in a big hotel downtown and we ate bread and butter and cheese for dinner and retreated to the bedroom, which, thankfully, did have a/c.

During the night, I went to the toilet and put my hand on the sink to steady myself as I sat down. To my surprise, and David’s alarm, the sink came right off the wall and crashed to the floor, splintering in pieces. What a shock! Turns out the sink was not actually attached to the wall, just sitting on flanges that angled out of the wall. So we pushed the pieces out of the way and went back to bed. I was so glad we had already arranged for our driver to pick us up at 9:00 am. We were ready with our bags packed.

This was an unfortunate and unusual experience. We have stayed at many airbnbs now and have always been happy having unique local places that felt like home where we could cook and relax. And the hosts have always been helpful and responsive. I sent our Medan host another message in the morning about the sink and other problems but didn’t hear back from her for two more days. Apparently she was out of town. I was also in touch with airbnb’s customer service and they made sure we were not charged for the unused days. So, chalk that one up to experience. 

The first thing we wanted when our driver picked us up was a good cup of coffee and our Lake Toba host had given us a recommendation. It turned out to be an artsy little coffee shop in a trashed up alley. We had delicious lattes and a chocolate caramel waffle That improved our moods considerably.

It was still too early to check into our hotel, so we drove around the streets of Medan for a bit and saw the usual mixture of new and old buildings.

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We were told we should see the Tjong A Fie Mansion, which is the former home of a wealthy Chinese business magnate, but it was closed due to it being Chinese New Year. So, instead, at our driver’s suggestion, we went to the royal palace of the Sultan Deli. The only part open to the public is the old throne room and, of course, a gift shop. Everyone takes off their shoes before going in.

Once inside, they run a thriving business of renting out period clothing so you can have your photo taken on the ornate thrones. The men were into it as much as the women and children. We declined.

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On the way out, we stopped to take photos of the exterior.

While we were snapping our pictures, a young woman approached our driver and talked to him in Indonesian. He then explained that she was a local student learning English and wondered if she could speak with us. We happily obliged for a few minutes and then she asked to take her photo with us.

As we were walking away, we were approached by a whole group who wanted to talk with us. This time, one of them video recorded while we talked with one young woman. Then they all wanted a photo with us.

We were approached a third time by a young woman on our way to the car and this time I limited her to three questions and we didn’t stop for a photo. We then made a beeline for the car because we could see others were lurking nearby hoping to catch us as well. English speaking tourists were in short supply that day — we were it. 

Finally, it was time to check into our hotel. It turned out to be an upscale place in the downtown area frequented by Asian tourists. The room was elegant, the a/c worked and the breakfast buffet was enormous with a variety of cuisines on offer. We were starting to feel much better after the disaster of the night before. We were on the 11th floor and had a panoramic view of the city.

Later that afternoon, our driver again picked us up to take us to the Tip Top Restaurant for some dinner. This restaurant is an old institution in the city frequented by the local population and known for its ice cream. 

After our driver delivered us back to the hotel, we said goodbye to him with profuse thanks and a big tip. He saved us from a terrible situation and was very good natured about driving around in circles. 

The next day, we had a video call with our son, Ian, in the morning and then tried to go for a walk to see what was near the hotel, but there was nowhere to walk and it was blisteringly hot and humid, so we decided we had seen what Medan had to offer and retreated to the cool comfort of our room to blog and journal. Turned out it was good to have this day of rest before heading to Kuala Lumpur and then Thailand. We were pretty busy for the next couple of weeks.