are my overwhelming memories of Medan, one of the least pleasant cities I have ever been to. It's the regional capital of North Sumatra certainly, and possibly the whole of Sumatra - I can't remember and will edit this when I find out. I should explain that my experiences were somewhat coloured ... Read review
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...the only good thing about Medan is that it has a decent airport (which I believe takes international flights) and it's the Indonesian end of the main ferry service between Indonesia and Malaysia. Oh, and it's near a really cool orang utan sanctuary in a place called Bukit Lawang - one of only two in the world and a truly unforgettable experience. But that's another review altogether... ... more
are my overwhelming memories of Medan, one of the least pleasant cities I have ever been to. It's the regional capital of North Sumatra certainly, and possibly the whole of Sumatra - I can't remember and will edit this when I find out. I should explain that my experiences were somewhat coloured by being forced to stay there for three days while immigration tried to decide if I was an illegal immigrant or not, so I was not in the best of moods but still, I can think of nothing redeeming about this city whatsoever.
For a start it's filthy. Really, really dirty, both on the streets and in terms of atmospheric pollution. Dirty air combined with humidity is particularly unpleasant. Especially when you're trying to sleep, in one of Medan's horrible grubby hostels. I can't remember where or what I ate, except that it was pretty disgusting Padang food, which is very very hot - not something I object to at all, I love hot food, but this was not nice. The thing I remember most vividly was, as I say, the dead bats. These were particularly horrible as they started out alive, being sold by the side of the road from bamboo racks, to which they were tied with bits of string threaded through knife slashes in their wings. They looked pitiful enough like this, but as I discovered, for some reason if you tie bats up like this they die really fast. As a result, you'd walk by in the morning and see lots of live bats, but by the time you returned many would have died and been slung in the gutter. Every day, the later I walked by the bigger the pile of dead bats would be. It was really really horrible.
In fact, the only good thing about Medan is that it has a decent airport (which I believe takes international flights) and it's the Indonesian end of the main ferry service between Indonesia and Malaysia. Oh, and it's near a really cool orang utan sanctuary in a place called Bukit Lawang - one of only two in the world and a truly unforgettable experience. But that's another review altogether...
We arrived in Medan by fast boat, (6 hours), from the Island of Penang, Malaysia. Our plan was to get out of the town as soon as possible and make our way to the Orang-utan sanctuary in Bukit Lawang. However as soon as the coach from the port dropped us at the bus station we were accosted by locals trying to get us to stay. When we pointed out that we needed transport, we were quoted 75,000 rupiah. Not bad for seven people you might say, but this ...
I am biased as I spent some time there. Yes,it is all of the above but it also is a good place to meet very freindly people. Taken,the hostels are full of sly looking tourist hunters,but these guys are trying to earn a living off of a dwindleing number of foriegn tourists.If you chill out and spend some time not worrying about how wrong things are,you may be able to take in some of the "delights" of Medan's many plazas,full of rich asians.I got to know some great folks from the Batak Toba and Caro(christian and Muslim)Tamil (in Kampong kling)and Hokien Chinese.they seem to live together happily.Long live Medan. ...
alanday 16.11.2008 (14.11.2008)
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Medan (Sumatra)
Advantages: too easy visit from singapore Disadvantages: Verymuch the local criminals and mavia a violent and abusive
Medan is a large city for areas of Sumatra, most of the products that needed a lot of people in Sumatra are sent from the field, such as Aceh that import most of the needs of the population of Medan, the field has a large amount of sea and is currently building the international airport representatives, I have more than 5 times dating medan as all travel to Aceh should be through the field if the dating of the air, sea and land, Medan can visit through ... ...air and sea travel. Medan is a city that is quite vulnerable and dangerous, if you have not been go to medan and should not want go to medan two or smth, better entourage came together. People here speak with a loud and have a certain rough, not the one time you shop wayside any way, let alone touch the goods and you do not buy it, you will be dealing the local criminals and mavia a violent and abusive, if you do not have a very important purpose ...
Toce123 03.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Medan (Sumatra)
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Advantages: The situation is peace, and you can enjoy nice sightseeing Disadvantages: None
Welcome to SumatraSumatra, one of Republic Indonesia's big island, is a nice island to make jurney. The journey should be started from Medan (North Sumatra), Bukit Tinggi (West Sumatra), Jambi, Palembang and then Java, Bali, etc.
I encourage you to start from Medan, the province capital city, because there are a lot of tourism spots in North Sumatra. Another most important reason is the only one international flight port in Sumatra is found in Medan. It is called Polonia.
In Medan you can visit national museums. For night entertainment, you can visit pubs or discotheque.
What are other tourism spots to visit then ? You can visit Bukit Lawang, about 4 hours drive by bus or car (I have writen a short information about Bukit Lawang in CIAO, too). You must spend a day for the trip.
Or you have the choice to visit Berastagi ...
and international visitors. They can be good guides and produce some traditional stuffs to be sold.
Supported with government's promotion, good coorporation from local people and the others, finally Bukit Lawang can be one of the outstanding tourism spots in Sumatra.
How to reach there?
The only international airport in Indonesia is located in North Sumatra - Medan. Medan is the capital city of North Sumatra Province.
The only public transportation available to reach Bukit Lawang is using cars or buses. It takes about 4 hours to reach Bukit Lawang from Medan by bus. Hence you must arrange your time well.
What is Bukit Lawang?
Lexically Bukit means mount and Lawang means cave. I think this name is a suitable one for this tourism spot.
Geologically Bukit Lawang is a surburb and peaceful place. The green scenery might be a good ...
Advantages: Beautiful place, friendly people Disadvantages: Take 3-4 hours from Medan
Lake toba is one of the biggest lake in Sumatra island and in Indonesia, too. Lake Toba is about 285 km from Medan City, a capital of North Sumatra. Lake Toba is about 100 km long and about 30 km wide. Lake Toba is also called Parapat by a people of North Sumatra.
From Jakarta, we needed a trip about 2.5 hours by plane, whereas from Medan to reach the lake Toba we needed 3-4 hours trip by car.
To go to location of lake, we drive a car or a bus from Medan through an area of hill and It take about 3-4 hours until we arrive to lake Toba. .
In a middle of lake, there is an island called Samosir island. To reach a samosir, we might use boat and there is also bigger ship which transports cars and busses sailing to Samosir. A cost to sail to Samosir is only Rp 25.000.
When we are in Medan, we feel so hot, not like on Toba, cause in ...
