Blogs from Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia

We departed the Alagon at 8:00 AM for an 11:00 Malaysian Air flight. We checked in and hit an orchid lounge. We scarfed down a few breakfast items, exchanged some Dong for Dollars and went to our gate. We connected through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before continuing to Medan, Indonesia. We took the train from the airport to downtown Medan. We stayed at the url=https://www.tripadvisor.co.id/Hotel_Review-g297725-d6434963-Reviews-D_primahotel_Medan-Medan_North_Sumatra_Sumatra.htmlD'primahotel which is located above the Medan train station. The train was pleasant, easy, and fast. The only snag was that we could not use credit cards and had to use debit. The D’Prima was pretty basic. The room was small and featured little more than a king-size bed and a TV. We settled i... read more

We arrived back in Medan on Wednesday night to visit the hospital which was spectacular, and looked just like a fancy American hospital you see in films. We were seen straight away and Susie was given a course of antibiotics and would feel better in five days- yay! Instead of a taxi queue outside of the hospital, there is a hospital official organising tuk tuk rides for cheap prices. We arrived back at the hotel and hung up all of our wet clothes, as the climate in Berastagi made it impossible for them to dry. We enjoyed a long lie the next morning and treated ourselves to a KFC for breakfast. We headed back to Medan airport to catch our flight to the region of Lombok. We had had a fantastic time in Sumatra, but we ... read more

The alarm was ringing and the day that I shall encounter to Asia is today! It would be my first time in Asia - if you do not count Jordan as Asia. I only knew that Indonesia is a quite large country with many islands; every islands does have its own feeling, which makes the country quite diverse. But everywhere you can encounter the jungle and volcano’s, due the fact that Indonesia is laying in the “ring of fire”. The country does have a living culture, so you will encounter temples and old buildings everywhere. For example palaces, temples, mosques, the old Dutch VOC and tribal culture. And, you can find also “traditional south-east Asia”, with rice fields, mountains, the good food and of course the traffic. And, today is the day, I will experience it ... read more

So I guess today should of felt like a bit of a milestone - it didn't but it kinda feels good to have got to the 50th day of travelling on my own, over my 40th birthday - and not buckling under the pressure and coming home. Met up with Bob at his hotel for breakfast as it was free - and posher than mine - at 7am so had an early start. Sitting down by the lake bob was catching his ferry at 07.30 and mine at 10.00, the one ferry ( that we saw) turned up at 09.00, so rushing back to my room to grab my bags we ended up on the same ferry back to Parapat on the main land. We were then getting 2 separate minibuses to the airport - bob ... read more

After giving up on the totally unreliable bus service, I got a taxi to the airport for my flight at 11.20 to Indonesia. The flight took 30 minutes and because of the time difference we landed at 11.00! After paying for a 30 day visa on arrival which was £15 and a bit of a grilling from an official - anyone would think they would want visitors here! I was let through, walking through the airport a chap approached from a tour agency offering to take me into the centre of medan - about an hr away and costing 275,000 rupiah, at this point I didn't really know of any other option so I took him up on it, later finding out that it cost roughly £16 so not completely ripped off. The man came in ... read more