Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia (Parapat-Berastagi-Medan City)

Hello world. Its been a week since I wrote part 1 of my trip to Medan. Been busy with work on weekdays and shopping like a crazy girl in the weekend. Hahaha. Let's continue my journey there shall we?

12 June 2013

So I left Parapat early in the morning after breakfast at the hotel. The driver picked us up and we're heading for Berastagi which is about 5hours from Parapat. I was like " WHAT?? FIVE FREAKING HOURS? " Plus the road condition there is not as good as what we have here in Malaysia. Lucky for us our drive took an alternative road there. And sumpah cakap the view sepanjang jalan memang spectacular!!! And believe it or not lepas dah drive hours away from Parapat we can still see the magnificent view of Lake Toba. Subahanallah, cantiknya ciptaan Allah SWT. Travel makes me realize how small a space I occupy in this world :)

The view from our hotel's parking space. 8 am and it was so bright and sunny. 

If I'm not mistaken the locals call this place Tanjung Unta. So pretty :) And its 2hours drive from Prapat.

Seeeeee...everything is so green and blue here. Hahaha. Feeling pencinta environment sangat time niii. LOL. So anyway, before we reach Berastagi I asked my driver to take a short detour and go to Sepiso Piso Waterfall. Wanted to see the 100 feet high waterfall with my own eyes. Rugi kalau datang jauh jauh and tak pergi since its just one hour from Berastagi. Tak pi Berastagi okay lagi tapi Sepiso Piso is a MUST! And if you have some extra time make sure you visit Mount Sibayak too. Nak pi sana in the future insyaAllah :)

How pretty is that? I regret not going all the way down and have good swim.

And that's me mesmerized by the view. 

And from here WE CAN STILL SEE LAKE TOBA! Excited! And it's the best view of Lake Toba. For me it's better than the view in Parapat. Check it out down here if you guys don't believe me.

Told ya! The view cantik kan. Maaf laa guna camera phone jaaa ni T__T

Next, Berastagi. What's interesting here? Hmmmmm. Senang cakap tak pi pun takpa. Cameron Highland lagi best, bak kata my mum. Hahaha. Kat sini we bought some souvenirs and end up makan jagung bakar. Nasib baik laaa jagung sini sedap and murah.

Since nothing much kat Bearstagi we headed back to Medan City for our final night. And before sampai hotel my mum sempat suruh driver bawak pi beli Bika Ambon kat Zulaikha. Ramai gilaaaaaaa ok kedai ni. Padahal tak sedap pun kek and bika yang dijual to (atleast to me). My mum beli la jugak buat bagi kat family kat sini. And since kami sampai pun around 5pm dah banyak flavor yang sold out. Pastu terus driver hantar ke hotel. For last night here I chose a hotel at the heart of the town so that senang nak go shopping tomorrow morning before we catch our 4pm flight home :)

And the hotel is Swiss-Belhotel, Medan. Out of the 3 hotel I stayed, this is the best one. The interior design is so chic and simple. Breakfast pun best with variety of food (Ni penting sebab saya kaki makan T__T) And the hospitality is really good too and the staffs pun semua speaking so its easier. Last but not least its cheap :D

We checked in, clean up and went out to get some dinner. Went to to Merdeka Walk and dine in at Restoran Nelayan. Please go and eat here if you're in Medan. Their food is really good especially the dim sums and also I like the ambiance. Tempat lepak yang cool. After getting recharge we walked around for a lil while and balik tidoqqqqq! Penat sangat sebab dari 8am travelling and what not.

The next day we woke up super early since we wanna do some last minit shopping at Pasar Petisah. Will update another entry on that. 

Till then, keep doing whatever that makes you happy :')

Medan, North Sumatera, Indonesia.

So here's my post on Medan Indonesia. We were there for 4days, 3 nights.

I bought the tickets to Medan wayyyy back in 2012. Masa Air Asia buat free seats tu. So dapat per pax RM66 pergi balik Penang-Medan-Penang. Dirt cheap kan? Untung untung :D

Alkisahnya beli 4 tiket. For me, my mum, bro and cuzzy tapi last minit my bro tak dapat ikut because dia exam. Too badddd. But the trip must go on.

10 April 2013

Boarded the flight to Polonia Airport, Medan. 45mins journey je. Sampai around noon laaa that time and I dah siap suruh orang hotel tu ambil kat airport (kena charge 50k rupiah). Driver siap pegang name plate my name. Terasa VIP sat. Hahaha. Sampai hotel after around 20mins drive, smooth je check in and masuk bilik. FYI, first night ni I stayed at Grand Sakura Hotel. Bilik spacious and bersih. Worth the money, around RM 100-ish per night. Just that breakfast the next morning was too simple and sikit. Buffet macam tak buffet je. Macam tak ikhlas. Haha. Other than that I totally recommend this hotel.

After rest sekejap we all terus turn our shopping mode on and cari transport nak ke Pasar Ikan. And guess what? Berdiri depan hotel sat jaa ada beca (tapi guna motorbike) berhenti. Great. Since kami 3 orang memang elok sangat la naik beca ni. Murah and cepat sebab Medan jalan jemmmmm so takyah laa nak ber-taxi bagai.

Kat Pasar Ikan tak beli apa sangat sebab barang mahal. Setakat beli tudung and telekung je. Semua pun sombong tak mau diskaun. Malas ahh. Menyesal je p actually. Dahlaaa panas nak mampus then ada je penjual ikot dari mula sampai balik suruh beli barang diaorang. Mula mula kesian lama-lama jadi annoying sebab they were too pushy.

Lepas balik dari Pasar Ikan we went for dinner at Merdeka Walk (sini ada McD) and terus balik hotel. Tido awal coz esok nak terjah Danau Toba. Oh yeahhhhh!

11 April 2013

Sebab nak bajet, I only used a driver for our second and third day there. Tu pun sebab nak pegi Lake Toba and Berastagi. 5 hours journey people. Tak sesuai rasanya nak naik bas since my mum pun join kan. So driver ni was responsible to bring us everywhere for two days full. 1200k rupiah for two days. Including tol, petrol, his hotel and food.

So first thing in the morning he picked us up and bawa ronda Medan. Went to Masjid Raya, Istana Maimoon and then shoot for Danau Toba. It took us 5hours to get there but it was worth it! The view, Subhanallah, sangat cantik. Sejuk je rasa macam kat Swiss pun ada. Berangan jap.

The view of Parapat Town from the ferry ride to Samosir Island.

Subhanallah. Cantik sampai terdiam seketika.

Then kami naik boat ke Samosir Island. Macam ferry ride laa. Murah je dalam RM 3/pax. Ferry ride ni memang superb sebab the view memang sangat breathtaking. You gotta see it to feel it :)

The ferry ride view!

I believe this is the Danau Toba International Cottage. Prettyyy.

Kat Samosir Island we all just jalan one round then balik since dah lewat and belum check in kan. And too bad we didnt stay at Samosir Island and we opted for a hotel in Parapat instead. Hotel sini semua burukkkkk and lama and mahal. Tsk Tsk Tsk. The only plus side is hotel dia memamg betol betol tepi tasik sooo the view memang superb especially at sunrise :)

Malam tu we all just dinner maggi, layan sinetron and hit the bed early since esok awal pagi nak head to Berastagi.

The view from my hotel balcony just after sunrise. 

And yes, this is what I was talking about. Magnificent view.

Btw, all pictures were taken by my Samsung phone je. And believe me when I say it did not give the breathtaking view any justice. Should've bring a proper camera. But oh well, not bad huh :)

I shall continue the final two days journey in Medan in my next post. Gotta be a slave tomorrow at work.

Till then.

XOXO,
Nadia.

Hello world!

I've been blogging since 2008 every now and then. But I kinda abandoned the old blog. So in the spirit of trying new things I wanna start a new blog covering new journey and new endeavors.

Stay tuned, gonna update you guys on my Medan trip back in April and also my recent trip to Krabi :)