We picked up a cheap taxi to take us to the airport in Hanoi. When we arrived I was expecting something like Bangkok airport, but this was tiny, and it only had a couple of very shabby cafes and hardly any shops to wander around. We successfully checked in having paid an extra $30 for our bag to have 25kg instead of 20kg, and it was 26.5kg, so lucky that we did. When we got through security there were a few more shops, but just quite tacky souvenirs. When we went to buy a drink they charged us more than 4 times the price of the same drink at a normal shop, it seemed like a last chance for everyone to get ripped off. The flight was 3 and a bit hours to Singapore, where we had a layover for four hours. By the time we had navigated ourselves to the smoking area, MacDonalds (I know, but it had to be done), and figured out that the butterfly park was not in this terminal, it was about time to leave. This time just 55 minutes to Pekanbaru, and in fact with the time difference we left 5 minutes before we arrived, which was quite odd. We had to get a visa on arrival at Pekanbaru and this had to be paid for in dollars or Indonesian Rupiah, neither of which I had. So there followed quite a convoluted effort to get me to a cash machine which was through immigration, security etc and back again. That done we got our visa and proceeded back through immigration and security etc again, being greeted like old friends by the guards.
We had heard about a night bus from Pekanbaru to Medan, which is the big city we need to get to. I had booked a hotel in Pekanbaru as we arrived at about 11pm, so when we checked in we asked about the bus. This guy had never heard of the night bus to Medan and assured us that we would be much better just flying to Medan.
So the thing is that we only get one month visa on arrival, which can possibly be extended to another month, probably depending on the mood of the man in the office that day. So we need to be quite focussed, Indonesia is massive with 17,000 islands, which means that a lot of time will be spent travelling between destinations. We have a list of places we want to see and Pekanbaru is not on it so we got up to our room and logged onto the internet, quickly finding flights for the following morning at 9.20am for about £35. With the minimum of fuss i managed to book these flights and we hit the sack.
The next morning the alarm went off at 6.15am, and by 6.45am we were piling into a cab on our way back to the airport. We checked in with no problems, thinking we had ages we then got a smoothie and went outside for a quick ciggie. At about 8.45am as we started to walk back to the departure lounge, and a very harassed looking little Indonesian man came up to us and asked us which flight we were on. When we told him he said you must hurry we are closing the gate. Luckily we were the only white people in the airport, so he didn't have too much of a hard time finding us. But by the time we got to the gate the bus had gone so we had to jog to the plane across the airfield, which was a bit dodgy. And when we got on everyone gave us that look you always give the person who has held up the plane.
The flight again was only about 1 hour and we landed in Medan, again because this was such a big city i had booked a room for a couple of nights. Again Medan was not our final destination but it was meant to be where all the transport goes for North Sumatra which is where we were headed. As we only had a couple of days we quickly headed out to try and book some bus tickets and see the only sight in Medan the Mesjid Raya. Now Medan is Indonesia's 3rd largest city, but it certainly was not what i was expecting. A large proportion of Indonesians are Muslim, but i had been assured that shorts and a vest were fine, except in religious areas. Now we had no intention of going into the mosque we just wanted to see it, so off we went. As soon as we stepped out of our alleyway it was like the whole city had stopped to look at us. We soldiered on and it was quite the oddest thing i have ever experienced, people were staring but not in a friendly or curious way, it felt really intimidating. Literally everyone was staring, from children, to old ladies and most of all men. A few people said hello to Craig, but all in all it was not the friendliest welcome. We soldiered on and eventually reached the mosque. As soon as we walked around the fence to the front of the mosque we were surrounded by a group of teenage girls. They were very friendly and explained that they had a school project to ask tourists what they thought of Indonesian food. Now we told them that we had only arrived that morning and had not yet eaten let alone formed a opinion on Indonesian food, but they were quite determined. As it turned out there were loads of questions, and most of asking about things i had never even heard of let alone tried. After a very hot 20 minutes they were vaguely satisfied by the answers we had given, we were then bombarded with questions about the education system in the UK. We were then allowed to go after a few photos.
We had heard about a night bus from Pekanbaru to Medan, which is the big city we need to get to. I had booked a hotel in Pekanbaru as we arrived at about 11pm, so when we checked in we asked about the bus. This guy had never heard of the night bus to Medan and assured us that we would be much better just flying to Medan.
So the thing is that we only get one month visa on arrival, which can possibly be extended to another month, probably depending on the mood of the man in the office that day. So we need to be quite focussed, Indonesia is massive with 17,000 islands, which means that a lot of time will be spent travelling between destinations. We have a list of places we want to see and Pekanbaru is not on it so we got up to our room and logged onto the internet, quickly finding flights for the following morning at 9.20am for about £35. With the minimum of fuss i managed to book these flights and we hit the sack.
The next morning the alarm went off at 6.15am, and by 6.45am we were piling into a cab on our way back to the airport. We checked in with no problems, thinking we had ages we then got a smoothie and went outside for a quick ciggie. At about 8.45am as we started to walk back to the departure lounge, and a very harassed looking little Indonesian man came up to us and asked us which flight we were on. When we told him he said you must hurry we are closing the gate. Luckily we were the only white people in the airport, so he didn't have too much of a hard time finding us. But by the time we got to the gate the bus had gone so we had to jog to the plane across the airfield, which was a bit dodgy. And when we got on everyone gave us that look you always give the person who has held up the plane.
The flight again was only about 1 hour and we landed in Medan, again because this was such a big city i had booked a room for a couple of nights. Again Medan was not our final destination but it was meant to be where all the transport goes for North Sumatra which is where we were headed. As we only had a couple of days we quickly headed out to try and book some bus tickets and see the only sight in Medan the Mesjid Raya. Now Medan is Indonesia's 3rd largest city, but it certainly was not what i was expecting. A large proportion of Indonesians are Muslim, but i had been assured that shorts and a vest were fine, except in religious areas. Now we had no intention of going into the mosque we just wanted to see it, so off we went. As soon as we stepped out of our alleyway it was like the whole city had stopped to look at us. We soldiered on and it was quite the oddest thing i have ever experienced, people were staring but not in a friendly or curious way, it felt really intimidating. Literally everyone was staring, from children, to old ladies and most of all men. A few people said hello to Craig, but all in all it was not the friendliest welcome. We soldiered on and eventually reached the mosque. As soon as we walked around the fence to the front of the mosque we were surrounded by a group of teenage girls. They were very friendly and explained that they had a school project to ask tourists what they thought of Indonesian food. Now we told them that we had only arrived that morning and had not yet eaten let alone formed a opinion on Indonesian food, but they were quite determined. As it turned out there were loads of questions, and most of asking about things i had never even heard of let alone tried. After a very hot 20 minutes they were vaguely satisfied by the answers we had given, we were then bombarded with questions about the education system in the UK. We were then allowed to go after a few photos.
After that experience we had a quick look at the mosque, which was very impressive, and headed back to the hotel.
On the way back to the hotel things did not improve in fact they got worse, I will not repeat some of the unpleasant words and gestures that were directed at me. But suffice to say it left us a little unsure of our decision to come to Indonesia. A combination of quite tired, hot and a little frustrated from not being able to find a bus, i think it was all a little too much.
The following day i asked the receptionist about the bus to Bukit Lawang, she said that she could not book it but there were a few travel agents that could. After yesterday i felt that a wardrobe change was neccesary so I opted for full length trousers, a t-shirt and a scarf around my shoulders (and head if neccesary). Ready to face Medan we headed out again, we have been to quite a few SE Asian cities and i think everyone knows that i just dont like cities. But this seemed dirtier, smellier, poorer and just unfriendlier than all the other cities we have been too. Suffice to say that the change of outfit really achieved very little and we got much the same reaction as the day before. Evetually after wandering for about an hour we manaed to find a couple of travel agents. None of them would book the bus, but they could book private transport for just a little more. We obviously we went for it, we were ready to go, this could only be booked for a couple of days time. But we reasoned with a cheap hotel room and good wifi things could be worse so we booked it. After that we took a wander back towards the mosque to a plaza that we had seen the day before. The place was pretty amazing, the shops were standard but on the top floor they had an mini amusement park, it even had a rollercoaster.
We managed to get two bottles of perfume for £5, one Issey Miyake & one Cool Water. This girl had literally hundreds for sale, in very large bottles, and then she would decant some into the bottle of your choice. She probably made them herself, but they are a really good match to the real thing, and no they dont burn your skin.
After googling top things to do in Medan, we found another bigger, better mall the following day. This place was pretty impressive, a little like the Canary Wharf type place, where everything is a little more expensive than it would be on the high st. There was a Pizza Hut, which was much nicer than we have at home, and i had the best lasagne, well not quite as good as mums, but pretty good! We also managed to locate a body shop, so in the end I got my body butter! But best of all was the amaxing collection of Teddy shops, we need this at home, it was lovely.
After that we pretty much took refuge in the hotel room. To be honest people were a lot friendlier in the plaza, and loads of people wanted to take our photo, but its just really weird being stared at the whole time. I managed to catch up on the blog, and we repacked ourselves ready to be picked up at 11am by our jeep, to take us to Bukit Lawang...........
1 comment:
That place doesn't sound very nice! Maybe hibernate until u r movin on lol did u get bobbys messages on voxer? X
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