thiernaphilo: When you are in Medan alone

After saw the statistic of my visitors, the conclusion is most of my visitor came to see my posting about my travelling. Then I think..why I dont write more about my travelling that i;ve done. Yeah...of course the first reason is The Lazy Thing :P. But now suddenly the mood is cooming and I must type this down at the moment.

I wanna share my travelling story in Medan :) one of city that I transited most, but visited rarely. It;s very suck isnt it when u came to a big city, saw the buildings, read about many interesting things there, but u couldnt come to even one stop.

And finally, the day for me has come *big smile*. I have time to explore this city, one of the most crowded city in Indonesia I think. The traffic condition?? Oh bad,,,haha...the becak motor is just like an evil vihicle which could come from anywhere and what if u are on it?? I did feel it.. interesting, it;s like I will got the accident anytime..hahaa..the tips is just hold the side handle tighly for ur safety ^_^. And the public transportation called "angkot" make it worst, they dont have any rule in driving I think. oooorrrggghh.

Actually that days, I planned to go to Berastagi, a plateau near Medan, it;s about 2-3 hours from Medan. But the plan is gone because 3 people who promised to accompany me are gone (heyyy you 3 people...u owe me yaaa...). So I must canceled the rented car and think where should I spent my days. It;s not qqie at all if I just wasted the time in hotel or mall, whereas I can go to other interesting places. So guys, google helped me lots, for u who is alone now in Medan, let's go out and you can say you have explored Medan :)

Tjong A Fie House

Front Look of the House

Before the day I went to the house, i didnt have any idea about this man and how big his influences in Medan. In fact, he is one of the founder of Medan. A chinese who begin from 10 dollars Manchu, sailing to Indonesia and become a great man who has very good interaction with the local people in Medan.
The house is unique, it has Chinese Room, Malay Room and Western Room. It shows that Chong A Fie is very concern about culture and humanity. If the guest is a Malay, so he will serve them in Malay Room. Interesting :). The house also has a hall for dancing if he held a celebration. It;s very easy to get the information about this house because when we pay the ticket, it's included for a guide, and the interesting part is we can use the ticket for a bookmarker (it;s important for me bcos I'm a bookworm :P)
This house is in Jalan Ahmad Yani (Kesawan Area), I went there just by walk on foot because I stayed in Aston Medan Hotel. But the fool me, I went out of hotel too early, when I arrived at this house at 8 am, it was still closed. So I must went back at 10 am.Fyi, It's opened from 10 am - 4 pm. You can take many good pictures there especially if you love photography.

My favorite spot of the house

Tip Top Restaurant
I was very happy when I found this restaurant, because I read a lot about this antique resto but dont know where it is. So..how did I find this resto?? It's related to my story above, I came to early to the A fie House and it made me explore around the area. I found the resto just about 5-10 minutes walk from the house. I'ts a very simple resto but the the antique and oldies atmosphere is still around. And you know, most of the visitors are foreiners :). I just tasted the ice cream there because I just had breakfast before. It was good and I think I can just sit there and reading book because of the comfy sphere there.
Istana Maemun
After visited Chong A fie house, I continue my journey to the Maemun Palace or Istana Maemun. You can go there by becak motor and you need to pay Rp 10.000 only.
If Chong A fie is a Chinese side, so Maemun Palace is the Malay side. When I saw the interior of this place, it totally remind me to Keraton Sambas in my born land. It;s dominated yellow colour as malay colour and wooden based. There is hall of course, king;s room, throne and others palace things. The interesting part is you can take picture in Malay costume in this palace. Unfortunatelly, the manajement of the palace is not as good as in Chong A fie house, no guide availabe and the environment isnt neat and a bit dirty. By chance, they were doing some rnovation when I came. I had sad moment in this palace caused of my narchisme. I broke my digital camera here and I lost whole my photos in this cam T___T (whole pics on this posting are from my blackberry)
Masjid Raya Medan (Al Maksum Mosque)

interior of the mosque

If ur feet are still strong, never hesitate to accross the street from Maimun Palace to this mosque. This is the famous mosque in Medan. I arrived in this house accompanied by the rain and must stay for a long time inside. But I enjoyed it, because I could do pray here, as my target, praying in every mosque in every place I visit.

Mallzzzz :D
Finally mall was in my list that day. Upss...yah,,,because u had very narrow option when it was 5 pm and the weather was not support u at all :D.
Medan has many malls or markets, you can go to the Sun Plaza, Palladium, Medan Plaza, Deli Plaza, etc. And I have visited every mall in Medan, not in one day of course (I visited Medan for few times after this alone journey, enough for me to explore the malls, LOL). And for u women, I love Sun Plaza because The Metro is held bazaar or Sale often *evilsmile*
Merdeka Walk
Yes...this is one of my fav corner in Medan, a corner where you can find varieties of foods. Lies just accross Aston Hotel, Merdeka Walk made your nite is brighter than just sleeping in the room. I also love this place because I can play my fav games here...of course Pump It Up!!!! So no need to go far far away when I need to play and exercise *grind*. My fav food here are :
Mayonaised Prawn Crab Noodles

And last but not least, you can buy souvenir's T-Shirt here. Complete isnt it ;)

Penangkaran Buaya Asam Kumbang (Crocodile Farm)

I visited this place on the other days. Yah, my schedule was a bit disturbed by the rain, but it;s ok for me. It's a bit difficult to find this place, u must pay fully attention in finding the location. Because you must enter a path from the main road. Just watching for the Gate;s sign ÄSAM KUMBANG and there is crocodile;s painting on the gate. The entrance ticket is cheap, only Rp 5000,/pax, but infact you must pay again inside if you want to see the atraction of the crocodile. This farm is belong to personal owning, it;s not goverment. So, they lack of money for continuity of this farm. The real owner is Mr Lo ( I forgot his complete name), at the first he just collected and feeded the crocodiles for his hobby. By and by, it grows and become the largest number in the world. About the largest one, I had a doubt, because when I entered the place, it didnt reflect the "largest". Perhaps it becaused this place is not well taken care at all, the situation look slump and some spots are smelly bad. There is a very big pond or lake inside, I think most of the crocodiles hidden there,hehe.

As an Indonesian, I feel shame about this situation. How the goverment doesnt give any attention to this potential place. Mr Lo has passed away years ago, this farm is managed by his family, it means the love or care is different from the real owner. Why the local govt doesnt offer a cooperation in manage the place. It;s better for the family and the region income I think because this place is included on the tourisme website of Medan Government. Hope they can improve this later.

Sooo,,,when you are alone in Medan and nobody can accompany you and you dont have long time to go to Toba Lake, Simalem or Berastagi, you can do city tour just like me. U dont need any guide to go there, just asking people around in Medan, most of Medan people are very nice though their talking style is like people who is angry :P.