Fun Staycation at Taman Simalem Resort, Medan

On the 2nd day at Medan, we prepared ourselves to visit the famous "Lake Toba" located outside of Medan, it is the largest volcanic lake in the world and is in Sumatra. The lake is so big that it has an island within the center of the lake, called Samosir Island. But, we're not exactly heading towards the lake itself, to get a better view of the lake, we went towards Taman Simalem Resort, a resort area located on a mountain next to the magnificent lake. We were sure enough, the view has got to be a whole lot better from above.

We took off from Medan around 2 PM, and the journey took us more or less around 3 to 4 hours of car ride. It is a long way to go from Medan to the resort, and the traffic was pretty much f***ed up. Road signs weren't much of a help either, we had to ask around the locals for directions as we kept on getting lost throughout the intersections. But we somehow managed to arrive earlier since we exceeded the usual speed limits though.

We planned on catching the sunset on the mountain by the time we get there. But unfortunately, the sun has already set even when we were still on our way there. So we just went ahead to our room to put all of our stuffs down and head for dinner before having an early rest after the long mountain ride.

So yeah, forget about the sunset, we're gonna rest early and prepare for an early morning the next day to catch the sunrise!

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Early morning at Taman Simalem Resort, we woke up at approximately 5.20 AM, while getting ready to set off to catch the sunrise, we checked online to find out that the sunrise will be seen on 6.30 AM that morning, that gives us enough time to prepare ourselves to see the sunrise.

We got out of our room at 6.00 AM only to find out that the weather wasn't really that good and everything was foggy. We couldn't really do anything much besides praying and hoping that the fog would clear out as soon as possible. Seriously, our chance of seeing the sunrise has just gotten thinner.

Upon arriving at One Tree Hill, the said to be the best spot to catch the sunrise, the fog has subsided a bit, but it's still there, covering most of the lovely view of Lake Toba. We just sat inside the car while waiting for the sky to get brighter. And as time passes on, more cars arrive one by one, supposedly to catch the sunrise as well.

And since it was August 17th, which is also Indonesia's Independence Day. We celebrated it by bringing the flag all the way up there! The feeling was pretty good and as we brought the flag around, another group of tourists also borrowed the flag to take some photos.

Yeah, so in the end, we didn't manage to catch the sunrise, but we still took some photos there anyway. Afterwards, we head on back to the hotel to have our breakfasts, as to fuel ourselves before we start trekking into the forest, yes, you read it right, we're gonna trek into the forest!

Breakfast with a view

Medan Culinary Trip (Day 1)

On Friday 14th last week, I embarked on a 4 days vacation towards Medan with my friends. The main purpose of the trip was to go for a culinary journey throughout the city as it is a well-known fact that Medan has a LOT of delicious foods to offer. So you'd better get your stomach ready for all of the goodies coming towards your way!

Some quick bites at Starbucks before taking off towards Medan

The flight took off at 12.40PM (GMT+7) and the journey took approximately around 3 hours from Jakarta (CGK) to Medan (KNO). We arrived at Kuala Namu International Airport of Medan around 4PM (GMT+7). Kuala Namu International Airport is actually said to be one of the best airports in Indonesia, The Emerald of the Equator. And I gotta say that it does look clean and more sophisticated than most of the airports in Indonesia.

Just landed, heading into the airport.

Upon arriving, the weather sunny and clear, it was a perfect day to start exploring. Our friend came to pick us up at the airport and we headed directly to an eatery recommended by him. Just in time, as we were starting to get hungry.

Quick hangout at Ombe Kofie

These past few weeks have been pretty stressful as I was having a battle for my final exam of the 6th semester of university, and there were also several other stuffs that bothered me. Nevertheless, I suppose I managed to pull through.

So to make things better again, one of my friends have been planning to visit Jakarta from Bandung, and we decided to catch up when he arrived in town. We didn't plan much as he would only be here for a day. We decided to hang out at a coffee shop around the North area, which is Ombe Kofie around the afternoon.

I was thinking about dropping by Central Park Mall beforehand to switch the pair of shoes that I bought around two days ago. Why? I suppose that would be the question that pops up by the time you read this.
I was supposed to buy the pair which is 42 in size, and I took them. So what's wrong then? Apparently the one that I saw was indeed 42, but the other half of the pair was 43! GASP!

I didn't even realize it until I got home. Even after I got home, I didn't pay any attention to it. And was so frustrated when I saw it, which means more work and it would be troublesome if the storekeeper couldn't find the other correct half.

Thank goodness when I called the store, the staff said that the other pair is still there. Which meant that I can just switch it later on when I visit the store. Phew!

Back to the topic, as I was getting ready to drop by Central Park Mall first, my friend told me that he needs to go back to Bandung by 4.45 PM. So I went ahead to Ombe Kofie directly, bringing along the unmatched pair. We didn't really have any much time to spare there, as it was already 3 PM. Every moment spent there was fun! The place was pretty crowded at that time but we still got a pretty good spot inside anyway.

The Simple Coffee shot.

From Left to Right; Michelle, Johan, Me

We didn't really have any much time to spare there, so we rushed around 4.10 PM for Johan to get to his travel bus back to Bandung. Unfortunately, we didn't make it anyway. So he needed to stay a night here at Jakarta,

The good news is, he could take another bus the next day after the travel agency called and we could still hang out in the evening. HAHAHA!

And so, we went ahead to Central Park to spend the rest of the evening there. Sure wished that we could have spent some more time for the day though.

Clockwise; Johan, Alex (me), Josephine, Michelle

Regards from us! :)

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