Last day in Medan; Leaving Taman Simalem Resort and leaving Medan

After so much fun and joy staying at Taman Simalem Resort for 2 nights and 2 days, the time has finally come for us to leave. It was also our last day in Medan, so we planned to drop by several places as we leave before catching our flight in the evening.

We have certainly had so much fun and memories to keep while we were here. From sightseeing around the mountains, playing games, catching sunrise, eating the local organic vegetables, playing the flying fox, etc.

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We woke up in the morning around 7AM, and guess what?! The weather and sky outside was crystal clear. Finally! We were so excited that the sky finally cleared out, which means we could take better photos of the scenery and everything.

We tidied ourselves up first and packed our stuffs first before heading for breakfast. In case you might be curious on how our room looks like, here is a preview for you. The room has a full-sized window that is faced directly towards the Lake Toba and also a small balcony outside where you can sit and enjoy the breeze.

Look at how lovely the scenery is without all of the fog! Everything just looks so clear and awesome from this distance. This is the view that we got from outside of our balcony, we can directly see the edge of the lake and a small village beside it, also the mountain roads and landscape around the area. If only the sky has been clear since the first day we arrived..

After leaving the resort, we headed towards a Buddhist temple called Taman Lumbini, which is said to be the tallest and grandest pagoda in Indonesia, located not far away from Taman Simalem Resort. Taman Lumbini is covered in a bright gold color and it has a similar style with the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar.

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.