KUALANAMU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MEDAN

Kualanamu International Airport is the new and modern airport replacing the old one, Polonia. I always like the name Polonia, it sounds like one of the characters in Shakespeare's play.

The airport was clean and most importantly, I could see it was well-maintained. It is important as Medan is the main entrance/exit point into/out of Sumatera Island. The special feature of this airport is that there is a train station attached to it so people could just take the train to get to Medan city directly.

This should be my very last post of my trip to Medan. I was glad I finally made it there, but I am quite sure there are still other places in Sumatera Island where one day I should visit.

GRAND IMPRESSION HOTEL, MEDAN

This was the fourth hotel we stayed in Medan and the second in the city. We just wanted to try a different place and fortunately, this one was better than the first one. Grand Impression Hotel is located by the main road and is attached with a supermarket on the ground floor. Other than that, it is also near to the market.

In the evening, you could walk along the shops opposite the hotel. We did not really have the time to see if there was anything interesting but we managed to go there once and there were many shops selling all kinds of shoes.

Another reason the hotel could be a good choice was because of its reasonable price.

MY MEDAN GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE - "UCOK DURIAN"

1st FEBRUARY 2017 ~ After having dinner, we were then taken by Mr. Ahmad Fadillah Md. Aris, my ex-classmate, to this place called Ucok Durian. People came here obviously to eat durians, the King of Fruits.

There was other food that you could choose other than durians. We were served with sate but that did not look like a great combination to be eaten with durians.

That was my very short rendezvous with an ex-classmate in Medan. Thanks a lot Mr. Ahmad for the time and company, and the treat too. When will I see you again?

OF A REUNION WITH AN EX-CLASSMATE AND A GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE IN MEDAN

1st FEBRUARY 2017 ~ I have a friend, an ex-classmate from my Budiman class of SMS Muar, who is now working in Medan. When I was there, we quickly set a date for a get-together - thousand miles away from home. Mr. Ahmad Fadillah Md. Aris was kind enough to meet me (or us) right after work, despite the bad traffic congestion in the evening.

Mr. Ahmad picked us up at the hotel and took us to this eating place called Titi Bobrok [translate: damaged bridge]. This should be a popular eating place in Medan, just by looking at the large crowd, either eating there or queuing up to get their packed food away.

The restaurant specializes in noodles, specifically Acheh Noodles, but there are different varieties of this well-known local delicacies. I found the taste of the noodles different from the one I tried in Berastagi the day before and here, it was more delicious.

Mr. Ahmad also ordered murtabak which of course was  different the one we had back home, and it was served with soy sauce, and slices of onions and pickled chilies. For dessert, we had durian pancake and that is called durian crepe at my place.

I thought we would be sent back to the hotel right after dinner, but we were then taken to another place for other kind of gastronomic adventure.

TO BE CONTINUED...