Medan, The Gate of Western Indonesia

I was ‘escaping’ to Medan several days ago. Actually, it wasn’t my first visit. Well, on my first visit I mostly spared my time to ‘exploring’ Sun Plaza, a well-known mall in Medan  What a futility, stupidity (it was)

Back to the story..
Several days ago, I explored the city for real, in one day. Just visiting, without having to go through historical exploration
And I can say, it’s been great!

Medan is the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia. Located on the northern coast, Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia, and the largest Indonesian city outside Java. The word “Medan” itself means large place to gather. One interesting thing, I’ve ever heard that Medan City is dubbed as Parijs van Sumatra because it’s still fulfilled by heritage buildings, especially along the street of Kesawan (since I live in Bandung, and Bandung also known as Parijs van Java, then I thought it was a coincidence).

And the following are what make my trip marvelous, and you might consider to go (or try) when visiting Medan..

Maimoon Palace (Deli Sultan Maimun Palace)

Maimoon Palace is famous as symbol of Medan and Malay Kingdom. The Palace has unique interior design, mixing elements of Malay cultural heritage, Islam, Spanish, Indian, and Italian style.

The Palace (taken from my friend's archive)

Btw, I found a photograph of the latest Sultan. Owww.. how cute he was :3

The Little Emperor

Al-Mashun Great Mosque

Not far from Maimoon Palace, there’s a Great Mosque of Medan named Al-Mashun. This Great Mosque was one of architectural heritage of Deli Sultanage. Typically, there are separation functions on the architectural design. Inside the mosque, two constructions that I assumed as rostrum or pulpit-like (one in each gender prayer section) has made with artistic curvaceous stepladders. Moreover, by utilizing glasses in various of colours, the large sized of ventilations passing on the sunlight in magnificent way.

The Great Mosque

Mosque Ceiling

The Mosque's rostrum

Magnificent sunlight through window's glass

Ancient Quran

Merdeka Walk

Merdeka Walk is one stop place to hangout in Medan with cafe, restaurant, exhibitions, and entertainment. Best view at night, due to the colourful illumination gild the darkness of night sky.

The famous hangout place in town

Cator, stands for Becak Motor (Motorized Pedicab)

When I passed through the road, I saw an unique vehicle called Cator. Briefly, Cator is a pedicab (for the passenger) with a motorcycle (for the driver) installed on it.

Motorized Pedicab

Culinary Delights in Medan

Admittedly, comparing to Bandung, Medan has less variation of food. But for the taste, I much prefer Medanese food than Sundanese food. Medan cuisine has strong taste of spices.

Soup at Sinar Pagi

Medanese soup at Sinar Pagi is famous for its best taste quality. The various spices combination bring out the rich taste of soup. For the main filling, we can choose either beef, chicken, or lung. And for the broth, it can be clear soup or coconut milk soup.

Beef Clear Soup

Shrimp Chips (Rempeyek Udang)

Bawal Steam

Ginger, peanut, and chili pieces as the dressing for steamed pomfret (bawal), hm..yummy..
They as well serve side dishes such as Teri Medan, fried chicken with special ingredients (the chef said “it’s, of course, our secret recipe”), etc.

Bawal Steam

Teri Medan

Aceh’s Noodle Titi Bobrok

It’s rather funny, you look for Aceh’s noodle in Medan instead of Aceh itself. But, this one exactly the best Aceh’s noodle I’ve ever taste. People also said that this Aceh’s noodle at Titi Bobrok is more delicious than the original Aceh’s noodle at best known restaurant in Aceh.

Stir-fry Aceh's Noodles

Snacks and Beverages

For the snacks, many stores sell various delicious processed food. Some of them are Bolu Medan, Bika Ambon, Durian Pancake, Ice Cream, etc.
And in case you haven’t know before, you have to taste Pulut Hitam (lemper made of black glutinous rice) and Risoles at Gogo, traditional snacks originally from Medan. Pulut Hitam tastes just as same as Lemper, but this one is more sticky and savory, not only for the filling but also for the rice. And Risol Gogo, there’re sesame seeds on the outer side, and the filling is sooo yummy (I don’t know how to describe it, you must taste it by yourself to figure it out). They both can be found on Majapahit Street.

The Famous Medanese Bolu (taken from official website of Bolu Meranti)

Risol Gogo (taken from zilarezi.wordpress.com)

Not only for the food, Medan is also one of the best for its beverage products. Marquisa Juice, Terong Belanda Juice, and also Martabe (combination of both Marquisa and Terong Belanda) Juice.

Toba Lake

Toba Lake was formed by a stupendous prehistoric volcano explosion thousands years ago and left a spectacular caldera with wonderful landscapes. Located outside Medan City, it was approximately 5-6 hours drive from townsquare of Medan.
However, I  missed the Toba Tour (I had to go back to Jakarta). Here is the photo which my friend took:

Beauty of Toba Lake

Howsoever, it’s not all of the landmark in Medan, Medan still has other sites you have to visit. Maybe 2-3 days full would be enough to explore them all

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N.B. All photos on this post were taken by my personal camera (except those mentioned). You may not copy (or use) any photos from this post without my permission