Day 296: Hi Ho Silver Lining

Medan – Berastagi – Gundaling – Medan, Indonesia

Between my lengthy wait for the root canal treatment and trying to match my friends’ schedule to do a diving trip, I’m sort of stuck in Medan for longer than I had planned for. Being quite bored, I urged Elly to accompany me to Berastagi, a highland located three hours away from Medan.

Peculiar thing about being back home: It almost makes me feel incapable of travelling the way I had been doing it elsewhere. I was riding the dodgiest buses in third world countries such as Morocco and Ecuador with not the slightest hesitation. I didn’t even know the languages there. However, I really do contemplate on attempting it here. Such notion is unthinkable among my friends in my hometown and I had been brought up having the same preconception.

Long story short, I was in a car with a chauffeur, headed to Berastagi. The main spot to visit there is a central market where it’s really lively with all the hustle and bustle of the bargaining between merchants and customers.

Driving further up the mountain, we stopped at the cliff overlooking the town underneath and mountains in the distance. Stalls are set up over the edge the cliff where customers can enjoy a meal or drink with the view.

Locals tend to top off their meal by renting carpets and napping on grass:

Other highlights of the trip: taking photos of monkeys on roadside while trying not to get run over by buses; having a lunner (lunch/dinner… yes, I made up the word) in an Indonesian Padang restaurant; and taking a detour just to snap a picture of the coolest man alive.

And last but not least, I had a call out of nowhere in the evening from a highschool friend, Roy, and ended up meeting and catching up with a few others whom I had not seen for 12 years. Time flies.