North Sumatra

[9w6vx]

Flew from BKI Kota Kinabalu to PEN Penang on 9th January morning and a few hours layover a short flight from Penang to Medan.

Took a Grab from KNO Kualanamu Airport to the hotel in downtown Medan which is around an hour.

[9w6vx]

10th January 24

Did the touristy stuff and visited the Tjong A Fie Mansion. A lady gave me a guided tour and explained who this guy was and his contributions to Medan in the early 1900's till his death in 1921.
Quite interesting and educational.

Then went to have lunch at a restaurant and got ripped off. It had 2,733 reviews at Google with 4.5 stars.

[9w6vx]

11th January 24

Walked to the mall and an Indian temple.
It's similar to Malaysia.

Medan is a modern city with a population of 2.5 million.

As always when I travel, I like to taste the local street food.

[9w6vx]

Indian temple

[9w6vx]

Flew from Medan, Indonesia to Penang this morning and tomorrow I fly back to my city Kota Kinabalu.

Will update my ride report in the following days.

[SeniGreg]

Originally Posted by 9w6vx

10th January 24

Did the touristy stuff and visited the Tjong A Fie Mansion. A lady gave me a guided tour and explained who this guy was and his contributions to Medan in the early 1900's till his death in 1921.
Quite interesting and educational.

Then went to have lunch at a restaurant and got ripped off. It had 2,733 reviews at Google with 4.5 stars.

What was the rip off?

[9w6vx]

The lunch.

It was IDR185,000 and was way overpriced for the quality of the food.

When I spoke to local Indonesians about the price they agreed it was definitely not worth the price.

[9w6vx]

12th January 2024

Today I start my bike tour of North Sumatra.

The route is:
Medan - Berastagi
Berastagi - Ketambe
Ketambe - Takengon
Takengon - Sigli
Sigli - Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh - Meulaboh
Meulaboh - Tapak Tuan
Tapak Tuan - Sidikalang
Sidikalang - Tuktuk Siadong
Tuktuk Siadong - Sidamanik
Sidamanik - Sidang Pedempuan
Simpang Pedempuan - Rantauprapat
Rantauprapat - Tebing Tinggi
Tebing Tinggi - Medan

22 days of biking.
The bike is a Yamaha NMAX 155 scooter with a topbox. It has only slightly over 3,000kms on the odometer so it is very new.

[9w6vx]

12th January 2024
Medan - Berastagi

Fairly short ride of less than 3 hours.
Lots of heavy traffic heading to Berastagi and I noticed straight away that car drivers here are very aggressive.

If you go slow because there is a vehicle in front of you which is slow, they will overtake you even though there is oncoming traffic and then squeeze in front of you. Size does matter and bikes are at the bottom of the food chain.
You have to be constantly aware of your surrounding while riding here.

Berastagi is 1300m above sea level and the weather is pleasant )16-22 °C.
The prices of food here are much cheaper than in Medan.

[9w6vx]

14th January 2024
Berastagi - Ketambe

Ride duration about 5 hours.

Road was reasonably good. The view of the volcanic mountain was beautiful.
Along the way there are villages/towns almost all the way.
In Vietnam you could go a distance before coming to a town/village.
I wanted to pee but could not find a quiet place. LOL

[9w6vx]

15th January

Ketambe 1 day jungle trek

Hiked 8km to look for the elusive orangutans.
Managed to see 1 only but it was on a tree branch way up from the ground.

Saw some Thomas leaf monkeys in a group.
Tiring but good workout.
Unfortunate that I could not get a closer view of the4 Sumatran orangutan.

[9w6vx]

16th January 2024

Ketambe - Takengon

6 1/2 hours ride

Nice road, weather was pleasant and the views were nice.

Takengon is around 1,250m above sea level so the weather is nice.

[9w6vx]

The accommodation at Takengon was the best during my time in North Sumatra.

[9w6vx]

17th January 2024

Rain at Takengon so I stayed at the hotel to catch up on my emails.


18th January 2024

Rode a loop of the Takengon lake and the viewpoint to enjoy the scenery.

In Sumatra there is a long line to fill up petrol. However if you fill the RON 92 you don't have to wait in line.
Most of the bikes fill up with RON 87.
For reference the RON87 is about IDR10,000 per litre. The RON92 is IDR13,100 per litre.

[9w6vx]

Takengon lake