to Medan: Away from Lake Tabo

October 31, 2006

Up early again, it is still dark. The drying rack with our clothes that we left outside during the night is missing. We are pretty sure the hotel employees took it inside. No one is around, there are no lights on. We eat slices of cake that we bought last night with nutella and wait. The gate to the road is also locked. Patrick goes and knocks on the door and someone helps us, returning the rack and unlocking the gate. Soon we are off expecting today to be mostly downhill.

First we climb up through the city and up a hill and around the corner, beyond all the rows of food stalls, we eventually get a view of the valley and think we see the ocean. The descent has lots of "S" curves, the traffic not too bad. We stop and eat the rest of the cake with peanut butter and drink more "sweat". As we get closer to Medan, Patrick looks at the LP map and figures out the road we are on...looking for the major road after we cross the railroad tracks...only there are no railroad tracks. We've cycled just a bit too far, ask for directions and finally find the Garuda Citra Hotel.

We shower and clean up quickly, we saw the Golden Arches on our way into town. We are ready for lunch, and each have a Big Mac Meal. While Patrick is ordering our "happy meals" a guy strikes up a conversation. His name is Udin and he is a guide from Bukit Lawang where we can see the Orangutans. The guidebook warns about the "guides". Just about every guy is one and they swarm you as soon as you get off the bus. Udin is even smarter, he intercepts the tourists at McDonalds! You have to admire the ingenuity.

The only way to judge someone in a situation like this is to read his references. He has a book full of letters other tourists/backpackers wrote for him recommending his services. We might as well take the plunge. Tomorrow morning he'll meet us at our hotel, and we'll ride local buses up to Bukit together. That takes care of another thing on our "to do" list. Next, we get some cash from an ATM, then walk to a cluster of travel agents to buy a ticket on the fast ferry from Belawan to Penang for this Sunday. There seems to be a power failure in Medan, the travel agency's office is stifling hot. We walk back to the hotel, find their computer in the lobby still working, and we each spend some time catching up on emails, and writing in our journal.

In the evening, we take a becak to a fancy hotel that is supposed to have a good tavern with good food, but we are told the tavern doesn't open until ten.... we are skeptical if they serve food. We end up having a decent meal at the hotel, Rachel has pork, Patrick opts for the fish and chips. The pork was better. A becak takes us back to the McDonalds. There is quite the tremendous downpour in Medan, quite the experience riding in a moped's sidecar that is wrapped in plastic sheeting, so we'd never see "it" coming in the chaotic traffic. We have an ice cream for dessert at McDonalds buy some chocolate and peanuts at the Yuli supermarket and walk back to the hotel.

Patrick has arranged to be able to leave our bikes at the hotel when we go to Bukit Lawang.

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,140 km (708 miles)

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