Indonesia | Jan 14-15 2023 |
My bike was going to take 5-10 days to repair in Bangkok, with parts needing to be shipped in. So I urgently needed to come up with an alternate plan: stay in Bangkok; go to another place in Thailand by bus or train; or fly to another country. I explored options for Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia. Went with the latter. Booked a flight to Medan for $250, got a moto rental organised, was on my way the next day. Flew Air Asia from Don Meung, via Penang (some nice views of the island flying in) with a lame-o 5 hour layover. Got to Medan at 10 pm, and immediately got snookered by taxi touts who I paid a very steep price of $19.50 to the hotel, which I learned on arrival is built into Medan's metro station which runs from the airport. You live and learn....
Next morning got a Grab motorcycle taxi ($1.5) and headed out to Ganda Rental Motor Medan to pick up my Yamaha NMax, R160,000/day plus 10% discount (~$9.50/day) from the owner, who runs the business out of his house. The Nmax is an Indonesia favorite "big bike", an absolute joy to ride, smooth as, and very comfortable.
Headed out from the hotel by 11:00 am on my way to Berstagi, a hill station about 2 hours away. The ride is great, 30 mins from Medan you start into some nice mountain riding, and the air cools off. It's the start of the "classic" scenes of Northern Sumatra. Bersrtsgi is a nice town in a great setting in the mountains, with views of 2 major volcanos. It was a Dutch colonial-era hill station and features lots of old buildings, along with some great Batak architecture. It went down to 15C overnight, which required me buying a sweater from one of the many used clothing sellers. In the morning, my digs Kaesa Homestay had some great views. It's one of the more renowned places to stay, a family business run by some really nice folks with lots of tips. Spent one night, but probably should have stayed another and explored the local countryside, hot springs, more.
Ride: 68 km | 2 hrs
Stay: Kaesa Homestay | $15 | 4/5
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