Trip to Berastagi
I was in Medan this weekend because we had Friday and Monday off for Easter. I was just going to hang around the team house the whole time but Adrian came in on Saturday late morning. We started to go out to get something to eat when we started talking about wanting to go to Berastagi. Both of us were already thinking about going but didn't have anyone to go with. So we immediately went back to the team house, got our bags and hopped on the next bus up to Berastagi.
Berastagi is a city about 2 hours outside of Medan that back in the day was a huge backpackers hangout. My shelter coordinator and many of my staff are from there. So Adrian and I headed up there without a clue what we were going to find. The bus was only 75cents for the two hour trip up the mountain and it included a guy falling alseep on my sholder every couple of minutes, a breakdown, switching busses since the bus wouldn't start back up, and getting pulled over by the police. Quite a bargain!
Anyways, so we got dumped in the middle of a town which neither of us had ever been to or had any maps or information about. A couple of our friends were in town but their cell phone wasn't working. I wanted to look them up but couldn't remember the name of the hotel. So we stopped in a travel agent and asked if they had a list of hotels. They said they were a guesthouse and we could stay there. I told them that we were looking for friends and they told us to check the main hotel, which we did.
They weren't there and my shelter coordinator called his brother in law to pick us up and find a good place for us to stay. Where did he bring us? Back to the travel agent we wandered into. So we stayed there which was good except that there was only one bed and Adrian likes to cuddle.
So Sunday morning we went with the brother in law to the main church to see the Easter service. However, it wasn't in Indonesian but in Karo, the local dialect so I understood exactly none of the service. Was still neat to see. The sermon was given from a huge half of a boat suspended about 20 feet above the stage. Apparently the church was built by the dutch and in the dutch style. Very different.
Afterwards we climbed up the local volcano, Mount Sibayak. It took us two and a half hours to get to the top. We had a good lunch and headed back down the easy way since the tendonitus in my leg was acting up something aweful. So we went down to the hot springs and relaxed in the really hot water.
Berastagi is famous for its Babi Panggang which is roast pig. Boy is it good! Comes with a blood sauce, spinach like leaf and pork broth soup. Sounds weird but is really good.
So then we headed back on the same bus but without the adventure. I felt a little ripped off but happy to be back. We told them we wanted to get dropped off at the stop nearest the airport. We were wondering if we were nearing the spot when we hear a Lion Air 737-300 roar over our heads. Needless to say we got off.
Berastagi is a city about 2 hours outside of Medan that back in the day was a huge backpackers hangout. My shelter coordinator and many of my staff are from there. So Adrian and I headed up there without a clue what we were going to find. The bus was only 75cents for the two hour trip up the mountain and it included a guy falling alseep on my sholder every couple of minutes, a breakdown, switching busses since the bus wouldn't start back up, and getting pulled over by the police. Quite a bargain!
Anyways, so we got dumped in the middle of a town which neither of us had ever been to or had any maps or information about. A couple of our friends were in town but their cell phone wasn't working. I wanted to look them up but couldn't remember the name of the hotel. So we stopped in a travel agent and asked if they had a list of hotels. They said they were a guesthouse and we could stay there. I told them that we were looking for friends and they told us to check the main hotel, which we did.
They weren't there and my shelter coordinator called his brother in law to pick us up and find a good place for us to stay. Where did he bring us? Back to the travel agent we wandered into. So we stayed there which was good except that there was only one bed and Adrian likes to cuddle.
So Sunday morning we went with the brother in law to the main church to see the Easter service. However, it wasn't in Indonesian but in Karo, the local dialect so I understood exactly none of the service. Was still neat to see. The sermon was given from a huge half of a boat suspended about 20 feet above the stage. Apparently the church was built by the dutch and in the dutch style. Very different.
Afterwards we climbed up the local volcano, Mount Sibayak. It took us two and a half hours to get to the top. We had a good lunch and headed back down the easy way since the tendonitus in my leg was acting up something aweful. So we went down to the hot springs and relaxed in the really hot water.
Berastagi is famous for its Babi Panggang which is roast pig. Boy is it good! Comes with a blood sauce, spinach like leaf and pork broth soup. Sounds weird but is really good.
So then we headed back on the same bus but without the adventure. I felt a little ripped off but happy to be back. We told them we wanted to get dropped off at the stop nearest the airport. We were wondering if we were nearing the spot when we hear a Lion Air 737-300 roar over our heads. Needless to say we got off.
posted by Randall Knutson at
7:34 PM
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