Medan Day 2 - Brastagi a Hill View

Ironically, most people come to Medan not to visit only the town, but to get to attractions outside of the city. One of the biggest visitor draws is of course the majestic LAKE TOBA. The lake is one of South East Asia’s biggest lakes and has been described as one of the most scenic places on earth. However since we already visited Lake Toba before, our trip this time to go to the nearby highland.... Brastagi. Just for your imagination, going to Brastagi is like going to Bukit Tinggi Pahang. We still need to climb the hill but not as high as to the Genting Highland which is like to Lake Toba. My mom was not fancy the winding road plus we got baby also with us. Journey to Brastagi takes about 3hours while to Lake Toba is about 4hours. You may read about my experience to Lake Toba HERE.


BRASTAGI

About Brastagi, it is a small town in the Karo Highland of North Sumatera. The name of Brastagi means 'rice store' since the area is highly fertile and produces fruits and vegetables besides rice and sugar can (lbh kurang mcm Cameron). Brastagi is well known for its fruit and vegetable markets as the main economic activities. This hilly areas is quite cold in climate compares to Medan and other cities in North Sumatera. The Batak ethnic dwelling here (have you heard Batak Karo?? This is where they came from), and most of Batak people in this area are Christian. So for the muslim, we have to check on the food carefully coz "babi" di jual agak berleluasa di sini.

Normally for those who plan to go to the highland, you need to make an early booking for transportation (normally MPV + driver). You can check at the hotel too but I warned you if you got no reference, you will easily got cheated. There is no fix price here, all things need to bargain. Be firm on the price... Since we had Uda who could speak Indonesian fluently and familiar with the cost, we managed to get the MPV (8 adults)+ driver with a cost around RM200 for one whole day trip.

Back to the journey, we went for breakfast at the hotel and around 9.30am our driver came to fetch us and started our journey. Despite the uncomfortable condition of the road (jln berlopak, sempit, berkelok2), we were presented with the beautiful scenery along the way of our trip. From town to outside the town, we could see the diversity from the concentrated and pack building to village countryside. Muslim area to Christian town. The architecture of building, their social life, chaos at the morning market (Pasar Pagi), seeing women in kebaya mcm nk pegi kenduri kawen but went to the church and lots more was a worth experience to have.

Finally we arrived at BUKIT GUNDALING, BRASTAGI around 12.30pm.

Asyik bercerita jer, kita layan gamba dulu...




A row of souvenir shops



Replika rumah org Batak



Bukit Gundaling, is one of tourist attraction and 3km in distance from Brastagi town. The hill which has a height at 1575 from sea level is so pleasant and become a recreational place for family gathering.

You can see lots of family had a picnic here...



Snacks are sold here for picnic



My mom rested at the Gazebo with Arisya & Hayqal... The wind blew so strong that time. Budget mcm kat oversea (owhh mmg kat oversea pun.) Rasa mcm kat Europe (imaginasi lebey... :P) Nyaman, indah, sejuk... what else do you want? Rasa macam xnak balik!





From up the hill here, we could see the view of Mount Volcano Sibayak and Sinabung. It such a splendid point of view!


Mount Sinabung at the back..



THE VIEWS



View of Kota Brastagi from here..



Others view, Mount Sibayak...



Beside picnic, there's also a horse carriage (kuda pedati) for those who wanted to ride. All of us took one carriage and RACE...!!! (ok tu tipu)

The children...



Abg beca,abg beca di tgh jalan, cari muatan utk mencari makan. Lalala.... (Kakak beca version). Mari naik adik manesss...



With adek manis...



Menyusuri denai yg indah...



Liya had a great time too!!



Anywhere, everywhere... keep the place clean. Preserve the environment!



Along's family...



Myself... (all the patungs2 here wore a traditional costume of Batak ethnic)



The trooper...



We had a great time, spent about 2 hours to enjoy the environment then prepared to go down the hill back to Medan town. Perjalanan je amik masa 6hours (return) so actually we should spent more time at the highland to make all the time spent on the vehicle worth. However due to my sis got other plan (she already arranged with tukang urut to come over our hotel for massage in the evening), we only had a short visit here. Other places you can visit are like strawberry farm, Brastagi town where it got a market selling all the fresh fruits, vegetables (persimmons, mandarin oranges, passion fruits, terung belanda, etc) and others.

We had a lunch nearby the Bukit Gundaling...



Menu..



They served fried tauhu and tempe as an appetizer. Such a healthy dishes and it tasted good too. We had another set of that one, dipped with cili kicap... Mmg sedaplah! Antara menu yg di order pula ialah Fried Gurami fish, chicken soup, gado2, mix vege, sambal sotong and FRIED EEL... taste good too! Mcm ikan keli. My 1st experience makan belut. Conclusion all the foods were finger licking good!!



Oh ye, do you remember Abg Kassim?? Ala, one of the Raja Lawak season 4 yg 1st runner up tu.... yg shibidi2 pom..pomm tu. We met him here, had lunch also at the same restaurant with us but since he was not so famous, we were not so excited to take photo with him. Kejamkan... lainla jumpa Aaron Aziz ke, Fahrin ke. :P



Alhamdullilah, kenyang.........



Kenapa saya selit gamba budak nie... because she's so cute to be neglected! Gewamm..



These are few photos taken along the way back to Medan city...

Kawasan pinggir bandar medan, the town was still busy and packed



Kebun binatang ya... mcm x confident je nak melawat ZOO dia. Ke reban/kandang binatang jer.



Like I warned U before, pork BBQ mmg sgt popular di sini..



One more...



We arrived at Medan city around 4.30pm. Suddenly my bro in law (BIL) popped out a suggestion to eat Durian. Yes.... durian in Medan and just in time, it was a durian's season here. We stopped at one of the most popular durian's stall.....


UCOK DURIAN, MEDAN

This stall is really famous among locals. Customers came continuously and siap ade servis packaging siap2 dlm polestrin. Ade contact no, bole order dulu. Wahhh mcm dah fast food dah nie.



Tah berapa biji kami dah bedal...



King of fruit...



Hip..hip.. horraayy!!



We arrived at hotel around 5.30pm....



Our hotel..




At the hotel, while my mom, Along and her husband having their good time massaging (The tukang urut came to our hotel for the massage service. Bestkan....):D, me, uda, ucu family and the children had a great time swimming at the pool until maghrib.





Ayam Penyet JOKO SOLO Restaurant

XTVT that night, since we were all tired due to long journey to Brastagi.... we just had dinner at Ayam Penyet Joko Solo, Dr Mansyur branch. For others branch can visit the website Ayam Penyet Joko Solo here.



I was too tired that night so all the photos were taken using my Iphone only. No mood to pose. Sorry for the bad quality of photo.

Variety of rice and chicken menu...
Ade nasi bole berpesta!




Makan nasi nie bole jadi "gile" tu.... (english translation = crazy rice) :D



Drinks and western menu... THE BEST!!



Mine, set of Nasi Timbel Ayam Penyet.... warn U the sambal belacan was so delicious but super duper HOT!!!



Waduh memukau nih...!



Decoration of the restaurant... Green theme.





After dinner, Uda tried to book INUL KARAOKE (yes... owned by the famous Indonesian dangdut singer, Inul Darasita) but was fully booked. It was "malam minggu" so of course suma org tgh joli mlm nie. We on the other hand got no mood to go anywhere, went back to our room and rest. Tomorrow will be the big event, SHOPPING so better took enough rest. Till then will continue on next post ya!