"Dangerously Safe"
Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia, and close to one of the epoch volcanic site of all time Brastagi, home to volcanoes Sinabung and Sibayak. Locals are mostly of Bataknese ethnicity. We arrived from KL early in the morning before taking a drive up to Brastagi where we spent our first night. This was a beautiful tourist attraction, however, the road to get here is another story. Two way traffic single lanes, with trucks taking up most of the lanes coming directly at you and did I forget to mention there are no street lights. And Vancouverites complain about the Sea to Sky highway was bad.
This is my second visit to Indonesia and I guess after travelling around to places like Thailand and Bali, I was a bit more prepared than most people going to Medan for the first time. Susy did give me a heads up, and when I got there, the physical environment didn't bother me as much. Horrible traffic, serious pollution, unfriendly people, disastrous road conditions, and a whole new set of laws. I will write more about my thoughts on Indonesia in my other blog "Ideas and thoughts" which you can access from my dashboard.
Although the city was horribly congested, I must admit that the cars don't really move all that fast. The traffic might look dangerous, but with the cars moving so slow, u can't get into a fatal car accident. No need to worry about thieves car jacking you or stealing things out of the trunk of your car. There aren't enough room to open the car door for carjackers to make their move! I couldn't take a video of the traffic or any pictures, because I can't stick my hand out of the window without hitting someone.
One thing I did noticed when we went for dinner is that every car in the parking lot was an SUV. Almost all of the people there drive SUVs due to the road horrible conditions. Majority of these vehicles are also owned by the Chinese minority. Rarely any Chinese rode scooters. A lot of the locals had their entire family of 5 on a scooter. Watching them maneuver through traffic with so many passengers was quite exciting.
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