Images of Medan Indonesia

Medan was the first city in the Island of Sumatera i've ever visited todate. And it was fairly recently that i did that, barely three weeks ago. All this while my trip to Indonesia had been concentrated to the cities in Java (Jakarta-Bandung) and the Island of Bali. Well...it was a nice deviation from the usual crowded and noisy Jakarta and the over touristy Bali i thought to explore Medan instead.

The flight from KL took about 50 minutes. It was actually a short flight crossing over the Straits of Malacca. Just a refreshment of fruit juices and packed nuts were served for this short flight.

Our plane on the right-in the old livery....left is the new livery for Malaysia Airlines.

Boarding in progress...later turned out into a full flight. Medan is very famous with Malaysian for its cheap clothing and foods products..i.e shopping paradise.........

 Finally landed at Medan Polonia International Airport. It was a very small airport serving international flights as far as Hong Kong. Even domestic airports in Malaysia looks better and bigger than this. A new airport is being built in Kuala Namu though which will even be equipped with its own high-speed rail line.

Streets of Medan...one thing i noticed is that it's cleaner than Jakarta-generally. Maybe due to its lower population or maybe the city itself is being managed better in terms of its cleanliness. Ive always wondered if there is such thing as a department dedicated to manage the environment in Indonesia?

First day in Medan...we arrived around 10 am and there was still many times to spend. We met this one motor-taxi driver in front of our hotel and managed to arrange a day tour to all the famous attractions in Medan for RP 100k, on his motor-taxi. We crammed onto it nevertheless....

Our first stop of the day was Istana Maimoon or Maimoon Palace. This palace was built by the late Sultan of Deli Empire - Sultan Makmun Al Rasyid Perkasa Alamsyah.The design was a mixed of Islamic, Indian, Spanish and Italian styles. Small entrance fee was charged to enter this palace.

Next..the Masjid Raya or the Grand Mosque.........

One interesting aspect of this mosque is that the decorative designs were painted instead of the usual tiled mosaic that we will usually find in other mosques.

We moved on the the next attraction, the Tirtanadi Water Tower. This water tower was built in the year 1886 and completed in 1908 for the main purpose of providing the city with clean and adequate water supply.

Another interesting place to be visited is the Tjong A Fie Mansion..the mansion built by earlier prominent Chinese entrepreneur in Medan, Tjong A Fie. The entrance fee is quite high if you want to enter inside the mansion thus we settled with taking pictures at the external garden only.

For animal lovers, the next place might catch your interest...Rahmat Wildlife Museum. This museum was set up by Dr H. Rahmat Shah, an animal lover who loves to hunt (??). Quite weird to say that right, but at least that's what he claimed to be...anyway there are so many species of animals from small birds to the big elephant and giraffe (of which had been legally hunted or died in zoos and donated) being displayed here.

some of the buildings with colonnial dutch influences...........

the famous "pasar ikan" or fish market...previously famous for its fish but now famous for its cheap groceries and goods......we bought some local snacks here...

-Kay2011-

Europe Odyssey 2010 (3)-Reminiscent of the "Eternal City"-Rome & Vatican

Feel free to read my previous Europe Odyssey write up on London Europe Odyssey 2010-London and Paris Europe Odyssey-Paris.

Now is the continuation from my last post on this trip of a life time to Europe, the final destination being Rome, which is also known as the "Eternal City" and the Vatican City.

We started our journey early in the morning to take our Ryanair flight from Paris Beauvais Airport. The flight took about around 2 hours with nice weather throughout the flight to Rome. It was a nice advantage travelling during the Summer time in Europe as the day-hours are longer and generally the weather will be good for sightseeing and traveling around.

Our plane at the airport.....was so excited at this moment as we were about to visit another new country which all this while had only been dreamed about......

 

Entering Rome's airspace..if you look closely at the middle part of this picture you can see the Colosseum ..........

finally landed at Rome's Ciampino Airport. Afterwards we took the airport shuttle for a 45 minutes ride to the city.

I was really caught in awe with the sights of many historical buildings in Rome, it was as if all the buildings in the city had been built since 100 years ago and still maintained in good and tenantable condition. It was hard to see any signs of modern designs in the city itself. We checked into the Acropoli Hotel, which was located near to the Termini Bus and Rail Station. As the daylight time was long and it wont be until 9pm till it's dark, we quickly settled into our room, left our back and went out to wander around the city.

If you are an avid architectural lover, you must come to Rome and see all these magnificent buildings your self. The buildings are like pieces of art on their own and i can understand why people would come to Rome just for the buildings and nothing else...well maybe for its foods in addition......

The next day, we took a tour of the city and the interesting places with Viator Tour http://www.viator.com/.

This is the Victor Emmanuel Monument located right in the heart of the city........very magnificent looking and gigantic. One would wonder in amazement of the ability of the people in the past to build such a building with their limited equipments and non-modern tools.

This monument was built to commemorate the first king of the unified Italy, King Victor Emanuel II.

Some relics of the ancient Rome..........

We finally arrived at the Colosseum.........

 

This building was built as an arena for gladiator fightings. There are 3 levels of viewing terraces. Take note that it may take you sometimes to enter this building as the que will be long.

As the summer heat started to leave stinging effect on our skin, we decided to hop on to our bus again and to just enjoy the city views on board.........

The next day we took a bus from Termini Station to Vatican City, it cost around 1 Euro only....

St Peter's Square and the Basilica..........

To climb up to the Dome, you will be charged a small fee, nevertheless it was worth the climb as you will get the full view of Vatican from here.......

the Swiss Guard...not particularly friendly though........but i like their uniform :)

The next day we dragged our feet to the airport for our flight back to London and thereafter to KL. It marked the end of our 8 days Euro trip with journey across thousand miles. What i liked the most out of this experience is that ive gained new exposures of the way of life of the people at the other parts of the world and knowing the fact that each place have different way of living and surely different things and experiences on offer. Ironically enough, we are still living in the same planet but most people just don't do much to know the other parts of the world except those of their own. I would love to venture further into the known and the unknown to satisfy my curiosity and to please the adventurer's instinct of mine-Kay2011