Medan is the biggest city in the Northern Sumatra of Indonesia . Inside the city there is a beautiful mosque , a mansion house and some local malls . It is like the entry point of sumatra island of indonesia . Near to this there is lake toba which is the biggest volcanic crater lake in the world . In Nearby city in Brastegi there is one active volcano mount sinabung and another dormant volcano sibayak is situated . North to the Medan there is Ache province which is famous for seeing the ingenious tribal people of Sumatra .
How to reach Medan ?
There is mainly three option to reach medan . There is a bus transport from Jakarata and Padang to medan but it is really tiring . It might take 50 – 60 hours from Jakarta and more than 24 hours from Padang as here roads are up and down in the same road there is no divider . So bus usually can not go beyond 80 km/hr . From Medan ALS is a good company to reach this distances .
Outher two are domestic as well as international entry points . From Belawan sea port in medan you have the sea route to penang city in malaysia and the other cities of the Indonesia . There is flight from the different parts of the world towards Kualanamu International Airport , Medan . Most people use this option to reach to Medan .
From the Airport you can either take Damri Bus to reach to the city or train to reach to the city but the train is little costlier .
Masjid Raya al masun :
This grand mosque of medan was completed in 1909 by the contribution of sultan of deli Mamun al Rashid perkasa Alam . It’s architecture is the combination of the middle eastern . spanish and Indian style . It is a octagonal mosque and in the begining it was the part of the Mamun palace . The sultane build this Mosque in such a way that it was more important than his own palace .
For building this palace the glasses and the marbles were imported from france , italy . morocco and Chine . The windows are similar to the windows of the spanish churches and the domes are similar to the Turkish style . The corridors of the mosque are beautiful and build with artistic design . In the middle of the dome of the mosque there is a beautiful chandelier .
The mosque is opened daily from the 7:30 am – 12 pm and 4pm – 8:30 pm .
Tjong a fie Mansion :
It is a Historic building and the private house of a famous chines businessman Tjonga a Fie , build in 1895 in 8000 sq meter area . The mansion is influenced by Chines , Malay and art deco style of architecture .Inside the building , there is an open courtyard . It is a two storied building . This building has similarity of the Chong fatt tze building in the penang city of the Malaysia .
The museum is opened between 9 am – 5 pm and entry fees is 35000 IDR .
Gunung Timur Temple :
Vihara Gunung Timur was established in 1962 by the Taoist and Buddhiest people . It is the biggest chines temple in Sumatra Island . This temple is dedicated to the Dongyue Dadi .
This temple is situated near to the Hindu Mari amman temple which is a sign of the communal harmony in Medan .As different religion coexisted side by side .
This temple is opened between 8 am – 5 pm daily and it is free for the general public .
Lake Toba :
Lake toba is the largest volcanic crater lake in the world . Inside the lake there is a large island called samsoir island which is the almost the size of Singapore . The lake is situated 900 meter above the sea surface and the total area of the lake is 1145 sq km and depth is of 450 meter . It is a UNESCO geo global park . Batuk tribe is living in this samsoir island . There is a beautiful waterfall spiso piso near to the Lake Toba .
There is four overlaping volcanos in this area , among them one is a strato volcano . In 74000 years ago there was a super volcanic erruption which extinct most of the animals in this island and change the weather of the earth . It is believed that some volcanic ashes also reached to the India and Africa . This giant craters joined together to make this lake .
There is a daily 1-2 buses directly from the medan city and passes through the Berastagi city . You have to enquire to the local people as there is very less buses in a day . Between 4-5 pm there is a bus from lake toba to medan . After taking a lunch in a hotel I take a nap in their restaurant . People in this area are very kind and in thir food there is always fish of Lake toba . You can see lots of local people fishing beside the Lake .
Mt sibayak :
Mt Sibayak is a strato volcano near to the city of Brestagi , last errupted in 1881 . Altitute of this mountain is 2181 m . You can reach to the crater and you can heard the roaring sound of the gas coming out .
In the base of the mountain , there is a temple . You have to trek 2-3 km to reach to the top . First there is dense forest and then after there is barren land . Some people come here to collect the sulphur coming from the volcano . Here you can experience a glimpse of volcano .
Istana Maimun :
Maimun palace is the royal palace build by a dutch architect in between 1887 – 1891 . This palace was build by the sultan of deli Mamun Al Rashid Perkasa Alamyah . This palace is covered an area of 2772 sq meter and there is all together 30 rooms . Only the first room where there is throne .Only this part of the place is opened to the general public . In the basement of this palace there is a prison . In the exhibition hall there is different weapons , antique furniture and different royal elements are shown . There is all together 2 floor in the palace and the whole palace is divided into three parts . some people are selling some handicrafts inside the market .
This palace is opened between 8 am – 5 pm and entry fees is 5000 IDR
Graha bunda Maria Annai Velangkanni :
This church in Medan was build in the Indo Dravidian style where a virgin mary’s statue is established . This religious place exsist here fro the 16 the century and all hindus , muslims and christians come here to pray . People come here for the good health .
Godess virgin mary made many miracle where in a incident the milk is flowing out of the pots from a small amount , where in another incident a lame boy can walk again and in a another incident she saved a ship from the storm .
It is a pilgrimage site where more than 3 million pilgrims visited every year to cure their problems . for 400 years a yearly 10 day festival happens here between 29 th august to 8 th September .
This temple is opened every day from 8 am – 4 pm . It is situated 12 km from the main Medan city .
Centre point mall :
This is situated in the centre point of the city where this mall is situated . Thought the mall is not quiet modern still you can get lots of items under one roof . This is also the place where the main bazar is situated . Some wholesale shops and restaurants are situated here .
Most of the ankot leaves from here for different direction . Damri buses runs towards the airport leaves from opposite side of the Mall . This is the cheapest option to travel towards the airport .
Mari Amman Temple :
Mari amman temle is a tamil style temle and is mainly the godess of the Rain and cure the disease . You can see Mari Amman temple all in Indonesia and Malaysia .
This Mari amman temple is build in the year 1884 and situated in Medan’s little India . The main festival of the temple is Thaipusam , Devapally . The other gods installed in this temple is Krishna , Ganesha , murugan , Vishnu Laxmii, parvati , Bhrambha , Augusta , Raja Rajeswari and Nataraja .
The temple is opened from 6 am – 12 pm and 4 pm – 8 pm daily .
State Museum of North Sumatra :
State Museum of North Sumatra is a state owned museum which was established in 19 th april 1982 . It contains cultural heritage of Indonesia specially the sumatra island and crafts from various group .
It is one way a natural history museum another way it has vast collection of statues of Hindu and buddha religion , tools from the dutch colonial area and the replica of the Masjid Azizi and some indonesian weapons .
This museum is spread across 10648 sq meter and opened between 9 am to 4pm and entry fees of 3000 IDR . I thing the fees might be for the Indonesian people .
Rahamat International wildlife Museum and gallery :
Rahamat International wildlife Museum and gallery is a natural history museum . Mr Rahamat is a businessman and haunting who travelled the whole world and collected some of the haunted animals in refrigerated and other collected from different sources . This museum has all together 2600 species of small and 5600 species of species of big animals in refrigerated rooms . The main idea is to preserve the extinct animals and increase their population in the wildlife . This museum also contain a library where all the details of the animals are written . This museum is opened for the general public in 2007 .
The museum is opened daily from the 9 am – 5 pm and the entry fees for the foreigners is 150000 IDR .
Maha Vihara Maitreya :
This is one of the biggest buddhiest temple in whole Indonesia situated near to the medan city . The temple building started in 1991 and completed in the 21 st August 2008 . This temple is filled with ethnic chines people .
The whole temple is divided into three parts where in the first part 1500 people can gathered , second part can accommodate 2500 people and the third part has the capacity of 2000 people . The temple has statues of various dragons and Mythical animals in the compound .
The temple is opened daily from 6 am – 8 pm .
Masjid Agung Sumatera Utara :
This mosque of masjid agung sumatera Utara was established in the year 1967 . It is catagorished as the largest mosque catagory . This mosque is spread across 5000 sq meter and have the capacity of 1000 people . It is situated 4.8 km from the medancity .
This mosque is opened 24 hours for general public .
Lapangan Benteng :
This sports field is situated in the middle of the city and it is also called the fortress field because once Dutch build a fort in this area .
In this park there is running track , volleyball court , free gym and the playground for the children . It is also the relaxing place for the locals and lots of food vendors selling different foods in the evening . Many people jogging in the morning and in the evening .
Summary :
Medan is the fourth largest city in the sumatra and one of the biggest city in Indonesia . It is situated in the northen sumatra . Though it is not the touristy city though the largest volcanic lake Lake toba and two volacon are situated very near to this city . The city has the royal palace of deli sultanate and some beautiful mosque and some park . It also have some buddhiest and Hindu temple inside the city .
