Medan Trip - Day 3

It seemed that my sore throat was getting worse by the third day. Why? Almost all the food that I ate during the meals were hot, spicy and fried food. Thank God, I brought my bottle of Actifed and Serrareptiose to reduce the swelling of the throat. I managed to survive the entire Medan Trip with better health condition than when I arrived. Despite of the food.

The third day in Medan was slightly different. The Coordinator spent the night in the tuition center with the other 2 staff workers there. This is the picture of their small and cozy room.
It is non-aircon, but it is free!!



At around 12 pm I guess, SW arrived and we left the hotel and took a taxi to meet DBS for a sumptuous lunch in a Batak eating place. The price on the argo was 15k, but the driver asked for 30k.

That lunch was my first encounter with the famous local food, BePeKa (Babi Panggang Karo), which means roast pork Batak Karo style. The seven of us managed to finish 1.5kg of roast pork, which is very different from Chinese roast pork. The fat layer here was sometimes much thicker, juicier, and err... more sinful than over in Singapore. See how we enjoyed the food!!




The entire meal was actually very simple. Plain rice, bowl of soup, mixed vegetable, BPK, and a small plate of stuffed pig intestines. The entire meal was cost... er.. I don't know, because DBS' wife was too fast to grab the bill and paid everything for us. Thanks DBS!

We returned to the tuition center taking a public bus for a first time. The price was 2500 per trip, similar to that of Tanjung Pinang. But the route was as confusing as in Singapore. The bus can stop anywhere though, since there is no bus stop.

We continued our routine of preparing for the lesson and teaching in the class. At around 8.30 pm we left for dinner. Because we were still hungry (this is not true) and we wanted to taste Martabak Bangka (that is true), we walk for about 2 km from our hotel to reach a Martabak Bangka stall, and ordered a special Martabak with cheese, chocolate and milk! The price was 28k for the whole martabak.



We walked another 2 km to return to the hotel and enjoyed our hard-earned martabak. I didn't eat much though, coz it was too rich and eneg... Then we rested for the night

A side note on the night sky in Medan, it was beautiful. I can see the stars and constellation, not much difference from what I saw in Taiwan the year before. Orion, Taurus, Canis Major were clearly visible. I wished I brought my constellation guide with me.