Sweet Sumatra

After having a not so welcoming first couple of hours in Sumatra, we are warming up to Medan. Despite it being such a city infested by rats and covered in garbage, the people are amazingly nice. A lot of them just want to practice English so they will talk to you about anything. Joey and I are still skeptical when talking to locals in these countries because there have been so many times when the person talking to you just wanted money, and actually didn't care to talk. Here you can tell most of them, if not all are genuine, which is awesome.

Yesterday we decided to go to Hotel Sumatera which turned out to be a nightmare. The room was gross, and their idea of a shower was a bucket with water. Plus the staff was just not friendly at all. We decided to move to a place called Pondok Angel which is a bit better and the staff are a lot nicer. Last night we stayed up having beers with some of the staff and their friends, as well as with 2 Canadian girls (One is from Victoria and we have mutual friends), and 2 Aussie guys. It was nice to have a group of people together talking and drinking beers. This is probably my favourite part of traveling.

That night we went back to our hotel room and had the absolute worst sleep ever. We were right by a karaoke bar and the sound from traffic on the road was horrendous. We had to keep the windows open because our fan barely worked and it was so so so hot. We made many mosquitoes happy last night. Looking at my arms today, I guess I was tasty. Just when traffic had calmed down and the karaoke bar closed the Mosque down the road blared their call to prayer music as they could. Absolutely brutal!

Today has been quite uneventful. We moved to Pondok Angel, and slept most of the afternoon to catch up on much needed sleep. When we walked around the town we met lots of locals wanting to practice their English. They love to ask questions. What would maybe seem invasive back home is totally normal for them. Both of us certainly don't mind being asked every question under the sun because it really is nice to see a piece of life the locals lead.

Tomorrow we are heading of to Danau Toba which is the biggest freshwater lake in South East Asia. Apparently it is beautiful and very relaxing. Both of us can't wait.