Day 280
I woke up early and chatted with the Swedish girls a bit over breakfast. If I get to Bali by New Years we are going to try and get together. I then headed across the river and got a jungle taxi. At the bus station I ran into one of the guides and said goodbye.
I think that the mini bus driver had his hand on the horn for the entire ride. He really might as well have taped the thing down. I don't know if it was to alert possible passengers or to warn people to get out of the way, mad man enroute. Possibly both. For unknown reasons each additional passenger insisted on squeezing in the same seat. I did get the most room though, well, that was only because my ass t akes up the most space.
The first part of the road was even more terrifying than on the way to Bukit Lawang. This time I managed to have my camera out though so that I could document the worst of it. Eventually I did manage to fall asleep and I got a bit sunburned too.
When I was the last passenger I was told to get out and get a cab. I knew I was in Medan but I had no idea where I was in the city or how far I needed to go to get to my hotel. The first trishaw driver I spoke to tried to compeletly rip me off. He wanted 50,000 for the ride. I had cost me 17,000 for my three hour ride so there was no way that I was giving him that. He would let any of the other drivers near me so I ended up having to walk a ways down the road to get away. There I found a guy who charged me 30,000, or about $2.75. It was about a 45 minute ride so I didn't feel like I had paid too much. The ride was scary though, there is nothing to protect you from the weaving traffic often just inches away.
I went back to the hotel that I had stayed at before, luckily they had some space for me.
Right away I headed to an internet cafe. I had been disconnected for far too long. I tried to book some internal flights to get me back on schedule, but none of the websites would take forigen credit cards. I ended up leaving so that I could find a travel a gent. This didn't take long and soon I was on my way back to my hotel.
At the hotel I found out what the cost of a trishaw should be to get me to the mall. I couldn't walk much and I needed a few things that might be hard to find outside of a big city. At first the guy tried to rip me off but I was able to bargain him down to a fair price.
After getting a movie ticket I headed to the mega mart for a few supplies. For dinner I headed to Pizza Hut. I needed some western food after all of that time in the jungle. After I had finished eating a few girls approached me and told me that they had an assignment for their English class to interview a native English speaker. They then asked me a few questions and recorded it on thier phones, as well as taking a picture with me. They didn't speak English very well and kept giggling, so I don't know how great it actually was.
Just as I was getting to the elevator to go to the theater another group of kids approached me for the same thing. They spoke much better English and actually had preparred questions before hand. They mostly asked about the States while the other girls had asked if I was married.
I just made it to my movie in time. I went to see Twilight again. It's bad, I know, but I liked it. When the movie was over I headed past the trishaw guys at the main entrance and found a guy around the corner who didn't even try and rip me off. It was nice to not have to bargain for something.
Back at the hotel I had an orange juice and wrote for a bit, but I was pretty tired and soon went to bed.
I think that the mini bus driver had his hand on the horn for the entire ride. He really might as well have taped the thing down. I don't know if it was to alert possible passengers or to warn people to get out of the way, mad man enroute. Possibly both. For unknown reasons each additional passenger insisted on squeezing in the same seat. I did get the most room though, well, that was only because my ass t akes up the most space.
The first part of the road was even more terrifying than on the way to Bukit Lawang. This time I managed to have my camera out though so that I could document the worst of it. Eventually I did manage to fall asleep and I got a bit sunburned too.
When I was the last passenger I was told to get out and get a cab. I knew I was in Medan but I had no idea where I was in the city or how far I needed to go to get to my hotel. The first trishaw driver I spoke to tried to compeletly rip me off. He wanted 50,000 for the ride. I had cost me 17,000 for my three hour ride so there was no way that I was giving him that. He would let any of the other drivers near me so I ended up having to walk a ways down the road to get away. There I found a guy who charged me 30,000, or about $2.75. It was about a 45 minute ride so I didn't feel like I had paid too much. The ride was scary though, there is nothing to protect you from the weaving traffic often just inches away.
I went back to the hotel that I had stayed at before, luckily they had some space for me.
Right away I headed to an internet cafe. I had been disconnected for far too long. I tried to book some internal flights to get me back on schedule, but none of the websites would take forigen credit cards. I ended up leaving so that I could find a travel a gent. This didn't take long and soon I was on my way back to my hotel.
At the hotel I found out what the cost of a trishaw should be to get me to the mall. I couldn't walk much and I needed a few things that might be hard to find outside of a big city. At first the guy tried to rip me off but I was able to bargain him down to a fair price.
After getting a movie ticket I headed to the mega mart for a few supplies. For dinner I headed to Pizza Hut. I needed some western food after all of that time in the jungle. After I had finished eating a few girls approached me and told me that they had an assignment for their English class to interview a native English speaker. They then asked me a few questions and recorded it on thier phones, as well as taking a picture with me. They didn't speak English very well and kept giggling, so I don't know how great it actually was.
Just as I was getting to the elevator to go to the theater another group of kids approached me for the same thing. They spoke much better English and actually had preparred questions before hand. They mostly asked about the States while the other girls had asked if I was married.
I just made it to my movie in time. I went to see Twilight again. It's bad, I know, but I liked it. When the movie was over I headed past the trishaw guys at the main entrance and found a guy around the corner who didn't even try and rip me off. It was nice to not have to bargain for something.
Back at the hotel I had an orange juice and wrote for a bit, but I was pretty tired and soon went to bed.
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