Medan Kota

I am very very, in fact super happy today…

I just bought my family June holiday tickets to Bangkok @ just Rp 1.212.000 per person… and this include tickets for Medan – KL – Krabi – Bangkok – KL – Medan !!!! with AirAsia

I was just surfing the site for fun and was in shock.. initially, it was just Rp 1.400.000 and I was ready to pay.. and the next day… the company makes a 2 days promotion with extra 20% off and so.. I am paying just THAT!!!  last year, I paid about 2.2JT which I thought was a big bargain for me… and this year.. my eyes practically pop out when I calculated the whole fare…

we were supposed to go to Australia by redeeming our credit card points and take advantage of the cheap AUS$, (S’pore Airlines is in fact having a 25% off for online redeemption – a bargain) , but seeing, Rp 1.2JT, I guess the kids can wait….

SO.. today is the last day (19 Feb) … log on and take up the offer… with their lowest rate, MES – KL – MES would only set you back at Rp 375.000 !!!  take your wife/girlfriend/mum/dad/family for a weekend…!!!  it’s only a cost of a dinner in Medan!!!

in fact, my hubby and me is considering making a short trip again just to eat… heheh.. we always hop there for Frangpani Restaurant (for fine dining), Wasabi Bistro (Mandarin Oriental hotel) for Japanese and many more of the local foods…  its way chepaer to eat there than Medan..  with 4 flights daily, you can even make it a day trip for shopping…..  we are simply hesitating becoz we have been traveling too much for the past 2 months…

Popularity: 19% [?]

Singapore Piaget Academy Medan, currently known among the locals as one of the best school in Medan.. well….

Alright, I do admit that the school is well… OK.. I was and still am happy with my 2 boys education development in the school until I saw this last week…. mind you.. this is not the first time… in fact, it happened several times to BOTH my boys..

what you see is the work of my eldest son who is currently in K2 @ Piaget… Initially, I didn’t think of much and simply thought that the MISSes were busy and in hurry so, assuming that what he wrote were all correct, so they simply gave a TICK to all answers.

But it’s when I reviewed the work with my son and told him that he had done wrong, he blankly pointed out to me that he wrote ‘1590′ (the correct answer), BUT his MISS told him that he is wrong !!!…  then to think that he is lying to me, well.. I often practice these maths equations with him at home, and he has no problem answering them to me…

To think that the teacher is careless is already unacceptable to me … BUT to tell the kid that he is wrong!!! it does get on my nerve…. seriously, these are very basic mathematics that the kids need to know and the school is making it so confusing to them ????? …

Frankly, what I am doing with my 2 boys are that I am guiding them personally at home with Singapore Education Syllabus… what I do is, I get hold of the Singapore’s school standard Textbooks and use them as a guide to maintain the correct standard of knowledge….. this may sound fussy to some parents, but I am not 100% happy with what the Medan school is putting in my son’s brain…

For other schools in Medan, please see Directory List of Schools in Medan

Popularity: 37% [?]

This is a new thing that I have just found out.. something to think about

Imagine, you are going on 2 weeks holidays to Australia, America or Europe..  most of us would then need to change our Indonesia Rupiah to the according currencies… so, with 2 weeks of holidays, you probably be carrying the cash in thousands of dollars around … all along, worrying of losing, robbery, pick pocket etc…

Then to consider purchasing goods with credit cards, the exchange rates are some 3%-5% higher…

Then to think of just using the ATM to simply withdraw cash, we will then be charged twice, the exchange rate as well as the cost of drawing the fund.. these will be converting from the Rupiah in your Indonesia account..

but Here’s the trick… to avoid all of the above..

what you can do is that, you open a Citibank foreign account.. i.e AUS$, US$, or the EUR (no minimum balance needed and no charges) …..  ask for an ATM card for the account…  from there, you buy the currencies needed using the bank T/T rate (which is cheaper than changing your Rupiah at the money changer).. and have the money deposit into the foreign account…

so assuming, I am going on holidays to Australia, I will arrange to buy AUS$ using T/T rate.. the money is kept in my AUS$ account….  and before I leave for the holidays, I will ask Citibank to link my given ATM card to my AUD$ account… with that, when I arrive in Australia, I will just withdraw the cash as needed at any Citibank ATM machine or any machine with the ATM Bersama logo which can be found everywhere..

I stumple upon the solution as we have plan to go there for holidays since, the Australia $ is cheap at the moment.  But when I called up money changer, they are charging me some Rp1000 more than the rate since they are running low on the notes… so to avoid the problem, I was twisting my brain at the bank and talking to the banker and it just click me…

so really.. I have been dumb for a long long time… in fact, this apply to any country that the bank allows you to hold the country’s currency…  but you just have to remember to inform the bank to link the ATM card to the according account..

Popularity: 44% [?]

This is a much delayed post.. but it’s so much fun that I really want to share with all of you..it’s one of the activities that I did while I was back in Bangkok in June 08..

I have never done camping before and with kids having watched so much of Barney and how schools always mentioned camping to the kids BUT will never ever experienced it….. so, I decided to plan a camping for my two lovely sons with lots of fun activities…

as we know that camping involved staying in a Tent and bringing all the packed foods, stuff, etc.. frankly.. it’s too much of a hassel for me to dealt with.. so instead I put us in what we Thai called a Boutique TENT…!!

The place is at Khao Yai.. a famous national park with much nature.. and is about 3 hours drive from Bangkok… when I first told my husband and my dad that we are going on a camping and staying in a tent.. both of them scolded me and whined on how silly of me to spend USD$65 per night staying in a tent… you see, the 2 big guys were imagining that they have to set up the tent, crawl into it and sleep on the ground.. like the real kids movies…

and so, when we arrived at the hotel, they were in shocked and as we walked towards the tent, they got just as excited as my 3.5 y.o and 5 y.o …

The tent is in the compound of a 4 star resorts.. so.. its all provided and set up for me… I don’t have to bring/buy any of the camping necessities .. ^0^

better yet.. its comes with ensuite bathroom and beds… !!!.. PLUS fully air conditioned.. ahhah… the tent also comes with a fridge, room service and TV…

The tent is surrounded with clean greenery… and the place do have several spots for picnic.. as the night falls, we were worried that the kids won’t be able to sleep and if they will be scared since its the first time that they stayed outdoor…

what happened was that, the kids fell asleep like a pig, while me and my hubby couldn’t.. not that the beds were uncomfortable, its actually the ghostly feeling… I have to entertain myself with ipod till 3am in the morning…

As Khao Yai is a nature place, hence what you find in the areas are very outdoor activities, like the Buxter that we rode on… the kids just loved it…

then you have the mini real motorised bikes .. don’t they just look cool and real gangster… but, no.. these bikes aren’t for them… in fact its for us.. the adults!!!

thats me.. trying really hard to balance.. its not fun for me but simply doing it to entertain the kids and let them laughed at me.. the center will provide you with a disposal head cap for hygiene before you have to put on the real helmet…

there’s the standard rock climbing… but I prefer the one below…

Its specially built, you will need to climb and complete each section where each ones are tougher than the next… and once you reached the top, you get back down by taking the flying fox…

Its so so so much fun….

Then on the second day, we took the kids to a milk farm, the farm ChokChai.. it’s one of thailand’s leading milk producer.. the owner has the love for cowboy, so he decided to convert part of his vast extensive farm land into an interesting in house company tour.. where at the same time, they do have the camping facilities as well but it’s a bit overpriced..

THE FARM CHOKCHAI

In there, you need to pay for the standard 2.5-3 hours tour.. its quite interesting for the kids though…

The lady explained the methods and the technologies used on how they get the milk .. so for now.. at least my sons seem to appreciate their milk better now.. but best of all.. they get to see their daddy milk the cow…

when they asked for a volunteer, my 3 y.o was eagerly raising his hands as he really want to have the try, and since that he was too young, my husband, seeing the boys face turned gloomy, being a good daddy, he just gave in and did it…

the tour then proceed to the ice cream factory..

then the kids watched the cow boy shows.. and we were given free time to do horse riding, but instead, being boys, they each chose to go for 2 rounds of ATV…

that’s Jadon, my 5 y.o on his ATV… he begged, cried, whinned till we finally have to give in.

and the all time favourite mini zoo.. the kids get to play and feel the real farm animals like, sheep, duck, goats etc.. and feed them food… it’s kind of make the kids feel like they are in the Barney movies.. you see..

and have you ever wonder how a Drangon Fruit trees look like… here it is… very cute though

Personally, Khao Yai Thailand is one of those places that kids as well as adults will enjoyed and bond the family.. it’s a good place for the kids to experience rather than the usual city sightseeing, shopping, beach… since we came back, they have been asking to go back… for their modern camping again…

Its also one of those places that I wish the Greenhill @ sibolangit should implement as an extra… though I did mentioned to the management but they kind of finding me weird when I told them the concept…

More Information @

Boutique Tent: The Phuwanalee Resort

Activities Center: The Greenery Resort

Farm ChokChai: The Farm ChokChai

Popularity: 58% [?]

Where are you from? … is the most common phrase that I need to answer every now and then while I am here in Medan… often the conversation will lead to this:

strangers: where are you from?

me: I am from Thailand.. (often with my Thai smiley face…)

strangers: really? you look Taiwanese.. Japanese to me…

strangers: I love it there… i went there once.. the shopping is so cheap, the food is awesome etc.. and everythings are so cheap…  i love it there… blah.. blah..blah..

strangers: I went to MBK, pattaya… etc.. i love the food.. there is so much to eat… all the sweet stuff on the read side… ( still going on about Thai food and the beer)

you see.. for each time such conversation pop up… all I have to do is answer that *I am from Thailand * and the person will just go on and on of how much they enjoyed Thailand and continue saying, while me, all I have to do is simply giving them the Land of Smile face… ahhah

now.. imagine.. being an Indonesian and someone asking you where you are from?  this is what I often get when I tell people in other countries that I live Medan, Indonesia.. ( I am not even an Indonesian!)

Me: I live in Medan, Indonesia

strangers: where is Medan?

me: an hour flight from Singapore and the place that is nearest to Aceh where the Tsunami hit in 2004..

strangers: oohhh… i see..  is it dangerous living in Indonesia..? I saw all the killing on the TV and the people looks so scary…

strangers: I have never been to Indonesia and I only know of Bali.. have you been to Bali? is it really that nice as advertise?

me: No.. coz Medan to Bali is 5 hours flight and I rather go to Phuket..

strangers: yah yah .. its true.. ( still going on … asking of how Indonesia looks unsecure)

worst yet, for me to recommend something good of Indonesia, I am often speechless.. whats there to buy, to eat, to play?  most things here are all franchise, you can hardly find any good local stuff apart from the famous fashion designer Biyan whom at the price that he is charging, I would rather spend on International brand name…

its just a thought…

Popularity: 32% [?]