Medan Kota

Alright.. I haven’t been blogging for a longggg time.. that’s simply because.. 1. I am busy with life and  2. I have nothing interesting to entertain … ^0^..

Anyway.. this morning, a friend send us a link.. he said someone wrote that Medan is “Worst. City. Ever.”.. well.. honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of what the article is going to be about anyway.. but mine oh mine.. just the first paragraph alone had me feeling sick to the stomache..

Alright.. I am not going to deny that I am not a big fan of this city, Medan.. I have lived for a decade by now.. and though it is not the best city on earth.. (Bangkok, my hometown, received ‘world’s best city” this year).. but I have to defence on behalf of Medan people that.. ‘NO!!  Medan is not the Worst. City. Ever.’

enough said.. but here’s what Mr ADAM GARTRELL wrote on July 19, 2010 for www.theage.com.au..

“Dear Medan. I hate you.

I visited you recently and found you the most unpleasant, charmless and thoroughly depressing city I’ve ever encountered. And I’ve visited plenty of s—holes in my time.

Now, when it comes to big Indonesian cities I have pretty low expectations.

I live in Jakarta, the biggest of them all, so I know what I’m in for: traffic, pollution, heat, noise, chaos, the stench of human waste.

And you, Medan – Indonesia’s third biggest city – you provided all those things. In great abundance.

In fact, even though your population, at three million, is a quarter that of Jakarta’s, I reckon you’re worse on just about every count.

Quite an achievement.

But Medan, you’re awful not just because of your many failings but because you appear to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

You’re slim pickin’s for hotels, you don’t seem to boast a single, decent restaurant and from what I’ve heard, you’ve got no real nightlife.

Your airport is a Boschian nightmare, your roads a mess, your buses an embarrassment and your taxis … well, if I ever find one I’ll let you know.

And ever heard of trees?

Okay, so you have a big mosque but it’s also the closest thing you’ve got to a tourist attraction. And you have a few shopping malls but what city doesn’t?

I understand now why you consistently feature on people’s “Worst. City. Ever.” lists.

You’re at the very top of mine.

Okay, I admit, there’s a personal element to this. See, I got robbed in one of your hotels.

It wasn’t a very nice hotel. It promotes itself as a four star hotel when in actual fact it’s closer to a two. But that’s fine. I don’t need luxury and it cost less than $100 a night.

Except, in the end, it actually cost a couple of grand. Because while I was out one night scouring the streets for a decent meal – in vain, of course – someone broke into my room and stole a giant wad of company cash from my suitcase.

Why did I have a giant wad of cash, you ask? Well, because Indonesia is a mostly cash economy, so I’m forced to travel with plenty of it. But why didn’t I put it in the safe? Well, because the hotel didn’t provide one.

And when I brought the robbery to the hotel’s attention the staff were predictably – and perhaps deliberately – unhelpful.

Security staff at first said they could give me a keycard lock report, so I could see if anyone else entered my room. But then – for reasons not properly explained – they suddenly couldn’t.

But that was okay, they said. They could show me the CCTV footage outside my room instead.

Oh no, wait, sorry! We don’t actually know the password to review the CCTV!

Can you say “inside job”?

Needless to say I moved to a different hotel for my final night. I woke up the next morning in blood-stained sheets. Mozzies never take any interest in me but your Medan mozzies made quite a frenzied exception.

I didn’t get malaria. But I did get spectacularly, violently sick about a week later from an intestinal parasite, which I’m certain I picked up from you, Medan. I just know it.

I’ve never been so happy to board a plane as I was the one that whisked me away from you, Medan. And I never want to see you again.
AAP”

Popularity: 20% [?]

The Health Club at JW Marriott Hotel Medan… I know this is not the right time to do with the recent twin hotels bombing in Jakarta… but things happened and with all the necessary precautions… fingers cross that it will not happen again…

I know it all along that hubby needs to lose weight, else he will definitely develop a heart disease…. we all gone through some diet cycles in life… saying ‘I’m going on a diet’ was real easy.. postponing the action is the reality.. so having paid several jutas to have a cardiologist to tell you that ‘you have to do it’…,  it kinds of put an end to the ‘I will start tomorrow’..

everyone we know seem to complain of the membership price…  well.. I have managed to seal a good deal for all my readers to have an exclusive rate at

Rp 8.000.000 NETT per person per annum

before Rp 9.500.000 per person per annum

Benefits include:
24 hrs Gym access
1 Free Spa voucher
2 x 50% off Spa Treatment vouchers
20% off regular Spa Treatment
access to the Best Swimming Pool in Town
Free Parking

one thing that I enjoyed most at the Club is that it’s not crowded.. you don’t have to be worry of the unavailability of the machines… men in there are cool guys who are there for the same purpose.. women in there have looks that will motivate you to work harder… and the instructors in there tell you whats right and whats wrong…

unlike other high end gym.. this one at JW Marriott Hotel Medan does not close on PUBLIC HOLIDAYS!!!  To join and become a member, all arrangements must be made via MedanKu.com.  Anyone interested, please email me for more information…  contact@medanku.com … offer ends on 14 September 2009…

Popularity: 5% [?]

I love eating… who doesn’t… before this whole MedanKu.com got started… I was eating out a lotttt… like all 6 lunches and 3 or 4 times dinner per week… so my dine out bills were like ‘oh my lord’ … but that’s how I pampered myself…  and now that the whole website got real popular with over 260,000++ page views per month… and going strong …  well.. I still do.. but not as often…

ever since the 3 major five stars hotels made their presence in Medan; the poshy JW Marriott Hotel Medan, the modern resort Aryaduta Hotel and with the centrally located Grand Swissbel hotel, I have since became a regular fixture at these hotel on weekly try out….

practically every week.. the PRs will contact me for feature @ MedanKu.com … it’s either for their food promo or something else… at first.. it was FUN.. like really really excitedly fun… now it’s like.. let’s find someone to do it for me…. well .. I am not complaining.. its good fun thing to do rather than office work…so I am now limiting it to just 1 hotel per week for only 1 try out….

well, I have to say that I do love their presence in this Town that I longed for since I moved to Medan… of these 3 hotels, here’s what I usually go for at each on them on my own personal expense account….

let’s see, I have been indulging myself at Marriott Gourmet for their sandwiches, cakes, pastries and bread… I hardly go over to Clover Bakery anymore… the pricing ,… though slightly more by about 35%, but well worth every cents for the top notch quality that I get… I’ve recently tried out their Tiramisu… so so so heavenly… the little cup that is filled with the rich mascarpone is made of white chocolate.. !!!  this is a must must try…. even the cheese cake!! simply perfect… we know how the French eat, go for Quality and not Quantity…. since I set foot at the Marriott Gourmet, …. the ordering of birthday cake for my entire family has been handed over to Mr Gomes, the Executive Pastry Chef…

then when I crave for the Singapore style food or good quality simple Chinese food… I can be found at Grand Swissbel Hotel,….  the Hainanese chicken rice is just about as good as the Boon Tong Kee at Balestier Road in Singapore, … the man in-charge, chef Steven a true Singaporean, has experiences at many of the top end hotels in Singapore like Raffles as well as Shangri-la…… I particularly like the omelette with oyster.. also known as OarJian in hokkien…  I was lucky to have him fried it all up personally…. very mouth watering…. and the best part… it’s buffet style and very reasonable in price @ just Rp 88.000 per person on weekdays… my only saying… even after taxes and drinks… say Rp 280.000 nett for 2, it’s good value…. in fact the correct wording will be cheap….

as for Aryaduta Hotel…  I like to go over when I want to have the occasional long slow quiet dinner with mr hubby without the boys… Risotto is my favorite dish at The Kitchen…  we have a lot of good fun memory at the place….  once,  we went there on Elson’s birthday for dinner,… he literally scared everyone off…. he screamed so so loud at the fried Ice Cream … not that he is afraid, but he find it rather thrilling when the chef pour alcohol over hot pan and a big fire will then light up … and with him sitting over at the teppanyaki table and have the full clear view…. he simply love love it…  imagine this…  The Kitchen restaurant is one of those restaurants where couple people go for quiet night or business people dine for business meeting… the place is dimly light, perched on the top floor of the Palladium Mall, no sound of road traffic what so ever… very very very quiet… and that weekday night… everyone in the restaurant were just having normal quiet dinner while my family watched the chef preparing the food… the boys starring at it quietly with fasination….. BUT the moment the alcohol touched the teppanyaki pan, Elson just SCREAMed … the kind like when young kids scream and any parents will drop everything and run over…  he was ooonn top of his voice…   the scream was just so loud, …. loud enough to make everyone turned their head… but when it’s a scream that made you turned to the direction of the sound and you saw hugeeee FIRE…. god….. a group of guys sitting beside our table aged about late 40s looked startled… and one of them sort of stood up and ready to run off… (but he sort of get the point when big laughter broke out) that’s when me and hubby just have to hide our face…. we were so so embarrassed!!!  a cleaner standing near by was trying really hard to control his laughter avoiding being rude…  I was hiding my face in my palm… and couldn’t stop laughing…. even Jadon laughed so loud at his own silly little brother….    that was just about the last time that we took the boys to the restaurant…

Popularity: 8% [?]

I have a treadmill at home, it was my 2003 Christmas present.  Mr hubby gave me one as he refused to let me join a Health Club… there’s a man-ly and silly reason behind that..… so, with that, my workout revolved around the machine.. following the various programs that comes with it.. plus some mini weights that I have..

After the Spa treat at JW Marriott Hotel Medan, I was told by Marriott PR that she was gonna schedule an experience at the Health Club for me…  from the day I was told till the actual day, my mind was going like… I shall cancel it.. I shall cancel it…. for you see, I felt very kumpong, not having really entered a full gym since I moved to Medan in 2000.

My hubby, being a totally pain and very smart of it, he didn’t want to tag along!!! When it was dining experiences, he was so readily eager to go along with me… but with the Health Club, he backed out since the first day we were told… giving excuses that he have meeting… though he did had an emergency one on the day…

Well, the experienced, … I felt absolutely fabulous after… my 4KM run never felt so short, so easily complete.. thanks to the private mini TV that is right in front of me… I am free to change the Indovision channels as many times as I like… and not having to watch whatever that’s put on the shared TV screen in other places.. and the ear phone plug gives me the freedom to control the volume as I please … and the machine even have an iPod plug on it too… having said that, I am not sure if I am being kumpong to it or this have been around in the market for quite sometimes already…

I then went on one of this machine…

I LOVE IT.. I went on it once at a hotel gym on my vacation, and fell in love with it … so much so that I almost bought one about 2 years back until my husband chose this instead!!!

you will not believe his explanation…. ‘why waste time and energy on the runner, when you can just stand and let the shaker machine do the hardwork for you …  burn double the calories at half the time… absolute efficiency! ‘ 

And stupid enough, I fell for him (not the salesman!!), and yes, I blamed myself each time I sat in my home office and see how this crazy shaker sat in the room for 2 years, being used by less than the amount of fingers on our hands…   totally crazy..

So.. what’s there to praise for this new Health Club in Medan, …. new, exclusive, quiet, clean and the killer’s view… I also like how the club has towels and bottled Aqua water placed all around the machines and readily have it in every corner of the room… with that, you don’t have to bring those typical water bottle and filled it with water from the water dispenser.  And as for towels, any typical gym would give you just ONE… just one piece as you walk in to collect your locker key and with that one piece, you are supposed to use it for wiping off sweat, use for shower, sauna, swim, as well as drying off your body…. unless of course you bring along yourself…

And the infinity swimming pool, it’s such a heaven one to dip in, free from chlorine, the club uses the natural resource one… good for the skin…

Then to finish everything off, I went for a quick Sauna.. since I have forgotten to bring along my bikinis, and was thinking of using just the towel, found that the club even have sarong made available for use… very thoughtful indeed…

Annual Membership fees…

Single:     Rp 9.500.000

Couple:   Rp 16.000.000

Group:     Rp 30.000.000 (max 4 persons)

Popularity: 15% [?]

What I am about to write will make many of you very envious of me…. heheheh…  BUT, what you are about to read is also a non bias report of how I feel for the place….  however, if you want to read the full formal report, you may read it at MedanKu.com

so, I was given a complimentary experience at the Quan Spa @ JW Marriott Hotel Medan… actually, not just me, its me and hubby and we were treated to enjoy the ‘Embrace Escape’ Spa package as part of the Media …..  pretty cool isn’t it…

Spa, its one area that I sort of know it relatively well enough…  I do try out at the different spas whenever I travel abroad.  But let just say we stick to the Medan standard…  the Embrace Escape, is a package that is tailored for the couple that supposed to let the couple taking the time out to reconnect with each other… for like 2 hrs 45 mins…

we began with Ms Ary, the spa director, giving us the tour of the place… it’s nice, cool, new and very very very and very spotless clean… we were then explained of what we were to be expected which, is full body scrub, then romance bath and followed by massage…

we were given the couple room, which is BIG enough for 4 of us (us + 2 masseurs) to move around and not one of the typical tight space that can be found in other places…  my favourite will have to be the fact that, there are plenty of towels for me to pick, clean, wipe and changed for the whole 3 hours without having to ask for it… I am a weirdo, I like my towel to be DRY each time I pick up a new piece.. and it got to be fluffy and big and in WHITE colour….  and it’s exactly just that at Quan…

oh, and our masseurs, Ms Candra and Ms Juniash… when we were introduced to them… my hubby and me were whispering to each other.. “oh god, they have given us two very small girls” they are small in frame and with us being big size person and having love our massage to be hard press.. we were a little worried…  but what a surprised… they must have some chinese martial art training or something…

we began with the full body scrub… which was nice and pleasant… I fell asleep obviously, after about 45 mins of having someone to rub off the dead cell on the skin.. you can truly feel being totally cleansed… we were then left alone to immersed in the bath for 30 mins… with nice warm tea placed on the side for us to enjoy… what a heaven..

we then followed on with about 60 mins of massage…  I am not bragging on this… but with me having back problem, and to cure that, a good therapist will need to understand the nodes around the back and sort of like detect the area without the guest having to say, mention or pointed out…  for the past years that I have massages in Indonesia, none and I mean NONE have I experienced one that can do that… most of the time, its rub and stroke and more of the relaxing kind of massage… to cure my back problem, it’s always been the Thai massage only …..  lets just say… with just 60 mins on that massage bed, I felt renewed and recovered…  my usual massage session involved 2 hours with 2 masseurs working together at Eucalyptus Spa and they can’t even compared to this smily Ms Candra….

as for the pricing, Rp 1.850.000++ per couple… well.. I am imagining many of you are shouting ‘gila‘ this moment… hahahah…  BUT.. for the sack of fairness… do be reminded that

1.  its QUAN Spa

2. its at JW Marriott Hotel

3. its on the 17th floor

4. its service and it’s impeccable … no reason what so ever to complain about

5. it’s way cheaper compared to other part of the world of the same standard

6. it’s for 2 – TWO.. not one…

well, do find all sort of excuses to try it out… its truly a little piece of heaven on earth…

oh! and stay tune for Prime Steakhouse, Health club, Prime Bar and Yum Cha

Popularity: 15% [?]