Dear loves,

Today I am writing to you about my trip to Pandang Island that happened on probably March 2018 (could not remember the exact date). A short one day trip with my favourite person to one of the hidden gem of Sumatra, Pandang Island located right at Strait of Malacca, about 47 km from Tanjung Balai. Pandang Island is about 500m long and 250m wide, located near to a small isolated island named Salahnama Island or sometimes known as The Brothers Island. 

It is rare to find clear water beaches in Medan, North Sumatra, so when I knew this place existed I was so excited (clearly I had not been exploring my own hometown 😣, not a good example). We were not familiar with Pandang Island, hence we joined local tour from Instagram (group of twenty plus people). The charge of the tour included boat fee, lunch, life vest (not insurance definitely), transport from city ⇄ the dock (which took 8++ hours back and forth). All charges were below or near to Rp. 300.000,- (last year's price). The island was pretty isolated, as in only local fishermen were the only people there including us the only outsiders. What I heard from the tour guide, you could stay the night there, but you would need to bring your own drinking water (the water there is not safe to drink), your own food (no food stalls or convenient stalls at all).

The trip was short, but worth it, at least for me because I love beaches and I love seeing fishes in clear blue water.

(Taking instagrammable photo at the dock) 

The water in the picture above is still dirty and oily. We had to use small boat to get to bigger boat located at much higher water that would bring us to the island. 

(Smiling from the small boat)

Mind you the weather was really sunny and hot, much sunscreen is needed!  It took about 15 minutes for the small boat journey, luckily I brought a hat. If you get dizzy easily from heat, please help yourself and bring a hat or mini fan. 

(I saw no one was in the boat cockpit, I quickly stole the spot for some photos, pretended to enjoy the empty cup)

The journey on the bigger boat was okay, I got to enjoy what I had never enjoyed before, the sea. Pandang Island is located in Melaka Strait, we thought the waves would be big and strong, but the sea waves was actually calm. I got the chance to spot some small flying fishes and it was remarkable (mind you it was my first time in the middle of the sea 🙋, so I could be a bit too much). We did not use life vest during the big boat journey, but please feel free to protect your life and request for life vest. 

In the middle of the journey, one of the passenger dropped her big backpack into the sea. She cried for help and demanded the boat captain to make a U-turn for the backpack. It was a scene (all her belongings including smart phone and wallet were inside). Fortunately, the big backpack was actually floating and the people could take it back. 

We reached to the island, but we had to use smaller boat to transport us there because of the low tide. 

(Quick photo before reaching the island. You could see the coral reef)

I was so excited to do the quick snorkelling, but during that time we did not get much time to do so as our time was much spent on exploring the island. 

 (Journey to the lighthouse) 

Dear my loves,

How are you today?  I hope you are doing well.

Today I want to write about my trip to Tangkahan Ecotourism, one of hidden gems in Medan, North Sumatra, located right at Gunung Leuser National Park, in Langkat District of North Sumatra.

Let me tell you for Medanese some of them don't even know this place and it is so sad because this place is beautiful! If you get a chance to enjoy our beautiful Medan city, please fit Tangkahan in your itinerary. We were informed by the local tour guide that Tangkahan was once a logging trade, but the villagers were aware of the damaging activities, hence they stopped the illegal logging and transformed Tangkahan into ecotourism.

How I went there, the road to Tangkahan was told to be pretty bad and rocky so we were quite worried about our car. We decided to rent a car and a driver who had experienced driving to Tangkahan. If you want to rent a driver and a car please do not hesitate to reach me out and I would be happy to share the friendly uncle's phone number.

Our road to Tangkahan was not smooth, but was not as bad as we thought it would. Please bear in mind we had a road trip to local mountain before and our car got stuck inside a hole, it was pretty traumatic and some local kids helped us, bless the Lord. Phew.

Along the way we saw group of cows and it was really eye-refreshing! We went at 6.30 am and reached approximately at 10.30 am. We stayed the night at a nice inn and if you want to know the place do not hesitate to contact me as well. The receptionist were really friendly and welcoming. After placing our belongings inside the room, we went down for small kayaking and explored the river.

The whole price per person was slightly expensive, Rp. 700.000 below, in which you could get it cheaper if you do not use tour guide for the elephant show and if you do not ride the elephant. I personally think giving tips to the tour guide for the elephant show is one of the way to preserve this place, because it is their source of income. I do not however recommend riding the elephants, you could do your own research on the internet about this.