The first thing that I have noticed the moment I boarded the cab from the Medan Polonia International Airport to the hotel was that there were a lot of motorbikes on the roads in Medan. There were so many bikes on the road I think the bikes outnumbered the private cars! And these bikers weaved in and out in front of other vehicles with much confidence!
Oh, by the way, in Bahasa Indonesia:
- kereta = motorbike (in Malaysia, kereta = car)
- mobil = car
- taksi = taxi / cab
- Kijang = Toyota (hence, Kijang Innova = Toyota Innova)
There were also a lot of beca, bike-powered-trishaws, if I could call them that. And it appeared to me that the beca was one of the most popular mode of public transportation, aside from the bas kota (city buses that were actually vans).
The beca was good for one person, or two, or even the whole family!
The other popular mode of transportation was the bas kota. The bus driver and conductor were constantly on the look-out for potential passengers, and the driver would honk at anybody he thought could be one.
The buses (or vans as we Malaysians call them) were always overcrowded, regardless of the final destination. We took a bas kota from Medan to Kuala Simpang, which was about 3 hours away, and at one point, there were 16 passengers in the bus, no thanks to the driver and conductor!
Not only that, even the public buses were always overcrowded! And let’s not even talk about the condition of these public buses! The cushion seats were torn, most windows were sealed and to top it off, insensitive people were smoking in the bus throughout the journey!
But it was a really good experience, to do it the local way :)
You may view the rest of the pictures (and some video clips) here: Sumatera, Indonesia 2009.
what were you doing in medan??? O_o
You should try doing it the local way in Cambodia… :-) Cross the Thai-Cambodia border via Poipet…
I’m actually planning to go to Cambodia before CNY, and have read a bit about traveling via Poipet, LOL. I get the chills sometimes, but what better way to learn about the culture than to eat and move around like them?
The best way to learn about strange people and their lands is to travel like them, closely followed by visiting local markets, not the tourist oriented markets for knickknacks and memorblia.
Exactly, Nicole!
haha. now i know the vocab of bahasa indonesia.i remember in a distant time my indonesian friend and i were sort of quarrelling of transportation. i asked if he has a kereta and he said he has a mobil which made me wonder if he has a batman mobile!!!!
Yeah, we had a similar encounter too, where we suggested that our host took us in a kereta, and he was like, “Kereta tak boleh, guna mobil.” And we were like, “Kenapa tak boleh?”
When he made the gesture that a “kereta” was indeed a motorbike, we couldn’t stop laughing at how funny the incident was, LOL.
Who needs a coach when you have a motorbike, it always makes me laugh at how many people it is possible to fit on just 2 or 3 wheels, but with buses like those I think a motorbike with 10 people on is still safer than the public transport !
Yeah, there were really a lot of motorbikes on the roads. I’ve never seen a motorbike loaded with 10 people though, LOL.
If you going to Siem Reap, Cambodia…you can checkout the place in my blog post here http://www.ah-hong.com/tour-guide/travel-escape/siem-reap-travel/ :)
Thanks for the tips, Ah Hong!
I have seen videos of foreign countries before and it seems as though motor bikes are everywhere and they always drive crazy! I would be curious to know how many of them are involved in wrecks every year. The transportation is so different then here in America. Great post!
This transport does not look comfortable. The horror, all on the old bikes….
Here in the Philippines, we have something similar to the transportation that you have there in Indonesia. Besides the buses, we have what we call “tricycles”. It’s a three-wheeled vehicle but with a roof on top.