Medan is a large city on the Island of Sumatra in Indonesia. We docked at a port called Belawan, where we were greeted at 7 am by a costumed dancers and a band. They are trying to build up tourism. Instead of taking the ship's arranged tour, we were invited to join the Wilske's and the Lane's in a small van with a private driver which worked really great. We have become convinced that with only 4 - 8 hours in any location, guides are needed if you want to get a quick overview of the area. Medan is a working class city with lots of motorbikes and hectic traffic. Again, pedestrians are at their own risk walking along or crossing streets. Our guide was very helpful. As you can see, it is amazing what they will put on the bikes.
Medan is mostly Muslem and we visited an old Mosque. The women had to rent scarves to wear on their heads and the men had to have long pants. No shoes inside. On this day there were two weddings that followed each other with both the groom and the bride wearing white. Religious tolerance is preached though the Saudis are investing in religious movement to train the young Muslem boys to be more conservative, though not radical.
We encountered these school children outside the old Sultan's Palace which is now a museum. The children were very happy to see us, wanted their pictures taken with us, and sang songs to us in English. Really cute. The Sultan still exists but now has now power and lives like a commoner. We were told that the economy is really booming with a growing middle class but political power, particularly of the army, and corruption still maintains law and order, and hinders the growth of the courntry. It is a vast geographic area, with multiple ethnicities, tribalism, and varied religions. Hard to know how it will hold together over time.
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