RUSSIA 2019 (ST. PETERSBURG & MOSCOW) - PREPARATION

St. Petersburg and Moscow are the 2 cities on my bucket list. So on 24 June 2019, we registered ourselves with a travel agency for the trip (9 days/7 nights). I chose this travel agency because it's the only one I found focussing on St. Petersburg and Moscow (maybe I'm wrong). This is my first long-distance travel using a travel agency.  Previously all of my trips were DIY style as it suits us. And on 2 July 2019 paid the deposit. Full payment was made on 3 October 2019. The trip is scheduled from 27 November - 5 December 2019.

MEDAN 2019

KLIA - Kuala Namu

We went to Medan in September using my Enrich points which were due to expire. For this trip, I used 23,300 points and paid RM238. Departed KLIA on time@0830 and landed at Kuala Namu@0823. This was our third visit to Medan. It was a full flight and the journey was smooth.  So too was the landing. Passport control clearing was quick but took a while to collect our luggage.

This time around we did not engage in any ground arrangement. It's a DIY free and easy trip. Since we arrived early we decided to take the Railink Train to Medan City Railway Station. Bought tickets at the kiosk (IDR 100,000 per pax) and it took us 30 minutes to reach the city due to some delay. Then we took a taxi (IDR40k instead of IDR14k by grab😞) to our hotel - Garuda Plaza Hotel. We were unable to check-in as our room was not ready due to our early arrival. Instead of waiting at the hotel we went for lunch at a Nasi Padang restaurant opposite the hotel - Rumah Makan Famili. 

Garuda Plaza Hotel

Our room was spacious, comfortable bed, good and stable wifi speed. It has a split AC, fridge, tea-coffee making facility. Sadly it had no hot water.

After settling down and freshened up, we took the Grab to Pajak Ikan. Grab is widely used in Medan and recommended by a blogger I followed (cost of using grab in Medan City between IDR14k-20k).  The wife did some shopping and took Grab back.

We started our second day in Medan with a visit to Maimun Palace by Grab. The entrance fee is IDR10k per pax.

Then went to Pasar Petinsah by Grab, a place recommended by one of the Grab drivers yesterday. To our dismay, the market was not what we expected. Many shops were closed and the state of the complex was deplorable. Escalators were damaged and out of service. I would advise would-be visitors to exclude this premise when visiting Medan.

We had our lunch at Rumah Makan Nasi Kapau Hj Uni Emi near Pasar Petinsah. I read the review online which was very positive but we feel the Nasi Padang Famili was tastier. 

After lunch, we took the Grab back to our hotel.  Back again to Pajak Ikan for last-minute shopping. Later that evening we bought some Amanda Brownies at the outlet in front of our hotel.

Kuala Namu - KLIA

We flew back after a 3d/2n stay in Medan.