Medan is the biggest city on Sumatra, a hot, humid, entirely unpretentious place that has been a boom town since the late nineteenth century, when the surrounding highlands and plains were turned into plantations for tobacco, rubber and, later, palm oil. The money of those years is visible in the buildings. The Maimun Palace, built in 1888 for the Sultan of Deli, is a yellow-and-gold mixture of Malay, Mughal and Italian styles, and the nearby Great Mosque, with its black domes, is one of the most elaborate in the country. The mansion of Tjong A Fie, a Chinese merchant who became the richest man in the region, is a fascinating glimpse into the city's multi-ethnic past.
Medan is also a city of food. Batak, Malay, Chinese and Indian influences meet at its stalls, and the city is known for durian, for noodle dishes and for bika ambon, a spongy honeycombed cake. Traffic is intense, with a mix of cars, becaks, which are motorised rickshaws, and an endless sea of scooters, so it is best to leave early and keep your attention on every side.
For a rider, Medan is the gateway to Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world, formed by an eruption about seventy-odd thousand years ago that was one of the greatest in Earth's history. The road to it runs up through palm plantations and then climbs through the cool highlands past Berastagi, with its volcanoes Sibayak and Sinabung, to the lake shore at Parapat, a journey of several hours that is slow because of trucks and traffic. From Parapat, a ferry crosses to Samosir, an island in the lake with Batak villages, traditional houses with sweeping roofs and stone tombs. The air up there is fresh and cool.
Fuel is plentiful in Medan and along the main roads. Roads can be potholed and slick after the afternoon rain, so allow plenty of time and avoid riding after dark. The driest months run from June to September.