Medan: Crooks and Neurotic Honkers!

We arrived in Medan at 7:30pm from Bangkok. After grabbing our luggage and heading to the exit we were approached by a friendly man offering us a ride to our hotel. We told him the name of the place we were staying and he said he knew where it was and could give us a ride with his taxi service. We agreed to the ride and told him we needed to exchange money first, he told us he could take us to a money changer in downtown Medan where you could get better rates than the airport. So with ease we accepted his offer. It wasn't until we had been driving in his so called “taxi”, which was an unmarked car with his friend and wife, that we began to feel uncomfortable. He asked us multiple times how much money we were exchanging. The first time he asked we said we weren't sure we would decide at the money exchange. He said no problem and kept making friendly conversation, but then within the next twenty minutes he asked us about three more times how much money we were exchanging. He also asked us how we were planning on getting to Ketambe the next day for our trek. When I told him we already paid for a ride to ketambe he seemed a little upset because he wanted to get our business and drive us himself. The continuous asking of how much money we were changing, and wanting to know every detail of our trip left an uneasy feeling in our gut. When we arrived at the money exchange Ryan and I both had the same idea. We went to the back of the car, grabbed all of our things went into the exchange and told the man we no longer needed a ride. He kept insisting on giving us a ride, even though we told him we would get there on our own. As Ryan exchanged just enough money to pay the man for the ride, the driver stood next to him breathing down his neck trying to see how much money we had. After we paid the man for the ride, he left in a huff. We sat down feeling unsettled by the thought that the man might have robbed us if we continued our ride to the hotel. From the money exchange we caught a ride on a tiny motorbike with a side cart. In the pouring rain with a hundred pounds of luggage between the two of us, we finally made it to our hotel. After a while calming our nerves from our almost robbery and the dirty, chaotic, and dangerous city of Medan, we fell asleep to the hope that we could find peace and security at our next destination.