Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Days Four Thru Six - Introduction To Pulandia In Medan

We have arrived in Medan, Indonesia. Third largest city in Indonesia. Largest city on the island of Sumatra. Historically important because of its strategic location along the Strait of Melaka. But for the purposes of this blog WAY MORE IMPORTANT is the fact that it is the current location of the fabled, almost supernatural Queendom of Pulandia. Long time visitors will know that Wife and de-I have an almost masochistic attachment to visits to this land of excitement and gastronomy and have Platinum Status with it's captive travel planning company, Pooh Lee Shah Travels. To further make this trip a bit different, Dowager Queen Pooh has morphed her Earthly persona and is now the Counsel General for the United States in Medan! 

In all seriousness, it is a bit different to watch #2 work when she is in fact the head of the operation, even though this is a tiny outpost of the U.S. government. And with all the craziness going on in the world and the fact we are in a predominantly Islamic country, I would say the #2's are not really excited for us to just be wandering around on our own. This is okay because we have been pretty beat up from our long trip. Further we didn't do a lot of advance research on Medan and what we did indicated there wasn't a ton to see or do in the city. It's not the easiest place to walk around. We came with a mindset that we really wanted to hang with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. 

AND (unspoken) knowing we would get the full-on gastronomic experience that comes with each visit to Pulandia. Of course, it is not like de-I has to be led kicking and screaming. (That would be Wife pleading to not have her digestive track overrun again). Upon our arrival, the initial itinerary was something like, 

• On Sunday we will be having this meal at this place
• On Monday that will be followed by lunch here and dinner here
• On Tuesday it will lunch at...

 You get the picture. Actually we are lining up other things along the way and by the end of the week we will be getting out and about. 

 We haven't had an opportunity to take pictures in the real sense of the term so I just started to take shots with my phone as we drove around. So consider these just a bit of 'stream of consciousness'

Things are actually pretty slow here because it is Ramadan. A lot of people go back to their homes for the holiday. Public schools are closed. And many retail (especially food) businesses are closed until after sundown. 

 

 The Counsel General's vehicle has a flag so you are sure to know there is someone official inside.

 

 

 Market that would be busy if it were not Ramadan

 

 

 This sign says Goodbye / Thank you

 

 

Captain Wife and 2.1 chilling

 

 Let the Gastronomy Begin

On Saturday night we were to go to high end Indonesian place but our reservation was messed up so we changed plans and went to a smaller place, well known to 2B and #2 that served a more eclectic Western focused menu

Bone marrow

 

 Scallops in a cream sauce

 

 A sort of Japanese Katsu Chicken Cutlet with Curry Sauce

 

 We ordered a dessert that was 'Pancakes with a Caramel Sauce and Ice Cream'. We all thought it would be like crepes. But no. It was actual pancakes. We kind of looked at it askance until we tasted it, then scarfed down almost all of it.

 

 Sunday afternoon we went to dim sum place for brunch. So many wonderful things and I only took pictures of a few.

Waiting for Dim Sum to start showing up.

 

Disembodied hand serving up fried rice noodles

 

 Eggs with shrimp...many Yums

 

 Shrimp in a thin rice paper wrapper steamed...Many Yums

 

 Philippine Style Lumpia...Also Many Yums

 

 One thing not shown here was a chunk of pork leg done Philippine Lechon style...also Many Yums. I don't even remember everything else we ate. 

A note on the food scene in Medan. 

Medan has a diverse population. It has the local Indonesian population. There is also a large community that has Chinese roots going back centuries. There are influences from Europe. An Indian Hindu population, etc. All this makes for a very varied food scene. Things here are also very inexpensive. 

We had one splurge meal at a place that is normally only an event center but is open for lunch. It is right across the street from #2's office

Her being helped across a crazy street by her driver.

 A Chicken based soup to which you added bean sprouts and cilantro - Yum

 

 Appetizer plate with fried chicken, some kind of sort of dumpling that had been fried, a vegetable something, some crispy chip like somethings, and a scallops in sauce with macadamia nuts. Generally good. Two Yums.

This was a whole fish cooked in butter and garlic. Two Yums

A fried tofu with some kind of sauce - INSANE amount of Yums!

 

 

Fried Rice. Often times fried rice is just 'okay'. This was very good. Two Yums.

 

 

 

Nice looking fruit display for dessert

2B wanted us to try a tofu pudding with a sauce made from local service. Not so much to my liking.

Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Tour de Airport World from Days Two Thru Four

On our way at San Francisco International Airport

 

 It is a grey day taxiing out to take off

 

 Sayonara West Coast USA

 

The seats on the ANA 777 are massive, the most room on any business class I've flown on

 It is very rare for me to have a great window view from my airplane window. But this seat configuration had me facing backwards looking toward the wing and engine. It was a very clear day once we got over the clouds and the view was quite nice 

I chose the Japanese menu, this being a Japanese carrier

This was just the first course

 

After arriving Kuala Lumpur and staying overnight, it was on to Medan though of course in what seems to be the way things are, the name of the airport (Kuala Namu) is what shows up so you have no idea as a clueless Westerner whether you're going to the right place or not 

 

We were flying Malaysia Airlines, which is on a different alliance than the one I have status. So we were just regular peasants in Economy Class. Wife saw that we were not boarding until Group 5. She told me I should be sure no one was taking pictures of me as the shame of de-I flying without status could not be made public

We were picked up by the Dowager Empress of Pulandia herself, Pu Lee Shah (aka Daughter #2)

We were quite wiped out but had a nice meal with the family.

 

From left to right clockwise - Venerable Pu, Consort 2B (looking like he is ready for de-I to leave already), 2.1, 2.4, and Wife

They had local Indonesian food brought in. The food here is REALLY spicy. Is difficult even for we who are used to NM chile to take

 

The soup is called Soup Medan and is a local specialty with each place or person making it, doing it slightly different. The vegetable (Morning Glory) on the left of the plate and meat (Beef Rendang) on the right were super spicy. Being so tired, I really didn't have much appetite

I forced myself to stay up until around 10pm and then crashed 

Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Days Two & Three...And We Are Where?

I really do love SE Asia. 

I really do not like the long-ass schlepp that is required to get to SE Asia.

So, I believe it is Friday the 27th here in Kuala Lumpur where we ARE NOT YET WHERE WE WANT TO GO. According to my computer's clock, it is still Thursday the 26th in Albuquerque. 

So far we started on Tuesday, taking our positioning flight to San Francisco so we could get our great deal on our business class flights to Kuala Lumpur (via Tokyo). Then on Wednesday we started the 21-hour journey (11-hour flight from San Francisco to Tokyo, 2-hour layover, 8-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur). This got us into KL at around midnight on Thursday the 26th. We checked into the hotel at around 1:30am on the 27th. 

Today, we have a very short flight in the afternoon that will take us to Pulandia (you will all remember the fabled transient, mythical Queendom of Pulandia) that currently resides in the Sumatra, Indonesia city of Medan, most recently known for horrific floods that took place their a number of months ago.

Despite it's length, the journey has been quite smooth. Our long flight was on All Nippon Airways (ANA), which is considered one of the best airlines in the world. I know that it seems to be a bit insensitive to those who don't travel like we do, but if you are flying business class a lot, and you are spending a lot of money on said business class, you develop a critical palate for the product you are getting both in terms of the hard product (the seat and other aspects of the plane and ground facilities) and the soft product (the service provided by the employees of the airline). 

ANA's hard product, as far as the seat on our Boeing 777, is truly superior. I will upload a very bad video when I finally get to Medan but it was one of the most spacious, comfortable seats I've flown and truly capable of providing a quality sleep/rest environment. Our second flight was on an older 787 with quite old, not fully lay flat seats, which was disappointing as we were really in body clock sleep cycle on that flight. Nonetheless, I conked out during the majority of that flight. 

ANA service is very good, though sometimes language is a challenge. They give you A LOT to eat and by airline standards, it is reasonably good. It is rare on any airline to get a really good meal even paying business class prices (part of the problem being how flight conditions affect your taste and smell). 

Arriving at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) was fairly smooth. We've been in and out of here enough times now to know our way around. They've done somethings to improve the passport control process making it go much quicker.  

We did our overnight at the Sama Sama hotel which is attached directly to the airport with a convenient buggy service. We have stayed there many times. The rooms are very nice, comfortable beds and very quiet. The service went through a dip the last time we were there in 2024. However, this time we were handled very nicely and given an upgrade to their premium level which meant a free breakfast buffet. 

Check out time was Noon which allowed Wife to sleep really late before we headed to airport. We are flying plebeian class on this short flight to Medan. Yet when I asked a young man if we could check in as early as we were at the airport, he sent us to the priority line where there was no wait. I'm not sure why that was the case, but we accepted it graciously. I had to show proof that I had a ticket out of Indonesia to check in. I guess the Indonesian government doesn't want any vagrant old people staying beyond their welcome.

We are using a PriorityPass club access since we get it with one of our credit cards. Airport clubs in general these days are not anything like they used to be. The airlines and credit card companies have marketed the heck out of them so they tend to be very crowded, sort of the antithesis of the kind of escape you seek out by have lounge access. 

Ah the trials and tribulations of the entitled. 

We are really looking forward to getting this last flight behind us and actually starting our stay in SE Asia. 

Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Day One - Travel Kindness

There is no easy way to get from Albuquerque, USA to Southeast Asia. It's just a long way. You have options but they are all trade-offs on a theme of it is a long way and it takes a long time. You add that our first real stop is a place (Medan, Indonesia) that is not easy to get to (much like Albuquerque), then you add more time and effort required. And as I've related in the past, if you're balancing saving money, but still having comfort, it's going to add to the amount of time required to make the journey. 

In our case, we are flew to San Francisco today on one ticket (where we will spend the night), and are doing a self-transfer to another flight that takes us to Kuala Lumpur (via Tokyo). We will overnight again in KL before taking another self-transfer for the short flight to Medan. 

Our flight to SF was mercifully smooth. It was an early afternoon flight so no getting up too early. And we got upgraded to First which rarely happens these days. Upon arriving and collecting our bags, I called the hotel to find out when the shuttle came round. I'd called earlier in the day and had been told it does its round every 40 minutes. This time they told me that the shuttle wouldn't start again until 5:15pm (It was 3:30). What! We're supposed to cool our jets for almost two hours? The person on the phone told me to take a shuttle for the larger hotel across the street.

This seemed a bit wonky to me, but we did it because I wasn't going to waste that amount of time sitting around. Sure enough, the shuttle for the other hotel shows up quickly. It is filled with mostly airline crews. The driver is a young woman and she is doing a yeoman's job getting all the luggage in the back of the bus. 

I was feeling appreciative watching her really doing the work when we got off and was going to tip her anyway. But I noticed that none of the airline crew members tipped. So I gave her more of a tip than I might normally because she was really working hard. We were the last to get our bags off the shuttle. I thanked her and I mentioned we were actually going to the hotel across the street. Wouldn't you know it, she offers to take our bags across the busy road way for us. 

I know I tipped her but I didn't give her that much money. There was no crosswalk between the hotels. We would have had to walk a ways to get to the crossing light. So this really saved us a lot of effort. What a lovely bit of kindness. 

We decided we didn't trust the shuttle of our own hotel to get us to the airport tomorrow, so we've reserved and Uber to give us some peace-of-mind. Tomorrow is the long, long trip. 

Greetings Eldership Group - Welcome To The 2026 Version Of The Asian Mega Tour

Hang on for once again Captain Wife and her intrepid Crew (of 1...moi) will take the Eldership out again for yet another installment of the Asian Mega Tours. Long time reader will recall the first Asian Mega Tour started 10 years ago almost to the day! In the decade that followed we had a second Asian Mega Tour, tours to the Near East Asia, the Caucasus, and of course our spectacular Around the World in 72 Days Tour featuring East Asia and Southeast Asia among other destinations.

Our very first Asian Mega Tour boasted (or wailed about, I'm not sure which) going to:

Six Countries

Eleven Cities

Twenty Air Flights

To show you our maturity and acknowledgement of our age this trip will only consist of"

• Five Countries
• Six Cities
• Nine Air Flights
• Two long ground transports

See! Look at that restraint.

Of course that is somewhat offset by the fact that we are adding an entirely new continent this time. Here is a quick preview of our upcoming itinerary. 

First stop - Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia - Current abode of the mythical Queendom of Pulandia.

Next stop - Phuket, Thailand

Then, a hop over to...Western Australia!

Coming back to SE Asia we will be in - Johor Bahru, Malaysia

During all this we pass in and out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia not less than four times

Tomorrow we depart for San Francisco. We stay overnight and then self-transfer to a flight taking us to Kuala Lumpur where we overnight again. We finally catch a short flight that gets us to Medan. There is simply no quick way to get from Albuquerque to Medan.  

So prepare yourselves for almost 7 weeks of de-I travel posting.  

An Interesting Morning With AI

I am a lightweight when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. I've been able to use it effectively (somewhat) for Theodora work related things. I've been able to improve the depth of my internet searches quite a bit. And I've had some success and failures with various personal projects. Saturday morning I was dealing with a bit of frustration which led to my trying using it. 

(Note: I use ChatGPT mostly as we have the paid version at Theodora. I use it for all my fairly significant work as I have set up a system so it remembers what we've done in the past and can bring that to what I'm working on now even if I don't remember that it remembers. I use Gemini when I'm doing any kind of internet search or have quick questions I want to research as it is built into Google's search engine and is very convenient.)

The morning started out with frustration over my bout with gout (ha, ha like that rhyme!). My doctor and I had be chatting via her online portal and I wasn't getting any significant information. When I had been at the Urgent Care for the initial attack, there wasn't much information either. Wife's brother has gout and she got from him a couple of medications he was using. I was very suspicious of the medication approach as gout is an inflammatory condition and anti-inflammatory drugs tend to all be hard on the kidney, which is not a good thing when you only have one. 

I was sitting at my desk with my computer open and I decided to put into Chat  the sequence of events along with my current questions as to what the heck I was it that I was dealing with. Well to my amazement, I got back a rather lengthy and detailed discussion about gout, what causes it, an overview of potential treatments, and an explanation of how the events that led to my 'flare-up' (that is the 'official' gout term when it hurts like hell). 

That was just the start. I began asking questions about the drugs, explaining my one kidney situation. Now the discussion began to turn to lifestyle changes related to diet and hydration. It asked me a number of questions about lifestyle such as diet, alcohol consumption, water consumption, etc. It asked me if I would be truthful because if I did not give it accurate information, it wasn't going to able provide me with plan proposals that would get the desired results (no more flare-ups). 

It turns out one of the real keys is hydration. This resonated with me as I know I don't drink a lot of water since it goes right through me and I am peeing all the time. We has a long conversation about my traveling (it brought up my recent trip to Ghana since that information was in its history) and how I might manage my hydration in a way where I didn't need a catheter on the plane (that was a joke but Chat said people brought that up all the time in this type of discussion  - which is kind of weird when you realize I'm talking to an AI).

Chat now offered some specific suggestions for changing my lifestyle patterns with a specific focus on doing things that would protect my kidney. Now it got even more interesting because with these recommendations continued the questions as to whether I would really actually do this. I thought the first round was too drastic. We went back and forth a couple of times until we had a plan that I would commit to. I have been putting it into action so we will see. 

But I didn't stop there. As I was sitting there and working with it, I decided to ask it to research some reading material for me. This led to a search for various types of history books related to Persia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. Which then morphed into some very preliminary travel planning for going to Uzbekistan (very high on my list of places to get to). 

All in all, I spent about 2 and half hours. It was a very interesting engagement. And at a minimum, I feel I am way more understanding of my gout and how to try and control it.  

Captain On The Bridge - Eldership Refits For Epic SE Asia/Australia Mission

The decorated warrior, the commander who worked through blood clots and brutal betrayal attacks from her own crew has returned. Elderfleet Command has spoken. The Eldership will once again be commanded by Captain Wife. There had been rumors that the fabled Eldership One might be mothballed, that the days of adventure (and insanity) would be over. But then came the orders.

• Refurbish the ship
• Prepare for another long cruise
• Formulate a plan to tackle a completely new continent and country

 The Captain accompanied by Elderfleet Command's base staff prepare to leave the lift and enter the bridge. 

"Captain on the Bridge"

 The Captain notices a rather sparsity of crew...as in practically no one. A single Elderfleet officer stands and salutes.

Captain Wife is stunned.

"Who allowed this 'PetaQ' on board my ship."

"Nice to see you again too Captain Wife," de-I responds

"You were sentenced to the Albuquerque penal colony for your self-confessed assault on me in Gothenburg!" 

"Um, Captain,"  the base officer interjected, "There was a slight problem with staffing this mission."

"What problem."

"Most of those old enough to qualify for the mission have either retired or have died. It is one of the problems we're facing at Elderfleet Command. We couldn't let you go on a mission without ANY crew. de-I was the only available option."

"I swear de-I, you throw one more suitcase at me, and I'll have you eating Gagh for the rest of your life."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Wife, turning to the base officer, "And I suppose the Eldership rules still apply that we have to reverse roles on a regular basis?"

"Sorry Captain."

"Fine. Come along de-I. I may have to put up with you, but at least now I have someone to delegate the rather perilous mission of accompanying the Consort of Pu Lee Shah on some crazy quest to conquer Western Australian wine and cuisine.