My Little Hometown

Located some 22 km from Medan, my hometown is a small city of only 250,000 soul and its area coveres about 9000 hectares. It is bordered by Langkat regency to the west and north, and Kabupaten Deli Serdang to the south and east. My hometown is, of course, a far cry when compared to Medan. Medan as the capital of North Sumatra that ranks third as the largest city in Indonesia, is a sophisticated, hectic city. When you live in Medan, a vehicle is a necessity, as in Jakarta. In my hometown, you walk everywhere. Not because you can’t afford a car, but merely because the city is so small that any place you visit regularly from the market-place, schools, grocery stores, supermarkets, banks, boutiques, temple, church, to dentist and doctor, is within walking-range. Perhaps you’re wondering about the malls, shopping centers, theme park, and other means of amusement. Well, in my hometown there’re none. It certainly stands no comparison with Medan. (Too many topics in this paragraph)

My hometown is a small city with little amusement and even fewer tourist attractions. No worth-visiting place that I can think of, not even a decent shopping center ––all the city has is a mini-market and two supermarkets––, and the only historical building left ––a water tower built by the Dutch, which was used as a water source for the local population–– was demolished only a few years ago and on the site of the tower several distasteful box-shaped townhouses were built. So what can I really tell you about my hometown? Perhaps that it is well known for its superior-quality rambutans. If you have heard of Binjai (chances are you don’t have a clue), well, that’s where I was born and that’s where I grew up.

There’s really nothing much I can tell about Binjai. About two years ago I moved to Medan. Sometimes I went to Binjai to visit my grandparents. I guess Binjai is just like any other small city, with several banks, several traditional markets, several schools, several hospitals, and several other common building but none of them is really anything special. Nothing interesting at all. The rambutan farms are too far from the city center, consequently I never visited them at all. A statue of independence fighters welcomes visitors from outside the city. The only thing I really enjoy there was the cuisine. At night, Bangkatan, which is a street parallel to the main street, would lighted up while every other streets in Binjai were pitch dark. Bangkatan is quite a long street, and is rather peaceful during the day, unlike the main street. However, at night, on both sides of the street, food stalls appeared, starting from 5 p.m. 8 o’clock in the evening is usually the peak-time, where citizens came here to dine either by foot or riding their vehicles.

Moving to Medan, I experienced a new lifestyle. From window-shopping after class, movies every week to night parties. But after a few months the novelty wore off. It took me almost an hour just to get to school, while for comparison, in Binjai I used to take a two-minute-walk to school. The traffic jams are just exhausting, the streets so unbearably hot and dusty you can never walk anywhere. When you read the newspaper, the crime news fills half the paper. Then I started to think perhaps, no matter how dull, my hometown still makes a great place to live. It is, no doubt, a great place to grow up.

Thanks for posting, you need to be a bit focus on 'one' topic for each paragraph.
Long ago, when I was young (1983) I spent about 1 week in Binjai and I love it. I also spent 3 weeks in Bahorok. At that time it was really nice to be there.