Bukittinggi - Indonesia
5/1/05
Padang is another big city, so we were planning to spend only the morning there before heading to Bukittinggi. In Padang, the Pasar (market) was the main attraction.
People were very friendly and we had free samples of many many different food and exotic fruits. In some cases we even didn’t know what we were trying but everything turned out to be good.
The butchery was also quite interesting, a big area with dozens of tiled counters and all kinds of meat.
Next to it, and not too different, there was the fish place. Some were just laying on the counters and others still alive in baskets.
Another interesting thing was the variety of chilies and chili sauces in the market. We even tried some chili peppers. Really strong!!
Five minutes from the market there is nice house built in the traditional Minangkabau style, with the roof in shape of buffalo horns.
Strangely, all the cars and buses in the city have a sportive appeal, there is not a single vehicle that is not modified somehow and it is too bad that photos do not have sound; otherwise you would start dancing with this picture of a public bus from Padang. It not just looks like a nightclub but is busts techno music that can be heard from a few blocks away.
At noon we checked out from the hotel and went to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Bukittinggi. There we had to talk to 3 or 4 different car drivers to get a decent price. Angie alone is already a good negotiator but with both Angie and Christian together the Indonesians had absolutely no chance, I think we got even cheaper prices than the locals would pay :)
We had a deal with a driver to take us for 10,000 Rps each, but he changed his mind once he saw our luggage, he wanted extra money for it. Well, we all left the car and went on to look for another one.
After some negotiation, we finally found a car to take us to Bukititnggi, but the driver was absolutely crazy. The trip lasted 2 hours and it was a miracle that we got there in one piece. He was not just trying to go faster then everybody else but was driving, trying to change his music tapes and answering his cell phone, all at the same time.
We arrived in Bukittinggi at the clock tower, the center of the city, found a hotel nearby and scheduled a two-day hike in the Sianok Canyon for the next morning.
After that we wandered around the city and visited some of its attraction points. When Indonesia still was a Dutch colony, Bukittinggi was a military place because of its location in the area. There are some canons left at the top of the hill of the city where the fort was located. From there you can see the surroundings and pretty far away when not misty!
Around the fort there is a little zoo, where we spent the afternoon, with very nice colored birds and the different kind of monkeys that are populating the Indonesian forest.
The people from Bukittinggi are proud of the clock tower that has a roof made in the Minangkabau style and is the most important building of the city. Located in the main square where there is a daily market where the farmers and producers from the region come to sell their products.
The dinner was a traditional beef satay and longtong with a delicious peanut sauce in a warung by the street.
5/2/05
The starting point of the hike was only a fifteen-minute drive from the town, so we didn't have to wake up too early. The car drove down into the canyon which is around 100 meters deep.
From there we started the walk and got into a thick dense lush tropical rain forest trail. This frog was almost invisible in the middle of the green vegetation.
The walk goes by the river which we had to cross many times because the trail keeps switching from one side of the river to the other.
The path was infested with leeches and as it is inevitable I got one on my leg. But we were prepared with matches and burning is the best way to get them off your skin.
At a certain point we stopped following the river and went through a stream. Here is Christian crossing a 'bridge' .
We came out of the jungle and arrived in a farming village with many rice fields where we stopped for some snacks.
The place also grows coffee that is harvested all year long. Robusta was the only type cultivated in Java but now there is also Arabica being produced.
We also saw how they extract cinnamon. All the bark is removed and dried in the sun.
The wood itself is used to make fire for barbecues and it releases a strong cinnamon smell. Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to try, but cinnamon wood must really give a special taste. :)
From this point the trail started going up and we saw many fruits on the way. We even picked some star fruits to eat. Avocado was also quite common.
Going up we crossed more rice terraces.
At the top, there is a road where our guide hired three motorcycles to take us to the beginning of the next trail. From the top of the hill, we had a magnificent view of the huge Maninjau lake. We started walking again and the trail went down through a jungle with even more leeches then the beginning of the hike.
Here are the feet of our guide at the end of the walk.
It was quite steep and with the moss the rocks were very slippery, within a few minutes from the starting point Christian fell and hurt his wrist. We stopped for a few minutes and improvised a cast, he was in great pain but managed well and kept walking down (we came to know later that he had broken his wrist).
After one more hour of walk we arrived at the lodge where we spent the night in a little hut in the middle of a tropical jungle on the hill close to the lake.
We had dinner and spent the rest of the night playing some puzzles that they had as entertainment of the guests.
5/3/05
In the morning, from the huts in the jungle we had an awesome view of the Maninjau lake. We woke up quite early but had breakfast only at 9 A.M. After breakfast we went down the rest of the trail all the way to the lake. It was a very short walk and in less than an hour we were swimming.
According to the guide, that should be the program of the day. But it was not what we had understood when we bought the tour. We wanted to see the Rafflesia, the world's biggest flower, a parasitic plant that grows only in Sumatra and few other countries of the Southeast Asia.
We chilled out by the lake and after lunch and some negotiation with our guide we had a deal to see the Rafflesia for a little extra payment.
From the lake we went back to Bukittinggi by public bus, which took us an hour and a half. There, our guide chartered a car to take us to see the flower. The color of the car was red Ferrari and the driver believed to be Michael Schumacher. Some people are afraid of tsunamis but the greatest danger of Indonesia is, in fact, its drivers. They don't drive, they race against each other.
The race lasted 35 minutes and we got to the starting point of the trail to the Rafflesia. Another 45 minutes walk into the lush jungle and we finally could see it. The flower is really huge and it blooms only once a year nourishing from the roots of the surrounding trees.
For the next day the plan was to head to lake Toba.
Padang is another big city, so we were planning to spend only the morning there before heading to Bukittinggi. In Padang, the Pasar (market) was the main attraction.
People were very friendly and we had free samples of many many different food and exotic fruits. In some cases we even didn’t know what we were trying but everything turned out to be good.
The butchery was also quite interesting, a big area with dozens of tiled counters and all kinds of meat.
Next to it, and not too different, there was the fish place. Some were just laying on the counters and others still alive in baskets.
Another interesting thing was the variety of chilies and chili sauces in the market. We even tried some chili peppers. Really strong!!
Five minutes from the market there is nice house built in the traditional Minangkabau style, with the roof in shape of buffalo horns.
Strangely, all the cars and buses in the city have a sportive appeal, there is not a single vehicle that is not modified somehow and it is too bad that photos do not have sound; otherwise you would start dancing with this picture of a public bus from Padang. It not just looks like a nightclub but is busts techno music that can be heard from a few blocks away.
At noon we checked out from the hotel and went to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Bukittinggi. There we had to talk to 3 or 4 different car drivers to get a decent price. Angie alone is already a good negotiator but with both Angie and Christian together the Indonesians had absolutely no chance, I think we got even cheaper prices than the locals would pay :)
We had a deal with a driver to take us for 10,000 Rps each, but he changed his mind once he saw our luggage, he wanted extra money for it. Well, we all left the car and went on to look for another one.
After some negotiation, we finally found a car to take us to Bukititnggi, but the driver was absolutely crazy. The trip lasted 2 hours and it was a miracle that we got there in one piece. He was not just trying to go faster then everybody else but was driving, trying to change his music tapes and answering his cell phone, all at the same time.
We arrived in Bukittinggi at the clock tower, the center of the city, found a hotel nearby and scheduled a two-day hike in the Sianok Canyon for the next morning.
After that we wandered around the city and visited some of its attraction points. When Indonesia still was a Dutch colony, Bukittinggi was a military place because of its location in the area. There are some canons left at the top of the hill of the city where the fort was located. From there you can see the surroundings and pretty far away when not misty!
Around the fort there is a little zoo, where we spent the afternoon, with very nice colored birds and the different kind of monkeys that are populating the Indonesian forest.
The people from Bukittinggi are proud of the clock tower that has a roof made in the Minangkabau style and is the most important building of the city. Located in the main square where there is a daily market where the farmers and producers from the region come to sell their products.
The dinner was a traditional beef satay and longtong with a delicious peanut sauce in a warung by the street.
5/2/05
The starting point of the hike was only a fifteen-minute drive from the town, so we didn't have to wake up too early. The car drove down into the canyon which is around 100 meters deep.
From there we started the walk and got into a thick dense lush tropical rain forest trail. This frog was almost invisible in the middle of the green vegetation.
The walk goes by the river which we had to cross many times because the trail keeps switching from one side of the river to the other.
The path was infested with leeches and as it is inevitable I got one on my leg. But we were prepared with matches and burning is the best way to get them off your skin.
At a certain point we stopped following the river and went through a stream. Here is Christian crossing a 'bridge' .
We came out of the jungle and arrived in a farming village with many rice fields where we stopped for some snacks.
The place also grows coffee that is harvested all year long. Robusta was the only type cultivated in Java but now there is also Arabica being produced.
We also saw how they extract cinnamon. All the bark is removed and dried in the sun.
The wood itself is used to make fire for barbecues and it releases a strong cinnamon smell. Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to try, but cinnamon wood must really give a special taste. :)
From this point the trail started going up and we saw many fruits on the way. We even picked some star fruits to eat. Avocado was also quite common.
Going up we crossed more rice terraces.
At the top, there is a road where our guide hired three motorcycles to take us to the beginning of the next trail. From the top of the hill, we had a magnificent view of the huge Maninjau lake. We started walking again and the trail went down through a jungle with even more leeches then the beginning of the hike.
Here are the feet of our guide at the end of the walk.
It was quite steep and with the moss the rocks were very slippery, within a few minutes from the starting point Christian fell and hurt his wrist. We stopped for a few minutes and improvised a cast, he was in great pain but managed well and kept walking down (we came to know later that he had broken his wrist).
After one more hour of walk we arrived at the lodge where we spent the night in a little hut in the middle of a tropical jungle on the hill close to the lake.
We had dinner and spent the rest of the night playing some puzzles that they had as entertainment of the guests.
5/3/05
In the morning, from the huts in the jungle we had an awesome view of the Maninjau lake. We woke up quite early but had breakfast only at 9 A.M. After breakfast we went down the rest of the trail all the way to the lake. It was a very short walk and in less than an hour we were swimming.
According to the guide, that should be the program of the day. But it was not what we had understood when we bought the tour. We wanted to see the Rafflesia, the world's biggest flower, a parasitic plant that grows only in Sumatra and few other countries of the Southeast Asia.
We chilled out by the lake and after lunch and some negotiation with our guide we had a deal to see the Rafflesia for a little extra payment.
From the lake we went back to Bukittinggi by public bus, which took us an hour and a half. There, our guide chartered a car to take us to see the flower. The color of the car was red Ferrari and the driver believed to be Michael Schumacher. Some people are afraid of tsunamis but the greatest danger of Indonesia is, in fact, its drivers. They don't drive, they race against each other.
The race lasted 35 minutes and we got to the starting point of the trail to the Rafflesia. Another 45 minutes walk into the lush jungle and we finally could see it. The flower is really huge and it blooms only once a year nourishing from the roots of the surrounding trees.
For the next day the plan was to head to lake Toba.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 5:43 AM
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