29 March - 1 April, 2008

This time our weekend get-away from Singapore (Joseph and I) went to Sumatra in Indonesia!

Sumatra, Indonesia Photos

We flew with Tiger Airways directly to Padang on the West coast of Sumatra. Padang is a 1 mil. city and we were a little unsure what to expect, since none of us had been to Indonesia before.

Out of the airport we were over-crowded with taxi drivers like vulchers and in Padang our first experience was that everyone starred at us and most yelled out hello - even when speeding past on their scooters!

We found and ATM and became instant millionaires! (1 Mil. Ripiah = AUS $120 AUS or DKr. 500). The next morning we planned our trip! We went 25 km south to Bungus beach and enjoyed a beautiful day taking in the sand, palms and the sea while watching local fishermen arriving in longboats or dragging in nets and collecting hundreds of very small fish. We went by taxi to the beach, but tried the bus back, which was 1/7 the price of the taxi. We were up to 20 people in a small van and the bus driver was always keen to fill the car to the maximum capacity and then some!
Back in Padang in the arvo we went for a walk starting at the beach, along the river, the wharf (for wooden ships going to the Mentawai Islands, 130 km offshore), on to the downtown area, bustling with a mix of traffic jam, markets and thousands of people with most of the starring at us and saying hello!
We had an early dinner at a traditional Padang-style restaurant: Upon entry you say eat and then about 10-15 dishes is brought to the table! Then you can just eat what you want! When finished, the staff looks at what you have eaten and adds up the bill. Simple!

Then our minibus left for Bukittinggi. This is a town in the mountains, about 100 km inland from Padang. Bukit means hill and tinggi means high.
We arrived late since the bus was late at picking us up and then dropped several people off, tried to find passengers to fill up the bus, before eventually heading towards Bukittinggi.
We found a nice hotel (with western toilet, hot water and breakfast included! for 125,000) with English speaking owners, who helped us with a tour the next day.

The next morning we were brutally awoken from our beauty sleep at 4 am by a very load voice! It was from the moskes around town, which meant praying time! The voice was so loud it felt as though the man was inside my room! Lying on the side with an additional pillow on the upward facing ear, it was possible to sneak in a bit more sleep... This 4 am prayer is repeated every day...

Our tour (300,000 each) was actually a tailor made tour with a driver, English speaking guide and in a new car!
Paul (used this name since his Indonesian name was hard for tourists to pronounce) was our GREAT guide and Pee Pee drove the boss' new car.
We took off and during most of the drive Paul told us many many things about the area, the people and the traditions.

We saw the amazing Harau Valley with high waterfalls, a large cave and then had a delicious Padang-style lunch at a restaurant on stilts in a lake full of fish! Then we went to a local coffee shop etc. where we tastes local coffee, ginger coffee (very good, we bought a bag each), dried banana and pineapple snacks and juice, made from nuts, which is meant to make men stronger and provide pleasure for two people... Then we continued to a village with many of the amazing Padang-style houses with roofs pointing towards the sky (see photos). Here was a very large mini-palace with alll wooden carved facade.
Off again to a water mill, which was used to crush coffee grains. There were also local women and girls washing clothes in the same stream of freshwater from the mountains.
The next stop was at a 350 year old traditional house. It was very impressive and Paul told us of the tradition and the rules (women owned the houses and the land). We went along a great lake on the way to our last stop, where we saw a timber shop and a dress and cloth sewing shop.

In general, we noticed that here there were very few tourists here, which can be good and bad...
Not many people speak english, the traffic is caotic and the infrastructure, food and accomodation standards are below what we have seen in i.e. Thailand. There is no railroad system connecting Sumatra.

The trip to Indonesia was very exciting as this was the real-kept culture and everyday life of Indonesia up front! We met some very helpfull people, who were very interested in promoting their beautiful country - also to make more tourists visit.

At the arrival in Singapore, Joseph and I both agreed, that it was suddenly strange being back in this very different country after just getting used to the culture and ways of Indonesia.

Check out the photos:

Sumatra, Indonesia Photos