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Published: January 29th 2007
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The ferry ride from Melaka to Sumatra was pretty uneventful which was just fine. When we got off the ferry we went through the most laidback customs and immigration I've encountered so far. The inspector came to find us as we got off the boat and was all smiles and jokes. There were pictures of two wanted terrorists on a pinboard behind his desk so I think as long as we didn't look like them he was happy enough to let us and anyone else into the country. He told us how much we should pay for a taxi and a few bits of helpful info.
We found an English couple and a Japanese guy who were also headed to Bukittinggi on the far side of the island. We hired a minibus and prepared for what we were told would be an interesting 7 hour bus journey. It turned out to be a 13 hour bus journey and certainly was interesting. The back left tyre on the minibus blew out after about 30 minutes on the road. The driver fixed it and we were on our way again, thinking we'd stop to get it fixed along the way. Of course
not! A couple of hours of hair-raising overtaking manouevres later, just as it was getting dark, we had another blow out on the same wheel. This time it took 3 and a half hours to get just one of the tyres repaired. We carried on again without a spare wheel hoping for the best! The next leg of the journey was through some mountains and we encountered 3 or 4 spots where the road had been recently wiped out by mudslides and the traffic had to go single file through a temporary channel cleared in the mud. Probably just as well it was pitch dark and we couldn't see exactly what it looked like! We arrived into the Orchid Hotel in Bukittinggi a little after 3am dropped the bags and slept soundly.
The next couple of days we couldn't get over how friendly the people were. Walking down the street everyone seemed to say hello. Very often the school kids were really eager to chat. They'd stop and ask if they could talk to us because they wanted to practice their English. Some adults would do the same and we'd find ourselves waiting for the sales pitch, wondering what
puncture number 2
after the second puncture, they decided to swap the front and back wheels - no english so it took us a while to figure out what they were doing! they were trying to sell us but usually they just wanted to chat which was very refreshing.
The first day we visited Fort de Kock, site of an old Dutch fort. Some nice views but the original fort is no longer standing. It's right beside a depressing zoo where the animals are kept in appalling conditions and look very unwell so it's best avoided. The same day we stopped to chat with another friendly local called Ben. We met up with him at one of the local cafes in town that night and he became our Indonesian buddy. He was a policeman, great character and knew everything and everyone around the town.
The next day we headed to Panorama park and walked through the rice fields to a silverwork village a few kms away. Unforatunately no one was making silver at the time because they were all at lunchtime prayers but we had picked up another local who wanted to practice English so we had good company for the walk.
Early next morning we were off for a 2day jungle trek to the crater lake Maninjau. We booked the trek at our hotel and Andre was our
guide. He was very good, telling us all about the local minangkabau culture and traditions aswell as the jungle. We started off with a detour trek to see a rafflesia flower in bloom. The rafflesia is the biggest flower in the world and we were lucky to see one because they are usually not in bloom this time of year. Lovely looking flower but the centre of it smells like rotten meat if you get close enough!
During the day we waded through rivers, followed jungle tracks, crossed rice paddies and small villages, using big banana leaves as umbrellas to keep the rain off! During the last hour or so of the trek, the leeches found us. Gordon and myself were both wearing sandals so I'd say the leeches couldn't believe their luck! It was too easy for them. We had to stop every ten or 15 mins and pulled 20 - 25 leeches off each time. I was pumping blood by the time we got to the resthouse for the night! The resthouse was just a couple of wooden sheds but it was really idyllic. It was surrounded by jungle and perched near the top of the crater
with amazing views over the lake. We had a great meal, solved puzzles and played Jenga with Andre our guide before collapsing into bed.
In the morning we had a half day hike down the mountain to the lakeside. Only a few leeches this time (If you're doing this trek you should be fine with runners or hiking shoes and socks - our guide Andre had no problem with leeches). We checked into one of the lakeside hotels for the night. In the afternoon we decided we'd hire mountain bikes and do the 45km circuit round the lake (it's not 70km as the Lonely Planet tells you). So many locals came out to say 'Hellllllooo' that we decided to take turns saying hello back to them! We still couldn't believe how friendly they were.
That evening we met 2 Finnish boys, Alecsi and Yussi who'd been trekking too so we had a good time exchanging stories. Turned out they were heading to Singapore on the same flight as us so we we said we'd share a taxi to the airport.
The bus trip from Maninjau back to Bukittinggi is an experience in itself. The road climbs the
Main St, Bukittinggi
at the Turret Cafe with Ben steep side of the crater in a series of 44 hairpin bends with more great views over the lake.
That night we met Ben back in the Turret Cafe in Bukittinggi as usual for more banter. It was a actually a bit sad saying goodbye because it was obvious he'd love to travel the world too but because of where he lives he'll probably never afford to travel outside SE Asia.
The next morning we headed to the airport with the Finnish guys to catch our flight to Singapore, knowing that from now on we'd be in more developed countries and wondering would the travelling be as much fun.
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44 bends
Thanks for detailing your experience in West Sumatra! It definitely brought back my memory years back. Those 44 hairpin bends is called 'Kelok Empat-empat', or 'Turning 44'; I forgot all about it up till reading your blog. Good luck on the rest of your Indonesian trip, don't forget to check out the Pagaruyung Palace while you're there! FYI Minangkabau is one of the two last 'matrilineal' cultures in the world.