Blogs from Bukittinggi, Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 2

George Town (Malaysia) - Bukittinggi (Sumatra, Indonesia): 4th - 17th March 2013 Distance covered so far (since 20 Dec): 5654 km Imagine that you have popped into a quiet UK town to do some shopping. Today, however, you are 8 foot tall, have chosen to wear a hat that has a neon flashing sign reading “LOOK AT ME”, and you are wearing a suit made entirely out of daffodils. Furthermore, instead of arriving in town conventionally (by walking, or by car, for example), you have trotted into town astride a rhinoceros. The two of us are putting on the equivalent of this spectacle in Sumatra. We have found ourselves in places that receive no visitors, and quite frankly... we look a bit odd. AND we are travelling in a bizarre fashion (bike). We get A LOT ... read more

Having travelled from Rantapau in Sulawesi to Padang in Sumatra, by way of Makkassar and Kuala Lumpur, and enjoying not a jot of sleep in the 56 hours that the journey took to complete, I began to have serious doubts as regarded my choice of location for our much needed rest and recuperation as we approached Bukittinggi in the cramped rear seats of a battered opelet. The road had become entirely blocked by smoke spewing vehicles, and the view of battered concrete mobile phone shops and dilapidated bike repair joints was far too ubiquitously Asian to have me believe that Bukkitingi would prove to be the cool highland retreat I had imagined and desired. We were unceremoniously ejected from our opelet in the middle of a noisy, confused and confusing out of town bus-come-opelet station, from ... read more

Checked out and went on net to waste a few hours then had an early tea, picked up our big bags and grabbed a taxi to bus station. After waiting about half an hour at the bus ticket office we were asked by the office bloke (on behalf of a giggling couple in their late teens) if he could video us saying a special birthday message to their friend.....we did though we felt like complete prats. It went something like 'Happy Birthday Dendy, wishing you all the best on your special day', but that apparently didn't cause us enough embarrassment so they asked for a retake with an additional sentence in Indonesian that they'd wrote out for us, god only (and the group giggling) knows what we said but I hope their friend is easy pleased ... read more

Last night me and Suse got a ridiculous amount of sleep, broken up by many different sources of noise during the night. At 4am about 4 mosques began their prayers awaking anyone within a 20 mile radius, this continued for what seemed like an age. At 7.30 a man with a microphone (we think selling stuff) decided to blast out some repetitive message into the streets (which he did every few hours). This of course got all the local dogs barking and made it impossible to sleep. Despite all this early morning commotion we did manage a great sleep. Once finally up and ready we left our bags at reception (changing rooms) and headed off for breakfast. After a yummy serving of banana porridge we headed back to Bukitinggi canyon where we scaled the steep steps ... read more

I woke early, a glance out the porthole window showed the advancing arc of Bungus Bay. The morning mist evaporating to reveal volcanic mountains, and a scattering of tiny fishing boats returning to port with their catch. Leaving these sights and our aquatic transport behind we turned inland and caught a predictably overfilled minibus north to Bukittinggi. Surrounded by coffee plantations, volcanoes, richly diverse forest, crater lakes and waterfalls the town of Bukittinggi is certainly well located for exploring. The thriving market town itself also impressed us, it turned out to have something for everyone. But before any of that we had to find some accommodation. Hotel Rajawali was a quirky ramshackle hostel, and Ulrich the German owner was as scatty as Basil Fawlty. When we arrived he animatedly flitted about the foyer imparting his wisdom ... read more