West Sumatra

I made it to Padang, the main city in West Sumatra, Indonesia, on the 12 th of July. I was feeling quite ill after a night layover in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. Let's just say my walk about turned into a fun evening sharing beers and buckets of Red Bull-Vodkas with a few very kind and generous Aussie boys. So, my 7 a.m. flight, and 3:30 hotel departure were quite hard on the system.

All-in-all, I made it alive, but was not too excited about the city. I quickly departed for Bonkus Beach, about 20 km south of the city. This was the Indo I remembered. $10 bungalows, on th e beach, facing the Indian Ocean. I spent a day snorkeling o n deserted beaches off the coast. I hiked a trial up to a waterfall and went swimming. I ventured about 30 km south to some surrounding villages and towns via motorbike. I began to use my Indonesian language skills and felt it all coming back to me.

On the 15th, I took many little opulets and a mini-bus to Bukkittinggi, about 100 km north of Padang. Opulets are the local vans that stop whenever someone is standing on the side of the road and you ca n h itch a ride for about 25 cents. They comfortably seat 7-8, but we fit 13 in one, with a bike on the roof. Bukkittinggi is in the "mountains" between 2 volcanoes. It is a bit cooler and very Muslim. The prayer chants started at 5:30 this morning and continued on and off until about 9. I trekked through a canyon ravene in hopes of finding a local village. The hour walk took about 2 and a half. Needless to say I am still practicing my Indonesian and getting LOTS of exercise.

Padang food is quite spicy compared to other parts of Indonesia. Additionally, if you walk into a restaurant serving local food there are no menus. After about 3 minutes, they will bring you a plate of rice, a warm tea, an d about 5-8 dishes of food. Usually there will be a few different meat choices and a few veggies. You pick what you want and e at it. When you are finished , the server counts the number of bowls you took food from and makes your bill accordingly. I find the food is good, there's defineatly a varriety , but often you don't know what is in front of you or how long i t has been sitting out . Who says good food has to be sanitary, anyways???

Tomorrow, I hope to take a motorbike around the area and see the surrounding villages and rice fields. Then it is off for a 3 o'clock bus north to Danu Toba, a lake in the middle of the northern half of Sumatra. I will cross the equator over land for the first time and leave West Sumatra for North Sumatra.