~ lake walk left ~
Thurs. March 11
Woken by strong wind from an easterly direction, coming over the crater rim and ripping along the lakeside, I arise at about 4.30 am. It gets light here about 6.30 ish. At the moment there's a crescent waning moon.
Today's exercise is another walk on the lake-circling road. But hanging a left this time. I want to wander beyond where I got to on first arrival a couple of days ago. This means towards “Baier”, the original village of Maninjau. It's still pretty windy all right. This morning the air is full of smoke. The strong wind is bringing it up...or throwing it up...from the east. It's that time of year in South East Asia. Farmers are burning the rice stubble after harvest-time. Perhaps too, the companies are ridding the planet of a little more jungle too. The old 'slash and burn' for profit rather than survival. The large-scale burning of virgin forest, like happened in Kalimantan in the late '90s is not so common now. Maybe there's nothing much left to burn.
I'm into the pfotos today. I want to try some different angles with the camera. To be more more 'creative'. Because it feels like my pfotos are getting a bit repetitive. All those buildings. And I want to get away from the urge to include everything in a frame. Not long after setting out, I notice some ruins. Looks like of an old Dutch building. Rikki tells me about it later, just as I'm leaving Maninjau. It's situated near a hot springs, Rikki tells me. Only a couple of hundred metres on the right from the Beach. It must have been a bath-house. A modern house front with plaster scene. Now that's creative.
I observe something rather peculiar. You know when you walk along a narrow, busy road...it's a good idea to walk on the side facing the on-coming traffic. It's a safety rule we all learn
somewhere along the line. Well, I notice that the locals here walk along the road...not safety conscious. They walk along just like they do riding their motorbikes...with their backs to the traffic coming behind on the same side of the narrow roadway. Perhaps they know each other that well or something? I have some coffees to refresh and restore energy on my way back to the Beach. Then I go to check out how to get back to Bukittinggi. The share taxi/minibus local price is Rp.13k...after bargaining. This is the same as the bus fare I paid to get here. I have to get back and spend a final Sumatran night at the Rajawali in Bukittinggi. I really don't want to miss my plane.
Most of the young people around Manijau seem to have gone...to the cities. Times have been better. There are very, very few tourists these days. It was a bit different before 2002.
Maninjau along with Toba were apparently really popular places. Today, Maninjau is overall, a friendly, quiet and very scenic place. Tourists come and tourists go. So do volcanic eruptions. I strongly sense that the forces of nature were at work shaping this landscape. The local people have adapted to the landscape. There's an uncommon quietness in both these days. It's easier to notice that the halcyon days of backpack tourism are presently over. Perhaps overseas tourists will return again. Once again they will come in pre-Bali bomb and pre-economic crisis numbers again.
This place needs to be appreciated. Hopefully, full moon party types will stay away. Somewhat forlorn but interesting examples of busier backpacker days have not completely disintegrated. 'Simple Cafe'. It's in some sort of disrepair. However, could better days lie ahead. The tin-wall under the traditional roof-line is impressively new! Maninjau's not alone. All over Indonesia today there are very few foreign tourists. Outside of Bali that is. Here it's a couple of days before I even see another westerner.
Many wonderful mosques or masjids ring the lake. The people seem devoutly religious and quite poor. Fish farming is big here but makes the lake ugly. For sure people would be better off if more tourists came here. But happier? I kind of liked Maninjau and it's people the way they are.