DANAU MANINJAU: Lake walk left ~journeys 2010: journal with pfotos~Mar.11.2010

~ 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.

DANAU MANINJAU Lake walk right ~journeys 2010: journal with pfotos~Mar.10

~ a walk along the lake right~

“Maninjau, 38km west of Bukittinggi... compared with Toba, the lake is quite small – 17km long, 8km wide and 480m deep in places – giving the true feeling of being enveloped in a crater. Maninjau is well set up for travellers but remains relatively unspoiled and peaceful” [Attribution: South-East Asia On A Shoestring Lonely Planet Publications 2001].

Wed. March 10. A very vivid nightmare interrupts my blissful sleep here on the first night. It's about losing all data during the writing up stage of an MA thesis. In the relaxing environment here some stuff's bound to come to the surface. Maybe I'm worried about being robbed or something. Or losing all my journal and pfotos. The last time I did get robbed was when I was up at Tad Lo, the Bolaven Plateau, Central Lao. I was too drunk every day to care about my stuff.

As it happens I only lost a $50 DVD player and some other rather insignificant easily replaceable stuff I'd decided to carry. I only used the player once in 3 months on the road! Silly. But when you don't plan where you're going or what your going to do, you've gotta cover as many possibilities as you can carry! Talking about nightmares. Some people probably live them. One comes across people who in the west, would be confined to mental institutions. But here they're a part of the community. Although they draw some strange looks from passers-by the out of mind don't seem to be hidden away out of sight...and therefore out of our mind.

Overnight rain. It's a cloudy but clear day. The nearest mosques are quiet ones. Bugger. No nice morning dreams. Only and inquisitive girl next door whose friend is inordinately interested in my 'luxury' phone. It's just a very cheap Sony Ericsson. No alcohol was consumed on this premises last night. Rikki tells me lcoal tourists flock here in May school holidays. They pre-book his place. He says that they like to para-glide on the lake too. Lucky it's not May then. As we speak lakeside, a couple of dead fish float. “Maninjau... water.... no good” says Rikki. I try to ask him because of what. But he offers no clear answer except to say that the water is no good again.

He probably means from human waste. There are no big hotels here yet although there are some small, boutique up-market, modern ones. Not exclusive and not so expensive. A room at the one I visited yesterday is currently Rp.200k. per night. Later I observed more dead fish floating in the lake. And on it's far side slips and landslides can be seen. I'm told the recent Padang earthquake is the cause of those.

In the mid-morning I recharge my phone again. Then off I go for a walk. I don't see another traveler all day. I head back up to the road that circles the lake. I hang a right and back towards the intersection at the bottom of the 44 hairpin hill road out. I continue right through 'town' for about 5 kms. This lakeside road passes through very rural and picturesque settings. Yeah, there's wild monkeys around the lakeside too...and they're unused to human intrusion onto their territory. The rice fields change hue as the clouds gather with fish breaking the surface of ponds, interrupting beautiful reflections. The rain pelts down for a good hour. I take shelter under the veranda of a convenient cafe. I sit on the bench outside, smoking and drinking the strong, local coffee. The locals inside are quiet at first about this stranger.

It's a heavy rain shower all right...about midday. I shelter with the local residents who are avoiding getting soaked on their motorbikes. A young man arrives from the direction of their mosque further on round the lake. One of the older men tells me with an endearing grin, “Al Queda” gesturing to the new arrival! We all laugh. It's a joke that must be repeated all over the Muslim world. I've already made it clear that I'm not from the US. We from NZ don't care much for the American government's policies too. No joke. The rain abates briefly enough for me to continue. I don't turn back. I can see a beautiful and somewhat unusual wooden mosque from whence Mr. Bin L. came.

The mosques like the locals here, certainly do have their own character. Then I backtrack all the way to the Beach. The narrow road is busier now. I get back soaked. I'm absolutely buggered. The small backpack isn't waterproof after all. I am glad that I carried a large shopping plastic bag in which to put the laptop, phone, camera...and passport too. It's a great, comfortable little pack. An ideal size...bought in Saigon the night before I left. Cost me less than US$20.I can't complain...it's just not waterproof that's all. It's got these distinctive luminous stripes on it too. Good at night when walking along dark streets or riding a bike.

There are many old, wooden, colonial flavor houses. In this respect, Maninjau is very reminiscent of Irian Jaya; Biak in particular. There ten years ago now were old wooden buildings of the same age and with the same Dutch influence. Most were in the same state. Either well-maintained artifacts or just well-used ones. Some are well-looked after. Others are falling apart while sporting satellite dishes. Here too, gasoline drums roadside. Probably I take the similarity too far when I seem to observe that some of the local people look very Papuan. I again have noticed the presence of trans-migrants but not many such as the friendly, attractive woman probably in her early 40s who cooks me tea...soto ayam this evening. She's from Surabaya.

To Lake MANINJAU ~journeys 2010: journal with pfotos~Mar.09

~ a beautiful mountain crater lake ~

“Maninjau, 38km west of Bukittinggi, is another of Sumatra's beautiful mountain crater lakes. The final descent to the lake on the road from Bukittinggi is unforgettable. The road twists and turns through 44 numbered hairpin bends in quick succession, offering stunning views over the shimmering blue lake and surrounding hills. Compared with Toba, the lake is quite small – 17km long, 8km wide and 480m deep in places – giving the true feeling of being enveloped in a crater. Maninjau is well set up for travellers but remains relatively unspoiled and peaceful” (Attribution: South-East Asia On A Shoestring Lonely Planet Publications 2001)

Tues. March 09. Was I heard to complain about the noisy nearby mosque!?. Well this morning, there's a very beautiful duet call...at 4.30am. Admittedly that's early but it's the loveliest recital of the Koran I've ever heard. I've endured a few in the old days of living and traveling in Indonesia. Nice thing I've found, is that after being woken by the early morning call to worship of “Alluah Akbar...Allah is Great", I'd have the clearest, most interesting dreams in that light, half-sleep. I'd finally awoke around 8. In those days...I'm talking 10 years ago in eastern parts of Indonesia... in Moslem-dominated parts of towns. Here, one would inevitably find the cheapest hotels, costing maybe Rp.15 or 20k right next to the mosques. So, once again this morning, it's back to sleep, dreaming nicely. Then I'm up for coffee and cigarettes as usual. I head out for a breakfast of lontong...then off to the travel agency recommended by the German owner of the Rajawali called the “Jogja”. It's near the place where the Malaysian photographer and I had that early morning coffee just off the freezing bus. Does he get a cut? Probably. The the German I mean. The friendly, competent travel agent lady there knows I'm coming! Small town. I book the ticket to Surabaya with Lion Air with a short stop-over in Jakarta. The shorter, the better.

I go past the rip-off dentist's to the BCA ATM to pull some cash out. No problem. My Vietcom card is dead...not active...definitely expired now. So I've got a 'dead' $500 sitting like a nest egg for the future. But I have to be in Vietnam to access it. Right now though, I pull out Rp.2.5m from Sacom my other Vietnamese bank OK. I saunter back across the plaza with the town clock and down some steps and a downhill alley to the agency. I pay the Rp. 900k/$US 100 for the ticket and that includes a taxi down to Padang airport leaving at 5.30 in the morning in about 4 days' time from Bukittinggi. It's about 1,500km Padang-Surabaya. That's $30 an hour. And if you compare this to the cost of taking a bus...it's cheap. And convenient...as long as you don't have an interest in seeing the intervening countryside. In the “old days” of traveling here, it used to be that land transport was the cheapest and least comfortable way to journey. It's still the least comfortable! And now it's cheaper to go on one of the thriving Indonesian budget airlines. Safety? Worried? Man, I haven't flown in 7 years. Nothing's gonna happen 'cept I get safely to Surabaya!

Back at the Rajawali I check out and take an opelet for Rp.2k to the 'terminal bis'. Hanging around the bus station and taking some snaps in the heat of the day, I catch the rickety looking Maninjau-bound local bus about 1pm. This is just a short journey of a couple of hours. It's probably going to be more dangerous than the plane to Surabaya, come to think of it. It turns out to be interesting...along busy roads to begin with just a basic two lane road crammed with traffic. Could this be the main Sumatran highway? After the Maninjau turn-off, it's along and up at the end to the outer crater wall...before plunging down the hair-pinned hill to the lakeside. There are some magic vistas...and the breaks on the bus hold.

A friendly old man on the bus advises me to get off when we stop at the intersection at the bottom of hill. We just passed troups of small monkeys playing happily in the roadside trees and I'm not really listening...or thinking. This is not 'Bayer' where I intended to get off! No great shame. It's all good. Living in Saigon it's easy to forget how lovely is the planet! I end up walking with weighty pack right along the lakeside road in the same direction as the bus that dropped me! I have to take a breather at a quiet lakeside coffee stall with nearby very photogenic mosque.

It seems to far on, so I retrace my heavy steps back towards the intersection and luckily end up at the Beach guest house. Rikki's an amiable young guy and I have a great room for Rp.40k. This is largely thanks to his granny [or mum...can't figure out which...], who's been to visit her daughter...married to an Australian and living in Cairns. After I relax and cool down the usual stuff ensues. I upload my pfotos and recharge camera batteries even though there's no power in the room. Same as in Bullshittinggi. Damn this is getting annoying!

There are no other 'travelers' are in evidence. Since I got off the bus at the bottom of the hill and walked, I haven't seen anyone...great! The Beach isn't much to look at....but it's one of the most relaxing places I've so far this trip. Right on the lake. A few of the other rooms are occupied by couples... short-timers by the looks. As it turns out, yes and no. The couple next door couple I gave the benefit of my doubt. A boyfriend and girlfriend I concluded...but then again, the way I caught her looking me up and down.

Just being happy...an introspective haiku-like piece happens:

Sounds

lake water lapping

rain on the roof

takes me back

hushed voices too

The setting here reminds me of various parts of my life before now...camping as a kid especially. Maninjau is a reflective sort of place. It's quiet now, although there's this feeling around. Like I don't know how long ago it blew...but the energy that was around here then. And now, it's like all the energy is used up. It's so quiet and peaceful. The mosques are strangely quiet too. Just as well I booked the ticket to Surabaya before I came here! Or I could end up here forever!

Life's full of coincidences. Wasn't I thinking that a place such as Maninjau was on my agenda! As it stands I've got 4 days to chill out here. Now I'm really on holiday. This is what I came to Sumatra for. This is what that overland journey was about.

BUKITTINGGI ~journeys 2010: journal with pfotos~March 2010

1,000 metres up and very close to the equatorial line

On Bukittinggi's physical setting:

“This cool, easy-going mountain town is one of the most popular travellers' centres in Sumatra. Many travellers heading north from Java make Bukittinggi their first stop. It's easy to spend a week here checking out the town and surrounding attractions. Lying 930m above sea level, it can get quite cold at night. Surrounding the town are three majestic mountains- Merapi, Singgalang and the more distant Sago”.On the history: “Bukittinggi was a Dutch stronghold during the Padri Wars (1821-37), and it was here that the Sumatran rebels declared their rival government in 1958. Today it is a centre of Minangkabau culture, as well as being a busy market town with a small university. The town is sometimes referred to as Kota Jam Gadang (Big Clock Town), after its best known landmark, the Minangkabau-style clock tower that over-looks the large market square”(Attribution: South-East Asia On A Shoestring 2001 Lonely Planet Publications).

Sat. March 06. Up about 7am. Had a good sleep under a necessary blanket. There are only a few mozzies up here in the highlands too, in this room without a fan. The last time I can remember a fanless one must have been up in Sapa, northern Vietnam a couple of years ago...strange to be without one. As I say, they are good for keeping the mosquitos grounded...at bay, but not a problem right now...the mozzies. Good to get back to my 'normal' time zone. Other things are normal too....coffee on the verandah...cold as usual. I've got into the habit of drinking the 3-in-1 like this...shaken up in a 500ml plastic 'Gatorade' drinks container. Going out for walk they fit in the outside carry space on the small backpack. Also I carry everything of value to me in it...never leaving important stuff in the rooms. The only times I've been robbed have been from my room when I'm not there...out and about...or out cold with more than a hang-over to deal with next morning.

The outlook from the roof of the Rajawali Guest House right outside the rooms is worth the money...$US6 per night. There's a good "street scene" traffic corner but you're in Indonesia so there's the power lines to ignore. I sit out in the bright morning sun...hey what to expect...up over 900m above sea level and smog...and about 0.5 degrees from The (equatorial) Line. Feeling good and take some fotos...of the roof garden and road junction. On a bright sunny morning the red roofs of a nearby school catch the eye nicely. The kids are practicing a Minangkabau thingy...a play with music...the Minangkabau kids in traditional garb.

Minangkabau is the name of the local people in these parts of Western Sumatra. So a bit later on I go to investigate. Looking down to the school with it's 'Merah Putih' fluttering against the blue, blue sky over the traditional Minangkabau-style roof-lines...was a great sight in the clear atmosphere after the rain of the previous evening and overnight. Some kids are looking on at the practice performance. So too are parents, who are up on the sidewalk of the road overlooking the scene. They seem chuffed that a tourist is taking some pfotos. The music the schoolchildren are making is a blend of traditional and modern. One of the kids...on the big 'kettle drums' is going hell for leather...jumping up and down with enthusiasm and energy, such is the strength of feeling for their local traditions up here.

Then it's over for a bite of the same to eat, and wander uptown...take some photos. The view down to the local market just off the top of Bukittinggi town with it's stalls of fruit and vegetables, clothing and handcrafts is something to behold. On the other hand

I gave Bukittinggi's tourist market a pretty wide berth including the famed clock tower. I was probably on the rebound after Melaka. On my saunter that day I see a 'false teeth' repair shop. It's an opportunity to get the "missing~Jaya~restaurant~Penang" tooth glued back in it's prominent place before I lose it! It's been kinda funny to sport a missing tooth smile on occasion but better to have it back in place. How much? Tiga ratus...which I mistake to mean 3,000. It means 300, and although he didn't say thousand...ribu...that's what he wants after the 10 minute job is complete...that's over US$30. The smallest notes I have are two 1,000s, then a fifty thousand or about US$5. This is what I leave sitting in front of him, and walk out...even $5 is probably about 10 times what a local would pay. All the time his wife was hovering in the background, making sure that he did a good job of fleecing me. But hey, I can smile again with full plastic. Greedy people everywhere, I know but this kinda puts me off Bukittinggi, now Bullshittinggi. Maybe I'll head on to Lake Maninjau. Back at the rooftop Rajawali base, the couple leave for Padang and on to Jakarta by plane. I do some washing, not seeing the 'No washing clothes here' sign in the loo. Afternoon nap.

Earthquakes are not a big thing to Kiwis. I have a conversation with the German...owner of the Rajawali. The topic is earthquakes. There was another one in Bengkulu the other day...a 6.5 magnitude. People headed for the hills, fearing the worst...a tsunami. “Leave the light on, so you can more easily run outside, if one happens tonight” he says. “Mate" I say, "We're an earthquake prone zone in NZ...and running outside is not recommended either”. At least that's what I remember being told...stay put and shelter under a bed, a table or better still a doorway. And this old building's seen a few in it's days and is more or less intact. I'm the only guest...on the 4-room top floor tonight but I feel pretty safe.

I head on up town from the Rajawali, up on of the main streets up under the footbridge to the old Dutch fort. Trotting around town, there are 'bendis' or horse-driven rickshaws for locals as well as tourists transport around town and for carrying goods too. The main kind of public transport is the "opelet" or ultra mini-buses which cost Rp.2k. In the afternoons the weather breaks down into brief sun-showers with attendant rainbows. And the now not so cheap 'Kansas' cigarettes burn on down quickly thanks probably to amount of chemical additives in them...gone before you start. I try the 'Ardath' later on but they ain't much better. My thinking is that cheap cigarettes wouldn't have expensive chemicals in them...but maybe the chemicals are cheaper than I think. I ponder in the evening...where to from here? Don't eat another meal. I've blown my daily budget with the tooth faerie episode. I go for another wander down to the store opposite the nearest, noisiest mosque, on the road out of town, north to Lake Toba and Medan and buy snacks...costing way more than a meal would have!

So, indeed, where to from here? I remind myself not to forget that “this could be your big chance to get out of the South East Asian mainland”, while I have a bit of dosh...still about US$1,700...not much, but enough. Or at least this is what I'd been telling myself since months ago. “Dave, man, your next trip away is It. You have to go see other places, maybe find somewhere to settle down...”. Why?... because I feel just a bit jaded by the whole experience of living and working in S.E.Asia now. At 56, 57 in about 10 days time, shouldn't I be thinking of a place to hang up me boots and all that? But I don't usually listen that intently to good advice, from any directioin. I quickly forget about this base feeling. The lure of further travel takes over. I've only just arrived here in Indonesia anyway, and I've got some traveling to do! Given that I have one full page left in my passport, which an Indonesian extension would doubtless take up, I should be pre planning my itenary just a little. So, go north to Toba and chill-out, maybe even go up to Aceh or over to Nias too. This would see out the current visa...so then down to Kalimantan by Pelni, probably via Tanjung Priok, Jakarta's port. This way, also I could extend the visa in Pontianak would make a lot of sense...small price of outbound, necessary ticket for extension just a bus ticket to the Sarawak border. Then I could go over to Surabaya and look at possible jobs there. Oh yeah...the passport somewhere along the way too. Or take the dreaded bus trip down the 'highway' to Java, stopping off to see Krakatoa on the way. Even as I write, 24 hours later, I haven't decided! As it turns out, I do neither of these journeys...

Sun. March 07. Up at the usual time after a good sleep and over for a Lontong at the usual place. It's a kind of vegetable soup with an egg- and with a coffee it costs only Rp8k...because it's for the locals and not tourists, most of whom would probably suffer some ill effects...not to their pockets, but a bit further up. At the eatery I have a conversation with male customer...kind of similar to the one with the bus touts in Dumai. He also thinks that Indonesians are only good at fucking...well having babies is the way he puts it...and corruption, babies and corruption. He doesn't get specific, and being the good listener I am, I don't ask him to give examples. He has beliefs about what Indonesians are not good at too...like football, otherwise they'd be going to the world cup, like Australia and NZ.

Again I wander around to find the Merdeka guest house which has excellent rooms for Rp.70k. And there's an active street scene around it's area of town too. Then I head up the hill and take some more pfotos. But I don't go into the park that surrounds the the remains of the Dutch Fort de Kock. Or across the footbridge to it. Because, unlike appreciating one's history in Melaka, this costs entry money here...Rp.8k. Seventy five cents won't exactly break the camel's back...but it's more the principle that puts me off. So round in a circle and on the way back to base. This being Sunday, there are quite a few local tourists out and about too. Some appear to be groups of high-school kids, or university kids maybe...up from Padang no doubt...and all wanting to talk to a foreigner...to improve their English, and to...ow off to their friends in the process. I remember this from previous trips to Indonesia. It can become very, very tedious sometimes...so I refuse them...to their apparent, utter astonishment. Sorry guys, but I'm on holiday too.

Here's a question. “What's Your Opinion of Our Town? A question one of the university-student girls did ask me about Melaka. About Bukittinggi. The 'nice' things first. It's obvious that that the Minangkabau-style roofs, notably similar to those in Central Sulawesi and Borneo, are a kind of popular, touristy, hotel and government building motif. A symbol perhaps with the meaning that this is Minangkabau country. We're a distinctive people, one of many that make up the ethnic diversity of the 'country' of Indonesia. And it's a pleasure to see people walking again...unlike the Vietnamese, who go everywhere by motorbike. The locals here walk around town, using the opelets sure, but doing a fair bit of walking too in this hill town. In Vietnam bikes have completely taken over townspeople's lives. This makes it very difficult to walk anywhere in Saigon...bikes litter the sidewalks, parked...and at rush-hour, it's dangerous...they ride on the 'footpaths' at busy intersections. So that's nice about Bukittinggi. “But what are some other pros?”. I dunno...I can't put my finger on any right now. Oh, here's one, but it's just about the weather...it's nice to have a cooler clime...and the rain is a delight...not at all a hassle...given that it only happens late afternoons. The not so 'nice' things. Noisy mosques...nothing unusual. They're a general Indonesian hazard. There are 3 very close-by here to my digs at the Rajawali and it takes some getting used to! It reminds me of the saying that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. To the outsider it seems to intrude so much or at least so obviously, more into peoples' daily lives...certainly more so than in neighboring predominantly Muslem Malaysia. Another: Indonesia's more expensive than I thought it'd be for the "journeyman's" essentials of accommodation and land transport. Yet another: The smoke-filled atmosphere generally...except after rain. It's that time of year all around S.E.Asia...even up here. But I never made the effort to get out to the surrounding smaller towns and villages nestling in the mountains. About busy evenings on the streets, coffee shops and warung...maybe it's not such a habit up here anyway...but I seem to remember, that a lot more people hit the streets in the early evenings...that was 10 years ago, and especially in Papua and Manado. I thought at the time, it was a general Indonesian habit, which I think was right...but I suspect that in the interim, perhaps peoples' habits have changed...stay in to watch TV...play computer etc. just like in the developed West.

Mon. March 08. Up... check mail. My Mum is doing well according to my sister Irene. So, freedom for me for a bit longer. The usual Lontong shop is closed today and the new one further up nearer walk-bridge overhead is more expensive but has bigger servings but with less egg in. I head down to the snack shop...and what to do, where to go next? Because it's too expensive here. I hear that accommodation's really expensive in Padang now because it's scarce...due to the big earthquake 5 months ago now. A lazy day. But a decision is made. Why head south-west from here? Because I'm not going north out of the southern hemisphere, that's why. It's my first time down under the equator for a long time...it's just like superstition or some other kind of rubbish, but it seems like as good a reason as any right now! Lake Toba, the island of Nias and Aceh will have to wait. I guess that was already decided by going down to Melaka from Penang anyway. So I'm gonna move on to Lake Maninjau, then fly outta Padang, east to Surabaya. Well, Madura and maybe to Mt. Bromo. Whoa...what a decision! And I'm gonna find out about flights...yeah...on a plane! It'll be the first time I've flown in seven years! Gone through three passports but haven't been on a plane!

Afternoon...sleep, after which I walk to the bus terminal to find out the real prices to Lake Maninjau (Rp.13k). In the process I'm befriended by a local guy and have a coffee. It's that time of day again...rain...but it's a pleasant enough walk back to the Rajawali. Tomorrow I'll look book and pay for a flight to Surabaya after 2 or 3 days at Lake Maninjau. What a relief! Having that made that decision. “On Bukittinggi what do I think of it”? It's a rip-off...as dentist and German indicate...they've seen easy money is the past halcyon days of backpackers galore. They get their fair share of Indonesian tourists here to keep them going. I guess the Pizza Hut and KFC are more for them and the many 2 and 3 star hotels.

So my opinion of the 'high hill' town~Bukittinggi...it's "Bullshittinggi" to me ~ big bullshit [town]