Indonesia 2012, Padang

Padang 2012-6-18

We left Taipei at 9:00 and arrived in Jakarta at 13:30. The airplane was an old Boeing 747, and its interior looked much worn out. It was not difficult to notice that the airline has a different criteria or standard  applied to different routes.  It is probably based on the kind of customers they served and not on fare competition. Most of the passengers were young Chinese, and many of them looked like students studying abroad. I was surprised that I didn’t see many native Indonesian especially the immigrant woprkers.

One of the young stewardesses came checking before taking off. She saw my blinking GPS lying on top of a handbag on the floor which I had turned it on. She asked me to turn it off, and not knowing what it was, kept on asking me the relevant question. I was not in good mood and refused to give any answer. We were sitting in the last row, and there were only  two seats on that row, and in front was a row with three seats. I put the bag under the seat in front of me in the space between the body of the plane and the seat. I thought that it was the most logical place to put the bag. But she didn't think so and asked me to take it out and put in under the seat in front of me. This upset me even more as it would take away my leg room. I refused and she asked it again, and I simply kicked the bag deeper under the seat and told her that was as far as I would go. She gave up and I was fuming. She certainly was not a good candidate to become an in-law to any parents.

Taiwan east coast

We had a good view of the east coast of Taiwan with the white breaking waves pounding along the shores, and blue and tall mountain range scattered with white clouds running all the way from north to south of the island. I could identify Hualian and many other scenic spots along the coast and brought back a lot of memory. We had good time when we stayed with Zenghoa and it could be better if he had a nicer personality and characters. But I didn’t think that it was the place that I would call it home.

The broken peninsula near Bandar Seri Begawan

Although I was sitting next to the window, but the seat was installed about one foot away from it, and I could not see the scenery very close under the airplane. I missed the scene when we flew over the Philippine archipelago. Fortunately, I managed to take some photos as we passed over Borneo or Kalimantan. There was a long and narrow peninsula extending far into the sea at its northern tip near Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The first photo taken in 2009 showed a break in the peninsula caused by a recent storm. I saw the same place again this time, and there was no change to the break. I wonder if the nature will ever repair whatever damages it had caused. I saw only a few of the islands of the Thousand Islands running north-south on the north shore on Jakarta. It was at noon time, and the reflection on the ground didn’t make it attractive for taking any photos. I have some attractive  photos taken in the past trips when the sun was at lower angle.

I had gone through several times the process of paying the fee of US$25 for a 30 days visiting visa as I landed in Jakarta airport, but I didn't remember the exact detail. There were two set of booths running on both side of the corridor, and there were long queue on both of them. I saw at a distance a banner about Asian Tourist Forum, and thought that there could be a large conference going on in the city that attract many visitors. I thought that one of the line was for the applying the landed visa, and the other line was for visitor who came for the conference. I saw that many of the passengers were on the “conference line” but they didn't look like conference attendances.

I was happy that I lined up on the right queue ending in the booth paying the visa fee. To prevent the mis-handling of the collection of visa fee, the government had split the process into two units. One was specialized in collecting the fee, and the other one was stamping the visa. I gladly paid the US$50 for the visa for two of us, and the clerk gave us two visa stickers. I quickly passed the stickers to Mommy without looking at it and walked away in a hurry. Somehow, Mommy was always more careful, and she looked at the stickers carefully. She was shock to find that the date was June 8 not June 18. We rushed back to the booth, and the clerk quickly put another stamp with the right date. I didn't know how this error could happen. It seemed that the clerk had a pile of similar stickers in front of him on his desk. I had no doubt that it was a deliberate attempt to by-pass the proper procedure.

I knew that I had to go through another unit for stamping the visa on my passport. I walked pass the long queue of “conference line”, and saw the immigration booths for the local citizen, but I could not find any booth for visitor or foreigner. I was just about to continue my walk to the baggage area, and stopped and asked a person who looked like working in the airport, and he informed me that I had to go back to line up on the line which I thought was the “conference line”. He also told us that he could help us if we didn't want to wait in the long line. I had been stunk once before in Jakarta airport by a uniform wearing person who I thought was an official of some sorts. We declined his offer, and went back to line up properly. The line was long and it didn't move fast enough. We had another connecting flight to Padang that we had to catch. Mommy went to ask people on a booth at the corner of the corridor, and she got the same answer that they could help us to by-pass the long line up if we want to.

The sticker came in two parts. One part was to be glued on the passport and the other was for official record. The procedure was well designed to prevent any mischief. My returned flight was on July 18, and I asked the officer if that would be alright. He said that the visa is only good for 30 days and I must leave before July 17, or else, I must go to an immigration office to extend my visa for another 30 days by paying another fee of $25. This was a big improvement over the old requirement where one must leave the country to extend the visa. I didn't remember how did I make this mistake, but certainly it was associated with the many uncertainties surrounding the planning of this trip. I liked to stay longer but Mommy wanted to cut it short.

We rushed to collect our check-in luggage after finishing the visa procedure. There were 8 conveyor stations in the luggage area, but there was no indication of what airline each of the conveyor was associated with. We checked each one o them and could not find our luggage. We asked uniform wearing staff, and they were very anxious to help us, but I suspected that they were the workers who wanted to help us to collect and carried our luggage. We declined their offer, and finally we found someone who told us that the conveyor for Eva Airline was #2. We walked back and found our luggage had been put in the corner and they were guarded by one of those uniform wearing staff. Looking back, we probably should not felt too negative about the workers. It was part of the system, and they rely on it to survive. The trouble was we had a deep root of fear being cheated by the workers, and the system didn't protect us from those possibilities. On the other hands, traps were everywhere for an innocent travelers to fell into.

There were two custom check-out in the luggage area. One was near the #2 conveyor station. We took this close one, and the officer wanted to check one of the luggage because he found a large metal container in it and wanted to know what was its content. It was a big chocolate that we bought from the Bay which was on special. We informed him that we wanted to catch a connecting Air Garuda flight, and he told us that we should go back to the luggage area, and walked to the other end and passed the custom check-out there, and Garauda check-in counter for transit passengers was next to it. I wanted to prepare ourselves with some local currencies but could not find any money exchanges in the area. When we got the boarding pass for our flight to Padang, we were asked to pay an airport tax o$40,000 Rp each. Fortunately, they agreed to accept our US$10 bill.

We went back to the international flight check-in counter looking for Eva booth. I wanted to find out if our departure date could be advanced.  But we could not find it. Later, I realized that their booth would be opened only a few hours before the departure time of their flight. Therefore, we had to give up and went to the gate for our flight to Padang. It was a long walk, and by this time, I was really tire and dragging my feet. The gate was originally assigned at #6, but when we got in, we were told told that it had been changed to #2. When we were waiting, another flight originally was assigned to #2 had been moved to a different gate, and a large number of passengers had to move accordingly like in a music chair game. Fortunately, this phenomenon was not monopolized by Indonesian airport, and we had grown use to it.

Beautiful cloud formation

The flight to Padang was late by about an hour, and it was probably originated from Bali. The airplane was a Booing 737 and it looked reasonably new. After we were well seated, Mommy felt that she didn't have the tags for our check-in luggage. I told this to the Chief steward on the plane, and before we were about to leave, Mommy found it in her other small bag. And not long after that the chief passed us a note given us the number of the tags. So something was working properly here. There were about 20 young male Brazilian on-board  Their destination was to go to Mentawai Island for surf boarding. I was surprised that they came such a long way for it. They said that the waves there were good and the water temperature was just fine. I thought that one of the biggest attraction was probably the lesser cost in comparison to other places.

Sunset seen on an airplane

The sky was filled with towering calumnious clouds. And in some areas, the sky looked like snow fields in the wild like what we saw in cross country skiing. I enjoyed seeing all this changes. We descended into a very thick cloud, and it was dark when we landed. We were very tired, and I almost fell asleep when we were taxiing on the runway. Vera had sent one of her airport agent to meet us, and she later called to tell us that Linmei was waiting outside the terminal to meet us. She looked fine and fresh. 

Padang 2012-6-19

I got up early and did my morning exercise. As I jogged, some ideas flushed to my mind that probably it was not a good idea of wanting to wonder aimlessly like a Gypsy, instead, I should settle down and pick up drawing more seriously. And travelling should be considered as a means to achieve something.

Sweet and dumpling in market

 I told them not to prepare anything for my breakfast as I wanted to go to buy some of the dumplings and other sweet Padang foods. Sefat let me use his new mountain bike, and I took it to go to the market in the China town (Kampong Tionghoa). I bought two pieces of kue lempar. It is shredded chicken meat inserted in sweat rice and then wrapped in pandan leave and cooked in coconut cream. It is 2x2x1/2 inches in size. I also bought other kinds in total of 9 pieces. I was a little surprised that the cost was Rp250,000. I was expecting much less than that. It seemed that everything was more expensive in China town here, which was in contrary to what was in China Town in Canada.

I ate them with Mommy, but she didn’t eat much and only sampled some as she had not fully recovered from the tiredness of the trip. They were all very good but I knew for sure that my longing for them would soon diminish before I was ready to go home. Roy had set up a wireless internet at home, and it should be up and running by yesterday, but somehow, the connection was not yet done. Mommy was sleeping all day and woke up at 3 pm to have her lunch. I took the opportunity and went to Roy’s karaoke store to send the email using their wi-fi.  I saw durian piling up on the side of streets. Mei and Sefat had told me that the fruits were in season now. I picked a big and nice looking one. The peddler asked for Rp30,000, and after some bargaining, I finally paid her Rp25,000. I asked her to cut a small triangular window (in Indonesian called tawe) on the fruit so that I could see, smell and touch the fruit inside to make sure that it was good and fully ripe. Mommy and I finished half of it and we left the other half for Sefat. It was very delicious with a little bitterness and liquor taste. In Canada, I would buy only the frozen durian from Thailand. The fruit was thick and meaty, and I could eat a lot of them. The fruit of the durian here had very thin meat, and somehow I could only eat much less in quantity than that from Thailand. Later, when Sefat came home in the afternoon, he brought back 9 durians! And we continued our sampling for more durian.

There were short and light scatter shower in the afternoon. Sefat later told me that 10 days ago, they had severe storm with strong wind and rain. So far the weather was quite pleasant especially sitting in the balcony enjoying the nice breeze.

Sefat mentioned to me many times during my visits that when he bought durians it would be in the order of 10 or more. And I always wonder how did he consume them. I noticed that by evening, the 9 durian that he had brought home, there was only one left, and Inah told me that they had shared the durian with the helpers at home. No wonder that he could easily finish that many durian. It also reflected the relationship between the master and helper. It was much closer than the regular employer and employees relationship.

Sefat was hiring two helpers to convert a large steel  dog houses into bird cages. He told me the going rate for a worker was Rp100,000 per day. In Ottawa, it took me one hour to mow the lawn, and it would cost me $70 to hire people to do it. I was told that there were many stalls selling pirated cd and dvd after dark near the intersection of the major streets Pondok and Tepipasang which was near Sefat’s house. I went out to take a look. There were big crowd in front of the eating houses along the streets. I was not familiar with the movies they sold, and was looking for cd of old Indonesian music. I found only one. 

Padang 2012-6-20

The Bank of Indonesia (BNI) was just across the street and we walked over to try to change some money. When we were in Makasar and Menado in our last visit to Indonesia, we had bad experience in changing money in the bank. We had forgotten about it completely when we carried some US currency into the country. The old memory suddenly came back when we entered the door of the bank. Like what had happened before, the clerk rejected the US$100 bank note because there was some marks on it. We went to the ATM machine, and it let us withdraw Rp1,000,000 each time. The exchange rate is US$1=Rp9,395.

Turtle eggs for sale in Muara

We then walked toward Muara. The luxury Hotel Bumi Minang damaged by the last earthquake was still under restoration.  A new hotel had been added on the site of the old Hotel Muara. The restoration of the large two chuches in the area were completed, and the work on the one near the park was going. The good thing of the last earthquake was it stimulated a lot of constructions in the city. Sefat mentioned that it was hard to find a worker now as they preferred to work abroad. There were still many stalls selling turtle eggs at a price of Rp6,000 each in Muara. I supposed that it was illegal to do it.

A fish restaurant in Bungus

Chimney of the power plant in Bungus

We were watching students playing on the beach in Muara and taking some photos, and were surprised that Mei found us. She went to see us in Sefat’s house, and the helper told her that we had gone out by ourselves. Padang was a small town, and her driver Man thought that we must have gone to Muara. We all went to Bungus  to had sea food for lunch. Along the way, there were many stalls selling durians. It was really in season now. Originally, Mei  wanted to take us to a beach near Painan further south of Bungus. I asked her about the electric power project that was constructed by Chinese, and she decided to change the plan and we took a side road to the power plant. The road was a narrow gravel road and mostly in bad shape and had not been maintained for a long time. Some sections were newly cemented. The tall chimney of the plant was up, and the rest was still under construction. The site was closed for visitors and we turned back. We saw  a junction to Sungai Pisang. Mei and others had heard about it but had not seen the place. Therefore, we decided to explore it.

Beach at Sungai Pisang

A large cargo ship was blown to shore in Bungus

The road became worsen as it wound through a hill. We descended toward the end of the road, and saw a military (coast guard) station on the road side. We passed some paddy fields as we approached the village near the coast. Later, Sefat told us that the village used to be the smuggling centre for illegal shipment of timber and kerosene, and it had nice beaches. From the village, we could see the beach in Sekuai Island which could be reached by boat in 15 minutes. There was nice beach in Sekuai and there was a resort run by foreigners. It would take much longer if we took the road to go there. There was no facility for tourists to enjoy the beach in the village for us to stay. We stopped at a road side stall and bought some durians and ate them on site. The taste was not as good as what I had yesterday. We were high on a hill, and had a commanding view of the beach below. We saw a big fairly new cargo ship stranded on the beach. It was blown there during the severe storm ten days ago.

Mei dropped us off at Sefat’s house as she had to meet Yinfa who would be arriving tonight. The wi-fii in the house had been fixed and was now working.

Yinfa arrived at about 8pm, and they all look fine. The kids showed no sign of tiredness from the long trip.  He had the same problem with visa like mine. According to their calculation, We would stay one day longer than the 30 days allowed by the visa. And therefore it must be extended at a cost of US$25 for each person. 

Padang 2012-6-21

When I woke up, Yinfa and the whole family had already left the house to buy some Padang dumplings and other sweets, and to have Padang sate and soto for breakfast. We had fried banana at home, and it was delicious. Mei came early in the morning and brought a delicious cake roll made in Dallas. We stayed at home and chat.

Drying sea cucumber

China had recently refused to buy swallow nest from Indonesia because of too many fake products. Therefore, the price of the nest has plummeted. That was good. We saw people were drying shark fins and sea cucumber on the yards. Shark fins had received a lot of negative publicity, and I didn't know if the consumption of sea cucumber would soon receive a similar impact.

All my siblings seemed concern about the swelling on my feet. Sefat let me use his feet massaging machine, and he gave me an extra pillow to lift my feet slightly higher.

Mei invited us to have dinner in a barbeque fish restaurant in Muara. Mommy preferred the home cooked food and we stayed home. There was heavy rain in the evening accompanied by thunders and lightings. This cooled off the temperature. So far, it was not very hot, and there was very little mosquitoes and flies in Sefat’s house.

Padang 2012-6-22

The old Kelenteng

The new Kelenteng

We had chicken porridge for breakfast, and then went out for a walk. We went inside the Pasar Pagi (morning market) in China Town. The lane had been re-surface with cement and looked nice and clean. I liked to buy a few dumplings but there was no place to eat them. The Chinese name for the Kelenteng was Xixinggong 西兴宫. And an Internet search yielded another temple of the same name in Zhangzhou 漳州, Fujian. A new temple was presently under construction across the street from the old one. There were many beautiful rock carvings came from China. The construction of the structure was completed, and now 11 Chinese from China were working on the finishing work. The whole project would be completed before the coming Chinese New Year. The old temple would be converted into a cultural centre. 

The water in Arau was no longer dark black

We walked to the Arau River, and I was surprised that the colour of the water was no longer dark black  due to the oil pollution. It was now green. Although, there were still some debris floating on the water, it was much better than what I saw in my visit last year. Ing stopped her car when she saw us in Simpang Enam on our way home. Not long later, Yinfa and Terralyn came home on a horse cart. They went to Muara trying to catch some hermid crabs on the beach without any success. The swollen on my feet had mysterious disappeared.

Padang 2012-6-23

I didn’t do my daily exercise this morning and walked to Kampong Jawa after eating some dumplings that Yinfa had bought. It was too early and many stores were not yet opened. I found a small booth selling watches, and replaced the belt on my watch by another leather belt for Rp50,000. This was at least the fourth replacement. We then walked back, and stopped at a fruit store in Pondok. The price for dragon fruits was Rp35,000/kg for the red one, and Rp25,000 for the white one. It was not cheap.

It was Terralyn birthday, and Maria asked Mei to make a large cake for her. We had the celebration in Piza Hut restaurant. It was Saturday night, and all eating places along the road were packed. The arrangement for transport had not been planned properly, and we ended up going in Rinaldy’s car. There was a long line up in Piza Hup. Maria said that she had to beg the manager to accept our reservation. The food was lousy. Philip was in Pekan Baru and would be back tomorrow.

Padang 2012-6-24

There seemed to be little communication between the wedding organizer and Sefat. He didn’t know the time of the ceremony and the dress to wear until last night when we asked him about it. France came early in the morning and wearing tie. I planned to borrow Didi’s suit for the occasion, but I could not get the phone through. Fortunately, I had my shirt and tie, and that were what I wore for the ceremony.

Lydia wedding in Kelenteng

The wedding ceremony was held in a temporary annex of a Taost’s temple Kelenteng. A new one was under construction and would be completed before the coming Chinese New Year. Half of the annex was used for community service, and the other half was for worship. The ceremony seemed being split into two parts. First was the civil registration attended by some officers of the community service. It involved only the signing of some papers. Then they moved to the worship room next to it. The masters of the rite were two men wearing yellow robes like a Taost monk. They delivered speeches and burned incenses. The participants carried the incenses and worship to some goddess. Lydia and Rinaldy also had to kneel down and kowtow to the goddess and their parents to pay their respect. It also involved the signing of some papers. After that all of us walked across the street to the construction site of the new temple, where there were more spaces for taking group photos. There were not many members of the groom family came for the ceremony.

Sunset in Padang

Nothing had been organized to get together after the wedding ceremony. Mei suggested to Vera to set up one. She managed to organize a dinner party in their new Hotel Mercure. Didi told me that it was a good site to watch the sunset on the beach. 

Harau 2012-6-25

The bus

Mei wanted to take all of us on a trip and asked Vera to get a transport. She made many inquiries without any success. Finally she borrowed a new 20 passengers  bus from a friend. It cost Rp6,000,000,000, and had been used only three times and was not for rent. Therefore, she reminded us not to spoil it. It had overhead compartment with AC outlet and lighting system like in an airplane cabin. It was made in Jakarta, the workmanship around the window seal need improvement. It had reclining seat and was not big but comfortable and plenty of leg rooms. The driver was in Jambi, and a new driver was hired as a temporary driver for the occasion. He drove very slowly especially on steep slope. I didn't know if this was attributed to the characteristic of a diesel engine or the driver was being too careful. I seated in a tiny folding seat next to the door which was usually reserved for an assistant to the driver. it was very uncomfortable but offer the best for taking photos along the road. After stopping at a sate house in Padang Panjang for dinner, I decided to move to sit next to Mommy. Man took my tiny seat, and he only sit there for a short wile and move back to the normal seat. The seat was finally taken by its normal occupier. A rented mini bus of this size cost Rp1,400,000/day with driver and gasoline included. 

Fruit of matua tree from Irian Jaya

Vera  had a matua tree originally from Irian Jaya. It bears clusters of fruits like grapes, and the size of the fruit was like large grapes. I was told that it tasked much better than the dragon eye fruit. It was not yet available in the market. Vera bought many movies on DVD to entertain the children in the bus, but it had not been turned on most of the time, and they seemed to enjoy more of the computer games that Arlene had brought from Canada.

Gunung Singgalang

Stall selling durian

Padang food in Aie Badarun restaurant

We took Jalan Padang Buikittinggi going toward Bukittinggi. We saw the majestic Gunung Singgalang when we passed a village before the intersection of Jalan Sicincin Pariaman. We passed another small village where there were many stalls along the road side selling kue bika a cake made of shredded coconut baked in a small and shallow pottery bowl. After passing Kayu Tanam, there were many road-side stalls selling durian. We were travelling along the foothill of the mountain, passed the waterfalls and we were in Padang Panjang.  It was located at the entrance to the valley between two gigantic volcanoes:  Gunung Merapi on the east and Gunung Singgalang on the west. It was an agricultural centre for its good soil, temperate climate and plenty of rain. We had lunch in Restaurant Aie Badarun. I saw cendol and other sweets and tried all of them. They were delicious. But later on when we were on our way to Harau, I had to release myself on the road side using the bus as a shelter. The long traffic jam started before we reached the busy vegetable market in Kota Baru. The distribution centre for vegetables grew in the area.

Water filled paddy fields

Drying red casawa cakes in Payakumbuh

Before reaching Bukittinggi, we turned east into Jalan Padang Laweh to avoid the heavy traffic. On the road shoulder, farmers were drying the newly harvested paddy. The fields had been filled with water and were ready for the next plowing and planting. We then turned east into Jalan Soekarno Hatta toward Payakumbuh. The land was a broad rich valley with some low hills on the north and Gunung Merapi on the south. The scenery of villages and paddy fields was beautiful along the road. As we were reaching Payakumbuh, we started to see the red casawa cakes being dried on the roadside. This was a famous product of the area. We were now in a rich basin surrounded by a high volcano Gunung Sago in the south, and many other hills that I didn't know their names.

Harau

The road became Jalan Raya Payakumbuh after we enter the town, and it continued to use that name as we drove north-west to Harau. The hills on the north-east border of the basin had many deep canyons called harau in Indonesian. We continued on northward at the park entrance while the highway turned east and meandering farther through the deep canyon. The scenery of the beautiful paddy fields were now enhanced by the steep cliff in the background as we enter the canyon. The sun was shining low on the paddy fields and made the scenery more attractive.We didn't go deep into the canyon and stopped in front of a high cliff where was the entrance to the park of the waterfalls.

There were many stalls selling foods, souvenirs, wild plants and orchids collected locally. Monkeys were playing, jumping from trees to trees, and feeding on the tall fruit trees. I was walking pass a rudimentary amusement park for kids, and heard a large banging sound, and when I turned my head, I saw a large durian rolling on the ground. I looked up the tall durian tree, and saw a monkey was walking on its branch. Apparently, the monkey was testing the ripeness of some fruits, and one of them felt down on the corrugated roof of a stall and produced that large sound, and then felt to the ground. It would be a fatality if one was unlucky to be stricken by one of the falling durian.

Waterfalls in Harau

 The flow of the falls was not large, and the falls looked like a thin sheet of water falling from the top. When the breeze blew, the sheet of water would shift accordingly. There was a shallow pool at its foot, and a sandy shore around it. Vendors were renting floaters in many shapes and colours, and mats to be spreaded on the beach.  Simple wooden stalls and benches were built around it on a higher ground. Unfortunately, the ground was literally covered by all kinds of food wrapping, diapers, unfinished foods, and I didn’t see anyone making any attempts to clean it. We paid entrance fee to get in to the park, but very little was probably spent on the budget for cleaning.

There was another falls in 5 minutes walk farther on the trail. We passed a newly cultivated land with many coco trees. The falls height and flow volume was about the same as the first one with only very few stalls and no visitors. I was surprised that people came so far to see the falls but didn’t want to walk for a few more minutes to see the other falls, and preferred to squeezed in the crowd.

Guest houses in Harau

We then drove back on the same road and on a junction we continued on northward to see another attraction near the head of the small inlet of the canyon. We passed a hanging bridge over a small clean creek. The setup was very gorgeous with the setting sun shining on the escarpment in the background. After walking through a paddy field on a narrow cement trail, we arrived in a guest house compound where there were several buildings in the shape of traditional Minang houses. This was my second visit to the place. I was told that it was built by an European who had married a local woman. It started as their residence but later developed into guest house. Mei agreed that it was the ideal place for us to stay overnight, but she was afraid that it might be hard to make any reservation here and had reserved rooms in a hotel in Bukittinggi. We saw a young white tourist who had spent 2 years travelling before arriving here.

Watching oxen races

We took the same road to return to Bukittinggi. After we passed a creek north of Payakumbuh, we saw many cars and motor bikes parking on the roadside, and a large crowd was gathering around a big field the size of a football field. People were watching the oxen races in the muddy field. When we arrived in Bukit Tinggi, first we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It was famous for its specially cooked chicken.  And there was not much choices for others due to the late hour. The chicken was the tough and skinny country chicken, and we had problem to chew on it. I didn’t feel anything special of its taste. The hot and sour source consisted of large chunks of tomatoes was delicious. The driver had some difficulties to maneuver the bus into the parking lot due to the narrowness of the street and the high curb. I thought it hit the curb and made a small dent on the underside of the bus.We stayed in Hotel Rocky located on the top of a hill in Bukittinggi. It was a new hotel with up to date facilities. I called the front desk to get the password for accessing the Wi-Fi. I had to call 5 times because I didn't get it correctly. I didn't know if it was because of my hard hearing or because they could not spell it slowly for me to comprehend. They thought it was a problem with the setup in my computer and send an IT technician to fix my problem. When they knocked on the door, I asked the staff to write down the password for me before I would let them in. I got it right this time and it worked.

Bukit Tinggi 2012-6-26

Clock tower seen from Rocky hotel

Hotel Rocky offered an excellent view of the city. We saw the clock tower which was the landmark of the city from our room. The hotel was known for offering good selection of dishes for breakfast which was included in the fee. What attracted me most were the selection of cendol and other sweets. I liked bubur sumsum. It was a porridge made of rice flour, and it was sweeten with anau syrup. The syrup had a certain special flavour and flagrant that brought back a lot of my childhood memory. I decided to buy some of this sugar to take home. The other hot food was just ok.

Clock tower

Taking a break

We checked out after having breakfast, and took the bus to the clock tower not far from the hotel. Man pointed out to me that the Roman numeral IV on the clock face was in the form of IIII. I checked on the Internet and found that this was a common practice in the clock making a long time ago. There were many people wearing different Disney World comic costumes. They were posting with visitors to take photos, and relied on their generosity for tips. When they took off their costumes, I found that many of them were teenagers and some were even younger. I noticed a group of them were squatting on the lawn. One was counting the wrinkle and dirty small bills he had received. One was finishing his lunch wrapped in banana leaf. The rest were chatting happily. Somehow, I felt that many of them could be the street kids, and I felt sorry for them.

Manual cart in Sungai Puar

In Taufig Ismail Museum

We left and headed for Padang. Not long after we left the town, we saw a busy market in Sungai Puar. It was a vegetable distribution centre south of Bukittinggi. The market was at the top of a small hill, and there were many manual carts heavily loaded with vegetables practically flying down the hill with its puller hanging in the air. The car drivers were very afraid of them and would always yield to let them have the road. We stopped at Kotabaru to buy some kue bika and then visit the Memorial Museum of the famous poet Taufiq Ismail. But the museum was closed that day in anticipation of a visit by VIP. We could only stroll in the beautiful garden and enjoyed the scenery of the country.

An mosque with unique roof structure

Underground toilet on roadside

Before entering Padang Panjang, we took a detour by turning east into Jalan Tabek Gadang Gantiang, and then joint Jalan Solok Padangpanjang going east to Danau Singkarak. We passed a small village north-west of a junction with Jalan Padangpanjang Batusangkar, and saw a very unique mosque with multi-tier roof. I had seen this mosque many times before, but had not the chance of stopping and taking more detail photos of it. There was no service station on this road, and we stopped in the public toilet on the roadside near a village. Most of the public toilet in Indonesia were on the ground with some simple wall and an opening into a ditch or creek. This one was unique. It was a big hole dug under ground, and the user was squatted inside to use it.

Passing a low railway underpass

We were travelling south-east along the coast of Danau Singkarak but it was far inland and we didn't yet see the lake. The traffic jam started when we approached a low railroad underpass. There was a big truck parking on the roadside unloading some of its cargo. It was too high and could not go through the underpass. Another big truck was turning away because the container was too tall. A crew of a big bus was standing on the roof of the bus squeezing the cargo covered by canvas on top of the roof to make sure that the bus could get through safely.

Houses built on stilts

Rocky beach

Danau Singkarak

Soon we saw the lake after we went through the underpass, and found the railroad running along side with the road. It was probably not being used now. There were many houses and stores along the shore, and there were all built on concrete stilts erected in the shore of the lake. The road and the scenery were good, and  an International biking tournament was held here not long ago. The major souvenirs  sold in the store along the road was dried small fish caught from the lake, and we saw many of them being dried on the roadside. We also saw people harvesting tiny shellfish on the shore. They brought their harvest to the roadside for sorting. We stopped at a small park before we reached the southern end of the lake. The beach was covered with small rocks and was not attractive, and there was no specialty snacks to try. We stayed there for about an hour doing nothing but to have a rest. A man was soliciting us to ride his boat to tour the lake, but none of us was interested.

We followed the same road and backed to Padang Panjang, and stopped at one of the restaurant to have its famous sate. To me it was the same as the sate sold in Padang. The restaurant offered a good view of the volcanoes and the country side. We reached Padang after dark.

Padang 2012-6-27

Someone told us that it was easy to extend the visitor visa in the immigration office. We went there early in the morning hoping that we could do it before leaving to Jakarta in the afternoon. We wasted the whole morning waiting in the office, and finally got the words that it was not possible to do it there, and we must do it in Jakarta airport when we were leaving the country. It was almost 11 am and I suggested that we go to Pagi Sore restaurant to have lunch. After having our meals, we all felt that this restaurant offered the best selections and taste of  Padang food.

After lunch, we hurried to the airport on a car supplied by Vera. She told us that her agent Wan was in the airport and he would help us. The driver called Wan as we entered the airport, and Wan replied that he was busy inside, and asked us to wait in the parking lot. We waited until the Garuda airline flight that we had booked had taken off. It turned out that Vera had received the instruction from Mei to cancel my booking because Mei thought that we wanted to stay for a few more days until we got the visa extended. And later when I insisted that I wanted to leave on the same flight, Vera asked Wan to seek the possibility of getting seats for us, but the plane was full and he tried to put us on standby without any success. The next flight was at 18:00, and it was also full. Vera called and asked the driver to take us back to Sefat’s house. She later called and told us that she got us another booking on Sriwijayar Airline leaving at 19:00.  

On Wan suggestion, we gave the porter Rp20,000, and we gave him Rp50,000 for helping us. The waiting room was full, and most of the passengers were natives. Our flight left almost on time. The airplane was older and had lesser leg room. Mei had delivered a pot of sweet kolak when we left Sefat’s house, but we were too full to have it. The airline didn’t offer any hot meal and only breads and muffin.

Vera had arranged to have a car picked us from Jakarta airport. I called the driver as soon as we landed, and I was glad that he answered. He found us as we wondered at the exit. He asked us to wait and went to pick up the car in the parking lot. We saw policemen enforcing the law for not allowing car stopping in the area where we were standing. I was concerned that the driver might have problems with the police when he came back picked us up, and walked up the road trying to warm him. Fortunately, he noticed the problems, and decided to stop at the driveway in the parking lot rather than on the passengers drop off area. He felt that it was better to offend other drivers behind him than the police. We called Fusiu and she and her grand-daughters came out to the lane to meet us and to help us carrying the luggage.

We had some small talks and went to have shower and went to bed early.

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Cambodia 2007, Bateay Kdei

Banteay Kdei 2007-1-12

Workers were marking the position of each stone

After Ta Prohn, we went to see Banteay Kdei temple. The first thing we saw was the large man made pond Srah Srang which was exclusively for the use of the royal family. Some crews were carefully measuring and documenting the position of each stone probably in preparation for some repairing works. They used tube filled with water to measure the vertical position of each objects (stones). This reminded me of the leveling work in hydrography experimented in Bangladesh. One of the workers carried an umbrella, he must be the boss. There were many lion sculptures and benches with naga heads on the landing. The naga head sculptures here were unique and all had the garuda face. It was the same inside the temple complex. 

The gopura at the 3rd enclosure

The garuda face naga

Lion and naga sculptures in front of the 3rd gapura

A dewata carrying a sword

The temple was surrounded by a low pink colour laterite stone walls. It was the east wall  the 4th enclosure, and it had a towering gopura with a similar face in the four sides of the tower like in the Bayon temple. We were in the 4th courtyard after passing the face gopura. There were many large trees and a low causeway with scatter remains of its balusters. The causeway ended in an elevated terrace with many lions sculptures and garuda face naga with their body extended as benches. There was a cruciform gapura on the terrace. The main entrance of this gopura had a column portico and was accessible by a raised platform from the terrace. Its pediment was decorated with many dancing apsara. On both of its side were three large square windows and a side door, and the facade was filled with the bas-reliefs of dewata. The dewata in this temple were all less than life size and their head dress were simpler and pointy conical shape. One of the bas-reliefs was a dewata carrying a long sword and standing like advarapala. The pediment on the side entrance was decorated by many kneeling figures.

The elevated causeway and libray

The wall of the 3rd enclosure beside the gopura was not in good shape. The gopura had a longer rear portico lead to a causeway in the 3rd courtyard. The causeway was elevated over a meter high and had naga balusters. The library was very close to the causeway, and its platform was on the same level as the surface of the causeway. The causeway was short and soon we were in front of the 2nd cruciform  gopura with portico. It was similar but smaller than that on the 3rd enclosure that we had just passed, and  had only two windows on each side. The roof structures were mostly gone, and showed only the corbelled stone on its top.

The dancing apsara 

Beyond this 2nd gopura was another courtyard where there was a building with many pillars. According to guide books, it was called The Hall of the Dancers but I had only one photo showing two smiling dancing apsara in large bas-reliefs. 

The top of the main tower

The main temple complex was made up of three rows of galleries or corridors running in east-west direction, and they were crossed by another three rows running in north-south direction. Four galleries on the four sides was walled and formed the inner closure. And the remaining two crossed and formed a cruciform corridor with a dorminant central tower at its centre. The top of the central tower had been bundled in thick steel wire to prevent any further deterioration or disintegration of rocks that made up the tower structure. There were eight gopura in the main temple complex: four at the corner and four at the middle of the inner enclosure. The roof of the corridor was low and supported by thick and short pillars. All towers had a lotus top.

We exit the main temple complex through the gate of a gapura and walked on the causeway. It lead us to another gopura similar to that of the gopura on the east wall of the 3rd enclosure that we had passed.

A hut for the workers in the temple courtyard

In the courtyard we saw a hut where the workers lived. This was the only temple where we saw workers lived inside.

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