From Lake Toba, Bukittinggi was a sixteen hour bus journey through the night along the Trans-Sumatran Highway, and this was no highway. The journey was a winding, bouncy slow test of endurance while people threw up in plastic carrier bags around you. Forgetting about the bus itself the journey was just gorgeous passing through small villages that sat amongst sprawling rice paddies that were guarded by the powerful lush green, volcanic landscape. Oh and the sunset. WOW!
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| The sun sets alond the Trans-Sumatran Highway |
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| Sprawling Rice Paddies |
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| Sorry-Just ONE more then I am done! |
We arrived in Bukittinggi the following morning and it was busy because of the weekend and the place being a get-away from Padang. We checked into Hotel Asia which cost us £8 and with being as tight as we are transferred the following morning across the road to Rajawali Home Stay at only £4 per night. We should have stayed where we were. The Rooms in this place again had us brushing teeth into a squat toilet and hygiene was once again chucked out of the window. There is still no way that we are showering with a bucket of dirty water. Ulrich the German owner however was a fountain of local knowledge and very helpful.
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| Arriving in Bukittinggi |
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| Seriously would you bucket shower in here? |
While in Bukittinggi we spent breakfasts at Turret Cafe. The woman was lovely and so were the breakfasts with home-made bread and amazing coffee. The town had a good atmosphere with busy markets where we did some Christmas Shopping, a clock tower and cheap street food that could be enjoyed with more bottles of Bintang.
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| Bukittinggi Main Square |
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| Another Clock Tower |
There is a giant canyon called Sianok on the fringes of the town and we headed out on a 7km walk. This took us down into the canyon before rock climbing the opposite side. Here we entered the jungle and passed through two villages famous for silver works. The landscape was beautiful with awesome views of the Merapi volcano. It was a difficult climb back down into the canyon due to landslides. Flip-flops were probably not a great idea and we still had to cross another crazy bridge. I don’t think people check these routes out as often as they should.
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| On our way down to the Sianok Canyon |
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| We just love this Jungle Trekking |
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| The Merapi Volcano |
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| What is it with foot bridges in Indonesia? |
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| Absoulutely Terrifying!!! |
We managed to finish just before the rain came and took shelter at a little cafe where we got talking to a local. He got us to sample some local fruit and gave us a great insight into the local area and community as well as what it was like to live beside an active volcano. It last erupted in the 1980’s and it just seems to be part of everyday life. One thing they do look out for are the animals that live high on the volcano, because when they start coming lower it means the ground is getting warmer and that something is happening inside the volcano. I thought I would pass on some local insight for you.
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| Merapi very close for comfort |
That is pretty much all there is to tell you about Bukittinggi, apart from me finally joining facebook after fighting it for years and the fact that I lost Reed About Beer for three days. It just vanished from Blogger. Now that freaked me out.
So this is farewell to Sumatra and it has been a truly amazing place to travel through. Next we have to get ourselves south to Bali for Christmas where we are once again meeting up with Danny and Kathryn before they head to Australia. Two flights should get us there, Padang to Jakarta in Java and then Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali.
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| Our Sumatran exit road from Bukittinggi to Pedang International Airport |
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