Jalan, Jalan
When the Nusantara Surf Charter came to an end we broke into three groups, the crew stayed on board and took inventory with no beer in sight, the Californians went to the airport and one Cali to Bali, and the Australian transplants joined us at the Savali Hotel. www.savalihotel.com.
We sat in the lobby looking at surf clips, sending emails, and having a few Bintang beers and trading information. Mark and I, from Alaska, were waiting for Ayen to put closure on our surf charter details and begin the process for the next group going out in four days. The Savali Hotel is worth mentioning for those heading to Padang, Western Sumatra.
The hotel has all the amenities a traveler would ask for; Internet, swimming pool, restaurant, bar, clean rooms, centrally located and reasonably priced. There is a bicycle race coming up and the Savali Hotel is now taking reservations for those who need a place to stay and would like to cool off in a pool when not spinning or watching spinners to their thing.
DK, Ayen, Mark, and I took off with a driver, Hendra, around mid-day for a road trip up into the West Sumatran hills.
I didn’t really care where I was going, I just felt fortunate that DK and Ayen invited us on the trip. We drove up a gorge roughly following an old rail track and a series of bridges left over by the Japanese from WWII. Apparently they used the rail to bring coal out of the mountains. A narrow one lane each way paved road took the rails place on one side of the river. If someone were to ask me, which side of the road the Indonesians drive on, I’d say, BOTH.
The center line is a mere guideline but each car is across that line half the time. We were stopped by a few accidents and had more than a few close calls ourselves. I think the trick is not to look.
We pulled into the town of Bukittinggi and immediately noticed the clock tower which is quite impressive. We stayed at The Hills Hotel which has a beautiful pool and restaurant setting. www.thehillshotel.com.
Being up in the mountains, the town has a very comfortable temperature and the views of the Sianok Canyon, the Singgalang Mountains and the town center are both stunning. Ayen had a couple friends in town and one of them joined us, Leni, in the Anai Bar for an avocado something while we stuck to what we know, margaritas and gin and tonics and cold beer. When the live entertainment began we went off to a local spot for what is called Padang food but it originated in Bukittinggi; spicy if you want it and more mild if you can't handle the other. The sauces are to die for.
We kind of put Leni in the hot seat with questions but by the time dinner was over, we had her laughing and carrying on. We went to a pool hall after dinner for Karaoke and a pool table. The town has a nice mix of both Moorish and Minangkabau architecture. Leni and Hendra walked though the tail end of the top market with us. The Hills Hotel is also a big convention center that caters up to 1000 people. (Just FYI.)
11:30pm, the market was in full swing on the clock tower grounds. We later learned there were three markets selling different items. The clock tower market, the upper market, or top market, Wednesdays and Saturdays and pretty focused on tourism, the lower market focused much more on the locals with everything from fish, herbs, and veggies to household items and student supplies. On the late night walk after a fantastic dinner we found another market which loosely connected the other two markets. The make shift shops lined both sides of a narrow road and was closed and covered in tarps. The night came to a close. We were off to the Japanese Tunnel and the ghosts that lived inside the next day with Leni as our tour guide.
http://www.davidcdagley.com
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