Stay in traditional Minangkabu housing, Padi Ecolodge
Full days that are going fast! It feels like it was ages ago when I was planning this trip. Reading travel information, YouTube video research, and trip reports, sorting through the information I found some gems.
After a lot of input, I settled on five key priorities I wanted to experience. information then settled into details supporting those priorities. Among piles of information, I noticed certain types of information. Padi Ecolodge was one such gem that rose to the surface. Many people highly recommended it! Once I learned it was not in Bukittinggi but at the beginning of Sinok Canyon, I was interested!
Correspondence with Jaka was awesome and I committed to being here for two nights largely because of him.
After being in Bukittinggi, and enjoying my stay at Hello homestay, I was ready for a quiet environment! The mosque was literally across the street so I was awake at 4:38 am when the morning call to prayers started.
The photo gallery below shows you what type of experience I walked into. My Grab driver stopped on the street. No sign anywhere for Padi! He pointed to a nondescript sidewalk going between two buildings. I emerged on the path in the photo above. It was like walking through a space warp!
For more information: Padi Ecolodge.
Committment to learn English!!
A man stepped into the front of Hello Homestay yesterday where I was eating breakfast and working on photos. He asked if I could give 5 or 6 minute of my time to help his students practice their English? Of course! They went from scripted questions to more conversation and curiosity. I learned that I was the first Native English speaker they had ever met. They, two teachers and 34 students, rode a bus 5 hours that morning coming to Bukittinggi with hopes of meeting some foreigners they could talk with. Around 5:00 pm, they got back on the bus for a return 5 hour trip home. All to learn English! What a committment! I was impressed by both the teachers and students committment!
Bukittinggi experience!
Interesting walking around Bukittinggi! I can see why my friend told me this was a culture as friendly as Bali. People are lovely, curious, open, want to talk and are just generally nice! Playful, smiling, often shy until I say hello. It’s lovely just walking around. I went into a local restaurant. I was the only foreigner in there and they acted if foreigners rarely entered. The manager asked me if I liked local food? I told him I didn’t know what I was looking at. He helped me select several things and brought more samples. The entire staff took great plere in watching me eat and try their food. THey laughed and joked with me! My presence was their entertainment. When I finished, the manager asked me, “Now that we have met, do you consider me a friend?” I said no, put my arm across his shoulder and told he was my brother.
Bukittinggi Images from my walk.
The clock tower is central to the city. I found it without difficulty! And it is a central part of life here. People gather, play, talk, sit, play with family, study English and a bit of everything can be expected here! I walked much more than I anticipated, found the panorama, walked down into the tunnels, explored areas around the clock tower, walked through the shopping center and found a place to relax with a coffee and a treat! For more information on what to see in Bukittinggi, I chose a random but good blog post. Click here for that!
Novel experiences so far!
Time in this country isn’t particularly relevant! I’m scheduled for a 2:00 pm bus tomorrow but pick up is 1:00. Maybe?? The bus picked me up early in Padang to come here. They said the ride was about 2 hours. It was 3 hours. My driver told me we were only 30 minutes away when we turned back from a tour to head to Bukittinggi, it was 2 hours!
Today, I rented a motorbike. Without a doubt, it was the most “experienced” bike I had ever rented. They have a system where owners can lend their bikes for daily rental fees. One man from here checked it out for me. It seemed questionable but I wasn’t planning to go very far so thought it would be fine.
I rode farther than I initially thought I would. Then, when I reached the farthest point in my ride, overlooking Lake Maninjau, the exhaust system fell apart! Loud pop-pop exhaust noises came from under the bike. The muffler looked like it would fall off. Slowly, gently, I turned back toward home. In a short distance, I found a motorbike repair place. The mechanic got wire to hold up the muffler, tightened the bolt, and told me to rice very easily on my way back. I handed him 20,000 Indonesian rupiah. He said that was too much and handed back 10,000 rupiahs. Roughly, he charged me 65¢ for helping me!
Nearly back at Padi, I stopped for coffee and juice at a cafe. The remaining exhaust pipe fell off as I pulled in! The staff laughed at the noise and then wanted to learn about me!
Few foreigners go in that direction on motorbikes. Everyone who looked up, and recognized me as a foreigner, smiled and began waving. Others hearing this looked and did the same. The added attention caused by the loud exhaust made for an interesting time engaging with people on my way home!
With slow wifi, it has taken me two days to put together this post. I uploaded photos last night as I went to bed, leaving my computer working without me. Tonight, I have to stop every so often and simply let the computer take its time with slow internet to load images, save changes, etc. I’ve loaded and reloaded the same images at least three times, that takes about 40 minutes. Patience!
Patience is a travel essential. And more patience…more patience…more patience…paves the way for simple things to fall together!
Cow Racing Video!
I pieced together several video’s to make the video below. It will give you a better experience of the event then photo’s alone would. Those are in the gallery below!
Serendipitity! Ask questions and listen!
I aske Ling about going to the Haru Valley. It was a longer day than I was interested in. Somehow,the conversation turned to a local traditional community, rice fields, plantations that were much closer. Then she mentioned the “cow racing” tomorrow…the last day of the celebration! She texted Armando and we were set. I saw clove trees, cinnamon tree plantations, fruit trees of all sorts, lemon grass, and more on the early part of the tour. Ask….stay open…be flexible…see what shows up! Such a great day for me, even with the first 2 1/2 hours of riding through the rain. The weather cleared, and it was warm and clear when we got to the racing area. Here’s a gallery of images from that experience!
Travel tomorrow and the next day.
Tomorrow I relax here before going back to Padang. I’m staying in a homestay not far from the airport for an early departure the next morning. Then, on the 31st, I’ll be flying to Medan where I’ll be met by a driver for the 3-4 hour drive to Bukit Lawang. That is where I’ll go back into the forest to see wild orangutans, other birds, and wildlife, and simply enjoy the sights and feeling of being in the original forest again! This is part of my trip I canceled last year because my knee was so swollen and painful, I could not do the hiking. NOW! Someday is here again. This morning, I am waking up to the birds and beauty and quiet of Padi Ecolodge. Tomorrow morning, I will be a world away in a different jungle at Green Hills in Bukit Lawang!
