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(continuation of Part II http://richardkurni.multiply.com/journal/item/10/West_Sumatra_-_The_Rising_Star_Part_II ) ........ and taste in cooking ‘Ayam Pop’.

I did not want to be too late to reach Danau Kembar (Twin Lake), since I felt uncomfortable with the booking system of the cottage owned by Local Government (Pemda). Moreover, I would like to take picture of sunset in Danau Kembar. Those were why after my visit in Museum Minangkabau and finished my lunch, I rushed to Danau Kembar and just stopped by few minutes in Singkarak Lake to take a rest and to take pictures for sure. My driver did not seem understand what I wanted (or should I ask him to speed up directly?), so that he drove as usual whilst I needed faster to catch up sunset on Danau Kembar. I arrived in Danau Kembar after dusk and missed the sunset and reddish sky.

As I had thought before that I was concern with the management of Government-owned cottage, I found difficulties to check in this cottage. The officer was not there and left no message to the people in the cottage. His family did not know anything and could not take any action to their guest like me. His cell phone could not be contacted too. Arrkhh, I was getting upset. Lucky me, I had contact of his superior who was coincidentally the relative of my colleague in Jakarta. So I called him and told him what happened. My friend’s relative act was pretty quick, he talked directly to officer’s wife and asked her to provide me small cottage so that I could check in right away. I got simple small cottage with very modest furniture and less than minimum kitchen equipment. I did not care of those things, but I did care about cleanliness and hot water, since I knew this place would be so cold in the night and in the morning. The bathroom was not good and the water in the bath was not look clean, but there was new water heater, thanked Lord! But it did not work (or the boy who took care of the cottage did not know how to operate that?), so I tried to operate that myself. And thanked Lord again, I made it. After that I prepared the bed for better quality sleep in the cold weather, had dinner from snacks and left Martabak Mesir I brought from Bukittinggi.

When I came out of the cottage, I saw millions of stars in the clean dark sky, very beautiful! So, I took picture of them. I also took picture of the huge cottage in front of mine. That cottage seemed to be luxurious and well maintained. I did not know how much their rate was, but I believed it would be much more expensive than mine. I did not have lots of thing to do again and would like to wake up pretty early tomorrow, so that I slept a little early and set my PDA to ring me up tomorrow, hopping that tomorrow morning would have clear sky as the night had before.

In the next morning I woke up before my PDA rang. Perhaps because I was so exiting to take picture of beautiful sunrise or because I was so cold, ha3x. When I opened the curtains, I saw that the sky was starting reddish, so that I rushed to backyard and started taking pictures. Even though I could take pictures of reddish sky, I could not take pictures of the sun itself due to the cloud in the east, too bad. I ran to the front office looking for my driver. I would like to go to ‘Danau di Bawah’ (Lower Lake) to take picture of beautiful sunrise from there. But it seemed my driver was not ready; the car was not there, so that I was disappointed, since I had asked him to come at 6 am in the morning. Perhaps, he thought that I would use the car late morning just like several days before (he should not think that way, since he never knew what I had in mind, and as our agreement. I paid him full day of service).

Then I had to change my plan by taking pictures around ‘Danau di Atas’ (Upper Lake) where the cottage was located. Anyway, I was not so disappointed because I made lots of great picture around the Lake. The direction of the sunlight was just perfect and the sky was so blue, so the scenery around ‘Danau di Atas’ was so breathtaking. I took pictures of small port, stones in the shallow lake, small kids playing in the shallow water, and many other things. I waited pretty long to take pictures of small boat passing by me, but it was worthwhile waiting. I was so amazed to see the cold but crystal clear water in that lake. I was imaging that I could dive here someday.

After that I came back to the front office and I found my driver and the car were already there, ready for service. I talked to the driver that he was supposed to be there much earlier as I told him in the night before. He just said sorry for his mistake. Okay, no problem, I asked him to have breakfast in the front office, while I was packing up my luggage. I only had an apple and few crispy for my breakfast.

Finished my luggage, I went to the front office to settle my bill. I was surprised that the officer asked for higher rate. How come? That was not the price I was promised by his superior. With a little argument I settled the payment. (sshhh, it was not supposed to happen, since it just ruined the cottage image).

My destination right now was ‘Danau di Bawah’, the destination that I missed this early morning. To see ‘Danau di Bawah’ I had to go to the place called The Peak. As I predicted, I was asked for money to get in there with no ticket receipt (I was tired of this shameful conduct). Not like ‘Danau di Atas’, ‘Danau di Bawah’ could not be reached closely to touch the water. I only saw it from The Peak. The Peak Garden had many beautiful flowers for sale. I took pictures of the landscape and several flowers in that garden.

I talked to the driver to find a road to get closer to the lake. I hoped that I could see the lake closely and touched the water. My driver said that he had talked to local people and he would find the way. But it seemed that the information he got was invalid, he never found the way. Then I directed the car by my instinct to find the way. I chose the small road in the left side before The Peak. That road was good but small, so that the driver would have to be really careful when there was other car up front. The road I chose could only get me closer to the lake, and to literally touch the water I had to walk through bush or hundreds meter through the fields owned by local people. I decided not to do that, but I took several pictures of ‘Danau di Bawah’ from different locations that I did not go there in the previous trip. I also look into the map I had brought from Jakarta, and I found that the map was not so detail to show the small road circling the lake, but I saw that the road I chose were shortcut to Solok.

I asked the driver to go back again, since I never planned to use this road, and more over I would like to go to ‘Danau di Atas’ again but in the different section. I think I do not have to mention again that I was asked again for money with no ticket receipt when entering the tourism area in ‘Danau di Atas’. This place was worse than The Peak, not clean, no flower, but I could touch the water just like in front of the cottage. There was bigger port but less artistic compared to the port in front of the cottage, where big boat, that perhaps used by tourist, was tied up. There were also several aggressive sellers compared to those in The Peak, selling marquise fruit. I saw some fishermen working on his net-ponds, while others were fishing. Walking to the right side, I found garbage and human drops in the lake, ah, what a pity! Anyhow, I made good pictures in this area.

Felt that I had enough pictures, I came back to my car and drove back to Padang since that day was the last day in west Sumatra. On the way back to Padang, I stopped at Panorama II ‘Sitinjau Laut’ to see scenery of Andalas cement factory and city of Padang in the far background. Just like I saw in my previous visit, the scenery was not clear, perhaps because of air pollution of the cement factory. So, I did not get great pictures from this place. I was not interested to stop at Panorama I and just took picture of the location from the car.

I arrived in Padang just before noon, and I stopped to the biggest mall in Padang, that, as I guessed, was as good as small and simple mall in Jakarta. But that was okay, since I just needed to know further how the mall in Padang looked like, and also wanted to have lunch there. After that, I went to snacks shop. That time I chose ‘Rohana Kudus’ shop at ‘Rohana Kudus’ street instead of ‘Christine Hakim’ shop I had gone in the previous trip. I bought some snacks to bring home and to give my colleague in Jakarta.

And the last destination in Padang would surely be the airport. I arrived there about three hours before the flight schedule. I settled the payment of car rent to the driver at the airport after I downloaded my luggage. I also gave some bonus for his excellent services and promised him that his name ‘Sikar’ and his # 0852 657 27319, would be in my note and trip report. So that, he would hopefully be more known and have more clients next time, he3x.

Since I had plenty time in the airport, I did not want to check in my luggage earlier, for safety reason and for faster baggage claim in Jakarta. But after several passengers checked in, then I did that too. Still I had plenty time in the waiting room, so that I came out again and took picture in 2^nd floor airport hall. So funny, that several airport officers in the 1^st floor gave hand signs that it was not allowed to take picture. How come? It was clear in my mind that in my previous visit with other photographers to west Sumatra, we were free to take picture in the hall of airport. Or perhaps since I was alone, so that they were afraid and guessed that I was terrorist who planned to bomb? Gee, what a negative thought!

The flight was a little bit late behind schedule, but that was okay since I would be able to take picture of reddish sky during sunset from the flying aircraft. And lucky me, the plane was not full, so that I could move freely inside the plane to take picture. Surely I took pictures of beautiful crews as well, ha3x. What a wonderful and unforgettable trip! I was not satisfied and would like to go there again someday, especially to Danau Kembar and some islands that I did not go in this trip, such as Mentawai and Siberut islands. I also heard that there were great resorts in the small islands, such as Cubadak resort and Macaroni resort. I hoped I would have chance to go there!

Note: Only one small advice for local government of west Sumatra: They should manage landscape plan so that the building and electricity pole would not ruin the exotic scenery.

(More photoes will be uploaded in the gallery soon)