In the beginning, this trip was planned to celebrate special occasion and to fulfill the passion of going to the exotic land in Sumatra, which was decided that would be West Sumatra, a.k.a. Ranah Minang. This trip had been scheduled for such a long time, more than 3 months ago, but the itinerary was only developed for only few days before the D day. Lucky me, that I had enough information to set up this trip in a very short time. All the data, such as accommodation and car rental were in the pocket. So the accommodation plan was to stay one night in Echo Resort, Harau; two nights in Bukittinggi, Novotel Hotel; and one night in Pemda Cottage in Danau Kembar. Surely the points of interest would be in the surrounding area where I stayed. I had been so excited several days before the schedule.
Only two days before I went to Sumatra I called and booked the hotel and car rental. Too bad, Novotel - Bukittinggi told me that they were fully booked. So the second choice was Grand Malindo, the much simpler hotel close to Ngarai Sihanouk (as I had information from the mailist). I rented Innova for my daily transportation, but the next day I changed to Avanza to save fuel. The only concern was about booking Cottage in Danau Kembar, which was hard to contact the PIC, but later I had contact his superior, who was coincidentally the relative of my colleague in Jakarta.
The schedule of the flight (AirAsia) was comfortable in the daytime, but the flight itself was delayed for about 30 minutes. I sent sms to the car rent to let them know about the delay before boarding. During flying, I took the picture of beautiful cabin crews.
After the lunchtime, I arrived in Padang airport and the driver was ready to pick me up. The driver seemed to be familiar with all routes in west Sumatra. We agreed to discuss further about the itinerary to ease the route and to save time during lunch in Lamun Ombak Restaurant. During lunch we also developed additional points of destination, so that we would have more objects to see. Btw, I just knew during lunch discussion that Pinang Juice was supposed to be consumed by male to improve stamina.
We left Lamun Ombak for Anai Valley to see the beautiful panorama and Aie Mancua of Anai. This time was not so crowd as I went there before. I felt much freer to take picture; I went to the river in front of the waterfall and also to the four holes beneath the bridge to take picture. I just remembered that Harau was still far away so I had to go to reach there before dark. The driver drove the car a little slow (compared to how I drove) and also drove through village streets to show the beauty of Minang land. Since I did not know the driver well, I did not want him to speed up. He showed me the longest straight flat road on Minang, while to me that was not that special, but that was okay too. He also talked about several stories about the land during the driving that I believed slow down the speed. I reached Echo Resort at Harau Valley just after the sunset. And since the resort was located in the small but steep valley, the sunlight was easily blocked away; and the result was that resort became darker than the other place in the open valley at the same time.
I did not have much time to take picture in Echo Resort when I arrived; moreover I had to choose which hut I would stay tonight. So the best way was that I saw all the available huts and in the same time I took picture inside the hut. At that night, only we who stayed there, so we would not disturb or be disturbed by other guest, he3x. After I chose the hut, I told the driver that enough for him to drive for today and he was free. He seemed to be a little astonish that he only served till dusk, but he was also happy that he did not have to work hard. He even offered to take me to see around Payakumbuh in the night, but I would prefer to take rest instead and asked him to come back again tomorrow morning at 7 am.
The resort provided the delicious orange welcome drink, so I ordered only ‘Mie Rebus’ for the dinner. The hut was equipped with television with limited channel, unique style room, and exotic open-air bathroom. Very classy I would say, but some windows did not have curtain, so I had to close it with bedcover! I did not have lots of activity that night, so I only saw some pictures I took during the day, saved it into photo bank and charged the battery. For those who are concern about insects, they should be well prepared for it, since those hut had lot of insects, such as spiders, beetles, and sometime cockroach; as proven there were several spider nets in the hut and one cockroach entered my sweet welcome drink during midnight.
I woke up a little late, since I assumed that the sunrise would not be so interesting in the middle of small-steep valley. And even so, I still had difficulties to take picture, since there were uneven mist in the scenery of that valley (anyway, I was not an expert in taking picture, ha3x). So, what could I do? I just shot anything I could do the best, including the Echo Point, the point where the sound would be echoed the best. I also had a chit-chat with several local people to have more information of surrounding area. After that, I came back to the hut, took shower and then had breakfast. Not so long, my rented driver and car had arrived. But I was again taking pictures after I saw the light was more ‘friendly’. After packed up and finished the resort bill (I did not forget to give him several advises to improve resort performance, especially about insects problem), I continued the trip to the ‘deeper’ Harau. I heard from the local people that there were several waterfalls not so far from the resort. Surely the different waterfall that I had seen in the previous trip a month ago.
As the local people said, I found two waterfalls out of several more informed. One of them were in distance so I could not take picture, while the other one was so close till I could play in the waterfall basin. But as usual, the easier people to reach the waterfall, the worse the condition. After that, I continued to the waterfalls that I had seen in the previous trip. There were three waterfalls located close to each other. In the previous trip I went to only two waterfalls, this time I went to all three of them. I met students who were having research on the waterfall basins and its streams. I did not know what kind of chemical they brought but it seemed complicated. I saw that they were cheerful and had plenty spare time, since they were taking picture during their research. Satisfied of taking picture, I ran to Bukittinggi and started to explore the next interesting destinations on the way to Bukittinggi and its surrounding.
Before I reached Bukittinggi, I was passing Payakumbuh and stopping over on Ngalau Indah. Ngalau Indah was an old huge cave. There were several openings in this cave; one of them was so big. There were several stalagmites and stalactites, and unique-shape stones, which were named by local people (I can’t remember all the names). There were also high and completely dark ceiling where hundreds (or millions) of bat hanging there. I could only hear the voice of those bats. To see them, I took picture with full power strobe (I had only built-in strobe, hiks) and high ISO camera. About guano? Surely I could smell the guano. Inside the cave I could only see mostly brownish color of stone, but when I took picture, it showed its original partly green color, since there were many algae (or fungus or else?) on those stones. I could also see town of Payakumbuh from the opening behind the cave. Sun was already high and I was hungry, so I looked for lunch.
My appetite was satisfied in Restaurant ‘Pergaulan’ in Payakumbuh. My driver said that was popular restaurant in Payakumbuh. To me the taste was just so-so and their ‘Dendeng’ was so hard to chew, too bad.
My Car continued heading to Puncak Pato, the place that I never heard before. This one based on the information from my driver. He said that this was one of the famous places to see the beautiful scenery from the hilltop. It did not take so much time to reach there, but truly speaking I was not satisfied with the scenery; the area was surrounded by high bushes and small pines, so that I could not enjoyed the scenery from the hilltop. Only the cool wind satisfied my heart and body, so relaxing. However, I took picture vertically among the pines and picture of small building that was said had history, but what history? I did not know. O yap, I must note that there was guard who asked me money to pass the gate, while there was no ticket as receipt. To be honest, that was not noble conduct for Indonesian tourism image; more over the place was not good and not well maintained.
During driving, I realized that the domes of many mosques in West Sumatra had different shape compared to most of them in Java. They were unique, so that I took picture of them usually when my driver committed his praying rituals.
No so far from Puncak Pato, my next destination was Tabek Patah. This was also said by the driver that I might enjoy the scenery from the garden on the hilltop. And again, I was asked for money to get in there without ticket receipt; such a shameful conduct I must say. But yes, at least the scenery was better than Puncak Pato. The maintenance of the garden? Do not even ask that, since you will get unsatisfying answer, how ever I took several macro pictures of flower here.
My driver also advised me to stop over on Batu Angkek-angkek. I could not remember why I refused to go there, but if I am not mistaken that was because I was behind schedule. Beside that, I could not remember what the special of Kelok Sembilan (another destination that I missed) was. And that was why I did not have picture and story of it (or is it just a name of district in Kabupaten Tanah Datar which has many tourist objects?). But I can remember that I refused to see a place (can’t remember the name) where there was pond containing sacred fish. It was said that during Idul Fitri, the ‘mother’ of that sacred fish (which was said so big) would show for only one night. I had heard so many resemble story in Java and I had seen big fresh-water fish from Kalimantan, Papua, Thailand, and Amazon, so I felt that I was not curious to see those sacred fish.
The time when I arrived in Bukittinggi was just right! Yes, because I wanted to see the sunset in Ngarai Sihanouk. Seemed that the officers in the gate were already gone and there were only several young men with warrior look ‘preman’ sitting around the gate. I paid ‘the ticket’ (and again with no ticket receipt) to those young men. I entered the garden through well-built stairs and saw many things. The garden seemed well maintained; I saw few monkeys in the bush, took picture of many things, the valley, the monkeys, the monument, and the Japanese Cave, which was closed due to the earthquake happened before. I walked to west of the Garden passing by souvenir shops to see the sunset. Unfortunately, the sky was not so clear so that I could not record the beauty of sunset on Sihanouk Valley. Whilst hundreds of the giant bat came out from the east part of the valley started to fly to the North West looking for their food. Local people said that there were giant trees east down there in the valley where the giant bats stay during daylong. I was surprised to see a local young man riding motorcycle running around in the garden; how come? How could that motorcycle enter the garden through the stairs and gate? But, I found the answer myself; I believed that there must be other way to get in the garden beside the official gate. Time was ticking and after the sunset I came back to the parking lot and drove the car to Malindo Hotel.
Malindo Hotel was so close to other smaller but official gate of the garden I entered before (So the information about Malindo location I had from the mailister was accurate). I planned to take picture again tomorrow morning in Sihanouk Valley. A little surprise that this hotel did not have elevator, so that I had to use stairs to go to my room in 3rd floor. I took shower and then I went to Novotel Hotel. I was curious about this hotel since it was said this was the most beautiful hotel in Bukittinggi. After the driver dropped me in Novotel, I asked the driver to come tomorrow morning at 8 am, since I knew that I would go out late after taking picture tomorrow morning.
I was very surprised when I was checking the room availability in Novotel; several days before I went to Padang, the hotel was fully book, but when I was there, there were several rooms available. Too bad, I had checked in the Malindo Hotel, which could not be canceled. I should have checked in Novotel before I went to Malindo, phew. The Novotel officer said, that they did not receive any booking order from distance and the polite way to say that was by saying the hotel was fully book. Okay, I accepted their reason and then I booked a room for tomorrow, since my plan was to stay in Bukittinggi for 2 nights. I also requested to have a room with view to Mountain Merapi and Singgalang, which was accepted and confirmed by the female officer.
Dealing with the officer done, I went to the Novotel backyard, and took several pictures over there. I was so occupied in taking picture around the pool, till the security guard came to me and said hello:
“What can I do, Sir?”
(Oh gee, perhaps the way I took picture made him curious, ha3x)
“No thanks, I just wanna take picture of this beautiful yard, don’t bother, I ‘ll be okay”
And he replied “Oh, taking pictures? Ah ohh, I see, I thought you ‘re in trouble till crawling beside the pool”
“Ohh, I ‘m just fine, no worry, and thanks for asking” I replied back.
And then he went away.
Finished taking pictures in the backyard, I also took picture in the lobby hall, even though I knew that I would be here again tomorrow night; but perhaps tomorrow might not be the same.
After I felt enough taking picture in Novotel, I walked to Gadang Clock Garden area, which was close to Novotel and looked for dinner. Hmm, seemed every food was in Minang style, so I decided to have KFC for the late dinner. After that, I walked around the Gadang Clock Garden, watching the ‘Pasar Atas’ (Pasar Ateh) that was closed already; only ‘Kaki Lima’ traders were still open in front of the ‘Pasar Atas’. I continued walking downward to Jend. Sudirman street, passing the hotel I had stayed during my previous trip, but then I turned back to Malindo Hotel since it was very late around 11 pm. I chose short cut from Novotel to Malindo, which was a little bit spooky in the night due to minimum light and almost no other pedestrian.
I woke up a little late in the morning, so that the reddish sky was gone, but I was still optimist to go to Sihanouk Valley Viewing Garden as I had planned in the day before. That morning I was guided by my own instinct to find the motor way into the garden. And yeah, I found it, even though I was lost for a little while.
In the morning, situation of the garden was quite different compared to it at dusk. The ray of light breached out among trees creating a natural painting of lights. Whilst lots of monkey came out from the bush and looked for their breakfast in the garbage containers or asked to the early coming visitors; few of those monkeys were having ritual to preserve their existence. I also took pictures of the valley with the background of mountain Singgalang, which was relatively clear from cloud in the morning. I also walked down through the steep stairs in the west-side of the garden, curious what was down there, as local guide had said a day before that those stairs were the path for trekking to the valley heading to the home of giant bats. After walking down for a while, I changed my mind and decided to go back for three reasons. Firstly, I believed the trekking path was pretty long; secondly, the stairs was so steep so that climbing back would be very exhausting; thirdly, I did not want to be late to go back to the hotel.
Back to the hotel, I took morning shower and continued to have breakfast. A little late breakfast so that I had to ask the hotel to add more food in the buffet table. I was ready to check out after 9 am, more than one hour behind schedule. My driver was a little bit surprised to see me checking out from the hotel since I planned to stay two nights in Bukittinggi. Then I explained that I wanted to move to Novotel. By the way, Novotel officer had called me to make sure that I would not cancel my booking. My car headed right away to Novotel and I saw my name was on the guest list box in the lobby, what a surprise.
But such a high profile international hotel like Novotel, could not fulfill what they had promised me before. They had confirmed in the day before that I would have a room with a view of mountain Merapi and Singgalang, but the day I checked in I got room with view of Bukittinggi town. I surely asked to change room as they had promised before. And they confirmed to move my luggage to the new room, while I was going out. Okay, I considered case closed.
The next destination was ......... (to be continued at Part II http://richardkurni.multiply.com/journal/item/10/West_Sumatra_-_The_Rising_Star_Part_II)
gallerynya dhuong.. 
