Part V

I am still in Bukittinggi, been here a week but I heading off to Lake Maninjau today for a few days as it sounds nice, a chilled out crater lake. Theres not a lot in the way of facilities there so I'll be out of contact. Probably wont be near an internet cafe for a lot of the rest of my time here in indonesia as they have very little access to it and I'm going jungle styles rather than urban.

Spent thursday wandering around the markets etc. Found a supermarket with cheap beer so we got some and spent a while drinking beer on the deck with the german fulla watching the rain while the mosque rambled on.

Here a little tale...

And so our intrepid adventurers, Aronimus and Ryan decide to venture out again onto the treacherous roads of West Sumatra, for a scenic ride around the volcano. It being a beautiful sunny day. Astride 110cc motorcycles they head off, armed with a little bit of Bahasa Indonesia and a map which was hand drawn by a Belgian and given to them by a French anthropologist.... gah, too taxing to write in the 3rd person, especially before breakfast!

Anyway, I stipulated a quiet bike this time and it was much more pleasant, not that I didn't get enjoyment value out of the braaaaap of my last bike. We missed the first turn we were supposed to make and drove for miles and miles. Eventually we decided to turn back, there was also a village that sold crafts, just back a bit we wanted to check out. We found the village but there wasn't any crafts, probably not enough tourists. The people looked at us with suspicion, it was a rather authentic minankabau village with very little motorised transport around. After leaving the village it occured to me that missing the first turn wasn't actually a problem, we were just doing the route in the opposite direction. My front tyre was in need of some air, I tried at the servo but they dont have air or food for that matter, just fuel, although they do look like a modern servo at home. I found a tyre place which comprises of a small shack on the side of the road. I rocked in and said "Pagi" and showed them the tyre. They pumped it up, didn't seem to know any english except the man said "Free" so I thanked him with "terima kasih" then "salamut tinggal" which was very well taken by them and off we headed.

Arrived at a large town, with the ocassional stop along the way for directions. Ryan being quite adept at asking the locals and most locals being rather helpful. I myself settle for "bukittinggi?" and point. Kinda been a bit slack at learning Bahasa, even though its really easy, not the same necessity when you have a companion who can do the talking. It started p1ssing down and we were immediatly saturated. Hung out for a while under a veranda. There was an art gallery with some interesting islamic inspired paintings next door. Had a tasty feed at a local pedang restaurant before setting forth into the rain that wasn't going to let up.

aaaagggghhhhh! There is a vehicle outside with some fool rambling on over a loud speaker.

Had been going for a few minutes and stopped for a photo opportunity when my bike got a puncture. Hoorrah, I got a puncture on the last journey too. Why do I always get the crap bike?! It was quite unrideable so Ryan went searching for a tyre place. Conveniently, there was one just down the road. I rode the bike down, this being a feat unto itself, and rocked up to the dude who knew no engrish but set to work immediately. There was a nice water fall there so it was rather pleasant place to kill the time. We ran into some dour looking european tourists, they weren't intrepid travellers with street cred like us, just in town to fix a puncture. Merely bus driven tourists... Puncture repair in indonesia is a fascinating affair. They put a hunk of rubber over the hole, then put the tube in a press with a kerosene burner underneath. After about 10 mins theres a very good patch on there. I gave the man 5000rp >$1 which is what the last repair cost and he accepted happily. Tyre people are honest here it would seem, no inflated tourist prices. The rain stopped too, further down the road it hadn't rained at all.

We cruised off, he didn't tighten my chain very well and it was flapping about every where. After some more directions and a chat with the Polisi (wo wanted to have coffee with us) we got onto a quaint little country lane that headed off up the mountain. The villagers were friendly and there were many calls of "Hello" and "Hello mister!" There were a lot of really attractive women hidden away up that country lane too, all with big smiles, probably hoping us handsome westerners would sweep them off their feet and take them the hell out of there. My chain sounded awful so I cruised up to these dudes working on a car (I assume it was a garage) and pointed at the problem. We fixed it and he wouldn't accept money but greatfully received my thanks and farewell in the local lingo.

In another little village a girl came up to us and wanted to practise english with us, she was rather proficient at it. We went to her house and had a drink. Must have been the talk of the town, soon a mob had formed. People look so young here, I thought she was 12 maybe 13 but she was 16.

After leaving there the road got better and better. A little country lane winding its way up the volcano, surrounded by jungle with the ocassional settlement or view of the rice paddies below. Most of the road was in good repair but there weas some fun rough stuff. Only met 2 cars and a bus along the way, came flying around a corner both times, the first time was a little lock up but no biggie the driver was grinning and said something which I interpreted as too fast. The other vehicle I just swerved and crashed my way through the lush growth on the side of the road. I think very few westerners go along that road, its not in lonely planet which is a very good thing, probably not many locals go along it either.

We took a wrong turn and went a long way in the wrong direction but it was a most excellent road, no biggie except Ryan was running out of gas. Got some directions to the right way and as it was starting to get dark I picked up the pace a bit. It was getting rather cool as we headed over the mountain and it got dark too, my light was much better this time though. All of a sudden we were out on a busy street in Bukittingi.

Thats pretty much it for the days adventures. There were many many wrong turns not mentioned as theres not a lot of road signs around but its all part of the adventure. While its nice having a guide, it's also really cool doing it for thyself.

Time to run some errands and catch a bus to Maninjau. Wicked!