October 19, 2006
Another Rest Day in Bukittinggi: A few more days here
We first met Das at the Cafe Bedugal, and he tells us he does jungle tours. We decide to see the orangutans from Medan and arrange with Das to do a local tour with car and driver/guide. Through travel agencies we needed four people or with only the two of us, it would be very expensive.
Das is in the lobby when we go down at 8:20am, something unusual for Indonesia. He introduces us to the driver, and we are off for a day tour. The driver has spent time in Holland as an interpreter for an Indonesian film crew and he shows us pictures. He will talk with us in English though. We've learned when arranging tours to make sure the guide will speak English.
It is a smokey, foggy day, the ride in the taxi is comfortable. We head southeast toward Tabek Patah, but there are no panoramic views today. Our guide, Indra, tells us about the myth around Minangkabau culture. The Minangkabau were facing an imminent attack by a Javanese king, and they proposed a fight between two bulls rather than battle between two armies. When the time came the West Sumatrans dispatched a tiny calf to fight the enormous Javanese bull. The shrewd Minang had half-starved the calf and attached sharp metal spears to its horns. Believing the Javanese bull to be its mother, the calf rushed to suckle and ripped the bull's belly to shreds. When the bull finally dropped dead, the people of West Sumatra shouted "Minangkabau, Minangkabau" which literally means "The buffalo wins, the buffalo wins."
We stop at Sungai Tarab and see the coffee mills driven by an ancient water wheel system and buy a bag of ground coffee. Indra points out the cinnamon trees and stops to cut a piece of bark off one. We see many old scars on the trunk, he always stops at this tree. He stops by rice fields, and we take plenty of pictures. We pass by and look at the Sanskrit stones in Lima Kaum. In Batusangkar, we wander through the Pagaruyung King's Palace.
The ride continues through the countryside past Lake Singkarak, we can barely see the lake so continue on. Our last stop is Pandai Sikek, we had already been here with Yudi. We stop at a different shop; our guide buys a new shirt for Idul Fitri. The shop lady recognizes us from the day before yesterday. We are back to the hotel by 2pm and we go eat at "our regular" cafe.
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