October 18, 2006
Rest Day in Bukittinggi: Another Rest Day Staying put for awhile
We will stay here for a while. The climate at this altitude is very pleasant, not as hot as down lower. Yesterday we decided to stay until Saturday, and we booked transportation on a minivan to Lake Toba to wait out the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. We've been told the traffic worsens as family's gather to celebrate Idul fitri (in Indonesia the Lebaran holiday) marking the end of Ramadan.
So far this hasn't been much of a bike trip.
This morning after breakfast we walk up through the town center and head for Panorama Park. From here you can see a deep canyon and there is access to tunnels that were built by the Japanese during WWII. We do some shopping and are just about to get back to our hotel when we run into Yudi. He is the web designer that we met on the boat. We had sent him an email as soon as we arrived and were planning to meet up again. We agree to get together at 1pm and go sightseeing in Pandai Sikat, a village nearby whose name means "Clever Craftsmen".
We take an opelet (another name for a type of public transportation) to the edge of town meet up with Yudi's two friends that were also on the boat. We catch another opelet to the turnoff for the village. From there we walk about a mile amidst lush fields full of vegetables into the town. We see wood carvers at work and traditional weaving being done. There is a very nice old Minangkabur house that we can enter to see the crafts. It rains a little, and we have to walk back to the main road for an opelet to town.
Yudi's friends leave us about halfway to go to their town. We visit Yudi's home, near the market. Unfortunately, his father is still at work and no other family is present, they will visit later this week for the end of Ramadan and Idul Fitri. Yudi is Muslim and is fasting, but he serves us something to drink and some special cookies he brought from Bandung. He also shows us a movie file on his computer of an old Dutch movie on West Sumatra. Yudi has done quite a lot of research and has lots of old pictures on his computer. (2022 update: we kept in touch with Yudi, or Wahyudi 'El Aventurero on Facebook)
After our visit we walk back through the town center for dinner, then back to the hotel.
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