Monday, October 13, 2008

Lombok - Gili Air

I just happened to be in Padangbai, saw the Perama boat about to leave for Gili Air, and thought I’d try it out for a few days. I ended up staying there 6 weeks! This photo probably give you a hint as to why it was sooooo hard to leave...



After hearing lots about the Gili’s on the Thorn Tree forum, I expected it to be like an island Kuta, and that I wouldn’t like it very much. But, I loved Gili Air. I wasn’t there in peak season, when it might be much busier, but I found it such a relaxing place to stay, with very friendly locals and not too much touting from salespeople. Gili Trawangan is much busier and more built up so that's really the party island. Gili Air and Meno are much quieter.

The boat trip to the Gili's was beautiful. We spent around 4 hours just crusing up the east coast of Bali, saw dolphins, got fed and then approached the Gili's as the sun set. It's a long trip, usually taking around 6 hours, but I really enjoyed it. I can't remember exactly how much it cost, maybe around 200,000 rupiah. There are Perama buses from Kuta and Ubud that come to Padangbai to connect with the boat.

I stayed one night at Luckys, which is on the West Coast. They had 50,000 bungalows, and air-conditioned ones which were 100,000. I stayed in a 50,000 bungalow which was basic, but OK. (The bathroom had a shell-shaped sink that hadn’t been moulded properly and looked like something out of Alien. I nearly screamed the first time I saw it, it looked like it was going to jump up and eat me!!)

The food at Luckys is really lovely – some good Lombok dishes, cooked very well. The problem with Luckys was that it was a little bit too far, for me, from other restaurants and the few shops on Gili Air – a good 20 minute walk. So, I moved to Gili Air Santay Bungalows. They are on the east cost, looking directly over to Lombok. The views from the restaurant are fantastic – I spent many an hour lazing in the cushion or the hammocks just looking over at the mountains of Lombok. This is a photo of a section of the restaurant.



The bungalows range in price from 50,000 to 120,000 – but that’s low season prices. They go up a fair bit in high season. The bungalows are basic but clean and well-maintained. They have hammocks and mosquito net and a shower. Here is a photo of one of the bungalows.



The internet on Gili Air is terrible. Really, really slow – if it’s working at all. So, if you have any serious internetting to do, or airline tickets to book etc – do it before going to Gili Air!!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Flores - Kelimutu - April 2008

I flew from Kupang to Ende and then went up to Kelimutu. It's almost hard to believe how different Flores is from Timor. The lush greeness of the place just smacked me in the face as soon as I got off the plane – gorgeous. The drive up to Kelimutu was beautiful – mountains, rice paddies, waterfalls, rural villages…it doesn’t get much better than that! This photo was taken along the way.



Kelimutu isa very scenic, serene place, situated in a valley, overlooked by Kelimutu moutain. I stayed one night at a guesthouse along the highway, but it was bloody noisy, because trucks come along there and whine their way up the hill. So, the next two nights I stayed at a beautiful place 1km off the highway. It was called Palm Bungalows (e-mail robertid@plasa.com, phone 085292858791).

To get there from the main Kelimutu village walk down along the valley until you get to the hotel that looks like a construction site (can’t miss it, an eye-sore), turn right and walk along this road, go over a river, then up a small incline. Palm Bungalows is on the left hand side. Three lovely, large bungalows with a good size bathroom and little balcony. The owners are very friendly and the views wonderful (but lots of roosters crowing in the morning!) 50,000 per night.

Here is a photo of the bungalows.



I was planning to stay for three weeks but disaster struck – I got sick and had to leave and go to Bali. I was so sad, because I just loved Flores, and I didn’t even get to go up Kelimutu!

I caught a bus to Maumere, a three hour ride that was full of twists and turns, mountains, rivers, little village churches.



From there, I bought a ticket to Denpasar. The flight was great, because the plane flew fairly low along the coast-line up to Bali and I had a lot of fun trying to work out what I was looking at.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

West Timor - Kupang and Soe - March 2008

Getting there:

I flew into West Timor from Darwin (Australia) to Kupang (West Timor) using Air North.  It's an excellent air-line, and a good option for Australian’s wanting to get to eastern Indonesia, or other people who want to travel along Indonesia then have a quick 1.5 hour flight down into Australia. The flight cost around AU$270.



Kupang:

I really liked Kupang. It’s a rough and ready place, but very vibrant and beautifully situated next to the sea. The art-work in the bemos is amazing. It must cost them about a year’s salary to decorate their vehicles (and put in the obligatory booming sound system, of course). I did have one confusing ride with American rap music blaring from the sub-woofers, "shake your booty, yeah, yeah, shake your booty..." whilst on the windows a large sticker of the Virgin Mary beamed down at me.  It's a good thing all the good Christian ladies of Kupang don't understand English! There might be a boycott of the bemos if they did.

Edwin’s bar, L’Avalon, is a great place to hang out. A few expats go there. It looks like it’s about to fall into the sea (as does a lot of Kupang), but the views and the vibe are great. Free broadband internet too, which is a rare thing in Indonesia. Edwin is very knowledgeable about the local area.

The best food I had was at the Timor Pantai, a big hotel along the beach-front. The restaurant has great views, and cheap, tasty food. However, I wouldn’t recommend staying at the Timor Pantai. The service is crap, and my air-con broke down twice in one night. My room got so hot I thought I’d have a cold shower, only to discover the water wasn’t on either. When I complained the next morning they insisted I pay full price for the room. (I had to wait in line behind all the other guests who were complaining too). 

Soe:

I left steamy, humid, Kupang on a bus for Soe, which is three hours into the hills. The bus ride is lovely, taking you slowly into the hills, past traditional villages with the bee-hive shaped huts. On the way back, I caught a 6am bus and the views over the mountains as the night mist was lifting were serenely beautiful.

In Soe I stayed in a very neat little bungalow owned by the former king and queen of the area (at least, that’s how the only English speaker in town, their son, described them). I think it cost 60,000 per night. The family is lovely, and made me feel very welcome. I can’t remember exactly what it was called, but I think it was Nopes Royal Homestay. It’s listed in the LP guide books. There is only one bungalow, with a double bed. Here's a photo of the king and queen's grandchildren in front of the bungalow.



Soe itself is fairly dreary. If you need to use internet while you are there, head to the building connected to the telecom tower on the main street. The area around Soe is very rural, with a landscape fairly similar to Australia’s north – lots of gum trees!  The traditional arts and crafts in the area are really interesting. 

This is a photo of a local woman at the Soe market.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Bali - Kuta - budget guesthouses

If you’re looking for quiet places to stay in Kuta I’ve got two recommendations. The first is a quiet as a morgue and the rooms (especially those at the back) had a feeling of privacy to them. It is Berlian Inn and costs 60,000 per night for basic budget accommodation with a few nice touches – outdoor bathroom, shower, wardrobes, matching linen on beds. It's located just off Poppies Lane 1 (is in the Lonely Planet guide).

The other place was the best value accommodation I stayed at on Bali – Kedin’s 11, which is in Gang Sorga, also off Poppies Lane 1. The rooms are large, beds have good mattresses, matching linen and there’s a wardrobe, clean bathroom and effective ceiling fan. There’s also a decent sized pool and nice lounging area – all for 70,000 a night. Bargain!  

Bali - Nusa Lembongan - June 2007



Nusa Lemgonan was a lovely surprise – such a gorgeous place so close to South Bali with no hawkers, no touristy shops -  just accommodation, surfers and a lot of seaweed! The photo above was taken from a hill-top, looking over Nusa Lembongan over to the Bali mainland. If you’re after a fairly quiet place to hang out for a few days, then Nusa Lembongan might fit the bill. It has fantastic views over East Bali and lovely sunsets.



It’s nice to get a motorbike for the day (I rented one for 30,000) and go around the island to a few different beaches.

Getting there:

Ferries go from Nusa; the public ferry is cheapest (40,000) and leaves the earliest (8am, I think!), then there is a Perama boat leaving later which is more expensive (don’t know how much), and, in the afternoon a speedboat which costs around 100,000 rupiah and takes 30 mins (the other boats take 1.5 hours).

The only problem with the public ferry vs Perama is that Perama docks close to the budget accommodation whereas the public ferry docks in the town and it’s a little bit more of a walk (maybe around 400-500 metres?) to the accommodation.

Here is a photo of typical Nusa Lembongan shacks/houses along the beach - with smelly seaweed drying in the sun...



Food:

There is a Thai restaurant which is connected to one of the backpacker places (you’ll see the sign, or ask around). It’s just in someone’s front room and is a really casual place that gives humungous servings of fairly authentic Thai food for 25,000. Good place to meet other people – but all the backpacker places seemed pretty friendly and chilled.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Bali - Tirtagganga - May 2007




Tirtagganga is a very small village in inland east Bali, near Amlapura. It’s surrounded by rice-terraces and has a water palace, where you can swim in a pool with lovely, cool, fresh water. I really like it there and stayed for three weeks. Quite a few tourists come for day tours to the water palace but not many people stay overnight there, so it’s a very quiet place.

Accommodation:

I stayed at Dhangin Taman inn which is right next to the water palace and has a lovely picnic bench that overlooks the palace. The rooms themselves are small and a bit grungy, but the place is quiet and the mattress was pretty good. It cost 40,000 per night or 36,000 if you stayed a week or more.

There are other places to stay on the slopes of the rice-terraces and they are nicer but a bit more expensive.

Food:

I ate at the Good Karma restaurant (which also has accommodation for around 90,000, lovely big rooms in the middle of the rice-fields). The food was great – very well cooked and fresh. They did the best tempe curry I had in Bali!

Another beautiful place to eat is the Japanese restaurant, Roshi, which is a few hundred metres along the road from the village of Tirtagganga. The view from the restaurant is spectacular.



Massage:

There is a guy who in Tirtagganga who does a wonderful Balinese massage. He doesn’t have a shop-front but just comes around the accommodation in Tirtagganga asking if people want a massage. It is a very invigorating massage; he really knows what he’s doing. It costs around 80,000.

This photo is of Balinese children attending a Hindu ceremony at the water palace.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Bali - Ubud - April 2007



Accommodation:

For my first few nights in Ubud I stayed at Narasoma. It is in Beji Lane, just off Monkey Forest Road in a small lane and is gorgeous accommodation and very, very quiet. I think it was really good value for 90,000 rupiah per night. There are only four rooms, on the second and third stories of a family house (in a traditional walled family compound). The rooms are large, with lovely high ceilings and a good bed. There is a good sized bathroom with shower and bath and a ceiling fan. The rooms open onto a little balcony on one side (overlooking a small valley) and onto a veranda on the other side. Breakfast is included and there is a fridge on the veranda for guest use.

Then I stayed at Gandra House for about 6 weeks. It’s cheaper, at 50,000 per night, but I thought my little bungalow was great value. Gandra House is in the LP book, and is located in Jalan Karna, a laneway just behind the Ubud market (just a 3 minute walk to get fruit every morning!) It’s a family compound and has around 9 rooms. I thought the bungalows at the back were the best value and quietest although there is motorbike traffic up the laneway behind these bungalows starting early in the morning (going to the market) so ear-plugs might be a necessity. There is a nice little garden, and the place is kept very tidy. The rooms have cold water, shower, mandi, ceiling fans and mosquito nets. You get breakfast and there is also a small shop at the front where you can get water bottle refills. Gandra House is clean, friendly budget accommodation and I’d really recommend it. This is a photo of my bungalow -




There were other good, cheap places to stay all over Ubud. Other streets I liked were Jalan Goutama (very quiet but still close to the action), which has several guesthouses, and also the road where the post office is. This is a lovely little street, windy and has some real atmosphere to it, but is a little away from the complete centre of town. I didn’t like Monkey Forest Road – too busy and commercialized.

Food:

If you want to meet other travellers, Dewa Warung is the place to go – the only real communal eating place in Ubud (that I found). It’s a small place in Jalan Goutama. The food is cheap (around 7000-12000 ), very fresh and well cooked.

The other cheap place to eat that is also very relaxed is at the Pondok Pekak library (on the east side of the Soccer Field in Monkey Forest Road). This place is great – like a community centre. It has a restaurant area and comfortable places to lounge and eat either downstairs or upstairs, a library, and also lots of art/music/language classes. The food is fresh and cheap (around 10,000 rupiah). It’s not open at night though.



Library:

Joining the Pondok Pekak library is a great idea if you are going to be in Ubud for more than a few days. It's located on the eastern side of the soccer field in Monkey Forest Road. I joined for a month and it costs 40,000 rupiah. That’s a bargain considering how much it would have cost to buy books for a month. The library is well-stocked with novels other travellers have left, a real treasure trove if you are a book-worm!

One thing I really enjoyed reading was the reports made by US university students who come to Ubud once a year on a program to learn bahasa Indonesian and study some aspect of Balinese society/culture/history. The reports they make are left at the centre. They are only 20-30 pages long and some are fascinating – people have written about Balinese psychology, healers, the ‘Kuta Kowboys’, adoption in Bali, environmental and tourism issues, HIV/AIDS education…the list goes on and on.

Massage:

I had heaps of massages in Ubud. The best, in terms of quality and price, was by a guy named Dewa Sukra. He works with another woman and they both have that great “touch” and I found them very professional. They come to your hotel and charge 50,000 for an hour massage (that actually goes for around 80mins) or 60 000 for a two person massage. The best way to book is by SMSing or calling Dewa’s mobile (085 237 999 569). Or, you can e-mail him on baliela@hotmail.com (but he only checks his e-mail around once a week, so phone is better.)

I also saw a great Balinese healer/balian (more like a western physiotherapist/body worker) just outside of Ubud. For generations his family have worked as treating people with muscular or bone problems. The types of things I saw him treat were people with headaches, broken or sprained bones, sinus problems, strokes or other people who had muscular problems. I went to him for a neck muscle problem which I’ve had for years(he doesn’t do any of that neck cracking stuff though – I hate that!) He was excellent. I don’t know his name, but he lives in Buruan, which is around 8km east of Ubud.

You can get there by bemo. Outside the Ubud market, catch a bemo to Bedugal (past Goa Gajah). Tell the bemo driver you want to go to Buruan and he will drop you at an intersection where a road goes off to the right. The massage guy lives about 1.5km down this road, and you can catch a bemo.

I don’t know his exact address but keep going down the road, past a mobile phone store with flags out the front, until you get to a sign next to a laneway saying, “I Made Sama, Hasya Bhawa, Wood Carver and Painter” The massage guy lives in this laneway, in the first house on the left hand side. If you get lost just ask around the area for the ‘balian’ (Balinese word for ‘healer’). This guy is really well-known so local people will be able to direct you.

You can see him in the morning or late afternoon onwards (4pm onwards). He has no set fee. You pay by buying two or more offerings from the Ubud market and putting them in a plastic bag with some money on top (I paid around 25,000). Then, when you get to the massage guy you just leave the bag on the wall next to where he works.

If you don’t speak bahasa Indonesian it would be a good idea to bring along someone who can translate (at least for your first visit).

Bali - Amed area - April 2007

AMED AREA – LIPAH



I stayed for a few days in Lipah, which is a few bays along from Amed. I really liked this area; it is extremely quiet, after about 8pm at night there were almost no cars or bikes on the road. The area has a real village feel, although, of course, there are strings of guesthouses lining the bays. I really liked the beach at Lipah, there was snorkelling there and no waves (good for floating in that very salty water!)

Getting there and back:

I returned from Amed to Ubud using public transport the whole way – I found it

really easy and much, much cheaper than paying a private driver to take me. All the buses connected up and I didn’t have to walk more than a block with my bags. This is what I did:
- bemo (truck) from Lipah to Culik, 5kms, 5000 rupiah, runs only in the mornings until around 10am.
-bemo from Culik to Amlapura, around 20kms, approx 10,000 rupiah
-bus from Amlapura to outskirts of Ubud (via Candidasa, also going onto Denpasar), around 1.5 hours, 15,000 rupiah. Buses go whenever they’re full – I think around every hour.
-bemo from outskirts of Ubud (Mas) into the market, 5000 rupiah

Accommodation:

I stayed at Tresna Yoga bungalows. They aren’t really bungalows, more like small apartments built up the side of a hill overlooking the bay. They were lovely – big, clean, white, and large windows across the front of the room with great views. The photo at the top of this blog is the view from the balcony of my bungalow. For one person the cost was 80,000. The only problem was the rooms got very hot because they had a lot of sunlight. There was no AC, just a fan.

Food:
I recommend Café Indah, on the beach. The food I had was fresh, well-presented, and cheap.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

West Sumatra - Bukittingi + Lake Maninjau - April to June 2006



Just returned from three months lazing away in West Sumatra. I stayed in three places (yes…only three places in three months. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was ‘lazing’). I spent a few nights in Padang, and about 6 weeks divided between Bukittingi and Danau Maninjau.

I thought a report on accommodation etc might be useful for people travelling to this area. This is part 1, about Bukittingi, and I’ll write about Lake Maninjau and Padang in the next part.

First of all, if you are considering a trip to this area all I can say is GO!! Luscious scenery, low prices, fascinating culture and not too many other tourists. The other plus is that it’s so easy to get to from Singapore or S/E Asia. Padang, the capital of the region, is just 1 hours flight from Singapore and you can get super-cheap tickets from Tiger Air.

Bukittingi

Accommodation:

I sampled quite a few hotels in Bukittingi looking for the right place for me, and ended up back in the hotel I started with…only this time I had industrial strength ear-plugs so I could cope with the noise from the mosque at 5am. This hotel was called Hotel Kartini, and, if you can put up with the noise from the mosque (right across the road) then I think this hotel is the best value in Bukittingi.
It’s on Jalan Teuku Umar, which a fairly quiet road so there isn’t much noise during the day.
The rooms are clean and have their own bathrooms, shower, and hot water, and the managers, Din and Ema, could not be more friendly. (Although, they don’t speak ANY English, which is a bit of a challenge!).
The rooms range from 50,000rp to 80,000rp per night.
The best room is the one right at the top of the building. It has a little balcony, is light, and has a non-musty smelling bathroom. You get a decent breakfast (egg, toast, fruit salad), with the room price. The good thing about this hotel is that it has a few different sitting areas, including a nice balcony on the first floor which looks out over the rusty roofs of Bukittingi.
Also, it’s not really a backpackers place, more of a hotel for Indonesians, so it’s a good place to practice your Bahasa.

There are several other hotels along Jalan Teuku Umar, all a bit further away from the mosque. They are, Hotel Orchid and Hotel Asia. Hotel Orchid is the main backpacker hotel. It lacks charm but has decent, basic rooms, a little bit cheaper than Hotel Kartini. Hotel Asia reminded me of a correctional facility…horrible! I only stayed one night there and maybe I over-reacted but I really didn’t like the ‘vibe’ of the place. It had small, musty, windowless rooms, separate bathroom, and a spring bed whose springs had lost their spring! And, there was no sheet on the bed just this old blanket with holes in it. For 80,000rp per night this was not good value.

Around the corner from Hotel Asia is the Hotel Benting where I spent one hilarious night in “4 star” accommodation.
It costs around 150,000rp per night, although you can bargain them down because the place seems to be pretty much empty. The rooms are fairly decent, the best feature being the view from the balcony over the town of Bukittingi. There are also baths in the bathroom, which was a luxury.
But, don’t believe the staff when they say they have no bath-plugs. I had to get quite stroppy and act like someone out of ‘To the Manor Born’, asking “Well, how am I supposed to have my baaarth,” when the manager said she didn’t have any bathplugs. After my I had a little aristocratic fit she produced a bathplug from behind the counter.

Down the road from Hotel Benting is Merdeka. This is a lovely old Dutch building but is a bit run down. The rooms are large, but bathrooms very basic. It’s also not quite as close to the main town of Bukittingi as the other hotels I’ve listed. It’s 50,000rp per night.

The town:

I haven’t travelled to other parts of Indonesia so it’s hard for me to compare Bukittingi to other towns, but, travellers I met said that it was one of the most laid-back places they’d been too. They commented on the lack of touts, especially compared to the Danau Toba area, where many of them had come from.

Bukittingi has a population of about 80,000, although during the day this rises to around 200,000 with people from surrounding villages coming in to the markets etc. There is a large commercial area near the bus station, which is a few kms out of town. Tourist accommodation and attractions are all centrally located along one strip of the main street. Bukittingi is a lovely town to walk around because it’s quite hilly, and because it used to be a market town, it has lots of alley ways and steps connecting different sections of the markets (lower market and upper market). It’s nice to get onto these alley ways and away from the motor bikes!

Here are some places I really enjoyed visiting:

Markets… There are two market, an upper and a lower. The upper market has lots of clothes, shoes, electrical stuff etc and isn’t so interesting, but I just loved the lower market, which just sells food. It has heaps of atmosphere and the people there are really friendly. I really enjoyed wandering around buying as many different kinds of bananas as I could! You can get a little red bus to the lower market along the main road (Jalan A. Yani).

The Ngari Sianok Canyon… Bukittingi sits right on the edge of this beautiful canyon. It’s about 100 metres deep and probably 5-6 kms long. You can view the canyon two ways, either by going to the Panoramic Park on the edge of town and looking over it, or by going down into it. I wouldn’t go to the park on Sunday though, because there are too many people there (lots of courting teenagers with nowhere else to go!) It’s quieter during school days, and within school hours.

You can go down into the Canyon by foot, or by bus or motorbike. The turn-off to the Canyon can be reached easily by continuing to walk up Jalan Teuku Umar (where Hotel Kartini/Orchid etc are). You will go up hill, then across a road, then downhill. The next intersection you reach is the Canyon cross-road. If you continue straight ahead you are going down into the canyon.
Going into the canyon by bus is a bit difficult because the buses are always full by the time they get to these cross-roads. (If you want to get the bus you would almost have to get on it back at the bus terminal, which is about 3kms away!) The other option is to go on the back of a motorbike.
There are heaps of guys hanging around these cross-roads who will take you. They charge 3000-5000 for a trip. It is much easier to get a bus on the way back, so you could go down on bike and back on bus.

If you are a bit tired and sore, there is a woman in the canyon who gives a very invigorating traditional massage. Her house is almost at the other end of the canyon. You go down into the canyon, across a bridge, then go another 3-4 kms. Just before the next bridge (a large metal one), there is a house on the LH side of the road. This is where the woman who does the massage lives. She charges 20,000 rupees for around a 20 min massage. (It is best to go to her in the morning, before eating, because she prefers to do massage on an empty stomach.)

A lovely spot in the canyon is ‘Pancu’s Place’. It’s about 2kms along the canyon road and has a big sign. It’s a little café with a small place to sit across the road from the café where you can look out over the canyon bed.
Pancu is a really interesting guy to talk to, and he and his wife make a lovely noodle soup.

If you are interested in crafty things ask to look at his wife’s embroidery…it’s exquisite!
If you have a week or more in Bukittingi she can do some embroidery for you.
I bought her some cotton material and she did two small lines of embroidery for me on it… (costs around 50,000 rupees). You can camp at Pancu’s place if you want to, and he also hires out camping equipment.

There are lots of day trips you can do from Bukittingi. I didn’t go on a formal tour, but my father came over to visit me for 10 days he went on one.
His guide was Hendri, and my father said he was excellent – very knowledgeable.
Hendri is a great guy, a very experienced guide with excellent English. He helped me a lot while I was in Bukittingi and I found him to be a very genuine person.
He hangs around at Hotel Orchid and I would really recommend him as a guide.
If anyone wants to contact him before getting to Bukittingi his e-mail address is hen_westsumatrayahoo.com.

Food:

There are heaps of Padang food restaurants in Bukittingi. I ate at quite a few and never had any stomach trouble (surprising, since the food sits in the windows all day!) Most of the rumah makans are covered in Lonely Planet (etc), but a new place worth mentioning is in Jalan Teuku Umar (just up the road from Hotel Kartini and Hotel Orchid). If you walk up towards the top of the hill it’s on the RH side (called ‘Pizza Inn’…or something like that). Indra, the chef, makes his own bread and it is YUMMY! Crusty, thick slices…heaven!


Maninjau Magic

If I could say one thing about this area it would be.. GO!! The lake is just so beautiful and the weather sublime.

Getting there:

To get there you can take a bus from Padang, or from Bukittingi. The bus ride from Padang is about two hours, and 1.5 hours from Bukittingi. I can’t remember how much the buses cost but I think it was around 10,000 – very cheap. Buses run from Bukittingi bus station every hour or so in the morning, and less frequently in the afternoon.

There are two entrances to the lake – one comes in at a gap in the mountains surrounding the lake, and the other (from Bukittingi) comes down the side of the crater walls. This trip is where you get the famous ’44 bends’. The road snakes down the side of the crater walls in very tight bends, gradually getting you closer and closer to the lake. There are rice farms and a few houses on the way down. The whole thing is incredibly picturesque. I would recommend coming or leaving this way…you have to experience it once!

If you get the bus from Padang you will come into the lake at the opposite end from the entrance from Bukittingi. I think you have to get off the bus in this village (sorry, can’t remember what it is called) and then catch one of those little buses leftwards towards Bayur or Maninjau, which is where most of the accommodation is.

From Bukittinggi, the bus turns right as you get into the village of Maninjau and you can either get out at Maninjau or travel onwards towards Bayur.

Side trip:

If you want to have a little side trip on the way from Bukittingi to Maninjau you can get off the bus at Embun Pagi (this is just before you get to the top of the 44 bends, about an hour into the trip). This is a small village, and you get off the bus at the oval/soccer field which has a concrete monument next to it. The bus will continue straight ahead, but if you go up the road on the right you will get to the village of Lawang, and a bit past that, to a site on the edge of the crater over looking Lake Maninjau. The views are great from here – you can see the whole lake, and a patchwork quilt of rice paddies sloping the 600m down to the water.

There will be young guys hanging around at the intersection when you get off the bus and you can easily get a lift on a bike to Lawang. (I was in a car, so I don’t know how much this costs… 10,000 to 15,000 would be reasonable, maybe a bit more). You could also hire a motorbike in Maninjau and ride up the 44 bends to get to this spot (motorbike hire – 50,000 for half day, I think!)

There is a little shop up on the edge of the crater but no accommodation up there. Don’t bother going up if it is very cloudy or raining because I don’t think you’d see very much.

Accommodation:

I only stayed in one place – the Bayur Beach Inn Homestay. It is not in Bayur, but just after it (as you come from Maninjau). There is a little sign pointing towards it from the road (with a rumah makan across the other side of the road). The inn is right on the edge of the lake and you have to walk through a rice field to get to it. I love that it is off the road, because it was SO quiet. The nearest mosque is a few kms away, so no loudspeaker chanting at 6am either! Paradise!

There are five rooms – four in a row, and one detached bungalow. The four cost 30,000 per night and the bungalow cost 50,000. The rooms were very clean and basic. They have carpet on the floor and cheery bed-spreads but, of course, the beds are rock hard. Two of the rooms share a bathroom, (1 & 2), the third room has an asian toilet, and the fourth a western one. There is cold water in the bathrooms and no showers (except in the third room).

If you really want a quiet night’s sleep I would suggest trying to get room number 4. The bungalow is also quiet (worth checking out just to see that big coral colored bath – with no way of getting water into it!). Beware of the toilet in the bungalow though – good luck getting it to flush!

There is a little café at the inn – with the normal fare, very well cooked by Boy, who pretty much runs the place. All the staff (just 3), are really, really friendly. It has a beautiful, small landscaped garden and the surrounds are kept very tidy. It was a fantastic place to stay.

Things to do:

Well… this will be a short list, because there’s not much to do in Maninjau but relax, have a swim, and enjoy the views.

You can rent a motorbike and drive around the lake (36kms). This is a lovely ride. You can also rent a pushbike and ride around (takes about 3 -4 hours). One tip…if you don’t have time to do the whole trip, the section of the lake that is the most beautiful and rural is to go from Maninjau 5 or 6kms in the opposite direction to Bayur (i.e. you would go left, not right after coming down the ’44 bends’).

You can do a three day walk from Bukittingi to Maninjau, staying over night at Anas Homestay in the middle of the jungle with views of Lake Maninjau. I didn’t do it, but lots of people I met did, and they all enjoyed it. Hendri, from Bukittingi (hen_staryahoo.com) is a fantastic guide, very experienced, reliable and friendly.

In the Maninjau village there are a few tourist cafes and one shows movies in the evening, there is also an internet there (although more expensive than Bukittingi). There is also an elderly Javanese woman who does a wonderful traditional massage (50,000 for about 1.5 hour of bliss). She’s and her family are really lovely. The traditional massage of West Sumatra is quite vigorous but the massage this woman does is very relaxing and gentle. To get to her house you walk from the main intersection in Maninjau about 500m in the direction of Bayur. You will come to a small field with some houses back off the road up to the right, and a little sign that says ‘traditional massage.’

Eating:

Two recommendations…
The best mie goreng I had in West Sumatra was in the little rumah makan opposite Bayur Beach Inn. The best padang food I had was in the rumah makan next to the tailors shop in Maninjau. Beautiful chicken and rice.

The general vibe:

Maninjau is a rural area, where the local people don’t depend primarily on tourism for their livelihood – the area is very fertile and there are lots of fishermen who fish daily in the lake. So, coming here is not like entering a tourist enclave, you really don’t see that many other tourists around. The lack of tourists was affected, of course, by the Bali bombings and increased visa restrictions, so many guesthouses have closed down in the last 4-5 years. There are no touts – well, none that I saw anyway.

Like most rural areas, Maninjau is more conservative than city areas. I heard quite a few people who work in the tourism industry saying that there was a lot of ambivalence towards tourists, although I didn’t perceive any of this.

Over the couple of months I spent in Maninjau, the typical tourists there were probably a bit older than your average backpacker. (Put it this way – I didn’t meet anyone on their gap year!) My dad, who is 70, came over from Australia to visit me and he was a bit worried he’d be bunking in with a whole lot of 21 year olds. He was pleasantly surprised though. If you are into a big party and drug scene, Maninjau might not be for you, but if you are looking to relax in a beautiful environment, then it probably is.

It is a great place to chill out if you have been somewhere really busy, or really hot (the climate is perfect – Maninjau is 500 metres above sea level…not too hot, not too cold). Because the lake is surrounded by 600m high mountains (more cliff faces in some places), I had the feeling of being totally cut off from the world. Lots of backpackers who I met extended their stay in Maninjau because they like it so much.

Padang



I stayed in two places in Padang…

Mr Scotties Inn– probably rates as a ‘flashpacker’ place. This is a small hostel in a house in Padang. It’s in a residential area with wide streets, trees, and big yards and is really quiet (bit of mosque noise, but not much). The people who run it are super friendly and helpful. They have bikes for hire, food, supplies, internet, movies etc. A really well-run place.

My one quibble would be with the food – not very nice (out of cans) and expensive. Also, the house isn’t close to any rumah makans (I think it would be a bit of a walk to one).

The rooms, from memory, were about 80,000 for a dorm bed and 120,000 and up for a private room.

Uncle Jacks - an older backpacker place, closer to the airport than Mr Scotties. Right out of town though, along the beach, in a beautiful setting. You just walk through the coconut trees and you are on the beach! It’s also a friendly place (and food also not great!) There are eight attached rooms – all basic, but clean and with fan. It’s cheaper than Mr Scotties – I think around 30,000 per night.

Well – that’s all folks! Please correct any mistakes I might have made in this report.

Salamat Jalan!!