Grand Malino Bukittinggi

So as you may recall, I really really love this town called Bukittinggi in West Sumatra, and after much deliberation, I decided that I had had enough of sightseeing and wanted to come spend the last two weeks of my trip in this friendly town. I was afraid that despite how awesome everyone is here, I might get bored in two weeks...but as it turns out, the two weeks since my arrival flew by and I am so sad to be leaving tomorrow morning (there will be tears ...

... you normally get but, I don't know how they done it but there seemed to be less. Then my seat wouldn't recline and there were 2 lads behind me with their knees up against my seat. Han was sat on the single in front of me but didn't recline fully cause my knees didn't fit in the front. It was a complete nightmare really. I was up several times during the night ready to hit those f*%*#^s behind me (who seemed to sleep just fine) and was agitated because I couldn't ...

Arrived early morning and after a 5km walk from the drop off point checked into a guest house and sorted my options for some mountain treks.<br><br>Travelled with a couple of guys from the Czech Rep - John &amp; Jan and we set out our stall on an overnight climb up Mt Marapi (2900mtrs) to watch ...

Oh Bukkitinggi, how I will miss this place when I leave! As if I wasn't<br>in love with Indonesia so much already, then I come here and find this<br>place that really got under my skin (in the good sense that that<br>expression can be used, not the bad one). So, 10 whole days is a lot to<br>recall and I have a million stories that I don't want to forget, so I<br>don't expect anyone to actually read this whole blog entry, it is<br>mostly for myself. (but if you get ...

All i had for breakfast was some banana porridge. Not very good, if truth be told. But you really can't expect much from something called porridge now, can you. Except for a cup of coffee at Herman's Mother's house, I was running on empty by the time we got back to town. I stopped at a travel agent to buy a ticket to Bali and as usual it took way longer than it should have. But worth it to get the last leg of the trip figured out. Next step ...

... and it was a semi automatic with shift pedals and a foot brake. A big step up from the Vespas I have ridden before. Oh, and i had no idea in how to get there. Even with my cavalier attitude towards getting from point A to B, I was concerned. I took a stroll trough the little town to weigh the risks. Stopped into a bar/internet cafe to think with a cold beverage. Soon after, actuslly ...

... stops for photography and an extra loop up some of the bends to admire the view and feed the resident monkeys, and back down again. <br><br>In Maninjau we got to try to break a record of squeezing cargo on a scooter - a guy gave us a lift on his 1950's scooter. Yep, three grown-up people on a small moped. But there's no way we could compete with families that fit mum, dad, 4 kids, 2 chickens and a dog on two wheel! <br><br>Depuis Bukittinggi, nous continuons ...

... erupted in 2006. The countryside was stunning and we walked up to the hospital, a couple of km outside of town, for amazing views across the horizon. Indonesia is a country that likes to smoke. You can smoke anywhere, buses, taxis, shops, etc and when ...

... We stopped to eat and pray (or just eat for us) at around 6 pm and nobody seemed to be in a hurry to continue. This might take a while... Finally we got moving again, slowly but steadily. At some point during the night the bus started to climb up to the mountains and the motor complained, louder and louder. After some particularly loud protests it halted completely - the bus had broken down. It was actually a relief since our ear plugs had been good ...

... s hard to get comfortable on the buses and roads are shocking so you usually only get bouts of sleep and then we you are so exhausted that you think you can sleep the bus stops at 05:30 at the nearest ...