I: From Bukittinggi (gosh it took me ages to learn to spell that name,
hope I got it right) we made an easy (in Indonesian measures) busride
to Lake Maninjau, less than 40 km away. Coming here the bus had to
drive down a mountain side and the road there makes 44 hairpin turns -
the views over the lake were spectacular. And we could see plenty of
monkeys running around next to the road, it felt nice after several
"town days".
From our travel companion, the Lonely Planet, we
had found a place where we wantes to stay, so we arranged that the bus
will drop us off next to it. No problem there, and at a first glance
Lili's looked like a place where we could stay, even if the common
toilets were disgusting. At a second glance we found a few hornet's
(those wasp-like creatures that are four times bigger than
wasps) nests on both sides of our bungalow, an because the walls
were made out of some leaves the hornets had already made nice big
holes on both sides, and we even found a bat hanging on one side.
Inside the hut there were plenty of dead bugs, including a 4 cm long
spider that was laying next to the door. While we were standing
on the porch outside the hut we saw a huge hornet land next
to the dead spider, grab it (with I don't know what), and casually pull
it away for a feast. That was the last drop, and we couldn't have
gotten out of there faster. Close to that place we found our Beach Inn,
where there were less bugs and only a beginning of a hornets nest which
we sprayed with Cobra insect killer (together with a hornet that went a
bit crazy). Beach Inn showed to be maybe a bit better, butno picnic in
the end... The last night we got a visit from a rat and even found some
cockroaches under our mattress. Oh, well, it happens.
Mostly we've just been relaxing, not doing much. Not swimming either,
for that matter, because there are plenty of fish farms in the lake, so
the water is quite polluted. Second day we rented a scooter and drove
the 50 km around the lake. Views were nice,and we got some nice
pictures - it was funny to see that people dry their rice, cinnamon,
and everything else on big sheets on the road. Traffic wasn't that bad,
so no problem yielding all the sheets :)
Beach Inn had a small cafe with some food (and beer for Palo), so we
spent quite an easy time just sitting and laying around (well designed
area for that as well ;) the place. And in the end our bill also showed
it... The owner was very easy-going though, so he was a good chat.
Next is stopover in Padang, from where we fly to Kuala Lumpur. Looking forward to that.
