Road trip through West Sumatra

This weekend I took off driving. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I packed a weekend bag and figured I would end up wherever I ended up.

I drove north toward Bukittinggi because I knew the road there was beautiful, but I didn't know how far it was and whether I would make it all the way. It actually wasn't a bad drive. About 2 hours later I was checked into a cute little hotel (with hot water!) and ready to see this city that everyone had been raving about. Bukittinggi is on a hill so it is temperate and has wonderful views. So I checked out the panorama and wandered through the town.The hotel travel agency tried to get me to hire their guides, but I just got their advice and took off the next day. I went to Palupuh to see the world's largest (and smelliest) flower. It is hidden very very (very…) far in the jungle. I was led to believe it was a hike. More like rappelling down mud slides hanging onto vines and using those same vines to slide back up. Definitely an adventure. In contrast to the fun getting there, all I can say about the flower is that it is, um, big…

On the way back I got to try a real treat. Civit coffee is made using the following process:
1. Grow coffee

2. Allow civets to eat the coffee beans
3. collect poop
4. Wash poop to get the beans out
5. Dry beans
6. Roast beans
7. Make coffee and serve

It is apparently the most expensive coffee on earth because the civets are choosy about getting the best beans and doing fun fermentation processes in their stomach. I have been told that Oprah raves about the stuff. I have to say it is pretty good coffee. I bought some to take home (Even with the local prices it is still pretty expensive!) so anyone who comes to visit me can try it out! :)

After my jungle "hike," I went to Harau valley which consists of large cliffs boxing in a little valley.

On Sunday I woke up with every intention to go home. But then I had breakfast and ran into an Australian guy who talked about how great this place called Maninjau was supposed to be. He also pointed out that the 44 hairpin turns would be awfully fun on a motorcycle. And there went the best laid plans.

Maninjau is so beautiful. The bends take you down the mountain into a valley surrounded on all sides by hills and with a huge volcanic lake in the middle. The area is covered with fish farms and rice paddies with buffalo wandering through. I ended up driving 60 km around the lake on this gorgeous road just built to provide beautiful views of the lake and an obstacle course to keep it interesting (logs laid over rivers rather than bridges, trees in the road, various animals wandering through the road, people playing sports in the road…).

I was very sad to come back to school on Monday. I didn't even get a chance to swim in the hot springs. But I know where I am going to relax next time I want a break! Lake Maninjau is definitely the most beautiful place in West Sumatra (and after my little tour I speak with authority!).

Holiday

Indonesians like their holidays. Every religion gets to give all Indonesians a few days off. So, thanks Allah for Wednesday.

Because the entire plan was made in Indonesian I had no idea when we were going, where we were going or what we were going to do. But the Padang couchsurfers are pretty awesome so I said I was going without having any idea what the plan was.

So Tuesday one of the organizers asks me whether I want to take public transportation or try to drive. Of course you know what I said.... I made sure she was willing to drive if I got scared, and we took off. We drive south along a road that curves along the coast and the mountains -a really beautiful view for two hours down to Tarusan.

I ended up staying at her workplace and getting an introduction to how development works in rural West Sumatra. And then Wednesday a ton of couchsurfers showed up (there were 12 of us altogether) and the party got started. First we had some amazing fresh caught fish for lunch.

Then we drove to the top of a hill. The road was theoretically paved, but in reality coated with clay that was freshly wet. This did a great job of caking onto tires and terrifying poor Susan who apparently missed the lesson on how to off-road on a scooter. Once we got to the top, we enjoyed the view and took a ton of photos. I noticed the trees looked good for climbing and started up. At first everyone was a little suspicious of me, but fairly soon I had 12 people in 3 trees. The kids particularly enjoyed being light enough to get much higher than us old folks.

Then we went down to the beach. There was a little boat you could take out to a cute little island. We swam and played there. We only made it back to Tarusan at 10pm! So we turned it into one large sleepover and went home in the morning.

I had a great time celebrating Muhhamed's birthday!

Adventures in Padang

My first few weeks in Padang have been a whirlwind of getting settled in, starting to try to understand Padang's earthquake risk and development and a lot of fun adventures. I'm adding a few cool photos of things I've done.

The professor at Bung Hatta, Hendri, took me to Payakumbu where he teaches a weekend course. I observed a little bit, but then went wandering around. This area is famous for being beautiful and green. You know me, I can't help but try things when I see them. Thrashing rice is actually not as hard as I had expected and it is done communally by the women so everyone was having fun. The farmers were thrilled that I could speak a little Indonesian and were excited to show me how to do it.

Another interesting thing I've tried is cutting up logs with a machete. This is not a normal log, but a type of log called sagu that is used for food for humans in Papua and cows in Sumatera. It is spongy and doesn't taste very good. But it was a fun experience to make food from logs. ;)

So far I have done a list of crazy interesting things with Nanda, Hendri and some new friends I have made. I fed fish at a fish farm, learned to tell men to leave me alone in Indonesian, went to a traditional wedding party, got peed on by a bunny, got a lesson in Palestinian history, learned to play a traditional game, bribed some police officers, learned to drive a scooter in Indonesian traffic and so so much more.

This weekend one of the nicest things I did was meet a really cool couchsurfer and her friend who showed me a beautiful waterfall. We spent the morning swimming and playing in the water. Nanda was a little less afraid than I was of diving into the shallow water (thats him jumping from the rocks)!

First days in Padang

I've been in Padang for about a week now. It has been quite an adventure settling in, finishing the visa process and getting back into research mode. I have done a little exploring, although there is still so much to see.

One of the most interesting things I have done so far is to climb to the top of Gunung Padang (Padang Mountain -although it is really just a small hill). This is a wonderful little island, right off the beach, perfectly positioned to let you get great views of the city. So Rinanda (a student who has been helping me to settle into the city) took me to the top and we spent some time comparing a map to the view. It was a great way to get a better idea of the layout of the city!

In addition to a great view of the city, the mountain also has monkeys on the top! Indonesian monkeys are a lot more polite than Indian monkeys. Here they sit there and cry until you go buy them peanuts. Then you feed them and they start crying for more. It was quite difficult to stop feeding them since they have learned to make the saddest faces!

One of the best things I have done is sample the food. Padang is famous all over Indonesia for its spicy food. So Rinanda has taken me to try all the best stuff. I am sad to report that I agree with the tourists on Durian (that stuff really smells bad!), but I won't be too embarrassed about being an ordinary tourist since I have fallen in love with some other crazy food. Soto Padang is a soup that has a lot of ingredients. The only one that has been explained is some part of a cow, cooked in some sort of way that made me think it was bone the first time I tried it. I had to be convinced to stop taking it out of the soup! And one of my favorite drinks resembles sewer water -complete with worms! :)

Last weekend in Yogyakarta

My last weekend in Yogya, I wanted to relax, get rid of some of the language school stress and do some exploring.

I ended up spending a lot of the time with a woman I met at the language school. It was fun to go out and do some girly things. On Thurday night we went to the Ramayana Ballet at the Prambanan temple. It was a beautiful performance and I thoroughly enjoyed it (even if I don't really like endings where girls commit suicide to get the guy back).

Then on Saturday we went to the beach. We went looking for caves, but ended up seeing just one little cave and spending most of the day sitting at a beautiful restaurant with a pool overlooking the beach. I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to relax.

On Sunday, my last day in Yogya, I spent the day at Prambanan temple. It is a beautiful Hindu temple that is fascinatingly different from Hindu temples in India. I thoroughly enjoyed my day and was even more excited when I discovered the slightly smaller temple next to it that wasn't on the tourist circuit. So I got to spend the heat of the day with a beautiful temple all to myself.

On Monday I flew to Padang and have spent the last few days settling in and getting adjusted. So far, I have discovered that this is a beautiful city. I am surrounded on three sides by hills and the 4th side by the ocean. So I am feeling quite at home considering I grew up on the ocean and learned to love my hills in Tosamaganga.

Yogyakarta

I went to Yogyakarta to come to a language school. This is a VERY intensive language school. They follow the theory that if they teach you hundreds of words a day and just talk in full sentences, you will eventually catch on. I don't know why it is working, but I have learned a lot!

I haven't done much besides study, but I took the weekend off to go explore. First I went to the sultan's palace and then his water palace.

After that I went to Mt. Merapi with a disaster preparedness and recovery worker I met on couchsurfing. Tatang was an amazing guide because he could explain how the process of living on the worlds most active volcano works. We stood in an area that was completely devastated by the eruption last year. I can't emphasize enough how striking it is to see an area that was

hit only by smoke and ash and yet

everything both natural and manmade is completely destroyed. Yet people have lived on this volcano for eons and have all their property and lives there. So they leave when the government says go and they come back when they are allowed). Last year they left only one day before it erupted.

I ended up joining two other couchsurfers Karri and Fina on the next day. We drove out to Dieng Plateau which is a fascinating and beautiful place. It is another place where the earth does interesting things like cause bubling sulphur pits and lakes that occasionally change colors. On the way back we visited Borobudor which is the worlds largest buddhist temple (although this appears to be a somewhat contested title). It has a series of levels with the bottom ones depicting earthly images such as wars and animals and the images becoming more and more religious as you go up. It breaks out at the top to a main dome surrounded by 72 stupas with buddha statues inside them. This temple is so large I couldn't even get a photo with the whole thing in it!

First Post!

I decided to make a blog so that I can actually tell you guys a little about what I have been up to -since I'm too long winded for facebook status updates. ;)

First things first, Susan tinggal di Indonesia = Susan stays/lives in Indonesia.

For the first week and a half I stayed in Jakarta getting the visa sorted out, visiting with people at the University of Indonesia

and generally getting my bearings and getting over the jet lag. This process was greatly helped

by how nice Indonesians are from the professor who has helped me in every step of the visa process to the canteen workers who had great fun showing me all the varieties of Indonesian food. The picture shows the "UI Hollywood sign" when I caught it in front of a nice sunset.

I generally stayed around the university most of the time, but my major adventure was my train ride to the center of the city (I was particularly inspired by the riders on top of the train). I went

up the national monument"Monas" which provided great views of the (huge) city and a convenient two hour line in which to strike up conversations with strangers.