We went into the Harau Valley after finding out there were no duck races in Payakumbah today. The valley reminded me a lot of the Yosemite Valley. High sheer rock races on either side of a broad, flat valley. The valley floor is mostly rice paddies in various stages of growth. By the Abdi Guest House, there’s a narrow, high waterfall.
The guest house is incredibly scenic. It has a series of bamboo-walled cabins with traditional peaked roofs. The cabins are on stilts, and sit on the narrow shelf between the cliffs and the rice paddies. There are trees, flowers and a fish pond.
We took the French couple to the Guest House, and had our lunch there. I wanted a walk before the five hour drive home, so I followed the directions into the rice paddies. The trail was supposed to loop around, and take about an hour.
About 15 minutes in, I found the path was more of a muddy whisper than anything, and I was worried about sliding and falling, so I turned back about 100 meters, and crossed the stream on the bamboo bridge (four three-inch bamboo poles tied loosely together as the bridge bottom and one at waist height as the railing). From the other side the path looked better. Close up, it was equally as muddy. I turned back, passed the guest house and continued on the road.
There's a wonderfully scenic covered bridge for cars on this side road, and when I crossed it and got to the main road, I turned the way I had not been. There was a fair bit of vehicular traffic, lots of children to say hello to, and a macaque monkey! It was walking like a cat, delicately, with its tail up, looking around (fortunately not at me). It went into the bushes before I got to it, thank goodness. I'm rather afraid of primates.
At the end of the road, there is another waterfall that attracts a lot of tourists. That's where the cars, busses and motorbikes were going. I didn't go all the way there since I had already seen a beautiful waterfall, without the crowds.
The drive to Payakumbah had many speculation spots. There was one roadside waterfall that attracted a dozen tour busses and the people in them. We stopped at the top of the next hill to admire the vista. Lush greenery all through the spectacular valley.
Soon after that, we took a small detour to a traditional house -- curvy roof ends, ornately carved and painted walls. Even the shutters were ornamented.
To get to Payakumbah, we had to go through Bukatinggi. Lonely Planet says it's a sleepy town until nine am, when the market opens. We were there at ten. The traffic was backed up for at least three kilometres. It was stop and go for 45 minutes.
The market, from what we saw driving by, was amazing. It's adjacent to the main road and farmers bring their wares either by truck or motorcycle. We'd see bikes laden with a four-foot wide bag of vegetables trying to wind their way through bumper to bumper traffic. Mostly, they'd go in the centre lane, but every now and then wedge their way through the car lane to the sidewalk side. It was harrowing, but we didn't see any accidents.
Bukatinggi is at the crest of a hill, so for some nervous drivers the stop and go was hell. Our driver, in the Suzuki van, often pretended he was on a motorbike, pushing his way into the regular traffic when oncoming forced the issue. There was one point where he wasn't able to push in quickly enough (bumper to bumper, remember) and a full sized Mercedes Benz coach was coming the other direction. We got part way in to the column of traffic, and everything stopped. We exhausted the patience of the bus driver, and he started to honk. It was futile. There was nothing anyone could do, but a farmer scraped vehicles on both sides with his overstuffed sack of cabbages as he squeezed his way through.
The only other sight of note on the way here was a monkey in a motorcycle sidecar. That particular sidecar was more of a cargo platform, and our driver said the monkey climbs trees to get coconuts.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying a new thing: narrative first, followed by pictures. I've been finding it difficult to tell you about my experiences and intersperse pictures. The result has been substandard writing, and I've been feeling frustrated about this.
Photos:
Padang is on the west coast of Sumatra, maybe a quarter of the way up the island. It was almost a two hour flight from Jakarta (on Java). The beach is long, and in the morning, a crew of people in green rake the debris from the night before. The surf gets stronger towards the middle; I'm near the south end.
Now we're moving on to the road to Bukitinggi, and ultimately the Harau Valley. Here's the waterfall that attracted so many busses.
And the vista from a viewpoint. Yhat's Mount Merapi and its steam on the left.
A stop at a traditional building:
We got stuck in traffic around the Bukitinggi market. The traffic was backed up at least three kilometres.
Phew. Made it past there, and on to the Guest House in the Harau Valley.
A walk into the rice fields
And to other direction when the path became too squishy.
Some cocoa trees. When the pods are black, they are ready to harvest.
Fabulous pics.
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