Throughout the day we drove soughtwest headed for Bukit Tinggi passing through small towns like Padang Sidimpuan where we had a late lunch and made the acquaintance of a lovely lady who was the daughter of the owner of the restaurant. We kept on our journey through the villages of Kota Nopan,Muara Sipongi Batas Sumut which took us into Western Sumatra and arrived at Bukit Tinggi later in the night. We put up at a relatively cheap hotel called the Lossman Hotel where all three of us shared a room. One of the most striking scene about the town or Kota Bukit Tinggi is the prescence of buggies or horse driven carriages which is one of the main form of transportation around the city. The city itself sits on top of the one of the highest points,930 meters above sea level and surrounded by 3 volcanoes, the Tandikat,Singgalang and Merapi.
The whole trip in getting here had filled me with awe and wonder at the beauty of nature and the interdependance between man and the environment. It always amazed me to find a man walking in the darkness of the night along this mountain road headed home or on some lonely errand such as looking for missing goats armed with a short spear in his hand and a Parang or machette hanging from his waiste. Could I have courage to take on such norturnal challenge and not loose my nerves in the darkness armed only with a flashlight in hand to point me the way ahead. This is life, the distant group of men and women bent over tending to their rice field in the distant mountain side, the children happily taking their bath in the fast flowing streams and rivers while the women washed their cloaths, this is life, the call to prayer from the many mosques and men women and children all dressed for the occaision walking towards the houses of worship cheerfully, this is Life.
One of the areas that we had passed through was the Desa Pernyambungan where the Presantren Purba Baru or religious school for Muslim youths were located along the road. These religious schools or retreats were very rustic and it is known that their studies were strict and very regimented according to Islamic teachings. For those who wishes to deepen their undertanding of the religion this is where they come some from far away places such as Malaysia and Brunei. The schools were not for the propagation of any radicalism but purely to foster a strong religious background based on the teaching of islam. Students boarded in small huts barely able to house two people. According to my friend Pa'Selamat, alot of children had to leave due to the strict practice and a few even ended up loosing their minds. These places reminded me of the Zen centers and other religious retreats such as the Yoga centers and Tibetan schools that had sprouted all over the United States in the recent years.
The next day I was able to transfer all the pictures I took from the digital camera to a disc and thus emptying the memory chip in my camera. I was very relieved and excited at the fact that my pitures came out pretty good as I had my doubts about the correct way of using the digital camera. Now how I wish I know how to load the pictures onto my Blog pages instead of just writing. As a picture speaks a thousand words not being able to have the pictures included in the pages defeats the purpose of my blog journal.Recording events and sights utilizing a digital camera is such a convenience that it allows for me to take over 200 shots before I need to off load the camera and its much more easily executed for a non professional photographer like me.
6 -6- 05
The journey to Padang was not as memorable as most of the sceneries we passed through were quite simmilar to thos we had passed before, mountains and ricefields. Padnag is the capital city of Western Sumatra but fir it did not much attraction other than the fact that it is just another big city and my time is too limited to hang around big cities. However one fascinating aspect of the mode of transportation is the tri-motorcycles which is constructed from old vintage motorcycles such as BSAs and Nortons. Elsewhere today these would have fetched good prices among antique collectors. Havign arrived in the evening at Padang we stayed at more fancy hotel called the Hayam Wuruk Hotel. I spent sometime at an internet cafe cathcing up with the latest in my email. The news from Colobia Illinois is not good and my mother in law is having a most difficult time with my family.
As I was in the process of getting my pictures transfered at a photoshop a aprade of pre-schoolers all dressed in their traditional cloaths and accompanied by their own marching bands passed by in front of the shop. It was like a blessing for me and with my spare chip I started shooting away capturing as many faces and costumed clad kids as I could. What could be a better clebration than to see children marching in colorful costumes to welcome your visit. The fanfare reminde me of my own children during their Kindergarten years in Sendai, Japan. Ina many ways the Japanese and the Sumatrans are simmilar in lifestyle and even their landscapes. Off course the Japanese are more refined and disciplined but the Sumatrans have alot bigger land mass and people to deal with and there are saveral different sects exisitng together with different cultural and religious beliefs here. these includes the Malayus or malays and the Minangkabaus, the Bataks and the Karoks. About 90 per cent of the Bataks are Catholics and thus more churches are found in their part of the country than mosques. According to my friend Pa'Selamat there is very little conflict that occurs between the Muslims and the Christians here as they have learned to coexist in harmony over generations ago.
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