It's taken rather longer than I'd hoped to get back to Sumatra, but finally we made it for a few days.

There's a big "don't" to get out of the way first, before turning to the really excellent things this trip afforded.

Don't -- don't -- try to travel from Padang to Bukittinggi on the Chinese New Year holiday... We climbed aboard a shared taxi at 8.30 am. Admittedly, we cruised for an hour looking for more passengers, but we were on the road by 9.30, and we didn't reach Bukittinggi till 3.30...That's six hours for a journey that normally takes two... The reason seemed to be a massive market, that spills out all over a key piece of road. This causes delays at the best of times. Add the density of the public holiday traffic and you have a very slow journey...

Highlights:

1. Taking in Padang at CNY -- museum, river, old colonial district, temples, beach...









2. Using the funky minivans (oplet) to get around town. These all come with racing-stripe exterior paint-jobs and head-thumping music. But the interiors are highly individual. My personal favourite had a pink upholstered ceiling, a 70s-reminiscent shaggy orange dashboard rug, and a large, multi-coloured dashboard caterpillar (on which reposed two stuffed tigers). I love transport art.



3. Walking the picturesque streets of Bukittinggi...









... and touring the lovely countryside that surrounds it. With Pak An, the driver supplied by Roni's Tours, we negotiated rain-soaked roads (some of which had suffered land-slips from the recent downpours) to take in a succession of fabulous views: steep, forested, cloud-topped mountains; rice-terraced hillsides; groves of coconut and banana; peacefully grazing buffalo; and the vast, beautiful expanses of Lakes Maninjau and Singkarak.









4. Relishing Minangkabau architecture. I love that elegant, uptilted shape, those exuberant horns, the colour and detail of the carving, and the wonderful shininess of the interiors. People don't build these for domestic purposes any more, it seems (understandably -- I mean, who builds thatched cottages for domestic purposes any more?). These buildings are hard to maintain, and some families now pay someone to look after them, returning only for festivals. Many are crumbling picturesquely away. What they need is to star in some mega-soap...









5. Tanking up on nasi Padang. This is the place... Rendang, dendeng, leafy veg in coconut curry, petai and anchovies, jengkol, fish with green chillies, fish with red chillies... It's not cheap. We paid between 50,000 and 80,000 for two. But so very inventive, and so very good. And often the simplest places do the nicest food.



6. Enjoying durian desserts. Affogato at posh El's in Padang; durian cendol by the side of the road in Bukittinggi...
7. Buying silver filigree from Koto Gadang.
8. Enjoying coffee and snacks. A stand-out here is Kiniko, a cooperative not far outside Bukittinggi. Their pisang sale is second to none (especially the version with the sesame seeds), and their fritters are great too -- whether made of tofu, onion, or fat yellow banana). But many other view stops also featured Sumatra's kopi tobruk, which is definitely the equal of its Java cousin.







9. Appreciating some surprisingly restrained monkey company in the park at Bukittinggi. Maybe naming the year after them has given them some gravitas.





10. Spending our last morning in Padang watching the rollers, and shopping at Gramedia. Till next time, Sumatra...