Arriving in Bukittingi and onward to Danau Maninjau (Part II)

Continue from Part I

"Should I go for it?"

Earlier on coming into the Canyon Road from Bukittinggi, I was riding on a really good road and people seems very friendly. I passed by happy kids standing along the roads waiting for a free ride from motorists to school and beautiful scenery throughout the ride up until here. At no time, I felt I am out of place. I spoke to some villagers earlier about the area background, kids were waving and everything seems normal. I did not feel something is missing. Well, I did not report to the police at Bukittinggi that I am leaving but I do note it down to do it once I see any police post along the way.

Morning village market

During the wet season, this river is good for rafting

Notice the angle of the carrier? To compensate riding up mountain road

Walking about 5km to school in the village

Mini petrol station

Kids waiting in line for a random bike ride into the city

Beautiful nature with Gunung Merapi Volcano in the background

I continue sitting at the ‘Rumah Makan’ for another ten minutes to scan people and type of vehicle traversing through this route. After scanning and saw only a few small bikes passed through, and two old  truck (not the one from Parapat), I felt it is safe to continue and made the decision to move on.

Scanning the road the old Canyon Road

I do not want to backtrack some 20km to Bukittinggi. It was going to be very demoralizing for the soul to be doing that. I say thank you to the woman, bought some more groundnuts and told her I am leaving towards Matur. It is good to let one or two person along the road know (on top of the Police) my direction if situation requires me too.

The thing I noticed on my way to Matur on the old Canyon Road is this, it was really peaceful, smaller roads, with less or no traffic on some parts and locals walking their hungry mean looking dogs. Here in Minangkabau highland, unlike other parts of Southeast Asia, it is not overrun with stray dogs. And in Islam, dogs are regarded as impure and contact with the animal is prohibited. I hardly (do not) see Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia keep dogs but in Minangkabau culture makes exceptions to some Islamic precepts, especially when it comes to protecting crops. The farmers great nemesis is the wild boar, which uproots vegetable patches during the overnight feast. To combat the intruder, farmers keep very vocal "hunting dogs". These dogs are usually tied up on leashes or kept in pens. All the caged energy is then unleashed on boar-hunting days, assigned to various villages throughout the year. In other hunting traditions, the prey is usually retrieved for the owner, but because pigs are also haram (forbidden) in Islamic law, the dogs get the spoils instead of the scraps.

Other than that, I do not see anything missing or feeling out of place. I rode slowly watching and listening for oncoming traffic especially round corners. Very often, to keep myself fueled and entertained while riding, I would snack groundnuts or anything munch-able. I have been doing this for many days if I felt the road were safe to do so. This was also a good way to keep myself a little more alert, not more distracted, my safety was always my first concern. After about 2 km out from the small ‘Rumah Makan’, I felt a little eerie. I remembered that on the way up to Parapat an elderly man shared with me about “the goose bumps”, if I was feeling it, then “the evil” was near me. This was in broad daylight and I do not think evil comes out in daylight. I tried to focus to my left, the jungle. There was not any other sound but the jungle and the pedaling. This was when I could hear trees in the jungle being disturbed. The sound was very distinctive. It was the sound I heard somewhere before and by now, it got faster and noisier. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a soundproof room and suddenly hearing loud noises from the jungle coming out at you, fast and furious. What would your next reaction be?

I tried to stay calm, kept my focus and glanced to my left into the dense jungle once or twice; place the bag of groundnuts in the front handlebar bag.Checked for loose stuff around me, clipped my riding shoe, checked my side view mirror and pedaled up. I pedaled up reaching the speed 20kmh, looked over my left shoulder into the jungle to check what the noise was. Saw nothing, I continued maintaining the speed 20kmh and this time, I saw what was coming at me. A pride of frenzy monkeys. It is the groundnuts that I was snacking on and I did not know I was now on a jungle road filled with monkeys. I pedaled like there was no tomorrow. I also believed the bag of groundnuts actually attracted them to come to me. I am not feeding any wild monkeys all by myself. See the video below, towards the end, you will see the groundnuts in my handlebar bag. The video was recorded before I entered the “monkey's territory” over the other side.

After about 10 minutes, I managed to out pace the pride. I believed they were territorial and would not have ventured to another area of the jungle. I also would want to believe that there are other prides throughout hence I did not bother to stop anymore until I reach the main road towards Matur and Danau Maninjau onwards.

The descriptions I wrote above did not do justice to the actual situation at that time. I was alone and to see a pride of twenty (or possibly more) wild monkeys chasing after me was not a moment I wanted to be in. I definitely did not want to go back there with groundnuts. I continued riding until I reach Matur, a small community village and there was nothing special about this place but a peak that I needed to go too, Puncak (Peak) Lawang. I got the route from Ulrich yesterday and this was the time I would need to find the route to Puncak Lawang.

Matur village. Looking at this picture, I know where I went wrong.

I did draw the route to the Peak but somehow I think I was not concentrating enough and did not find the route to the peak. As not to waste more time, I continued riding towards Danau Maninjau “Lekok 44”(Literally means 44 turns). Getting there from Matur was very straight forward, as straight as the road.

Straight smooth road leaving Matur

Though small it is smooth and with lesser motor vehicle. Just the way I like it

Padi field as far as the eyes can see

I chatted with her and even offered to get down and dirty :)

and in no time, I was at the start of Lekok 44. I felt so good to have reach here safely. Fantastic weather and with very few people around. I took sometime here to breath the fresh air, finish my groundnuts and just absorb as much I can.

I was actually very nervous to go down 'Lekok 44' alone. So this is like the "last picture"

One of my best moment. I did all this by myself. Solo

Overlooking Danau Maninjau

This place is just lovely. It is really hard for me to leave

She did not have the chance to go to school. I hope someone comes along and help her..

As you can see from the Video and Pictures above. The trip down ‘Lekok 44’(44 turns and all the turns are numbered) took my breath away as I rode over the caldera lip and hurtled down towards my first turn. It was a sharp hair pin bend and at some points steep, with the road being not wide enough for two buses to make the corners at the same time. What I liked about this area was that people were extremely and genuinely friendly. And soon I was stopped and was offered snacks and coffee. I was stopped thrice in all. (Just when I thought, I could enjoy some downhill moments) I had fun here and at one ‘Rumah Makan’, I sat for an hour with the woman owner. She showed me picture of her sister living in Singapore. Her visit in Singapore and expressed her thoughts on Singapore and its people. “Organized, well behaved, clean and efficient”. I say, only one of those as correct – clean. We are not organized, well behaved and efficient in the standard of the ‘first world’. SMRT, enough said.

I felt like I was welcomed here and the temptation to stay on obviously came to mind. Sadly, I needed to move on and I promised my last host if I ever comeback to Bukittinggi, I would visit them definitely.

My last host at the field working. I stayed with them chatting
for about 45 minutes

The trip down the rest of the 25 or so turns was intense, as I did not wish to stop anymore; I tried to minimize using the brakes (I left with the last pair of pads). I arrived in Danau Maninjau at about 2pm. I had not had my lunch and the weather down here, was scorching hot.

Danau Maninjau aquaculture can be seen from here

The first glimpse of this perfectly formed volcanic lake sucked my breath away. Though it was smaller than Danau Toba measuring only 17km and 8km wide and 460meters above sea level, it was cleaner here and people were more well behaved from what I saw. The only problem was that there wasn't any tourist. Visitor arrival plunged and Danau Maninjau's tourist related economy was left high and dry. To survive, the locals looked into sustainable sources of income that was today, fish farming or aquaculture to fill the tourism void.

Danau Maninjau

When I arrived in Danau Maninjau, I felt like it was a public holiday or Sunday. Everything moved so slowly and I liked that, making it an ideal place to do nothing. There was nothing much else I could do, really. At Danau Maninjau ground zero, the intersection where the “Bukittinggi highway” meets the lake road in the middle of of Maninjau Village (see picture below), I just stood there with my bike and looking the world go by. In all, there was 2 bike and 3 cars passed me by.

Danau Maninjau 'Ground Zero'. I came from the
Bukittinggi Highway Mountain road behind

A short video of Danau Maninjau and around it

Turn left or right and drive 60km and you’ll end up back here, at Ground Zero. The first thing I did was to ride around Danau Maninjau town and also check for budget lodgings. Every place I went to seemed to be empty. Just like in Parapat. I found an established lodging with wi-fi but did not confirm it immediately as the price was slightly on the high side.

Though I did not check in, I was free to use the lodgings wi-fi and this was where my adventure took a turn. I got the confirmation from my contact that I wouldn't be able to get my visa extended even if I was in Padang. “Go out, and come back in, 30 days only”.

The next day, I would be left with 14 days or less before I needed to get out from Indonesia. Looking at my route and schedule, fourteen days would only bring me to Bengkulu and that was still far from the crossing to West Java. If I needed to get out from Indonesia, Bengkulu and Padang was not a good place for exiting. Each day something will pop out. It was just demoralizing. I put it aside after reading the email and hit the road, just riding nowhere.

If there were one thing that has been bothering me, it would be my entry Visa. It started many weeks before I left Singapore. From what I see, it is already impossible for someone to be traversing Sumatra to Bali 30 days on a bus (that includes going places and see places), not to mention on a bicycle. My question is why it is so difficult to ask for an extra 30 days. I am not going to Indonesia for any employment of sorts. The most disappointing moment was when none of the officers keen to read the newspaper cutting that I shown them. It simply was put aside and followed by, “Do you have more documents?” Like? At least tell me what else is needed and I go work it out. I did go online and read the requirements needed to get it extended and the respond I got was, “document not enough”.

I hate to think of that but I really cannot help it. It gotten into me every morning I woke. I have decided to make use of whatever days are left, plan new routing and see what will be coming up next.

Looking at the sign: “Beware of steep road. Give way to vehicles coming down.” (In bahasa Indonesia) make me shiver in the bones. I was from up there and to think I am going to climb back up is just insane. Unlike other mountain ride on the previous day, this time I know how steep the climb going to be and how sharp the turns are. Earlier in the morning when I was at the small ‘rumah makan’ at one of the turns, I was told by the owner there are no other way back to ‘Bukit’ (short for Bukittinggi) but back up the ‘Kelok 44’.I could hitch a ride a ride from the small truck traversing the Danau Maninjau – Bukittinggi ‘highway’ or I could just ride it up. I chose to ride it up. How hard can it be, right?

The plan now is to ride up as high as I could go and once I cannot make it anymore, I would rest and continue again. So far, that was the planned I could think of and always keeping it as simple as it can be. I rode back to ground zero, loaded my depleting fuel. I bought more water, cut fruits and dry fruits from the roadside stall all for just Rp15, 000. At the bottom of the climb, I felt my heart was beating so fast and I was perspiring just thinking I am actually riding back up. I never felt this way before throughout my Sumatra ride. I was actually feeling very small thinking I am actually going to cycle out from the volcano caldera via the craggy rim road I rode down from. The size of the crater, the road up the rim overwhelmed me. This is nature at it best and I am humbled by it.

Sumatra’s natural endowments are superlative: it stretches nearly 2000km, from Banda Aceh in the north to Bakauheni in the south, is nearly bisected by the equator and covers and area of 473,606 sq km., almost the size of France. The island backbone is Bukit Barisan range, which runs most of the length of the west coast, merging with the highlands around Danau Toba and central Aceh. Forming the most dramatic peaks is an almost martial formation of almost 100 volcanoes, 15 of which are still actives; the tallest is Gunung Kerinci, measuring 3805m. The string of islands of the west coast, including Nias and the Mentawai Islands are geologically older than the rest of Sumatra.

The coastal lowlands on the east coast are swampy and drained by wide muddy rivers, such as Batang Hari, Siak, and Musi, which empty into shallow Strait of Melaka.

In it remaining forests, Sumatra boast some Indonesia’s most interesting biodiversity. Flower and primates top the naturalist’s list. The Rafflesia amoldi, the world’s largest flower, and the Amorphophallus titanium (also known as the Titan Arumi) the world tallest flower , can be found in pockets  of the Bukit Barisan jungle. The island is also home to endangered species such as the two—horned rhino, the honey bear, the Sumatran Elephant, and the Sumatran tiger. But scientist for all over the world come to northern Sumatra’s Gunung Leuser National Park, where more than 5000 orangutans are believed to still live in the wild – Source, Lonely Planet