00.14 We travel in a minibus on Sumatra. Our destination is Bukittinggi but it is still a long way to get there. Here I lean back into the seat to rest a bit. Suddenly it breaks and the seat and I go straight back into the trunk! This little event takes place near Padang Sidempuan.

01.00 We have recently passed a number of mosques. It is in itself not surprising. What is interesting is the fact that they are filled with people, people sitting and listening in the middle of the night. One wonders why?

02.29 It is another stop and a new break. We remain inside the bus and I have slept for a while.

04.29 There has been a stop to refuel. The equator is getting closer. During our journey we were temporarily stopped by a police officer. I think the police thought we were travelling too fast. Last evening we crawled along the roads but the last hour, we have flown on the desolate Trans-Sumatran Highway.

05.16 Christer has managed to sleep and our bumpy ride made him hit his head on the bus window over and over again so that he got a big bump on his head.

06.07 The travelling wears on me. I have a pain in the neck, lower back and right thigh after crash earlier. However, this is a small problem compared to another. Half an hour ago we saw a minivan that had crashed. Now we have made a new stop. The legs shall be stretched. Roda Baru is the name of the restaurant here and the location is Bonjol in the district Pasaman. We are probably very close to the equator now. The equator is supposed to pass Bonjol but we have not seen the monument marking this. To the right of our parked bus, we have women's and men's restrooms and above these, there is a prayer room where a woman stands to the Muslim prayer movements. It slowly starts to brighten outside.

Early morning near the equator.

06.32 The journey continues on winding roads through the beautiful forested and hilly landscape. It has once again become day and we can for the first time see our fellow passengers in daylight. Most are on their way to Padang, the largest city here in central Sumatra.

08.01 We arrived to Bukittinggi and our mini bus stopped on a street in the outskirts of the city. The two passengers got out, retrieved their luggage and entered a red taxi that was waiting. My door was hard to open and Christer's door was hard to close. Will we get out of this car? Now it's off to the city center, the hotel, shower and bed. It is eagerly awaited! We have riding minivan in half a day. It wears on even skilled men. Had the roads been better had it been acceptable, now we have come up with bumps, bruises and other memories from a hard night.

08.20 There was a small TV in the taxi! On the way to the hotel we passed a protest march. They had an escort of two police motorcycles. Some demonstrators were communists. What the others were, we did not. We are here now and finally checked in at Hotel Ambun Suri. We once again stay in room 307. This time, however, we are on the south side of the equator.

It´s possible to watch TV in this taxi.

Peter in our room at Hotel Ambun Suri.

View from room 307.

08.40 We are looking forward to breakfast. The staff informed us as we checked in that we were free to help ourselves some of today's breakfast buffet. There are tomato, cucumber, rice, noodles and coffee. Not entirely wrong to check in and go and sit at the breakfast table. We were supposed to, according to plans and preliminary booking, already had arrived yesterday.

08.54 Bukittinggi (Bukit Tinggi) means ”high hill” and we are again a bit up in the air and the climate is more pleasant than by the coast. We are at 930 meters above sea level. Bukittinggi has about 110 000 inhabitants and was named Fort de Kock during colonial times when the Dutch ruled here. Indonesia is a country with many ethnic groups and languages. We have left the Bataks and christianity behind. The language and the dominant ethnic group here is the Minangkabau and the religion is islam.

09.06 We're back in the room. Christer amuses himself with cleaning of the body and the body covering garments. I look around the room. We have a balcony and on a shelf above the desk is a prayer mat and there is also a copy of the Quran. From the ceiling hangs a kiblah arrow. It points out the direction of Mecca. It is unfortunately a stop in our sink right now.

09.47 Yet again, the pen is mightier than the sword. An ink pen stabbed into the holes in the sink and the water ran out. Now we will treat ourselves with a few hours of sleep, this is mostly to be in good shape as the evening come. A number of bendi, horse taxis passes down below on the street.

A parade going through Bukittinggi this day.

Bendi (horse taxi), one of many transport choices.

The traffic in front of our hotel.

Peter on the Ambun Suri balcony.

13.57 It was really nice to get a few hours sleep. Now that we have consumed our remaining food from the bus ride, we will get ready to go out and see the beauty of the city and what else it has to offer us.

14.41 We are encountering a minor problem. If we turn off the ceiling light we also turn off our floor based fan. We have unsuccessfully tried to change the socket for the fan. We might figure out the solution later. At worst we must sleep with the light and fan running, or without both.

15.12 We left the hotel and walked the short distance to the city's famous clock tower, Jam Gadang. We talked with two female students who were interested in our home country, why we were here in Bukittinggi and how long we would stay. In addition, we met a man from the tourist information and promised him that we will visit him a little later. Now we are sitting on the terrace of Café @rt. Here we are waiting for the coffee and banana pancakes while we are listening to "Stairway to heaven", "Wind of Change" and more from the loud speakers. Most people we meet here in Indonesia seem to believe that we are from the Netherlands. Not surprising perhaps, given that the Dutch ruled here until 1949.

15.48 Now we have attracted the attention of seven young locals who sat and had coffee at the table next to ours. They ask us about favorite foods, our views of Bukittinggi and Indonesia and more. They also want to take pictures of us and themselves. They come from a town called Solok. The keenest guy told me that he had a school assignment to "interview a tourist."

Mohammad (Bung) Hatta, one of the founders of modern Indonesia.

Jam Gadang, the famous clocktower in Bukittinggi.

Bukittinggi

We met a group of nice teenagers at @rt Café.

16.34 We said good bye to the small youth group that was in a hurry to catch a bus and we stepped out of the cafe and into the tourist information. We have arranged with accommodation in the next city. A hotel was prepaid and we got documentation about it. Before returning home, we slipped into the kiosk Ananda. We bought three drinks of different taste each. The kiosk guy asked where we were from and the answer arrived in Sweden as usual comment, "Ibrahimovic", the famous Swedish football player. Now we are home to shower and some relax on the balcony for a while.

17.38 An ice cream man with a jingle playing ice cream wagon passed down the street. Something that has not passed is a black Mitsubishi. It refuses despite persistent efforts to start. A stubborn man has struggled for a long time in getting the vehicle running. The aroma from food flow up to us on the balcony from some skewer eaters and a food cart that is standing down on the sidewalk.

19.06 The balcony seating is over for the moment. The darkness has come and a slight hunger can be felt. Next is a withdraw of money and take in of food. The questions are, how much will we withdraw and what will we eat? The answer to the question about the light and the fan is that we will them on and rely on the air making it through the window. It is a window consisting of several angled sheets of glass.

Christer is relaxing on the balcony.

The fire brigade on Jalan Panorama.

20.06 Tonight's dinner place is called Bedudal Cafe and it can be found on the main street Jalan Ahmad Yani. Here I started by ordering a large beer. It was not a good idea. A large beer is according to the waiter, a liter of beer. No, better then maybe follow Christer's example and take a juice. There will be no experimentation with juice for me this time a plain orange juice is fine. We have also taken the opportunity to order food. On the walls hang artwork and carvings. We are not the only pale skinned here. Bedudal Café is a gathering place for the city backpackers and other travellers.

20.18 We are waiting for our food. At a table next to us sits a white man and brags about his adventures in Indonesia to a Dutch young woman who seem to do some kind of study here in Sumatra. Both of them are sitting on the floor by a low table. We sit on chairs in the more familiar height.

21.49 There were no great nor so culinary servings. The thing about coffee after the the food was not that smart. We were served a rather marshy coffee with less pleasant bitterness. On the way home we stopped at an internet cafe. Christer had received a "like" on Facebook by an unknown man in Sibolga. Who is he? How has he found Christer's post?

22.24 On the ground, the crickets play and the lightning is chasing around among the clouds chasing. It is at times quite spectacular light shows in the sky but no thunder.

23.16 The thunder has arrived and soon after also the rain. We have brought in the chairs we sat in. Down the street stands a water truck and hums loudly. Soon the night and the sleep will be here again.

23.35 Suddenly it is possible to switch off the light without the fan stops. It works when we use another light switch. But we tried not the former? Oh, can not be bothered to think and reason. Soon it's a new month, July.

Monday 1st of July

07.45 Our phone rang during the night but there was no one who wanted to talk to us. The ringing was possibly caused by the ongoing thunder storm. There was a terrible rain storm outside as the phone was answered. Today is a new month, a new journey and a new home. Will there be room 307 again? We'll see.

08.57 The thing of having breakfast in the morning is not so bad idea. Now we feel ready for one last outing here in Bukittinggi before checking out and travel further.

09.21 Once again, something mysterious, inexplicable but funny has happened. In through the open balcony door flew three small birds. They looked at us and flew around in the room before flying out again. Were they here to pick us up? Did they want to ask us to come out?

09.56 The birds' desire has been fulfilled. We left the hotel and walked up to Benteng Fort de Kock. This is a former Dutch fort that now is a park. Nearby there is also a small zoo. Here we paid the entrance fee, seen birds in cages, cockatoos and doves. We also met an old lady that in perfect English asked us if we were Dutch and how long we intended to stay in the city. She taught us that ”indo” means, mix, many, and that nusa/nesia means islands. Indonesia is therefore ”many islands" Whether this is true we do not know. Now we take a bench break and freshen up our throats. Something walks around on my left leg.

Christer is walking along Jalan H Agus Salim.

A view of Bukittinggi city.

Benteng Fort de Kock, Bukittinggi.

Christer is enjoying a sunny morning in the Fort de Kock park.

The city waits behind the trees.

10.27 We strolled further in the park area and have now moved over a swaying suspension bridge that takes us across and above Jalan Ahmad Yani. During our walk across the bridge some Indonesian tourists wanted to take photographs themselves and us. From a mosque we hear a song like chanting of a falsetto kind. Now we will see more of the park and the animals in the cages here. The bridge has taken us to the Bukittinggi zoo which is adjacent to the park area.

10.58 We did not see that much of this zoo. It did not receive a good review as we read about it. It is said that the animals doesn’t have it good. We looked at a sad tapir and a few birds. There was no grass around the tapir mostly some soil, clay and concrete. As a small child stood at the fence gate the tapir went with ease up a small flight of stairs and curiously greeted the child. Now we are back for one last moment in the room. Soon everything is packed again.

11.53 Now we checked out of the hotel and are waiting for a taxi. We sit in the lobby and try to figure out the name of the hotel name that our man at the tourist information said yesterday. I guess we can read all about in on a paper.

We are looking down on the street Jalan Ahmad Yani.

The bridge between Fort de Kock and Bukittinggi Zoo.

A sad tapir received a visit from us.

12.11 The taxi arrived and we stepped into it. Smooth and for 25 000 rupiah (2 US-dollars), we got a trip to the bus station Aur Kuning. Here we got on the bus to Maninjau. The yellow bus from the company Harmonis has a beautiful painted exterior and an adorned inside. The bus host is walking around outside and calls out the destination.

12.29 We're still on the bus. There is no precise timetable. Buses leave when the driver feels it is appropriate. It has a lot to do with how many passengers boarded.

12.42 Christer observes two red cats playing on and around a bag outside the bus. A little old man wandering around and got abuse and arguing from some irritated bus ticket seller. It is possible that he has tried to snatch some money.

12.55 The bus engine started and the driver honked twice. Besides Christer and I there are five other passengers on board. So far we stand still.

13.15 The time of standing still is over. Although there are few passengers on board, we are now leaving Bukittinggi. We are passing houses, cars and people, people known as other passengers have now come on board.

13.56 The route is curvy and hilly. The surrounding countryside offers forests, paddy fields and other beautifully things. The speed is moderate.

It is time to travel in a yellow bus.

We travel through the beautiful countryside.

We are approaching the beautiful Lake Maninjau.

The 165 meters deep and 16x7 km large caldera lake Danau Maninjau.

14.16 We now have today's final goal in sight. We've reached the beautiful crater lake of Danau Maninjau. A slow hairpin turning takes us down to the lake. In total there are 44 hairpin bends to be crossed before we get there. Each curve is marked with a number, so it is easy to count down.

14.28 We are now approaching the lake. Some merry monkeys sat by the roadside and looked at us.

14.50 The village/main area Maninjau is reached and we got out of our bus. One guy wanted to drive both of us plus our backpacks on his motorcycle but we politely declined. We walked to the pre-booked hotel and now we finally arrived at the Hotel Pasir Panjang Permai and room 109. It is located in the village Gasang. The man who showed us the way to the room was asleep under a blanket when we came into the hotel.

15.38 Two glasses of orange juice stands on the table. We are waiting for the ordered lunch. It will be a late lunch today. The waves of Lake Maninjau are lapping against our hotel which is beautifully located between the road and the lake shore.

16.46 The meal ended with a coffee each. While the coffee was drunk came a few other guests to our accommodation. Christer looked at them and said they seem to be Indians, meaning persons from India. My mind was elsewhere and I thought he said the Swedish name Birger and I looked at him in surprise. Now we are back inside the room. There is a sticker from a previous accommodation, Danau Toba International Cottage in Parapat, here. It sure is a small world.

Our hotel, Pasir Panjang Permai, is beautifully situated by the lake.

Christer is having a late lunch.

Christer is thinking about life by the beautiful lake.

18.45 We have been seated on the room's patio. There we have both read and solved, books and crossword. Soon we will go out into the world where the crickets are playing. We look for something drink this evening and somewhere to eat dinner.

19.13 We´ve been walking to the neighbor, Waterfront Restaurant Zalino. I'll try a deer skewer here.

19.41 While waiting for the food, we talked with the owner Mairizal (Zal), Mr. Zalino aka Mr. Porcupine. We actually had read about him in the guide book before we came here. He told us about hunting trips for wild boar which he organizes. It is conducted by men with knives on poles. In addition, he listed various reasons for the decrease in tourist flow in the country and especially here in Sumatra. These include difficulties in obtaining a two-month visa, the problems in Aceh, the Bali and Jakarta bombings, the increased gasoline prices and the tsunami in 2004. Until 1998 there was a steady flow of tourists in the country. Another problem was that more and more countries in Southeast Asia receive tourists as competition intensifies.

20.22 We talked more with Mr. Porcupine. He told the audience that the deer I had eaten was a muntjac. After the meal and the conversation we said goodbye and that we might pop in lunch tomorrow. On the way home we stopped at a small kiosk for sodas and evening chewing. We and the selling did not speak the same language. A young daughter or granddaughter stepped in and said the prices in English. From the woods around the village, you hear a bird that sounds like an alarm clock. We even hear waves from the lake turn towards land.

21.00 We have wondered if we have first read about and then met various personalities on earlier trips. We are pretty sure that this has happened but not sure when this occurred.

22.06 We stay in the same room as at least one cockroach. Are there others? Now, one can ask whether there are other insects and the answer is yes. An insect strolls around in the travel journal. Oops, now it flew away, the insect that is, not the travel journal.

Christer and Mairizal, also known as Mr Porcupine.

Tuesday 2nd of July

08.22 It's morning again here at Hotel Pasir Panjang Permai. We are basically the only guests here. Our toilet is unfortunately not in the best condition. We must help it to fill with water in the cistern. Now we will soon help ourselves to fill up on breakfast.

08.33 Today we will eat continental breakfast, that’s an interesting name by the way. It must come from the UK. Music can be heard and Lake Maninjau is almost as bright as a mirror outside. It'll be a nice day today.

09.17 At this moment, I have the habit of documenting what we ate and drank. There will be nothing of this at this time. I realize it gets boring too frequently mention such stuff. Now the day will be planned instead.

10.11 The day is roughly planned. How we manage to fulfill the plans remains to be seen. Another positive thing is that our toilet seems to make it in its own when it comes to filling.

Fish farming has replaced tourism as the main industry at Lake Maninjau.

The lake is calm this morning.

Hotel Pasir Panjang Permai, Maninjau.

Peter is ready to see more of this part of the world.

10.59 Our relaxing time in the room is now over. Now we will leave our hotel and go out and see us in his home area.

11.29 We have been walking along the road to the neighboring village Maninjau; actually the two villages are united. Here we are now at Bagoes Café and surf the internet one person at a time. It is just one of the two computers that work. My session is over so now it's Christer’s turn to contact the outside world.

11.47 Christer checked if his students from this year managed to enter the next phase in their education. Besides that, he did the usual updates on Facebook and read about the latest news and the latest sports scores.

12.22 We took a slow walk through Maninjau. We reached the outskirts of the village and decided to turn back home. We made a brief stop in a small store. There we bought beverages for today and also something to eat and drink for the journey from here tomorrow. It is beautiful here by the lake but there's not much else to do here but to enjoy life.

13.31 After a little reading in our books at home on the patio we now feel ready to go out and wander. We want to have lunch.

13.48 We're back at Zalino Waterfront, just as we promised last evening. We have chosen to place us on a floating dock in the lake. Four dead fish are now floating in the water beneath us.

The road through Maninjau.

Christer doesn´t want to buy durian.

Christer put himself in contact with the outside world at Bagoes Café.

A house in Maninjau village.

15.01 A tasteful lunch ended. There was lobster and noodles for me and Sapu-sapu, sucker mouth catfish or common pleco with rice for Christer. The fish is ugly fish and the Latin name is Hypostomus plecostomus. Before returning home we looked in vain for a beach. The bath will simply have to wait. There was something mysterious about my lunch. In the menu, it was noodles and lobster. However, it was a crayfish beside the seafood mixed noodles. But I think that the crayfish is also called freshwater lobster so perhaps it was OK.

16.25 Today we have not done much. Yet we are passive and lethargic. How the hell can you get tired of doing nothing? Our bodies probably compensates for the past days when we got up early and had an intensive pace from morning to nightfall.

16.54 We went to the hotel restaurant and ordered two cups of coffee to break the no doing. We sat at one of the tables’ right by the lake. Some heavy rain passed just as we got our coffee. Now we can not go out. Luckily, we are sitting under a roof here where we will drink coffee.

17.36 We have been sitting on the patio and speculated about tomorrow's trip, read in our books and managed to talk about various strange topics. Time running just off and soon it is dark.

19.51 It is, after more reading and relaxing, time for dinner. We will carry on being lazy and eat here at the hotel. Eating for the third time at Mr. Porcupine felt even duller. Jeruk Segar is ended. All there is Timun, Wortel and Tomato sega. In other words, there is no orange juice for dinner but well, cucumber, carrot and tomato juice. If you want to be mean, you could say that there is no juice at all, just vegetables to food that can be converted into juice if necessary.

Christer is having an ugly fish as lunch today.

A motorcycle loaded with durian fruits.

Sleeping dogs in Maninjau.

Cucumber juice comes with today´s dinner.

20.45 Cucumber juice was fresh and clean but nothing to write home about. The difference between eating cucumber and drink the cucumber juice was slim. The food here is tasty and filling, but nothing out of the ordinary. The rain has unfortunately returned there.

21.30 We have met a cat on our patio. It was not so happy that it rained. To be photographed by us did not like it either. The preferred the rain and moved on before we could take a photo. Now we have extended us and loaded us in Padang, the next destination. Now we hope we can get there tomorrow.

22.28 One last night at Lake Maninjau begins because we put ourselves in our beds.

Wednesday 3rd of July

08.15 The sun peeps out from behind the hills and a rooster crows. These are two signs of the approaching and most likely unavoidable event; it's time to step up. It will soon become breakfast.

09.50 We have eaten breakfast in the company of, among others, Rainbow and Oasis. We then aim at the two bands music. They are not here in person on tour. Christer has been checking against road and timed the yellow buses that pass by the fourth, twenty past the hour. Our intention is to take us across the road after the tenth hour. We are going back to Bukittinggi.

10.02 Now we have left the key to room 109. We asked the front desk about transportation here and we are now at the road and wait for the bus that will take us back to Bukittinggi. The sun fries from a blue sky this fine morning.

10.32 We waited and waited for a yellow bus but no one was to be seen. A silver seven-seated car stopped instead. The driver said ”Bukittinggi? " and we confirmed it. Now we are in it and on our way. We don’t know if the staff at the hotel tipped the driver for us as customers or if we were just lucky. This is what is in Indonesia called "travel”, a smaller vehicle, a large car or a van run by a private individual. It is more expensive than regular buses, but faster and more convenient.

The sun rises and shines on us another day.

A fisherman on the lake this early morning.

11.50 Now we have returned to Bukittinggi. Here it is a traffic jam and our vehicle touched a motorcycle. A little later the motorcyclist struck, in full force, a fist in the left side of our vehicle. A little later the driver went out to inspect any damage to the bumper. Some passengers got off at different places here in town but we and an elderly lady waiting for our turn to get off.

12.09 Now things are starting to settle. Either we expressed ourselves fuzzy or driver misunderstood us. We said that we would proceed to Padang but he thought we wanted to bell tower here in Bukittinggi, Jam Gadang. The misunderstanding may have occurred when one of the other passengers wanted to help and claimed to know exactly what we meant. He did not. We notice that now.

12.25 The old, merry laughing lady with poor eyesight and hearing got out of the car and crossed the heavily trafficked street in no time. We now come to where buses to Padang depart from. Christer has climbed and I've squeezed myself to the rear seat of the bus. Moreover we have managed to donate some money to a blind man and paid for our trip. We travel with the company Tranex.

13.52 We are moving from Bukittinggi and traveling from higher elevations to the lowlands and the sea. It gets hotter and hotter. Our small bus has stopped to refuel. On the other side of our pump is a livestock transport. The bus is idle and smells fuel in the bus.

14.07 We have passed Lembah Anai Nature Reserve with stunning scenery on the side of the road.

14.29 Now we are rolling again after a short stop in Lubuk Alung. The ultimate goal is getting closer. It just feels good. My body and clothes have started to have some need for washing.

15.15 We got off at the bus terminus, at a hotel whose name I did not care to notice. Apparently the buses to and from the city stops in the outskirts of Padang. Quickly we had the help of a man hailing a taxi. Now we are in the next place.

15.41 Now life is quite nice. I do not care sweaty clothes and small hunger. We are in room 206 on the orange Havilla Maranatha Hotel (http://maranathahomestay.blogspot.se). It's not the biggest room we had on this trip. However, it is the most comfortable beds, the mattresses are almost in class as those Princess and the pea had. We are in the big city of Padang and outside our windows, it is a little unexpected a cemetery. Headstones can be seen in the tall grass.

15.57 It is fortunate that we have two of the same sex and therefore can stay in this room. An appropriation explains that men and women who share a room must show proof that they are married. This rule meets sometimes in Muslim and Catholic countries.

Graves outside our hotel.

Peter is having a cheap good dinner at Audy Café.

17.43 Our clothes and bodies are ablution and for drying. Indonesian television news report about a”gempa” in Aceh province in northern Sumatra. It says something about the 6.2 SR. We suspect it is an earthquake. They say there are 28 dead and 32 injured!

18.59 First, we asked here at the hotel if they served food. They did not. We sought us out on the streets and then past a lot of places that offered food. Finally Christer found Audy Café. On the way here, and here, we have seen young beggars with small, blue, plastic buckets. There seems to be some kind of collecting as many of the kids looks prosperous. They do not seem to be distressed.

19.52 This was an excellent eatery. We were served vegetables, two kinds of noodles and pieces of chicken meat, some soup and juice. For this we paid 21 000 rupiah, about US$2 each. Christer think the young makes some gathering before Ramadan. When we bought the evening drink, I was less smart and paid with all my small bills. Now I only have big notes and the only thing it leads to is a problem.

20.49 It has launched a heavy rain. How lucky we are inside the room. Here we took the opportunity with free SMS. The brand of the bottled water in the room is SMS. It usually includes free water bottles at Indonesian hotels.

22.08 On the way home from dinner; we bought a few things at the grocery store. Christer has seen a good coconut cake. Right now I drink an Anker. It’s not the best beer I drank, not even in this country.

22.34 This regrouping day draws to a close. It's not surprising that I'm starting to look forward to some sleep. I'm getting old who sees sleep as a welcome and positive? Tomorrow we will see what is available to watch here in Padang.

1000 rupiah (0,10 US-dollars)