Indonesia's Sumatra
West Sumatra
“Tamed” by the indigenous hand of the Minangkabau, West Sumatra remains a wild landscape of silently deadly volcanoes, serpentine roads snaking across stark mountainsides, terraced rice paddies and colorfully exotic villages. Influences of the ruling Minangkabau, the dominating force in West Sumatra’s cultural and political identity, is seen throughout; from the buffalo horned buildings that spot the villages to their tradition of merantau, where traveling is the means to finding one’s fortune, to their fascinating matrilineal society.
Padang is the doorway to this delightful region, and rings with a frenetic zeal, while Bukittinggi offers a cool, lush landscape backdropped by towering mountains highlighted in a serene blue hue. Both promise an invigorating glimpse into the region and a unique retreat from which to journey to the neighboring highlights of West Sumatra.
