{"id":10042,"date":"2015-10-17T22:21:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-17T14:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/?p=10042"},"modified":"2015-10-25T13:21:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T05:21:47","slug":"padang-the-land-of-minangkabau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/padang-the-land-of-minangkabau\/","title":{"rendered":"Padang – The Land of Minangkabau"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, there\u2019s this place called Padang that I went to as part of my trip to West Sumatra recently. It was more like the access point to Mount Kerinci<\/strong> \u2013 the highest volcano in Indonesia for which we went to West Sumatra but it wasn\u2019t after the climb<\/a> that we got to explore this beautiful coastal city.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06057b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Padang is not really that big and obviously less busy compared to \u2013 say – Kuta in Bali<\/strong> <\/a>and probably Surabaya in East Java<\/a><\/strong> (I haven\u2019t been to many places in Indonesia anyway). But still it is big and quite densely populated just like most other major cities in Indonesia. We stayed at a nice budget hotel called Brigitte\u2019s House<\/strong> which was recommended to us by our mountain guide Mr. Rapani<\/strong>. I was told how most hotels in Padang are quite expensive but I didn\u2019t really get to check any of them out.<\/p>\n

Padang is known for having the largest Minangkabau<\/strong>\u00a0community \u2013 one of so many ethnic groups in Indonesia. I had heard a lot about this very unique ethnic group ever since I was a kid so it was so exciting to come to the epicenter of their culture.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06218b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We went to visit the museum that showcases the unique culture of Minangkabau people. The building itself is already unique to Minangkabau which is famous for its horn-shaped roof. Of course the core of all the uniqueness to me is the fact that they practice matrilineal culture in which the ownership of properties \u2013 their homes, rice paddies and the like \u2013 are passed down from mothers to daughters and it is the men that leave their homes and stay with the ladies instead of the other way around. To put it simply, the ladies have the advantages over the men which is why I am so glad that I wasn\u2019t born to a Minangkabau family. \u00a0Heh.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06227a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another thing that is very much associated with Padang is the famous story of Malim Kundang<\/strong> (also known as Tanggang in Malaysia) which is about an ungrateful son who was cursed into a stone by his own mother. According to the story \u2013 which is more like folklore – even the whole ship had turned into stones.<\/p>\n

The remains of the ship are said to be still there lying there on a beach called Pantai Manis<\/strong> so we were not going to miss checking them out while we were there. After asking around and riding through a grueling series of ups and downs across hillside villages (really really scary!), we managed to get there still in one piece. The remains might look quite ancient now but the story about Malim Kundang will always be a good reminder that we should never betray our parents and forget where we came from. Ouch. Lol.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06084c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the things that I instantly noticed when I was in Padang was that the villages look very much like Malay villages that we have back in Malaysia. It was so much so that I had to remind myself over and over again that I was in West Sumatra and not in Kedah or something. There are suraus and mosques everywhere and even the people look very much alike you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell if somebody is from Indonesia or Malaysia, not before they speak up at least.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06131b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another place that I HAD to go to while I was in Pandang had Teluk Bayur<\/strong> for a name. Well, you may remember this place for an Indonesian classic song called \u2018Teluk Bayur\u2019, which was named after this this very place. I mean, I remember listening and singing to this song when I was a kid. It was very popular at wedding parties back in my kampung and even at those little celebrations and parties that we\u2019d have every now and then during which people would play guitar while singing this very song. I\u2019d hum to this song every time I was leaving for the Peninsular because the lyrics sounded just so right to the situation that I was in. Heh. And of course, I couldn\u2019t help thinking about how this place called Teluk Banyur in real. When I knew that it was in Padang, I knew I had to go there and see for myself.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06161a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IT was apparently a beautiful bay with a road that stretches along the coastal line. The whole bay itself is dominated by a marine port and some fishing villages that reminded me very much of those squatter areas on the East coast of Sabah in Malaysia. We stopped and parked our bike on the side of the coastal road to join dozens of locals in savoring the beauty of sunset over Teluk Banyur. It was quite cloudy but it was beautiful nevertheless. I even took a video of myself singing that song live right there \u2013 but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to post it here anyway. LOL.<\/p>\n

\"DSC06144b\"<\/p>\n

We were there during the Aidil Adha holiday so there wasn\u2019t really much going on. Even the eateries were mostly closed but we managed to find a stall on the seaside and had Maggie goreng for breakfast. Of course there\u2019s always something so good and relaxing about having breakfast while looking out at the vastness of the blue sea.<\/p>\n

Padang was quite of a surprise to me because I didn\u2019t really expect much from it. But then again, Indonesia is full of surprises. I keep telling that to everybody. \u00a0It\u2019s always worth to go back to over and over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, there\u2019s this place called Padang that I went to as part of my trip to West Sumatra recently. It was more like the access point to Mount Kerinci \u2013 the highest volcano in Indonesia for which we went to West Sumatra but it wasn\u2019t after the climb that we got to explore this beautiful coastal city. Padang is not really that big and obviously less busy compared to \u2013 say – Kuta in Bali and probably Surabaya in East…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[19,18,173],"class_list":["post-10042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-traveling","tag-indonesia","tag-travel","tag-west-sumatra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10042"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10067,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions\/10067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jipp-world.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}