Bukittinggi In A Nutshell

Hello there, 

Have you guys read my previous three posts about my trip to Bukittinggi?

If you guys malas, here is what I thought of my trip in a nutshell.

It was a a-okay experience for me because I am more of a beach person. I found that my trip to Langkawi 5 times better than my trip to Padang. Other than being surrounded by Indonesian and feeling like a foreigner, Bukittinggi is almost like Cameron Highland but a whole lot bigger. On top of everything, I was certainly not that thrill that we spent most of our time in the car getting one "beautiful spot" to another "beautiful spot" hanya untuk snap gambar 20 ke 30 mins at each stop. And these beautiful spots are views from tops on hills. (I wish we had gone to that spot di mana garisan khatulistiwa terletak). 

I was not that thrilled about the shopping experience juga because the only one thing Bukittinggi had to offer was its Kain Sulam and that is it. Hambo ni bukan kaki shopping gitu so neay.. pass! They also quite proud about the kripek which obviously can be found in Malaysia.

Bukittinggi is not a city. It is a very small town. Think Teluk Intan and its only shopping mall called Ramayana is like Kotaraya KL. 

Foodwise, the sate is so imcomparable to Malaysian Sate and bakso can easily be found in Malaysia and tastes almost the same. I dont appreciate that they serve cold-receycled food to us and for those yang health conscious, well.. coconut milk and salt play huge part of the cooking style. Cold-recycled food? Kenapa begitu? Ceritanya mereka akan serve kita dengan 6 7 lauk atas meja, we wont be eating all of the lauk served. So, lauk yang kita tak sentuh tu takkan mereka buang kan.. They recycle lew.

While the locals are friendly and nice to you, they do it for a reason. TIPS. They live their lives based on tips from foreigners and tourists. They ask for tips for almost E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. This is an observation i did while waiting for our Sopir/Supir after our first visit to Pasar Atas. Outside Pasar Atas is kawasan Jam Gadang. In my last post i stated that Jam Gadang is kawasan tourists. While we waited for our Sopir/Supir, came two local boys one playing a guitar and one with a hat with money. They shove the guitar right in front of our faces pushing us to request for them to play a song that we know of. A simple "no" did not work.  And when derang tak de idea dah, they begged for us to tip them the least that we can. And this is not the the only pair in the Jam Gadang Park. There were at least 4 to 5 pairs of boys doing this. Now this is a new way to minta sedekah if you ask me. There are also clowns/mascots in that area which dressed up as Mickey, Donald.. etc. These clowns will interfere in when you are trying to snap a photo. The moment mereka nampak you nak snap gambar, they will butt in and pose. And yes.. they will ask for tips. Jika satu clown sahaja xpe. Masalahnya, bila clown yang lain nampak clown yang lain posing depan camera tourist, mereka akan butt in ramai-ramai.. Kalau 10 orang? kau ingat ko blh bagi tips untuk seoreang saje? No way man, satu orang satu tips. Haaa pengsan. Dan, when you park your car with your Sopir/Supir in the car waiting for you, masa kau naik kereta, tetiba ada orang pulak jaga trafic (sedangkan tak perlu pun penjaga lalu lintas ni) supaya kita blh move into the main road dengan selamat.. Dah kena kasi tips kat diorang. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Hok ni memang aku tak gemar langsung... 

Also, my advice is that wear decent clothes when you visit Bukittinggi kerana localsnya 100% Islam dan almost every female bertudung. I wore short sleeve shirt on my first day and it caught many undesirable attentions. 

Lain-lainnya I think kalau perlu minum air, minum lah bottled water atau air panas because water treatment di Indonesia is not as sophisticated macam di Malaysia. You do not want to upset your tummy while you are on vacation kan?

Money, berapa banyak duit nak bawak. Well, that depends on your planning. If you want to visit Bukittinggi untuk shopping kain sulam tu, bawak la duit banyak2 macam my dad. I think he spent almost RM3K shopping untuk kain dan telekung sulam. As for me, I was not that keen about shopping so I only brought dalam IDR 2.2 juta (RM700) which half of it I used it untuk bayar servis Pak Kamal. The rest, I spend on kripek untuk kudap2 duduk dalam hotel dan Jus Avocado and bayar tips Sopir/Supir (I gave him IDR150.000 for his 4 days 3night service.. Ada yang kata thats too generous, ada yang kata mcm kedukut je) masa he dropped us at the airport for departure to KL. In RM I think I only spend sekitar RM1500 max masuk sekali flight fare. Kira okey la kan.. Not bad for first international vacation.

So there goes, my stories tentang my trip to Bukittinggi, Sumatera. Got a question? Email me at krylonglue@yahoo.com. I am more than happy to assist however I can.
\Instagram