South Sumatra on a bumpy bus

Crazed and dazed on our 39 hour bus ride from Bukittingi to Jakarta. There are several of these photos at different stages of the ride. This one was crossing into Java after 36 hours. Three more to go to arrive at midnight, take a three wheeled motor-car to the tourist ghetto and sleep with the mosquitos (ahhhh).
The view from our bungalow on the lake. Serene and still in the morning, but try to paddle in a dugout canoe and your in the water. We also swam out to some fish farms to see them growing in different stages.
Colin struggling to open another Bintang on New Years. How many have you had again?
Bringing in the New Year with a chord of wood blazed on fire by the lakeside. The Indonesians went to sleep so Colin and our new Canadian friend set it ablaze. The flames were 20 feet high (beat that Big Dan)!
Meningkabu rice farmer with his water buffalo. From far away it looks like a rhino but it acts more like a pig wallowing in the mud.
Little Indonesian girls posing for a photo as we cruise the lake via motorbike. So cute, but they didn't fit in our bags. We were invited for fresh coconut by some guys working by the lake. We spoke some broken Bahasa, they some broken English and we were on our way.
Watch out, woman driver! Amanda learns to drive the motorbike without crashing.
Clouds cover the volcanic crater lake. Maninjau was heavily damaged by the recent earthquake in September with many landslides. By the time we were there relief was widespread and things were being rebuilt.
A walk through the rice paddies to find a spot on the lake to rest our heads.
Our cage-like bus careening down the 44 hairpin turns to Danau Maninjau. Like most bus drivers, he was racing the other buses on a road not wide enough for two cars to pass and blindly passing on curves, all in good fun of course! This ride was better than our 17 hour night bus to Bukittingi where we sat in the freezing air con with the bathroom stinking up the whole bus, speeding across potholes and thick fog. At 3AM we came upon a fresh landslide, the drivers moved rocks out of the road as fresh ones crashed down but we made it through with no dents.
This pretty much sums up Bukittingi, the market clogged with motorbikes, the Dutch clock tower in the background and the Meningkabu roof to the left. Meningkabu people live in West Sumatra and are matrilineal which makes for some tough market hawking ladies! One woman, Azza sold us some jackfruit and then invited us back to her house for some tea. We sat on the floor and she taught us some Bahasa Indonesia which we only slightly retained. Many Indonesian people are curious about Westerners, or as we like to say "whities", (especially in Sumatra) and invite you to stay with them.
Colin crossing the creaaaaaky bridge through the canyon. We had to dodge the local guides and the dogs to do this trek on our own, but we made it!
Kota Gede, pretty rice paddy views, gaudy silverwork and the worst fried noddles ever (think dry Top Ramen, no broth, but with the spice packet for that extra sodium kick).
Siyanak Canyon just outside the city center of Bukittingi. We hiked through the canyon, across a very scetchy bridge and to Kota Gede, a small village renowned for their silversmiths.
A really cool bird which I forgot the name, but it seemed like all we're labeled "Ayam" which means chicken. So, a really colorful chicken with a tiger striped head.
Colin almost got eaten by a giant fish. What else is new.
Amanda's new friend at the Bukittingi zoo. The tropical birds were amazing here but the other animals we're quite depressing. You can't feed a camel on bananas alone, who knew? Pens littered with trash and fur missing, oh my. The zoo was attached to "Fort De Kock," left by the Dutch. Oh those Dutch, they would.
Bukittingi, in West Sumatra. A market town with stalls for miles where you can buy just about everything (except for a heating element which we we're searching for all over the place). We spent three nights in this town puttering around the zoo, city and hiking through the canyon.