Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Empat puluh empat

There are 44 hairpin bends on the road down to the crater lake of Lake Maninjau. Fittingly, not only am I 44 years old but I stayed at Cafe 44, which has basic rooms on the lake edge and very good food.
Most of my time at Maninjau it rained, which made it hard to get out and about very far, or to get clear photos of the lake. Somehow I managed it, including walking up all 44 turns to the top (a distance of about 9km) and then, for no other reason than the quads needed exercising as well, I walked back down again. Troupes of monkeys hang out along the road hoping for food scraps, some even obliged with allowing me to take their picture.
One of the highlights of my stay in Maninjau was the Independence Day celebrations, when all the school kids dressed up in the various costumes from all over Indonesia and paraded through the streets. The bandleaders in the high heeled boots and frilly costumes and makeup really cracked me up!
Maninjau is all about chilling out and relaxing, but I'm not yet ready for that after only two weeks on the road. If you like doing nothing, Maninjau's the place. Oh and did I mention the yummo food??

for lots more photos

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