Bukit Tinggi to Lake Maninjau by "Harmonius" bus Part 2

Descending down to Lake Maninjau the bus driver had to negotiate 44 hair-pin bends. One misjudgment would have sent the bus hurling down the steep hillside and crushed us to bits as easily as King Kong crushing hostile fighter jets, and onto the frontpages of newspapers.



Pic: "Harmonius" bus speeding in Maninjau.

Signage at each bend with huge numbers painted on them helped in the countdown to the bottom of the hill.

As the driver swung his ageing and overloaded bus round each bend with nonchalant aplomb, I grew anxious and glanced worryingly at the plastic bags swinging from the grab handle above.

The spectacular view of the lake below took my mind off my discomfort.

At 4.30 pm the ancient bus roared into the sleepy town of Maninjau. Phew!

Padang to Bukit Tinggi (West Sumatra, Indonesia)

The Indonesian uncle drove like a speed demon. Any crash would have sent us to the mortuary! Fortunately the road from Padang to Bukit Tinggi 90 km away was good with few potholes unlike the roads to Lake Toba.

Anything that moved earned a blast of the horn from the driver. Anyone too tardy to get out of the driver's way attracted a torrent of verbal abuse. His favourite term of abuse was "Dog!"

In about an hour we arrived in Bukit Tinggi which at an elevation of 930m is slightly cooler than the lowlands.

The Indonesian guy next to me in the MPV was kind enough to take me to the bus terminal, Aur Kuning, from where there were mini-buses going to Lake Maninjau.