Bukittinggi (sometimes spelled "Bukit Tinggi") is the center of a lot of tourist activities. The one tourist activity we planned to do was see the bullfights. Apparently these are not like the Spanish bullfights. The bulls fight each other instead of a matador and usually the outcome is that one bull runs off rather than dies.

The town is unusual among towns we've seen because it's hilly. There are no becak drivers harassing you. They do have horse drawn carriages but those drivers left us alone. Also the town is fairly small and has stairway shorts cuts all over the place so no walk is all that long. The town is also relatively clean and best of all, it's cool. It's over 3000 feet high. What a relief it was to be able to walk around at anytime of day without having to deal with the relentless heat and humidity.

With all the stuff to see in the area and the cool temperature, it would be easy to hang out for a long time. However, with our visa ready to expire in 2 weeks we didn't have time to linger. Also, we quickly discovered the one downside to the town.

The Lonely Planet said that every cafe and hotel offers tours to all the sights. Diane, our Canadian friend we met in Padang, said she like Bukittinggi but was sick of everyone trying to sell her a tour. The first night we walked around looking for any place to eat. We wandered into a place called, "Jazz and Blues Cafe." It was a little too hip for words. The waiters wore ratty jeans and T-shirts and long hair. They looked like Indonesian wannabe rock stars and not at all like waiters. They also acted like rock stars more than waiters. We had to get up several times and walk over to the bar to ask for another drink or whatever. (To be fair, we are general high-maintenance customers. After a day of riding we might drink 2 sodas, tea, a fruit drink, and a beer each over the course of a meal. Also we sometimes consume 2 complete main courses each.)

The owner talked a little to Joan when she went to the bar to pay. He acted like an old friend. "You come here everynight?" he asked. Then he worked on me. He held a photo album and intimated that there was a lot to do around Bukittinggi and on certain days he condescended to guide special tourists like me to see them.

This is a typical restaurant experience in Bukittinggi. It's a little like eating at a used car dealership. Actually the salesman are a little more subtle than that. They sidle up to the table next to you and try to start a casual conversation that always ends with a photo album and a offer to guide. It's not all bad if you want to go on a tour. It irks us though that once again in Indonesia you must beware any friendly person.

We did find a good coffee shop and only one salesman approached us on the first day. After that no one bothered us.

Despite all the things to do, we managed to do very little. We booked a shuttle bus to the bull fights then found out they had been cancelled. When we found out, it was too late to do anything else much. We were going to walk to a nearby park with some WWII Japanese caves but it started to rain really hard and rained the rest of the day.

We managed to see a great dance performance. The various dance and shadow puppet shows we saw on Java and Bali were often shortened versions of actual religious ceremonies. They were all performed in Javanese and in some cases a special old form of Javanese. The West Sumatran (the people are known as Minangkabau) dance however, was orinigally designed simply for the entertainment of the audience. It is much more of a show. They have a cute female MC that tells you what the next dance is about and the musicians play a gamelan sort of instrument that sounds almost exatly like a steel drum and they play familiar melodies.

The most famous dance is the pot shard dance. This exemplifies the showmanship of the Sumatrans. After the cute MC leaves, two guys silently lay a large blanket in the middle of the stage then carry a wooden crate out and dump it in the center. The crate contains broken pot shards and makes a very loud crash like a hundred plates breaking at once. There's a pause for affect before the music starts. The tempo is slow at first as the male and female dancers march out into positions around the pot shards. They are all in bare feet and the steps bring them perilously close to the pile of pot shards. Gradually the music gets faster and they get a closer and closer. Finally one of the male dancers runs towards the pile, jumps high in the air and smashes into the pile with another loud crash. As he dances he stamps his feet into the pot shards and kicks them around the stage then he lies on his back and rolls around in them before a female dancer comes over and dances on his chest. A couple of the female dancers also dance amongst the pot shards. Like most of the dances, the music gets faster and faster until it ends with the dancers virually runnning. After the dance, the two men come back, sweep the loose shards into the blanket, pick it up by the corners and carry it off.

We shopped a lot in Bukittinggi. I'm sorry to say that was our main activity. There's a lot of crap around but we did find some pretty interesting weaving. In a well named store called Alladin's we saw some pictures of the owner in Santa Barbara, CA and then San Francisco. It turned out that he had brought over 100 ancient Sumatran woven cloths to America for a few exhibitions. This helped his credibilty. We further liked him because he did not sell hard, was very nice, and had consistent prices. On our third visit to his store we bought a beautiful and expensive piece from him. He said he was going back to American for another show at UCLA in October. Last time he was sponsered by the presidient of Pan Am (now bankrupt) and stayed at his mansion in the Pacific Pallisades for over a month.

One night we went to the most expensive place in town, the Novotel Hotel restaurant. We lived it up. They had a pianist and a gorgeuos room. Someone watched our water glass all the time and kept it full. We drank draught beers and even ordered dessert. Our bill amounted to a shocking $10, about 10 times what we paid for lunch.

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