Pekan Baru and Bukit Tinggi

Originally my trip was to end in Medan, but a week or two before departing one of my favorite people in the world, my old Indonesian tutor, contacted me. He now lives in Sumatra near a town called Pekan Baru. Turns out he had a little free time and could do some traveling. I canceled my original plane ticket and hunted down some new ones so I could go see him... Kind of expensive, but totally worth it to see a dear friend.

Pekan Baru isn't much for tourism; it sits right on the equator and is extremely hot. The city basically exists for the oil and forestry industries. We decided to visit West Sumatra for the weekend.

Our destination was Bukit Tinggi, a city known for its pleasant climate and beautiful surroundings.

Bukit Tinggi sits high in the mountains overlooking a scenic gorge.

The gorge is well-equipped with monkeys.

It is also the site where the Japanese army in the 1940s, while occupying Indonesia, built a series of caves where they kept ammunition, made surprise attacks, and tortured their Indonesian prisoners.

After a short time in Bukit Tinggi, we rented a motorbike and headed for Lake Maninjau. The lake, like Toba, is in the crater of a volcano. Unlike Toba, it is much smaller. It is famous for the 44 switchbacks necessary to reach it from the mountains.

Here is my friend on the motorbike as we started down to the lake.

It was beautiful.

While we were there, we tried some of the local dishes called Pesi, which involved fish of some sort. I ate it and kinda liked it. Shortly thereafter I was sick to my stomach.

Other than that, I also tried to paddle a sinking canoe.

Shortly thereafter it capsized. And, yes, I am that white.

We also watched the sunset from the top of a nearby mountain.

Well, at least we watched until the clouds settled over the mountain and blocked the view.

The next day we headed back to Pekan Baru so my friend could get back to his job. Along the way we stopped for a picture next to the 44^th switchback.

We also saw some cool scenery on the way.

After my friend went back to work, I had a full day in Pekan Baru without much to do. Rather than sit at the hotel, I wandered around the city. It was definitely not my favorite place. There aren't many tourists, so everyone watched me very closely. Not in a bad way, but just because they were curious. I got to chat with many of them. It is interesting to meet new people.

Beggars followed me around, too. That was less fun. At one point I was approached by seven beggars in less than ten minutes.

Anyways, it was worth it to see my friend. After two years much has changed, but I believe it is always worth the effort to see old friends.

The next day I was on a plane back home to Jogjakarta. Thus ended my two-week post-research trip.