6D5N Pekanbaru – Bukittinggi – Padang
This was my second trip to Indonesia for year 2014. I called this #TripJiran simply because I travelled with two seasoned travellers Lily Riani and Edjunaidi who are residing in the same neighbourhood. With the help of Lily’s distance family in Pekanbaru, we decided to do a traverse route to the contrary of the usual Padang – Bukittinggi – Padang route. We began our journey in Pekanbaru where we were fetched by Mas Iman. He was responsible to transport us to the destinations.
Day 1 – Pekanbaru to Bukit Tinggi
Our first request was to eat local food as we did not have our breakfast prior to boarding the plane to Pekanbaru. Mas Iman brought us to a famous eatery known as Ampera Ni Yet. Historically, Ampera is a short form to “Angkatan Penderitaan Rakyat”. Literally, ampera is an eatery for the ordinary citizen. During our first minang style lunch, I spent quite some time in front of the variety of food not knowing what to eat. The specialities of Ampera Ni Yet are Beluit Goreng Balado (Belut Goreng Berlada), Tambunus (Usus Isi Tahu), Ikan masak sos and dendeng.
Masjid Jami’ Air Tiris, Kampar
Masjid Jami’ Air Tiris was not part of our itinerary. If not for Mas Iman who chose to have a prayer break at the mosque, we would not have known about the existence of this unique mosque. Masjid Jami’ Air Tiris was built in 1901 and is located at Jalan Pasar Ujang, Desa Tanjung Barulak, Air Tiris, Kampar. It was made under the order of Engku Mudo Sangkal who was the development panel known as Ninik Mamak Nan Dua Belas from many tribes from different villages. When the mosque was completed, it was hugely celebrated by the people of Air Tiris by sacrificing 10 cows.
Behind this old mosque, it is also associated with many mystique elements such as the buffalo-figure stone which was placed in one of the water containers within the compound of the mosque had been found in other places without being removed. Also, the mosque survived many attempts by the Dutch to take over and burn the mosque.
This mosque was said to be similar to an old mosque in Pahang.
Welcome to Western Sumatera Province a k a Selamat Datang di Ranah Minang.
Kelok 9
The journey from Pekanbaru to Bukittinggi was uneventful except for the stop at Kelok Sembilan and its jagung bakar. Kelok 9 bridge is a bridge built to connect between valleys with the total length of the bridge 943 metres. It was named as Kelok 9 because it has 9 curves. It is a new bridge which had just been officiated in 2013. We took a break by having jagung bakar at one of the stalls that lined the view point at Kelok 9. To be honest, having travelled Indonesia quite extensively, this is the best highway in Indonesia!
Bukit Barisan
Equator Ball
As we did not book any hotel, we had to scout the hotels around Bukittinggi and found the standard hotels cost around IDR200,000.00- IDR250,000.00 without air-conditioned and fan. We spent the night at Hotel Imran which was within walking distance from Panorama and Jam Gadang.