We didn't expect to fall for Padang.
Taken together, the words 'Indonesian' and 'city' don't exactly inspire visions of anyplace you'd want to hang your hat for very long. But as our plane approached Sumatra's administrative capital from the west, over ocean, we looked down and took in a not-intimidating collection of low-rise buildings spread on either side of a river winding in from the coast. Mostly white, many roofed with red tiles, they shimmered in the early morning heat, a picturesque contrast to the turquoise blue water and smoke-hazed, jungle-clad hills jutting up on three sides of the town. From above, Padang looks more like an overgrown village than a city. Slow-moving, accessible ... welcoming, even. Not like the sort of the city that you'd have to fight to like.
If you're a traveler who prefers order, if Singapore's your thing - Padang won't be. But if it's controlled chaos, color and a bit of noise, jump and jive, and a fair amount of decay with a touch of crumbling colonial grandeur mixed in that floats your boat, I know just the place.
Padang has a lot going for it. Size, for one - a manageable downtown that can be walked end-to-end in about 45 minutes.
And a huge, exhausting, fascinating central market that seems to stretch on and on, with no discernible pattern, forever, over the scorching hot streets and on various levels (and up and down the stairs) of cool, dimly lit concrete buildings.
Padang is blessed with a surprising - by Asian city standards - amount of green, in the hills that rise, almost perpendicular, from one bank of the Sungai Arau river, and in the aged trees that canopy many of its streets. As long as you're not out mid-day, when the near-equatorial sun is high in the sky, it's a city that invites exploration by foot (horse-drawn carts are also an option).
And it's on the water (a leg up for any urban area, in my book), right on the coast, a (none too clean) beach drawing its western edge. Dividing downtown Padang from one of its 'suburbs' (which consists of the wooden kampung houses - painted pale shades of yellow, green, and orange - that dot the hills), the Sungai Arau river hosts a flotilla of turquoise, red, and white-painted fishing and cargo boats. At low tide the waters recede to reveal mud flats and a few rotting wooden schooners. On the bank opposite the hills (the river is spanned by a two-lane bridge for cars and a rickety suspension bridge for pedestrians and outlaw motorbikes) a half-heartedly landscaped promenade fronts a row of exquisite, disintegrating Dutch colonial-era warehouses.
Most of all, it's a relaxed city full of amazingly friendly people who always seem to have time to joke and chat. In the market, on the street, in shops, in restaurants and in the shadow of hawker stalls, we were approached by folks who wanted nothing more than to ask our names and find out where we're from, what we thought of Padang and Sumatra in general, how we liked the local fare, where we'd been and where we were headed. In our many years of travel we've rarely encountered such genuine warmth in the majority of a population, anywhere.
By the end of our too few days in Padang, we found ourselves wondering what it might be like stay for a while, two months or twelve, or more. To get to know that market end to end and top to bottom, to develop relationships with vendors and get recipe tips from some of the gentle but sharp-elbowed ladies that are its regular customers. To stake a claim to 'our' table at our favorite spot for nasi Padang, where the proprietors would know that we can never get enough fiery sambal but very rarely have a craving for brains. To devote a dinner or two a week to grazing the mobile stalls that cluster at various points around town, dishing up sate, gado-gado (blanched vegetables and tofu with peanut 'dressing'), pecel lele (deep-fried catfish served with chili sauce and vegetables), and a cornuccopia of noodle dishes till the wee hours. And to devote every breakfast to bubur ayam, which must be Asia's most spectacular version of chicken-and-rice porridge. To drive out of town on weekends (or weekdays, since in this fantasy neither of us are tethered to office jobs), two hours north to while away a couple of days hunting down local specialties in a village on the shores of a crater lake, or two hours south to catch a speedboat to a sweetly simply little Gilligan's Isle-esque resort.
Padang inspires these sorts of daydreams. At least it did for us. Luckily, it's just a short flight away.
Note: See this site for some lovely images of west Sumatra, taken mostly by Indonesian photographers.
makes me want to travel
Posted by: APT | 2006.07.05 at 01:55
Your photos just slay me. They are so rich, evocative, and gorgeous. National Geographic, watch out!
Posted by: Tea | 2006.07.05 at 02:37
Aunt Robyn, I really admire your writing ability. You make everything sound so good even if it doesn't look so appetizing. All of the cities you visit are so colorful and rich in history and you always find that in the food!
Posted by: Beth | 2006.07.05 at 04:15
APT - thanks, you couldn't have written a nicer compliment.
Tea - wanna be our agent? ;-)
Bethy - we're glad to know you're reading the blog. Though I think Uncle Dave might see that 2nd sentence as a bit of a backhanded compliment. ;-)
Posted by: Robyn | 2006.07.07 at 08:58
Dear Robyn,
your pictures and writings really touched my heart. I have never been to Padang but looking at it from your perspective, I realize that maybe I have missed something from Indonesia herself despite having been raised there for some time.
Thank you. And may you have a wonderful time wherever you are.
Posted by: Daria | 2006.07.30 at 13:30
Daria, that's by far the loveliest comment anyone's left on Eating Asia. You made our day - thanks!
Posted by: Robyn | 2006.08.01 at 18:08
Hi,
Nice blog and reports. Love it. If you don't mind to share with us in my website www.west-sumatra.com. This is an independence and INTERACTIVE site to support the promotion of West Sumatra Province by (majority) photograhy. Everybody can upload their pictures by them self. The picture/photo should be max. 800 pixels and not more than 200 Kb size.
Cheers
Posted by: Nofrins | 2006.12.20 at 15:17