Heading for the cooler climate of bukittinggi was going to be a welcome relief from the hot humid weather of Padang. Surrounded by 3 volcanos, one of which is still active and had been spouting ash three days before our arrival according to the tour guide. It took 2.5 hours to get there on the crazy roads where over taking on bends is just a normal occurrence.

We arrive at our hostel that had been recommended by our guide book and was the top pick, we were expecting a quirky little hostel with roof terrace. What we were faced with was a smelly old German guy who ran a shabby run down hostel. Trying not to be a princess I said to Ed that it seemed nice enough and the fact it was cheap and only for a couple of nights we should be ok. We dumped our bags and headed straight out to explore the town, it had a lot more going on than padang. A massive market, great resturants and lots of places to visit.
We headed back to the hostel at about 8pm to be faced with a bed alive with crawling ants! The window wouldn't shut and the mozzies were flying straight it, Ed and I looked at each other and decided that we couldn't stay there so we grab our bags told the old smelly German guy that it wasn't up to standard. Great! it's 8pm and we have no hostel to stay in so with our rucksacks on we began the long walk through the town stopping at every hotel and hostel along the way, most were fully booked due to the Sumatra bike ride. We finally found a place called the orchid which again was basic however it was clean.... The only problem was the squat toilet! The less said about that the better!

After a restless night and a 5am wake up call from the mosque next door we decided it was time to take a bike taxi up to the local silver village. It was a beautiful little village surrounded by paddy fields with the odd water buffalo wallowing in the cool mud. Little silver shops had been set up in the front rooms of the locals houses, friendly faces and warm hello's welcomed us into their homes. Some offered food and drinks and showed us there large collection of handmade jewellery all made within their family homes. The pieces were so delicate and beautiful(I will upload some pictures) after purchasing a few items and talking to a lot of the locals we finally flagged down an opulet(pimped up taxi) there were already 4 local women in the back with their large bags of onions and other local produce. We hopped on and only the women smiled and knodded to us, to minutes down the road another 5 people got in( so now there were 11 people plus the veg...luckily no chickens) the drive tried to start the van only to realise that it had broken down and he needed a bump start.... He called Ed out of the van and made him push ha ha ha I wish I had a camera at the time, all the ladies thought it was hilarious.

That afternoon we headed back to padang to watch the indo tour de singkarka bike ride. The streets were lined with children and adults waiting for the bikes to arrive, walking up to the clock tower meant that we had to walk past all the kids, who decided that they would cheer at Ed and I as we walked past, I felt like a celebrity! Whilst waiting for the bikes to arrive we stood talking to some local kids who wanted to have there pictures taken with us, I think Ed and I were more of a tourist attraction then the bikes!

The following day was another day of getting out and about, we had arranged to go and see the largest flower in the world and the equator. We arrived at a tiny little village at the edge of the jungle, from here we would have to walk for an hour up into the jungle( it had been heavily raining the night before) we set off with one of the villagers who was great. Due to the conditions of the path( thick mud) the guide helped me climb up the large slope to where the flower was located. The flower was on day 4 of 6 soon it would start rotting and they would have to find another flower for the tourists to visit sometimes people can walk up to 3 hours to view this amazing flower.

Arriving back to the village we decided to try the famous cat poo coffee Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production varieties of coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet cat and then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness. This coffee is widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world with prices reaching $160 per pound. It is the best coffee I've ever tried!