Staying in Padang

Day 17 — Crazy City "Padang"

We meant to stay two nights in Padang, but there apparently aren't many sights. Today the plan was first to change money for KEN, who was nearly out of cash, and then swim at the beach.

After breakfast we walked to the city centre looking for a bank. The atmosphere was completely different from clean Bukittinggi. The pavements were rough, with conspicuous holes you could fall into the gutter through.

The Matahari department store in the city centre had collapsed; lots of stalls were set up around it, but there was no sign of business. We later learned it was from the earthquake last September. There should have been lots of banks around the department store, but there weren't that many. And maybe because it was Saturday, they weren't open...

Near the department store there was a market, where cute, colourful chicks were for sale, cheeping away. Poor chicks, dyed just to make them stand out.

The meat and fish section of this market was frighteningly unhygienic. On tables that we doubted were ever washed, they hacked huge chunks of meat and sold them, untroubled by the countless flies swarming over them. A foul smell filled the air, and the ground had pitch-black puddles like sludge.

Wilting in the hellish heat, we went back to the lodging for a short rest.

We went out looking for a bank again, but nothing seemed to be open, so we gave up on changing money.

While we were having lunch at a bakery, a student from the Padang Japanese Language Institute talked to us in broken Japanese.

The bakery was like a convenience store, selling lots of snacks too. Japanese labels stood out everywhere.

We went out to the beach in Padang, but it smelled a little.

On top of that, with something like this lying at the water's edge, you lose all desire to swim.

After sunbathing on the shore, we walked along the coast toward the old town. The river water was polluted, and thinking that this water flows into the sea, I felt we were right not to swim. The old town had declined completely, with many half-collapsed buildings. And where had the Chinatown that should have been there gone?

The city centre was jammed with astonishing numbers of shared taxis. The honking was deafening. On top of that, they play music at full volume inside. The drivers are usually young guys. Why have this town's shared taxis ended up like this? By the way, in this town they're called angkot rather than bemo. I couldn't really bring myself to like them.

The beach at dusk.

There were some inappropriate parts in what was written on this page, so I would like to add a note.

On 30 September 2009, an earthquake struck off Padang, and more than 1,000 people lost their lives in the city of Padang too. The half-collapsed buildings we saw, and the market lining the streets near the department store, all told of the scars left by the earthquake. In the title I described all this as Crazy. I don't think that was wrong, but I must say here that it was something woven by the energy of people working toward recovery.

The children we met in a city that had begun moving toward recovery never stopped smiling. The future of this country, rich in both resources and people, is bright, and for us Japanese these Japan-friendly people may one day be partners with whom we should build even stronger ties than with China.

To the next day