THE HOUSES OF WEST SUMATRA

Dearest Friends,

I was quite shocked at the variety of architecture styles in W. Sumatra. As I mentioned before, the two below, with the buffalo-peaked roofs, are the traditional style of the Minangkabau people, and the two cottages at the bottom are probably throwbacks from the Dutch colonial period. I'm guessing the one in the middle, that looks like it was built from river rock or maybe lava chunks, was probably just a matter of using what was at hand. Now the one up there at the top, well, I haven't a clue. All I know is that I love, love, love it! Since that is my friend A.M. that I photographed standing in front of it, I'm wondering if that wasn't the house where she and I were invited to come inside and look around. A couple of minutes later we came running back outside, tears streaming down our faces. Turns out a bunch of women were in the kitchen grinding peppers or something. Oh the pain! The agony! They laughed at our wimpiness. We couldn't stop coughing for hours.

ARTISANAL

Dearest Friends,

To reach Bukittinggi by road was a 90 km trip, with a gradual climb to about 930 meters above sea level. It lies near Mount Marapi, which was formed by a still-active volcano. After leaving Singapore during WWII, the Japanese made this their headquarters, and left behind quite a network of underground bunkers and tunnels. The town had its origins in five villages that served as the basis for a marketplace, which might account for the many artists and craftsmen in the area. These are just a few of those we visited.

Here you are probably seeing the seeds of what was to become this blogging obsession of mine, for I seem to remember that while all my friends were busy collecting souvenirs, I was more concerned with collecting memories -- taking photos and trying to remember as much as I could, so that I could share it all in my letters home. Kind of funny when you think about it, seeing as I probably have just about the only hubby in the world who is actually disappointed, if not down-right irritated, when I come home from a shopping excursion empty-handed!

WEST SUMATRA: FIRST LEG

Dearest Friends,

In order to reach W. Sumatra, we had to first take the company plane to Medan, and from there we took a commercial flight to Padang. My friend Jane, who is British, brought "sticky buns" for the journey, Carol brought rugelach, and of course, we all brought our Shanghai bags -- little purses holding the coins we used to play our favorite card game.

Being the capital city of the province, Padang was fairly cosmopolitan, and our hotel surprisingly luxurious. Have I ever mentioned how much I adore hotels with open-air lobbies in tropical surroundings?

They should have called us The Belly Bag Gang!

I'm guessing the hotel gave us those pretty drinks upon our arrival, for the odds are slim that everyone would have ordered the exact same thing.

Here we are, ready for a rousing game of Shanghai, all wearing the matching nightshirts that our wonderful tour organizer had made for us. Did the hotel provide those beverages as well, or did someone bring along wine? Can't remember. I do remember two girls lugging a big ol' desk down the hallway in their nighties though -- one of the highlights of the trip! Hey, when it comes to playing Shanghai, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

We spent a couple of days there, and then it was time to load up into a motorcoach and head for the W. Sumatran Highlands, where we'd heard that each village has it's own specialty or craft, and that time-honored techniques and secrets of the trade have been passed down from one generation to the next.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Dearest Friends,

There had been lots of opportunities for travel since we had arrived in Indonesia. Groups of women were always going somewhere -- especially those who were there without children and didn't have much to do. Mostly I had declined their invitations, thinking my kids were too young to be left, we needed to save our money, there'd be plenty of time for that later, etc. However, as I slowly came to realize that this might well be our last year in Sumatra, a sense of panic set in. There was so much I still hadn't seen or done! What if I never got the chance to visit this part of the world again? It was right around then that one of my friends (I think it was Carol) announced that she was organizing a ladies' trip to West Sumatra. Traveling to such remote places without my hubby involved stepping waaaaay outside my comfort zone, but hey, it was now, or never. I took the leap. Oh my, my, am I ever so glad I did.

The Rumah Gadang, or big house, wit pointed roof tips resembling water buffalo horns.

West Sumatra is home to the Minangkabau people, a matrilineal culture where property and land passes down from mother to daughter. Men don't have much say in village activities, concerning themselves mostly with religious and political affairs. Padang, the capital and largest city of W. Sumatra province, was to be our first destination. It is a common transit point for surfers traveling to nearby islands, and for tourists, such as ourselves, headed for the W. Sumatran Highlands, including Bukittinggi (High Hill) and Lake Maninjau. I knew next to nothing about any of the places we were headed, but one thing I knew for sure -- I was headed for a grand adventure!

LETTERS HOME: OUR LAST INDO-HALLOWEEN

The Coneheads/Three Stooges host a pre-carnival gathering at our place.

November 1, 1993

Dear Mom & Dad,

Can't believe it's November again already. Fall is passing so fast, with all the activities going on this year. In fact, everyone around here is about sick to death of functions and parties. I'd like to have a nice quiet weekend for once, nothing to do, nowhere to go. We leave for Perth, Australia on Nov. 12, and will be gone one week. We're really looking forward to the trip. Since it's late spring for them, we're hoping the weather will be pretty nice. Speaking of weather, it's been raining a lot here lately. We've had some real downpours this last week!

Heading down to the carnival with the coneheads and Robocop

The costume parade -- Austin used the clothes from his Headless Horseman costume of the previous year, then added a creepy mask, bandana, and earring to create a Zombie Pirate. I think this was pre-Pirates of the Caribbean, so they must've stolen the idea from him!

Looks like Lexie won a prize for her costume. Should've gone to the seamstress.

The kids had their Halloween Carnival this past weekend. Both of them brought home gold fish they had won. Sunday I went out and bought a couple of more fish along with a couple of fish bowls. Unfortunately, this morning we found one of Austin's swimming upside down. Guess that one isn't going to make it. Not really sure what happened -- if it was the rocks we bought to put in the bottom clouding up the water, or if maybe Austin overfed his. I'll probably have to go out and buy a replacement. Not too bad, as they only cost about 75 cents each.

Lex found this costume in Jane Asher's Costume Book, and pestered me for weeks to make it. I finally caved in, but vetoed the buns in the blouse.

See any resemblance between her skirt in the photo above, and this sofa? One of our lace curtain panels gave up it's life for this costume as well. She was one happy girl!

Dig that gorgeous backdrop! Probably painted by the same carpenter who did their bedroom murals. Is that pirate carrying a light saber?

Becky went off on another trip this week with the ladies. They went up to some place near Lake Toba and will be gone a week. She's been having a lot of fun on these trips. Not really sure what is up there, as far as crafts and all. Guess we'll find out when she gets back.

Hope Mike got that computer stuff sent off. If so, I'll be getting it in a few weeks. There are several people scheduled to be heading this way in November. I forgot to mention to him and to you, if you ever want to send a package over here, the best way is to send it via DHL. They are like United Parcel, etc. DHL makes deliveries in this area and, apparently, has a fairly good system of working with the Indonesian customs agents. I don't know if they have an office in the Midland/Odessa area or not, but there is a chance they do. I think you would use the same address as you would on a letter. The local DHL branch knows this place fairly well.

How are you both feeling these days? I didn't realize Mom went into the hospital. No one told us a thing. I wasn't really too clear from our conversation, but I take it the vertigo is more stress related than anything else. Is that right? I had a little bit of that several years ago, but nothing to the extent you have been suffering. How is the new help working out? I'm sure it helps a lot to have the live-in help. As Mike said, just let us know if we can pitch in towards that. It's really no problem.

How are Milton and Lucille doing these days? They weren't doing too good when we left last summer. Nub and Winona were doing fairly well -- maybe he is a little more deaf. Becky hasn't heard from Paula lately and is getting pretty concerned. She has always been good about writing in the past.

Well, guess that's about it for now. I imagine Becky will add something after she gets back from her trip.

Love,
John

WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH, THROW A PARTY!

The Star-Trek-themed murder mystery party we hosted

A party only the brave attended, as it was held at a restaurant in Lhok Seumawe

Miss Becky heads over the hill

Three nuns on their way to a Halloween Shanghai luncheon

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Dearest Friends,

I think Melody, Rich and their two kids were the first of our close friends to transfer out of Sumatra. Fortunately, they only went as far as Jakarta, so it wasn't too bad. We could actually go visit them if we really wanted to. When friend Patti found out that she, Brad, and their three littles would soon be heading to the States, she started to panic over whether she had seen everything she needed to see, and bought everything she needed to buy.

There was a whole lot of stuff you could buy in Jakarta that we never even saw out in the middle of the jungle, so that's exactly what she did -- she went to visit Mel! And, being such a good friend and all, I offered to go along -- just for moral support of course.

If there was anything left in Jakarta when we finished there, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying!

Once Patti and her family departed, it was as if someone had left the stopper out of the drain, for there seemed to be a slow but steady exodus from that point on.