44 turns

We ended our trip in Sumatra with a vacation for a few days in Bukittinggi, which is a cute semi-resort town way up in the mountains in northern Sumatra. The town is small enough that we could walk most of it, although we rented a motorbike to get around. We finally felt like Indonesians zipping through the streets. Although, compared to them we were very tame on the bike, with good reason. Sometimes I really think they are just asking to get hurt!

The first picture is the mayor's house which we could see from our hotel balcony. Many of the buildings in this area of Sumatra have roofs which are styled this way, after water-buffalo horns.
We took our motorbike about an hour to the west to reach a volcanic crater lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. Here was the view from the top of the crater: Then, to get down to the lake, it was a series of 44 hairpin curves. There was a sign at each curve that told you which number you were at, so you knew how many turns were left to get to the bottom (or the top). There were a ton of random monkeys along these curves; they liked to sit on the guardrail posts, or play in the middle of the road - only getting out of the way at the very last second! Here is a typical scene by the lake, with a guy working the rice paddies. We also saw a local with a monkey on a chain, who he "employs" to climb up trees and get the best coconuts. I never knew people did that until I saw it.