Padang

I returned from Padang a few days ago, to the shocking realization that Jakarta feels like (3^rd or 4^th) home to me at the moment. Padang is, well, different. It’s right on the beach and surrounded by mountains, but most of all, people just aren’t Javanese.

Javanese (and Sundanese, the people of West Java) are extremely polite, with intricate rules as to what people will say to each other. “No”, for example, is not acceptable, under any circumstances (including when you’re asking a taxi driver if he knows how to get somewhere, and he has no clue.) “Kurang tahu” (literally: “less then know”) is about as close as people will get, and even that’s a challenge.

Minangkabau – the people of West Sumatra, where Padang is – don’t share these kinds of norms. For example, when people stare at you while you’re eating in Java (the common state of things), or laugh at you as you walk by, they usually feel mildly embarrassed if you stare back for a moment. Minangkabau don’t have this problem. They’ll just keep on staring and laughing.

This must be the cure for all those 13 year olds who want to be… whichever celebrity 13 year olds want to be. A couple of months of being the center of attention, constantly, should do the trick. A friend in Padang – a linguist from Australia on fieldwork for a master’s thesis – was at a traditional wedding in the mountains a week ago. Two kids saw her and started crying. “Made me feel wonderful”, she said.

The truth is, though, Indonesians in general are just very social people and there's actually something refreshing about Minang directness. Part of the problem is just my weird notion of “privacy”. It just doesn’t belong in a place so densely populated. And so all the “leave me alone” cues from the West – e.g. pausing while your host hovers over you to inspect how your dining is progressing – don’t work.

But the people I actually got to know in Padang - especially the staff at the linguistic lab I'm working out of - were great. Minangkabau architecture is beautiful too, the famous Padang food deserves its reputation and having the ocean front in the middle of the city isn't too bad either.
Next time I'll be exploring the mountains as well.

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My first morning in Padang there was a 5.3 earthquake not too far away.
Slept through it, of course. I love my earplugs.

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Great minds think alike:
Shlomo Benizri blames gays for earthquakes, emulating Abu Bakar Bashir.

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This must be what my Indonesian sounds like:
“In regards of communities concern of flexiblity data communication technology, pushed us to create the new product with WiFi base; called HotSpot.”
- The English introduction, when connecting at a “HotSpot”

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From the mouth of a river at the edge of town: