West Sumatra's natural beauty has long had regional cachet, even dating back to the early 1900s during the Dutch Colonial era.
It abounds with mountains, valleys, rivers, springs, caves and forests. One regency in the province, Solok Selatan, or South Solok, has them all. Recently we traveled through Solok Selatan for five days to see for ourselves how the natural beauty was standing up.
Our rental car set off on smooth asphalt roads from the Minangkabau International Airport leaving West Sumatra's capital Padang behind us. Just past the Bung Hatta Nature Park, we began the first real adventure: twisting and turning roads with plenty of rocky roadbed. But we had no excuse to worry: The lush vegetation and clean, fast-running streams caught our attention from both sides of the car.
The rain caught up with us when we made a stop at Kayo Aro Lubuk Selasih restaurant for lunch. It was still a long way to Solok Selatan. Another stop we made was at Di Atas Lake before reaching the border between Solok Selatan and Solok. Before dusk we arrived at Wisma Umi Kalsum lodging in Muaro Labuh where we stayed the night. We fell on a happy coincidence for we got the chance to enjoy rarely seen traditional performances like Rahab and Saluang Panjang after dinner, staged for some well-heeled guests staying at the modest inn.
