Life aspects in West sumatra

Cuisine

Padang food is famous all over Indonesia and the region, you can find Nasi Padang restaurants in most part of the country. Padang food is well known for its spicy taste and the unique way for it to be served. In any authentic Padang restaurants, the food is served in small portions of various dishes with white rice. Customers don’t really have to order what they want since the table will quickly be set with lots of small dishes filled with highly-flavored foods such as curried fish, fried bean curd, stewed greens, chili eggplant, curried beef liver, fried chicken, chilies and other local crackers or chips. The customers then choose and pay for only what they want from a lot of dishes.

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2006/07/small_plates_th.html\ 4th August 2010

Tourism Places

Bukittinggi, once a fort of the Dutch has changed into the heart of the highlands. The clock tower located at the center of the fort is the main attraction of bukittinggi. Topped with a horn shape roof inspired by the traditional house, rumah gadang. It overlooks the market square and the fort’s beautiful surroundings. Bukittinggi has a cold climate, surrounded by 3 volcano’s: Tandikat, Singgalang and Merapi.

www.bukittinggiwisata.com/ 4th August 2010

Flora and Fauna

Many of west Sumatra’s animals can be found in harau valley. Harau valley is a country side. The Harau Valley is a nature and wildlife reserve, where tapir, siamangs, boars, wild goats and tigers still roam. The Harau Valley is 15 km from Payakumbuh. Plants such as angrek, kayu manis, rafflesia arnoldi flower can be found in this place.

The sumatera barat paper 4^th August 2010

Religion

The main religion in West Sumatra is Islam. 98% of the population is Islam. 1.6% is Christian, 0.32% Hindu and 0.26% Buddha.

The sumatera barat paper 4^th August 2010

Music, Dance and Traditional Theatre

One of the most famous dances in west Sumatra is the maggaro dance. There is unique way person in some villages chase away the birds so as to remove their weariness and boredom while in the rice fields. They make various movements using bamboo in their hands, while singing or shouting together. By the way they hope the birds will go away while the farmers are enjoying themselves.

http://reisha.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/lets-dance-together/ 4^th August 2010

Sport

Padang is the hometown of the soccer team semen padang, with Haji agus salim stadium. Chairman Club is Widodo Santoso, Santoso Widodo is president of the plain cement in 2010. Semen Padang was established on November 2, 1980. Football Association (PS) Semen Padangis a football club owned by the company Semen Padang, which is the oldest cement companies in Indonesia, which stood since 1910.

Padang is home to an annual international dragon boat competition.

http://www.soccerway.com/teams/indonesia/ps-semen-padang/ 4^th august, 2010

Shopping/Souvenirs

If you are only in Padang for a couple of days, the one place you must visit is the Pasar Raya. The Pasar Raya is the biggest traditional market in the centre of Padang. Of course there are all the major shopping malls like the Matahari where shopping can be done.

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Indonesia/West_Sumatra_Province/Padang-1211504/Things_To_Do-Padang-BR-1.html 4th August 2010

Facility

Simakakang Island, the island is located in Tuapejat, the capital of the Mentawai Islands. From Padang to Tuapejat takes about 10 hours. Simakakang island is surrounded by beaches for costumers to use. Facilities are as diving, surfing, fishing, and tracking to the Mentawai islands.

http://www.mentawaiislands.com/ 5th August 2010

Map and Geography

West Sumatra’s size is 49788 square Km. It is located “between 0o 54' North Latitude and 3o 30' South Latitude and between 98o 36' and 101o 53”.

http://www.indonesia-tourism.com/west-sumatra/ 6^th August 2010

Climate

The temperature of West Sumatra province has ranges between 22o C and 32o C and about 2°C lower in mountain area. West Sumatra also has heavier rainfall than the rest of the island and the average is 310.6 centimeter annually.

http://www.sumatraecotourism.com/climate.html 6th August 2010