Cubadak island is located on southern coastal area of West Sumatra. It is exactly on the area of Painan district, 75 km from Padang city. The southern coastal area directly faces Hindia ocean and there are many small beautiful islands there.

One of the islands which managed to be a gorgeous resort is Cubadak island. The name is used because as the story goes, there were plenty of jackfruit trees there. In Minangkabau local language, Cubadak means jackfruit. Cubadak island is hired and managed by Italian person, and he has been managed the island for 18 years. The owner of the resort names it Paradiso Resort.

Cubadak island offers visitors to spend their holiday in the tranquil and virgin environment, with the best 5-star standard cottages to stay. Many foreign visitors have visited the resort, but just few of them come from the local country. All fares here use dollar, nevertheless rupiah is also acceptable.

How we can reach the island






The visitor can drive directly from Padang city to Painan for at least 75 km. Then they can make their way to the Tarusan port within Tauran subdistrict (indonesian: kecamatan) area. It needs 30 minutes to reach the port from Painan by car. Getting to the island, it takes time approximately 15 minutes speedboat from the port.

If we are still confused how to get the island from the port, we can call the manager of the island before we date to go. Then the manager will pick us up with the boat of his own at Tarusan port. Tradisional fishermen with their simple boats are also found there.

Siberut is an island located at the offshore of West Sumatra beach, separated by Mentawai strait. Its distance with Padang city is 155 km. Siberut National Park is situated in the island, with more than 60% covered by primary forest of Dipterocarpaceae, mixed primary forest, swamp, coastal forest and mangrove. The forest in the National Park is generally still natural with many high trees with the average height of 60 metre.

Siberut National Park has 4 kinds of primate fauna that can not be found in any places of the world (endemic), such as bokkoi (Macaca pagensis), lutung mentawai / joja (Presbytis potenziani siberu), bilou (Hylobates klossii), and simakobu (Nasalis concolor siberu). Beside, there are 4 kind of endemic squirrels, 17 kinds of mamalia fauna and 130 kinds of birds (4 of them are endemic).

Siberut island and its National Park is stated as one of biosphere sanctuary by UNESCO in the Man and The Biosphere program (MAB).

There are still a few of tourists and visitors interested in traveling into the National Park area. And until now, the main tourism objects for the visitors are the culture of Mentawai people who live in and around the National Park. In many ways, Mentawai people is still very traditional and most of them are still animist. Their social activities are centered around their Uma, a family house which has along size and is inhibited by 30 - 80 people.

The visit to Siberut National Park is a traveling combination of boating, oaring, strolling on the mud track, enjoying the beauty of natural tropical forest circumstance, including plant and fauna observation, waterfall and the observation of local people way of life. The journey will become unforgetable experience. The journey to Siberut island is usually arranged by travel agents from Padang city and Bukit Tinggi including tourist guide.

Some of Interesting Places to be Visited

• Adobak, Rokdok, Matotonan, Rorogot, Butui, Teteburuk, Selaoinan and Mailepet: explore the forest, follow the river, hot water spring, waterfall, nautical tourism, wild life and plant observation, and cultural tourism (uma house and religious dance),
• Sagulubek and Masilok beaches: surfing and snorkling, sea garden and mangrove.
• Cultural attraction outside National Park: Gandang Tasa festival in May, Tabuik festival in June at Padang city.
• The best time to Visit: during January until September every year.
• The best way to reach the location: from Padang (Muara Padang) to Muara Siberut / Muara Sikabaluan / Muara Saibi using ship (3 times a week) at night. It takes time fo 10 hours.
  

If you want to know further detail of the park, please contact:
Office: Jl. Raden Saleh No. 8C, PO Box 159 Padang, Sumatera Barat, Telp./Fax. (0751) 442309
E-mail: tsiberut@indosat.net.id

Siberut National Park:
Wide : 190500 hectare
Location: Mentawai archipelago regency, West Sumatra province.
temperature: 22 - 31 C.
Rainfall: 2.900 - 3.700 mm/ a year
height: 0 - 500 m. dpl

Lake Maninjau is one of the most wonderful lake in Indonesia. It is located at West Sumatra. Lake Maninjau has an area of 99.5 km², being approximately 16 km long and 7 km wide. The average depth is 105 m, with a maximum depth of 165 m. There is an old legend in association with the existence of the lake. The legend called Bujang Sembilan told that one of main personage was died by throwing himself to a caldera. The caldera then expanded and the lake emerged.

According history, the Maninjau caldera was formed by a volcanic eruption estimated to have occurred around 52,000 years ago. Deposits from the eruption can be found around Maninjau extending up to 50 km to the east, 75 km to the southeast, and west to the present coastline.


There is a river that connect the lake with sea, that is Antokan river. The river is located on the west side of the lake, and its water flows to the west coast of Sumatra. According to the report, the river is the only natural outlet for a lake to the west coast in Sumatra, comparing with other lakes in the island. Hydroelectric power had been built on the river since 1983, to suppy electricity for west Sumatra.

TOURIST DESTINATION
Maninjau is a notable tourist destination in the region due to its scenic beauty and mild climate. It is also used as a site for paragliding. On the uphill close to the lake, there is a 5 star hotel to lodge in. To reach maninjau, you can rent a car from Bukittinggi, which is located 35 kilometer from the site. Or you can also travel by public transport.

There are so many restaurants at maninjau. However, you must be careful because local cooking is highly seasoned and spiced. This is the specific charasteristic of West Sumatra foods. So you must be clever to choose.

If you want to buy souvenir, you can buy songket, a cloth embroidered with bits of gold or silver thread. Or you can choose any products made of songket, such as sandal, shoes, bag, coin box, etc. Other specific characteristic food that you can buy is kripik singkong pedas, a spiced crispy chip made from cassava.

Besides enjoying the beauty of the scene, you also can enjoy any other receation means there. However, due to the local custom, you are not allowed swimming at the lake using swimming cloth. If you want to do swimming, please do it at many resorts and hotels around the lake. At Maninjau resort, you can visit fitness center and jogging track.

The hotel price at maninjau is not expensive. For standard room, which has private bathroom, you only pay as cheap as 30000 rupiahs. Or bungalow, with the price of 50000 rupiahs. The hotel is very clean, and you can have beer and many choices of food, at very reasonable price. Some hotels are surrounded by rice fields, such as Beach Inn. So if we want to reach them, we have to pass the green-yelowish fields and enjoy its beauty.

Hill around the lake and villages of Maninjau are decorated by forestlike tree gardens before it reaches real forest on the upper hill. You can see there fruit trees such as rambutan, langsat, and durian.

The best-time to visit Maninjau lake is April - September. Because if you come there on September to April, you will get rainy season, where you will rarely see beautiful sunset.

Coal in Sawahlunto city is a story aged more than a century. At the city which has a distance of 95 km from Padang city, West Sumatera, a scratch of life story about coal mining is still kept well.

When we step our foot at the center of Sawahlunto city, a trace of old life are scattered at house building, market, and other buildings with Dutch architecture. The center of the city is located in a deep valley so that it is often called "skillet city". If we stand at the upper end of the valley at night, we can see the glowing of lamps from residences at the city. People residences locates around the slope which becomes "the city wall".

The glory of coal city, which contains millions tonnes of coal reserve, frozen at some big old buildings. They are ration building, industrial chimney of coal processing, societet building, railyway station which was the best transportation at that time. However, many remains are obselete, such as Dutch lighthouse.

Some old building have changed their functions. Ration building does not use as a big kitchen as in the old days, the big cooking place to supply food for thousands of coolies and chain person. Chain person was a term for criminal and politic prisoner who were employed as a coal laborer at Dutch era.

Today ration building is used as a museum and is given a name "Goedang Ransoem". At the museum, the history of the old days is still kept well.

"There were hundreds of laborer working in the kitchen. Most of them were children. They were given an easy work as peeling off onion, slicing vegetables, and preparing spices," said Cheris, a chief of team that responsible to take care of historical remains at Sawahlunto city.

"Most of cooking tools kept in the museum comes from local ihabitants live around here. But others are just replica because we did not find the original ones," explained Sri Sedyawati, anthropologist from Andalas University who pioneered the construction of the museum.

Some of cooking tools kept in the museum are giant skillet and frying pan and old compressor. When we look at these tools we can imagine what had happened here in Dutch periode from 1892 to 1942. The Dutch era ended at 1942 when japanese invaded Indonesia.

At that time, cooking did not use wood, gas, or oil, but using steam. The steam was produced by a 1894-germany giant stove. Then the steam were channeled through giant pipes to the kitchen. Coal was also used, but just a small part of it.

After the food was ready, it was delivered to all mining holes scattered in the city. And to safe the time, the coolies ate their food in their holes themselves.

"Most of coolies almost never see the sun because they spent most of their time in the hole," said Erwiza Erman, a historian from LIPI who has spent his time yearly to investigate the activities in sawahlunto coal mining at the year of 1892 to 1996.

We are willing to go into one of the holes in order that we can imagine how is the feeling working hundreds meter deep from surface. Moreover, there is still active mining hole at Parambahan village. But our hope vanishes.

"We apologize that we forbid women enter the hole. This is regulation." said Syafril, a mining businessman.

HOLE IN THE CENTER OF THE TOWN
Fortunately there is a mining hole at the centre of the town repaired by government used as tourist object. So my hope to see the environment in the hole can be answered.

The hole located in ex-residence of laborer is called Mbah Suro hole, a name which remind us a Java accent. Local people actually knew about the hole, but they never thought about it. Especially when Dutch closed it in 1927.

"The hole was opened by the government in July 2007. The hole was full of water and it needed two month to deal it." said Wilizon (51), a hole keeper.

When it was opened, some of petrified human skeletons were found. "there was a cruel story in the hole. Killings between coolies was a usual story at that day," said Erwiza who often travels from sawahlunto to Jakarta or vice versa.

The killings happened because quarrel about food, coal, or homosexual friends. The maskulin mining world made coolies become homosexual. Almost there are no women in the coal mining, even today. If there are women, they does not enter the hole. They work far outside it.

When we enter the mining hole at the centre of Sawahlunto, we will feel the life of the mining that ever labored thousands of people at a time. Lanes with 1,5 m width and 3 m height have black walls. At that walls, people would find coal. Coal became black gold for Dutch colonial government a that time and becomes one of local peole incomes today.

Although oxigen has been pumped to the hole, we are still hard to breath. Imagine what coolies felt hundred years ago. While coolies were having their difficult time, colonial officers held parties at Societet building, which is now to be The Cultural Information Center of Sawahlunto city. When colonial officers were dancing and drinking at Societet, coolies spent their time playing cards or watching Ronggeng dance.
(Agnes Rita Sulistyawati - Kompas)