Bukittinggi

Today our research team drove two hours to the mountains, up to 930 meters to a city called Bukittinggi. First, we stepped out from the car near the famous bell tower that Dutch built in 1926, the year when they left the country. We asked some information from the tourist office. The officer told us how the Dutch colonialiased them for 350 years, until they left in 1926. He also recommended us to visit the fort, with cannons to protect the hill.

Wikipedia tells that this city was used also by Japanese during the second world war, and then by Indonesians during the birth of Indonesian independence.

We walked through a traditional market, with full of tourist items like key chains with the bell tower, but also many kinds of dried fish, onions, vegetables or fruits. The most unique item I found was waterbuffalo milk yoghurt - home made, served inside a bambu. My stomach was very happy to get some familiar stuff (milk bacteria wise :-) ). My Indonesian and Minang friends could not believe I like it, due to its smell - but how about durian...

Minang and Indonesian - two languages - my brain was overloaded today trying to learn two languages at the same time. Not surprise: tradewords are about the same in these two languages. Moreover, in many cases the Minangs change the last 'a' in Indonesian word into 'o'. Tiga -> tigo (three).

Work? Sure we did some work too - research team practised interviewing the small shop owners on what devices customers buy. The small receiver in the picture turned out to be most popular.