Saturday, June 7, 2014

Hidden Gem - Sarasah Waterfalls of Padang, Indonesia

After hiking two hills in the morning, I slumped happily onto the mattress on the floor. Tired, I was hoping for a quick nap before lunch. But my host had different plans for us.

"Jard, get up! We're going to the waterfalls! Lunch first!" My roomie, Siti Nur shouted from outside our door. I was just about to close my eyes! +___+

I hastily put on my hijab and went out to the dining hall to see if it was true. I've noticed that Yayan has definitely came back from his exams and there was another guy at the dining table. He turned around as I approached and introduced himself as Syahrial, Yayan's friend from work. Going to the waterfalls required two motorbikes as there were four of us. Yayan will bring his and Syah's his, while the girls will ride at the back. :P

"You can't wear shoes. It will get wet" Yayan suddenly told me as I was putting on my shoes,
"I didn't bring any slippers" I told him.
"Wear mine." He showed me two kinds of sandals, signaling me to choose. Geez, this is my third time borrowing men sandals! Hahaha! First was Helga's in Jakarta (blogged here), second was Alid's in Vientiane and now here in Padang. This is a testimony that I have REALLY BIG FEET! Uwaaa!

Biting back the embarrassment that he noticed I had big feet, I diligently chose a sandal that had back straps on it. I also borrowed his backpack to put in water bottles as there'll be some jungle trekking to be done. After awhile, off we went! Siti Nur on Yayan's motorbike and myself on Syah's bike.

The ride to the forest where the waterfalls were located wasn't a smooth one. We had to drive over big rocks, upheaval dirt roads with big holes in them and endless bumps on the way. We finally came upon a small stream and parked near the area. Having to ask around, the locals pointed us to the correct way to the falls and so the trekking began.

The trail into the woods seemed endless... there wasn't even any sound of water splashing, almost dampening our spirits. After a half an hour or so, we came upon a wider stream over massive rocks. We decided to follow the stream upwards, with hope to find the waterfalls. It was from this point on-wards that we started to get wet. Very wet. Jumping and sliding into the water from time to time to get through. Hehe.

And voilla...

Look at how untouched it is. Haha. *ignore Yayan at the far right of the picture* 
I had no intention in bathing in the falls as no extra clothes were brought. But having to go through hell just to get here made it irresistible for us NOT to jump in!


Particularly curious on what's up there, Syah, Siti Nur and I decided to climb to the top of the falls. Yayan stayed back to watch over our stuff as there were other people there, though not many. On the top, there was another waterfall with a deep pool, convenient for people who wants to deep dive and swim.

I didn't dare go the the center of the pool though. Hehe.
I headed down alone. I almost slipped and fell as the big boulders (read: rocks) were very slippery. There was hardly anything dry to hold onto if I wasn't careful. And I had images of me falling down with a fatal end in my head during the descend. Siti Nur who was initially behind me decided to head back and wait for Syah.

I made it down in one piece and jumped into the shallow pools below!

In waterfall heaven!! 
We had a couple rounds of swimming and dipping before we decided to head back. The day was about to get dark with signs of possible heavy rainfalls. Feeling sad to leave, we took one final picture before changing clothes. 
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill 
Having nothing to change into, Syah lent me his sarung in which I used to cover my head and I removed my wet hijab. I didn't change into dry clothes as I knew it would dry up on our trek out of this place. And it did. :)

Funny thing happened though. As we trekked down the stream, we came upon a group of youngsters, also on their way out. They were moving terribly slow and blocked our way. Yayan found another way out of the streams and we followed heed. He then mentioned that those kids were slow because there were girls in the group. I laughed at his comment and told Siti Nur, "Hey Nur, Yayan doesn't think us as GIRLS!"

He then added, defensively, "Those girls were MANJA."  Hahaha!

We finally found our way out and drove back. Just before it started to raining heavily. Phew! 

During our way back with Syah's sarung covering my head.
Siti Nur must have found it amusing seeing me on the back of a motorbike with a colorful sarung on my head, thus this picture was taken. They said something about "maling" which I couldn't quite understand. Haha.

Alas, the day ended wonderfully and we reached Yayan's home in one piece, happily content. Since we'll be leaving very early the next morning to explore the rest of Sumatera Barat, Syah decided to sleep in.

Till our next adventure, happy traveling peeps! ^__^ 

4 comments:

Yunus Badawi said... [Reply]

Sexy ko jard dgn pakaian basah ….. hehehe

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ yb... amboi yb... jaga mata mu. hahaha

fakhrul said... [Reply]

jelessss!! hehe

fanny fristhika nila said... [Reply]

Maling?? Hahahaha...it's a thief/burglar actually ;p.

waktu ke Padang saya malah ga sempet ke airterjun ini :)

Nice reading your blog.. ;)