Description of a Place
My Journey and Experiences in Padang, West Sumatra
Padang is a city located in West Sumatra, one of the many islands in Indonesia. My friends and I went there for a field trip in October of 2019. We didn't only go to Padang, we went to Bukittinggi as well. We went to a lot of places including museums, restaurants, historical landmarks, but the highlight of this trip truly was our experience of staying 2 nights at the traditional Rumah Gadang.
A Rumah Gadang is a traditional home for Minangkabau people. You'd think that those kinds of houses don't exist anymore... right? Well actually, people still live in these kinds of houses.
These houses have dramatically curved roof structure with multi-tiered gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. These communal houses are rectangular in plan, with multiple gables and ridges as roofs, which form buffalo horn-like ends. Often, these houses would have 3 tiers, with each tier set on wooden poles that reach as high as 3 meters tall.
A Rumah Gadang would traditionally be constructed out of mostly wood. The roof is made out of truss and a cross-beam construction. It is covered with a thatch made out of the fibers of a sugar palm plant. It is said that the toughest thatch material could last up to a hundred years.
Each element of the Rumah Gadang have symbolizations of their own. For example, the pointy roofs symbolize reaching up to God. The walls on the front and the back of the house, are made of plaited strips of bamboo, and it symbolizes the strength and utility of the community which comes together when the Minangkabau people become part of one big family instead of standing alone.
Each house needs to at least have 5 bedrooms, but the ideal number of rooms in one rumah gadang is 9. These rooms are marked by the how many pillars there are in the main entrance room, so each room follows the position of the pillars.
Where we stayed, it was nice and spacey. One house was able to fit around 50 people at most. During the day, the weather would vary depending on how bright the sun shone, but it never usually got nearly as humid as Jakarta would be on a daily basis. At night, it would be cold, as if the temperature dropped a hundred degrees. The advantage from having this type of weather is that we would never need air conditioners. Overall, it was a good trip that I think everybody should get to experience at least once in their lives.
Padang is a city located in West Sumatra, one of the many islands in Indonesia. My friends and I went there for a field trip in October of 2019. We didn't only go to Padang, we went to Bukittinggi as well. We went to a lot of places including museums, restaurants, historical landmarks, but the highlight of this trip truly was our experience of staying 2 nights at the traditional Rumah Gadang.
A Rumah Gadang is a traditional home for Minangkabau people. You'd think that those kinds of houses don't exist anymore... right? Well actually, people still live in these kinds of houses.
These houses have dramatically curved roof structure with multi-tiered gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. These communal houses are rectangular in plan, with multiple gables and ridges as roofs, which form buffalo horn-like ends. Often, these houses would have 3 tiers, with each tier set on wooden poles that reach as high as 3 meters tall.
A Rumah Gadang would traditionally be constructed out of mostly wood. The roof is made out of truss and a cross-beam construction. It is covered with a thatch made out of the fibers of a sugar palm plant. It is said that the toughest thatch material could last up to a hundred years.
Each element of the Rumah Gadang have symbolizations of their own. For example, the pointy roofs symbolize reaching up to God. The walls on the front and the back of the house, are made of plaited strips of bamboo, and it symbolizes the strength and utility of the community which comes together when the Minangkabau people become part of one big family instead of standing alone.
Each house needs to at least have 5 bedrooms, but the ideal number of rooms in one rumah gadang is 9. These rooms are marked by the how many pillars there are in the main entrance room, so each room follows the position of the pillars.
Where we stayed, it was nice and spacey. One house was able to fit around 50 people at most. During the day, the weather would vary depending on how bright the sun shone, but it never usually got nearly as humid as Jakarta would be on a daily basis. At night, it would be cold, as if the temperature dropped a hundred degrees. The advantage from having this type of weather is that we would never need air conditioners. Overall, it was a good trip that I think everybody should get to experience at least once in their lives.
FAQs:
1. What are some common things to do in Padang?
2. What kind of heritage buildings are left in Padang?
3. What places do people go to when they are visiting Padang?
4. Who are the people who live in those heritage houses?
5. Why is it interesting to visit Padang?
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