Most travellers to West Sumatra do not linger in the city of Padang, preferring instead to head directly to the region’s main tourist spots such as the Mentawai Islands or the scenic countryside around Lake Maninjau.

Even so, Padang has its charms and visitors can happily spend a day or two here.

The city has a pleasant setting facing the Indian ocean and is surrounded by hills. Its a sprawling metropolis with a population fast approaching a million.

The main sights are concentrated within a fairly small area and visitors can cover them on foot. There is a beach south of the town (Pantai Air Manis).

The Adityawarman Museum is worth a look, more for the building itself than its contents. It showcases the culture of the Minangkabau people, a matriarch society whose property passes down the female lineage.

They originate from West Sumatra. Some of their descendants have settled in Malaysia, particularly in Negeri Sembilan state, as can be seen from their distinctive buildings with the ‘buffalo horn’ roof-lines.

Padang’s people are mainly conservative Muslims but there are a number of Catholic churches and schools clustered near the museum, including Frater Huis and St Leo’s Chapel which looks sparkling new due to being extensively rebuilt after the 2009 earthquake.

Opposite this chapel is St Theresa Cathedral. Frater Huis was the site of a Japanese prisoner of war camp for Dutch and other allied civilian internees during WWII.

The tsunami evacuation route signs can be seen all over town. The 2009 earthquake killed over 1,000 people in Padang and caused widespread destruction to many heritage buildings.

There have been eight earthquakes in Sumatra over the past decade including the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami which killed 227,000 people in Bandar Aceh.

At the southern end of town is a hill guarding the mouth of the Batang Arau River and sea approaches to town. Here there are some World War II concrete pillboxes, ammunition stores and gun emplacements, one of which is complete with a Japanese artillery piece.

There is also an older Dutch built fortification and at the top of the hill there are more gun emplacements and a fine view of the city.

In the Chinese area of town, Kampung Cina, there is a temple, a number of clan houses, a market and shop houses including a workshop where they carve coffins in both the Christian and traditional Chinese styles.

On Jalan Pulau Air is a former railway station. A railway godown is still in use for storing spices like nutmeg, betel, cacao, coffee and cinnamon.

Masjid Raya Ganting is the oldest mosque in Padang and was built in 1815. It is a hybrid design with an Indonesian style multi-tiered roof while the external walls and doors are European.

In 1900 the floor of the mosque was renovated with tiles imported from the Netherlands. Another notable mosque, the Masjid Muhammadan was built in 1923 by Muslim Indian traders.

Originally made of wood, it has been renovated and modified several times and is now a concrete construction. The building is highly influenced by Indian architectural styles.

Horse-drawn “taxis” called bendi can still be found in Padang and provide a more relaxing method of transport than the motorised versions.

This article first appeared in http://thriftytraveller.wordpress.com