Padang is the largest city on the west coast of Sumatra Island as well as the capital city of the West Sumatra province, Indonesia. This city is the western gate of Indonesia from the Indian Ocean. The administrative area is 694.96 km² with geographical conditions bordering the sea and surrounded by hills with an altitude reaching 1,853 masl.
Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2016, the city has a population of 902,413 people. Padang is the core city of the development of the Palapa metropolitan area. Here are the list of facts about Padang Indonesia.
- Delicious cuisine
Everyone likes Padang cuisine because of its rich taste. Even foreigners admit that one of their culinary names, Rendang, is one of the most delicious dishes in the world. Because it proved to be delicious, so many Padang stalls in cities throughout Indonesia. Even Padang has been filmed because of the rich richness of its herbs and philosophies. Well, the unique fact of Padang cuisine is that when we order to take it home, it’s always more.
- Good angkot
In Padang, you will never be lazy to use public transportation called angkot, because the angkots here is very different from most cities in Indonesia. Public transportation in Padang is truly maximal in pleasing its passengers. Believe it or not, many angkot drivers there modify their cars insanely. Start attaching body kits, air brushes, to crazy interior parts such as seats from the skin, cooling system to a booming sound system. Uniquely, this kind of public transportation doesn’t only have one but dozens.
- The most luxurious school in country is in Padang!
The Padang earthquake some years ago did leave a wound. Even so, the impact of the earthquake could be said to bring blessings because many new infrastructures were built and increasingly magnificent. One of them is Padang 1 Public High School, which is said to have cost Rp. 38 billion!
This expensive school is indeed so amazing seen from many aspects. Starting from the magnificent building, the facilities are complete and the area is not known. This school might be arguably the coolest in Indonesia because it doesn’t lose at all compared to the others. Even for international level Padang SMA 1 can compete.
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- The big earthquake in Padang killed thousands people in 2009
The 2009 West Sumatra earthquake occurred at a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter Scale off the coast of West Sumatra at 17:16:10 WIB on September 30, 2009. The earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra, about 50 km northwest of the city of Padang. Earthquake caused damage severe in some areas in West Sumatra such as Padang Pariaman District, Padang City, South Coastal District, Pariaman City, Bukittinggi City, Padangpanjang City, Agam Regency, Solok City, and West Pasaman District.
According to Satkorlak PB data, 1,117 people died as a result of this earthquake spread in 3 cities & 4 districts in West Sumatra, the number of injured people reached 1,214 people, slightly injured 1,688 people, victims missing 1 person. While 135,448 houses were severely damaged, 65,380 houses were moderately damaged, & 78,604 houses were slightly damaged.
- History of the city
There is no certainty where the name of the city of Padang actually comes from, there are many versions of the story about the origin of the name of the city, this city is quite old, in 2017 the city of Padang is 348 years old, it is evident that Padang’s civilization began with settlement activities in Muara Batang Arau which is more popular with the name Muaro Padang.
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- Large city
Originally the city of Padang only had an area of 33 km / facet, after the issuance of PP No. 29 in de jure the capital of the province of West Sumatra was moved from Bukittinggi to Padang in 1979, the city was expanded to 694.96 km/facet by taking part of the Kabupaten/regency Padang Pariaman.
With that area, the city of Padang is wider than the city of Jakarta which has an area of around 661 km / facet, but that does not mean that the city of Padang is bigger than Jakarta, because of the total area of Padang, only one third is in urban areas, 3 / 4 of them consist of hills covered in tropical forests, most of their forests are included in the natural reserve forest area, the population of the city of Padang is also less, until now there is not 1/10 the population of the city of Jakarta.
- City of thousand Waterfalls
There has been no official release of the exact number of waterfalls in the city of Padang, but what has been recorded in the city of Padang has many natural waterfalls, in the rainy season we can clearly see vertical white lines on the walls of green hills surrounding city of Padang, that’s a seasonal waterfall that only appears during the rainy season, besides that there are many eternal waterfall in the city of Padang that you can visit at any time.
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- The city of Siti Nurbaya
The phenomenal legend story of an infinite love story from a novel by Marah Rusli tells the story of a well-educated, beautiful woman child of a merchant, as a result of her parents in debt, forced to marry an elderly rich merchant named Datuak Maringgih, shortly after marriage Siti Nurbaya was tragic, Noerbaja died as a result of Datuak Maringgih’s poison.
A tomb between the rocks at the waist of Mount Padang hill located in the Muaro area of Padang is believed to be the tomb of Siti Nurbaya, at the summit of Mount Padang there is also a Park named Taman Siti Nurbaya, heading to Gunung Padang from the center of Padang past a bridge with an exotic view of the port of Muara and the Old City which is also named the Siti Nurbaya Bridge.
- Unique topography
The city of Padang consists of lowlands and hills, in the west it borders directly with the Hindia Ocean and tends to be hot air, while in the eastern part of the city consists of hills extending from north to south which are covered by dense tropical forests, tend to cool hills typical of hilly areas.
- Padang is the city with most watersheds in the world
It is recorded that there are 6 watersheds in the city of Padang, the 6 watersheds are upstream and empties into the administrative area of the city of Padang. It could be the great asset for Padang city since it is the most number watersheds is in Padang.
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- The city of Malin Kundang
Do you remember one of the popular legend story tittled “Malin Kundang”? Do you recognize where it comes from? A pile of rocks that were tangible like a fragment of a ship and someone who was prostrating on the beach of Air Manis was believed to be the dwelling place of Malin Kundang who was damned to stone. Some of people believe that the legend is taken from the true story.
- Host of the IORA Summit in 2015
Padang became the host of the IORA High Level Conference in 2015. IORA is a regional organization of countries in the Indian Ocean region, there are around 21 countries that are members of this Organization.
Those are the facts of Padang in Indonesia Now, you have known that Padang is not only about the born of rendang as the most delicious food in Indonesia. Padang is the great city that could make everyone falls in love to stay there.
