Indonesia: how the place of residence is related to the standard of living

To us, living on the flat plains of Russia, these species seem to be something special, exotic. But for the locals it’s just a way to survive, to win back from nature space for life ...

People live here at different levels. Only the word “levels” needs to be taken literally. I am talking about terraces.

The huge basin, at the bottom of which lies Lake Maninjau, is covered with countless tiers of terraces.

My companion and I were here almost by accident, arrived at random hitchhiking and hung for a few days - I really liked it.

Here are ordinary villages, I did not notice any tourism industry, including motorbike rental. I had to wander around the neighborhood on foot. Well, as I had to ... I'd love to take a walk there.

For some reason, there are very few workers on the terraces, at least I came across only a few.

Someone drags a bag, someone digs in the ground. How they manage to process such areas is a mystery.

So does a banana bloom?

And this is nothing but bamboo.

And here is the cheerful villager. How old is she? A man without age.

In addition to people, grazing buffaloes can often be found on terraces.

Apparently, they are accustomed not to trample on crops, but find places with lush grass.

And here are tall palm trees. I can imagine what the root system should be to keep such a “candle”!

Some unusual tree with flowers similar to cotton fluff.

No combines or motoblocks, good old helpers - buffalos.

The uncle was slightly discouraged when he saw the camera pointing at him. But almost immediately broke into a smile.

Is every such bush planted by hand? How else…

I saw a very similar picture in the north of Vietnam, in the Sapa region. Yes, in fact, throughout Asia.

The closer to the lake, the terraces become wider and eventually turn into vast fields flooded with water.

By the way, about the standard of living ... I fully admit that, in our understanding, the standard of living of those who live closer to the lake is higher than those who live high in the mountains.

So it's not just a pun

It’s fashionable for locals to wear such caps.

The walls of the terraces are sculpted by hand and constantly strengthened, the process is endless, water does its job.

Due to the large amount of water flowing from the mountains and high humidity, fogs and dense air haze are frequent here.

At sunset, the sun is reflected in hundreds and thousands of artificial ponds! It’s a pity I don’t have a quadrocopter, the picture from the air is probably stunning.

Already in the evening I get to the shore of the lake and see off the sun, which goes beyond the horizon.

But, probably, a happy man lives in that wooden house on the banks of Maninjau. And he does not need any bitcoins, and he is hardly aware of the dollar exchange rate.