Kayu Tanam is a small mountain-foot town on the old road and railway between Padang and the highlands of West Sumatra, the place where the flat coastal plain gives up and the Bukit Barisan range begins. The station is a relic of the Dutch era, when the colonial railway pushed inland to bring coal from the Ombilin mines at Sawahlunto down to the port at Padang. The line climbed the steep Anai gorge and, higher up, used a toothed rack rail to manage the gradient, and the whole system was recognised by UNESCO in 2019 as part of the Ombilin coal mining heritage.
Today the road beside the line is the more interesting ride. The Padang to Bukittinggi highway squeezes through the Anai valley, a green slot where a waterfall called Lembah Anai drops almost to the verge and where on wet days mist drifts across the carriageway. Climbing is steady, with bends that tighten as you rise. Trucks and buses dominate the traffic, so overtaking has to be done with patience. After heavy rain, landslides and mud are a real possibility on this stretch, so ask locally before heading up if the weather has been bad.
The landscape that opens above is classic Minangkabau country. Rice terraces step up the slopes, houses wear the curved roofs shaped like buffalo horns, and the volcanoes Marapi and Singgalang stand over the town of Padang Panjang. The Minangkabau are a matrilineal society, one of the largest in the world, and their food, rendang above all, is famed across Indonesia. Warung and Padang restaurants along the road serve dishes from covered plates, and you pay for what you eat.
For fuel, the nearest sizeable towns are Pariaman on the coast and Bukittinggi up the road, both about twenty-five kilometres away, and there are village stations between them on the main road. The best riding is in the dry months, roughly from May to September, and in the morning before the afternoon rain clouds gather on the ridge.