Participants of ALT VI are requested to make their own arrangements for accommodation.

We recommend that you choose the Hotel Bumi Minang: it's the conference venue, it's the top hotel in town, and it's offering a lucrative 40% discount for ALT participants. However, for participants with more limited budgets, or who just want to get away from the crowds, a variety of other hotels are available, many within walking distance of the Bumi Minang, ranging from very comfortable to rock bottom and with prices in accordance.

Following is a listing of some other hotels that participants are most likely to consider staying in. Updated and more specific information on prices will be made available in early 2005. It is hoped (but this has not yet been negotiated) that some of these hotels will also provide special rates for ALT participants.

The locations of these hotels can be viewed on the maps. The (red) numbers on the map correspond to the numbers shown below by each hotel.

Jl. Ir. Juanda 79
Tel. 62-751-51333
Fax. 62-751-54613

This is the other luxury hotel in Padang, with well over 100 rooms, beginning at around 40 Euros. The hotel is right on the beach, but it's not one of those tropical beaches with white sand and swaying coconut palms you might be imagining. Still, it's fine for those who would like a convenient pre- or post conference dip. The hotel is situated about a 10 minute (and 10,000 Rps, or 1 Euro) taxi ride north of the centre of town and the conference venue.

Jl. Gereja 34
Tel. 62-751-35600 / 33741
Fax. 62-751-38266 / 31163
email: <natour-muara at padang_wasantara.net.id>

This is the third-ranking hotel in Padang, with three stars, and about 50 rooms starting at around 20 Euros. The hotel is just down the road from the Bumi Minang, a couple of minutes on foot. Note that until recently it was called the "Natour Muara", which is how it is still known by many taxi drivers, and how it is listed in the latest Lonely Planet guide to Indonesia (6th edition, 2000), where it is #33 on the map on p. 578. As of early 2005, this hotel was undergoing extensive renovations, while advertising cheap rates.

Jl. Permindo 40
Tel. 62-751-840888
Fax. 62-751-841230

The last in the list of upmarket international-level hotels in Padang, with 108 rooms starting at around 45 Euros. This hotel is about a 15 minute walk from the ALT venue, and is situated smack in the middle of a bustling shopping street just past (or north of) the central market.

Jl. Batang Arau 33
Tel. / Fax. 62-751-27400
email: <batangarau at yahoo.com>

The Batang Arau is really exceptional: a white Dutch-era colonial building converted into a small tastefully-appointed up-market hotel with only a handful of rooms in the 20 - 30 Euro range. The location is also great, in the local Chinatown, on the banks of the Batang Arau river, opposite a fishing village and a lush green hill. About a 10 minute walk, or a quick 5,000 Rps or 0.50 Euro taxi ride to the Bumi Minang.

Bundo Kandung 35
Tel. 62-751-25466 / 34133 / 34134
Fax. 62-751-25410

This budget hotel is directly across the street from the Bumi Minang, and has 25 rooms starting at around 15 Euros. If you're looking at the map on p. 578 of the Lonely Planet guide to Indonesia (6th edition, 2000), they got things mixed up a bit: the Mariani is situated exactly at #34, which is where they put the Bumi Minang, while the Bumi Minang should be on the other side of the street.

Jl. Samudera 12
Tel. 62-751-26000 / 34000
Fax. 62-751-35500

A newly-built hotel (not in the latest Lonely Planet guide) on the beachfront promenade directly opposite and about a 5 minute walk from the Bumi Minang. The 30 odd rooms start at around 15 Euros and are good value for money.

Jl. Hayam Wuruk 16
Tel. 62-751-21726 / 32395
Fax. 62-751-38123

An average mid-range hotel with rooms from around 15 Euros, but with a swimming pool; a 5 minute walk down the road from the Bumi Minang.

Jl. Diponegoro 13
Tel. 62-751-34261
Fax. 62-751-34265
Email: dipo at pdg.vision.net.id

Another mid-range hotel with 35 rooms beginning at around 15 Euros, about a 5 minute walk from the Bumi Minang.

Jl. Hang Tuah 227
Tel. 62-751-28780
Fax. 62-751-28780

Recently renovated, this place, right on the beachfront promenade, though about a 10 minute walk froml the Bumi Minang, looks like a promising choice at the budget end, with 9 rooms in the 10-20 Euro range.

Jl Hiligoo 45
Tel. 62-751-22123 / 32283

A non-descript but useful cheapie, with 41 rooms at 5-15 Euros, situated between two streets just a couple of minutes walk towards the central market (or north) from the Bumi Minang.

Jl. Pemuda 1
Tel. 62-751- 26556 / 26558

Another reasonable cheapie, with 37 rooms at 5-15 Euros, about a 10 minute walk from the Bumi Minang.

In Indonesian hotels, the notion of "reservation" is a very fluid one, and the cheaper the hotel the more fluid it is. If calling by phone, a "yes" from the receptionist could mean any of the following: "yes, your room has been reserved", "yes, we're so happy you'd like to stay at our hotel", "yes, we might have a room, but our reservations book is in a locked drawer and the man with the key has gone back to his ancestral village for the rest of the year", "yes, I understand what you're saying, but our hotel is about to be demolished", "yes: it's the only word of English that I know" ... it all depends on the context. If you make a reservation, by phone, fax, email or even in person, the most likely course of events is that your reservation will be lost, but when you show up there will be plenty of rooms available and you'll never know the difference. Less likely, your hotel will actually be full, in which case the next hotel on the list will almost certainly have vacancies. Overall, there is a surplus of hotel rooms in Indonesia, and specifically in Padang, so it's very unlikely that you should have any problems finding satisfactory accommodation.

The important thing is to keep your cool when confronted with what appear, from a western perspective, to be incoherent and inconsistent discourse structures. Remember that languages differ not only grammatically but also with respect to conventions of usage; this is all part and parcel of the magnificent diversity of human language that we're all headed to Padang to talk about and to experience.