A bustling port and university town, attractive PADANG is an important transport hub and famed throughout Indonesia for its spicy local cuisine, Makanan Padang (Padang food). Its climate is equally extreme: hot and humid and with the highest rainfall in Indonesia at 4508mm a year (in the top ten of rainiest inhabited spots in the world). Most tourists pause only briefly here, before aiming for the nearby hill town of Bukittinggi, the Mentawai Islands, the Kerinci-Seblat national park, or more distant Bengkulu. The city's main sight is the very pleasant Adityawarman Museum (Tues-Sun 9am-4pm; Rp300), housed in a traditional Minang house and specializing in Minangkabau culture, with textiles, kris and finely worked basketware. For a good local shopping experience, ignore the large new shopping centres and head instead for Pasar Raya in the city centre, a terrific general market . There's a tourist office at Jl Sudirman 43 (tel 0751/34232).