Koto Gadang (literally means: Big Town) is a village located at the edge of Ngarai Sianok (Sianok Valley) near Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra. Perhaps I should call Koto Gadang a tiny town instead, for the idea of traditional village is not clearly shown in this town, even though most of the people there still work on rice paddy for their source of income.
Koto Gadang consists of less than fifty houses. Most of young people already moved out from the town, so only the oldies stay there. My father is one of the examples about young guy who left the village to get a higher education in Java. Bandung was his choice. That should explain why I lives in Bandung now.
To get a better story about West Sumatra, you can visit West Sumatra homepage or as many West Sumatra proudly said: Minangkabau.
I can only show you some pictures of Koto Gadang, taken on December 1996, and several other pictures in West Sumatra such as Ngarai Sianok and Bukit Tinggi.