| Facing the Indian ocean on the western coast of Sumatra island the city of Padang, west Sumatra province, has became the biggest and busiest sea port at the region for trade with India, the United Kingdom, Portugal and the Netherlands since the 17th century with locally-grown pepper as the famous commodity which also makes most of the foods are spicy (locally called as "masakan Padang" or "Padang food" the simpler in English). |  |
Asian traders from India and China that settled here were also left lots of cultural traces in the old part of the city.