Palupuh,the hamlet of Rafflessia

There is a hamlet called Palupuh in the Regency of Agam where in its surrounding forests grows Rafflessia Arnoldii,the bisggest flower in the world
It can be reached from Bukittinggi via the road to Pasaman,just around 26 kilometers from Bukittinggi we arrive in Palupuh;there lives also my friend Umul,a woman who makes the best Kopi Luwak in indonesia.
Kopi Luwak(Civet Coffee)  is a coffe where the beans have passed through the intestinal tract of a Musang(Luwak in Balinese language and civet in english);this animal loves to eat the mature coffee beans from the coffee tree,then the locals colect the heces from the junglke floor and then my frind dry it,clean it,roast it by wood fire and pack it...in the USA can be found at coffe stores at 99$ a cup,in the UK I have seen it at 70 pounds a cup,in holland at 60€ a cup..it is the most expensive coffe in the world.

This is Rafflessia Arnoldii in the rainforests of sumatra 

I never tired of watching Rafflessias,every time there is one in bloom my friend in Palupuh used to call me and I was quickly heading there to see it

Rafflessia was first reported to the western world by Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles(governor of the english east indies in that times and based in Begkulu in sumatra) and his assistant a french botanist Arnolddi
In Jakarta there is a cemetery where is buried Mariamme Olivia Raffles,wife of Thomas Raffles

Add caption

To arrive to rafflessia usually it takes a 1 hour walk inside rainforest and uphill

This is me with my favourite flower,it can reach until more than 1 meter in diameter;it grows through all the bukit barisan mounatin range from north to south sumatra 

Some of the fauna I found on the way to rafflessia

The roasting of kopi luwak in Palupuh house of Umul

The most expensive coffee in the world

Another great flower.I love it so much rafflessias 

Inside these forests grow many rafflessias