As the title suggests I'm somewhat lacking in sleep right now. This is mostly due to leaving at 2am to go to Padang airport from where I went to Kuala Lumpur to spend a day milling around before heading to Banda Aceh the next day. From there a short ferry ride took my to the island of Palau Weh where I'm currently sitting next to Gapang Beach having done my first Scuba Dive. Thankfully the World Cup final isn't tonight and won't be kicking off at half past one in the morning so I can get lots of sleep...Ahh shit.
Also a dog just stole some of my curried chicken then had the audacity to see if i would give him any more. He was pretty cute though and I guess it could've been worse, I mean a monkey could have stolen my can of coke earlier. No wait, that happened too. Damn monkeys.
Kuala Lumpur was amazingly hot and humid which made my 5 hour walk mildly intolerable. It probably didn't help that my walk took me past the national mosque at the exact time that the prayers were ending which, disappointingly, meant that I was walking in a crowd which made Carrow Road look like Swaffham market. (Nice Norfolk based references for all you who've never been). My walk ended at the 500m high telecommunications tower which provided fantastic views of a muggy KL. The Petronas Towers looked nice though.
Banda Aceh on the other hand was stunning, especially considering the fact that it was decimated by the 2004 tsunami. Thanks to numerous international NGO's the city has been rebuilt back to it's former glory but what's even more amazing is the attitude of the people. They could easily be forgiven for still being mournful/angry however they are some of the friendliest people you could ever wish to meet. In fact one guy gave me a free ride round town as we had a couple of hours to wait before the ferry left. I imagine the trip would be best described as a tsunami tour as we went to a couple of mass graves as well as to a house which had a boat stuck in the roof of it. 3km's inland... Not only that but he also took me to the power generator vessel (pics to come later) which was washed 4km's inland. I have no idea how much it weighed but it's an absolutely huge boat and puts the force of the event into perspective. For some reason he also took me to the fish market which, judging by the hysterical reaction of the people present, is not a normal place for tourists to visit. Also one guy kept trying to make me buy a tuna. Without even trying I knocked the price down to a 1/5th of the original asking price but seeing as how it was 35 degrees and I had nowhere to put it I had to leave empty handed. Next time I'm in Tesco's I might try the same trick though just in case...
The three most memorable quotes from some of the locals I spoke to were:
- In response to the question: Where were you during the tsunami? "I was swimming" followed by a laugh and repeated swimming motions just to make sure I understood.
- In response to the question: How many brothers and sisters do you have? "Oh I don't have any", followed by "wait, do you mean before the tsunami?". It turns out he had 6 beforehand.
- Finally one guy asked me if I was alone. After telling him I was he then told me how much it would cost to sleep with girls in various parts of Aceh and North Sumatra before making particularly graphic hand signals. For anyone who might find this relevant the costs are as follows:
Palau Weh - 200,000 rupiah ($20) a night
Medan - 100,000
Banda Aceh - 1,000,000
Apparently lots of people make the 10 hour bus ride to Medan for some reason...
Armed with this hopefully unnecessary information I got on the ferry for the 40 minute ride to Palau Weh where I hopped on the back of a moped for the remaining 40 minutes to Gapang past numerous monkeys, palm trees, stunning ocean views and row upon row of fish lying on the roadside ready to be sold. It's amazing that such a stunning place is still so untouched by tourism and long may it stay that way. I think this is in some part due to the fact that Aceh still has a reputation for being an unsafe place to come however the tsunami changed the political situation here dramatically. The main reason for this change is that the local terrorist group put down their guns (they were fighting for independence from Indonesia amongst other things) in exchange for aid. It's just tragic that it took 300,000 people to lose their lives for this to happen.
On that fun note I'll just say that I'm here for another 8 days (mostly Scuba diving) before heading off for 5 days around Medan to see Orang Utans and to climb volcanoes. Not only that but I also hope I'll get to see Lake Toba which was caused by what is believed to be the largest eruption to have ever occurred. Most people know about Krakatoa (the largest ever recorded eruption and the first international event to be reported around the globe) but Toba would've made that look like an appreciative after dinner belch in comparison.
Anyway I hope all's well with everyone and hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures and videos before too long,
Keg
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment