Bangkok, Thailand 02 -31 Oct

Two Dutch girls (Jitske and Sanne) moved into the bungalow next to mine on Pulau Weh and Jitske was my buddy on three dives. They also headed back to Kuala Lumpur and so I had some people to share the rides and kill some time. We got into a taxi and took the ferry to Banda Aceh at 8:00h in the morning which meant I had to get up at six. Havent been up that early in some time but at least you can easily sleep on the flight and on the bus. On our way from Banda to the airport we had some time left and so we persuaded the taxi driver to get us to a “sight” at no extra charge.

The tidal wave on Boxing Day 2004 hit Banda Aceh pretty hard and a power generator was washed inland to about 4-5 km from its initial place at the beach. When the girls suggested we had a look I was not too enthusiastic, but once I noticed the size of the generator, I realized how much power and impact the wave had on the city. The generator is about 60m long, 30m wide and 20m high. I don’t know how much that thing weighs but you get an idea of how much power the tsunami had.

half of the power generator

Gapang Beach, Pulau Weh, Indonesia 25-30 Sep

Travelling back to Penang was without any occurrences worth mentioning. I stayed one night there and then made my way to the airport the following morning.

At the firefly check in the lady told me Indonesian immigration would want me to show them a return ticket or an onward flight. So I hurried to the Air Asia counter to have my confirmation printed. Of course nobody asked me for that confirmation.

The flight to Banda Aceh was different from what I had experienced before. The ATR 72-500 holds about 60-70 seats, is equipped with a propeller and just two cabin crew members serving the guests.

The ascend and descend was much steeper than any commercial flight I have been on before. I tried to take a nap as soon as I boarded the aircraft and usually I am not bothered by the take off procedures but with such a skyrocketing climb I couldn’t drop off.

Procedures at the Indonesian immigration are straightforward. In June this year “Visa on Arrival” was established in Banda Aceh and so you just hand over 25 USD and get into the country without any hassles.

I took a private tuned cab with a massive sub-woofer in the trunk to get me to the ferry terminal. The ride over to Pulau Weh was nicely air-conditioned and not a bumpy one at all.

Once again a taxi drove me over to Gapang Beach where I finally arrived after a taxi to airport, flight to Banda Aceh, taxi to ferry, ferry to Pulau Weh, taxi to Gapang Beach-trip.

The dive shop was fully booked and so I had to look for accommodation someplace else. The rooms are cheaper next door but you don’t have a proper shower. So I just showered at the dive shop and saved the money.

In the evening I went for dinner with my fellow divers. Apparently there is one restaurant down the beach all the divers always go to. I had fish curry which was either amazing or I was really tired from a long trip. Anyway, it tasted great.

Diving pics of Pulau Weh, Indonesia

My dive buddy on the first beach dive had a camera and he kindly shared the pictures with me:

banded mantis shrimp

Meyer's Butterflyfish

Langkawi, Malaysia, 21-24 Sep

Langkawi consist of 99 islands about 3 hours north of Penang and with its lush rice paddies and tax free status a beautiful and cheap place to stay a few days.

I took the morning ferry to the port of Kuah and from there it is a 35 minutes taxi ride to Pentai Chenang (Chenang Beach) on the western coast. I reckon this is the first time that I choose the accommodation that was lonely planet’s pick.

Gecko Guesthouse - nice, shady place to hang out