Relaxing the Pulau Weh
 While getting IN to Indonesia was no problem, onward travel presented some minor difficulties.
First came negotiations with the bemo (microbus) driver about our fare. Then came finding an ATM for him to stop at so we could pick up some more Indonesian Rupiah. Then came debating whether he’d really agreed to take us all the way to the northern bus terminal. Then came him putting us on another minibus headed there and paying our fare for us. So while it was a bit of a hassle, it wasn’t really all that bad.
We purchased our tickets for a night bus headed up the trans-Sumatran highway, leaving just enough time for dinner before journeying north to Banda Aceh.
Pulau Weh
Banda Aceh is the capital of Indonesia’s Aceh province which is best known for three things:
1. The long running civil war between Aceh sepratists and the Indonesian government
2. The most stringently religious amongst Indonesias 240 million Muslims
3. Being the area hardest hit by the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami
This makes it sound like a bit of a daunting place to visit. In fact it was anything but.
The civil war ended in 2005 when the government and the Free Aceh Movement realized that they HAD to work together to help the hundreds of thousands of tsunami victims.
Most of the damage to Banda Aceh had been repaired by the time we arrived, and in fact it looked brighter and more prosperous than Medan (and, indeed, most of the other Sumatran cities we later visited.)
And of course my previous visits to staunchly Muslim countries had left me with nothing but happy memories.
The Kreung Aceh River. Apparently some Banda Aceh residents found (small) refuge from the tsunami on the humped bridge from which this photo was taken.
We only spent a few hours in Banda Aceh, visiting its surprisingly helpful tourist office, getting a bite to eat and exploring the market. With all this behind us, we headed for the port of Ulee leh and the ferry over to Pulau Weh (Weh Island.)
We’d anticipated the ferry ride being pleasant, but nowhere near as interesting as it turned out to be. The ferry was surprisingly full (Pulau Weh supposedly had most of its visitors on weekends when tsunami-related NGO workers from Banda Aceh took quick holidays.) And what it was full of was surprising as well: The united Vespa scooter clubs of Indonesia. In additon to being full of lovely relaxing beaches, Pulau Weh was also home to the westernmost point on Indonesia’s road network (which is a big deal, as the country spans 5100km west to east!) All of these “scooterists” as they called themselves, were holding a big rally on Pulau Weh, meeting up at the Kilometer Nol (0 kilometre) Monument.
Vespa Scooters on the Pulau Weh Ferry. Perhaps the most entertaining thing about the scooter convention was the fact that many of the “scooterists” went out of their way to convey an incongruously rough and rugged appearance, wearing lots of leather, torn jeans, dirty hair and “Scooter Sex Indonesia” t-shirts. Indeed, you could have mistaken them for a North American biker gang.
Despite their rough appearances, most of the “scooterists” were very friendly, and judging by the way they’d souped up or modified their vehicles, pretty handy too
We got to the island and, after watching the parade of scooters disembark, found ourselves a minibus headed along the 29km of bumpy, hilly road to the village of Iboih.
Iboih village was a tiny little place, easily eclipsed in size by the half dozen groups of wooden beach bungalows sited just over a hill from it. Not having seen any other foreigners (not even NGO workers in Banda Aceh) we were surprised to find many (well, many is relative… perhaps 20-30 other) tourists already there! We were also surprised when no one seemed particularly interested in selling their guesthouse-restaurants. In one place after another we wandered around, looking for someone to rent a room from, usually in vain. In one place, they even tried to disuade us from staying, first saying “you won’t like our rooms. They don’t have bathrooms,” and then, when we’d explained that this was okay, “and they’re very expensive. 200 000 Rupiah” (about $25) which did succeed in diriving us away.
Finally we did find a place with a friendly landlady (Mama, of the Mama Mia guesthouse) and a nice, seaside bungalow being vacated the following morning.
Though we didn’t have beach right in front of our bungalow, it was still easy to clamber down the rocks and go for a dip whenever the desire came
The next morning we got a better look at our surroundings. The lagoon between Iboih and Pulau Rubiah about 200m away was filled with crystal clear blue water. The forest on Rubiah, and surrounding us was thick and beautiful. Which meant that, despite the presence of many other tourists, it was pretty easy to feel as though you were entirely alone on this beautiful tropical island.
As soon as it was emptied we moved into our new lodgings, and set about doing… doing… well…Â Not a lot.
The rest of our four-day stay in Pulau Weh can be quickly summarized:
Sitting in the hammock reading.
Going for the odd swim.
Playing cribbage.
Eating mama’s delicious food (the “Family dinner,” especially the superlatively fresh fish was huge and delicious!)
Me having a swim in the lagoon. The black spots you can see in the water are big patches of sea urchins. Thus, at low tide, when the water was shallow enough around them to walk in, you had to be careful where you stepped
Though most of our time in Pulau Weh was very relaxing, there was a bit of excitement. One afternoon a big troupe of these bearded macaques (that’s not what the species is really called. I just like their beards) came by our bungalow. They were very agressive, jumping right up onto the balcony with us, looking for food handouts. My usual trick of baring my teeth and growling didn’t even disuade them! But eventually they went away without real incident
Despite the fact that Pulau Weh is supposedly one of the world’s best diving spots, we didn’t even get to go snorkelling, as we were too late the first day, too lazy the next two, and prevented from going by hazy, rough water brought on by a bit of a rainstorm on our final day.
Feeesh! (for Dante, of course :)) Although we didn’t get to go snorkelling, the amazing clarity of the water meant that we still saw lots of beautiful fish from the balcony of our bungalow. We even spotted a moray eel one day!
So the even shorter summary of our time in Pulau Weh would be:
Very nice and relaxing. Did very little.
Which was just what the doctor ordered.
We even considered extending our stay to allow further lazing, but just didn’t have enough Rupiah left, so our fifth day on Pulau weh saw us rise early, and head back to the ferry dock for the return trip to Banda Aceh.
The harbour at Pulau Weh
Most of the Indonesians we met were quite friendly. If a bit forward. This fellow I met on the ferry stood and talked with me for a minute or so, asked if he could sit down, and soon after laid down and went to sleep using my pack as a pillow, before waking again, and asking for money to buy more cigarettes
While the legacy of the tsunami was interesting and moving, especially the stories of the Acehnese people we spoke to, I wasn’t keen on visiting the mass graves, or other physical reminders. And beyond these, there didn’t really seem to be much to keep us in Banda Aceh.
A Banda Aceh street. Much of central Banda Aceh escaped the wholesale devastation that some of the suburbs suffered (as was evidenced by the whole communities of identical new little houses we saw on the way to the port) even so, the need for rebuilding plus a big infusion of foreign money meant that even the old businesses were made to look new again
Accordingly, when we returned from Pulau Weh, we made stright for the minibus terminal near the central market and main mosque, and booked our tickets south to Takengon, in the highlands that form the very heart of Aceh province.
Batur Rahman mosque. Despite heavy damage to many buildings around it (including the complete destruction of parts of the central market next door) this mosque survived the tsunami almost entirely unscathed
Tags: Aceh, Indonesia, Llew Bardecki, Pulau Weh, Travel
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