Pulau Weh

From Danau Toba, I decided to go to Pulau Weh, a small island off the northern coast of Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean.  I stopped through Banda Aceh on my way.  Banda Aceh is a coastal city and the one hit hardest by the two natural distastes of 2004;  the oceanic earthquake and the following tsunami. Banda Aceh was the closest city to the epicenter of the 9.0 earthquake, which took down most of their buildings.  What remained was devastated by the tsunami that followed about an hour later.  160,000 people were killed, which was about 25% of their population.  The hotel I stayed at has photos of a large ship parked at the hotel site immediately following.  It's humbling to see the continued devastation.  While some things have been rebuilt, there is still a lot of work to be done in reconstructing housing, hospitals, ports, and the airport.  If Banda Aceh wasn't such a shit hole, I'd consider a job opportunity.

Pulau Weh is amazing.  It is a beautiful island, uninhabited due to the difficulty in getting here, and very calming (with the exception of my 'I'm not connected panic attack' which took place this afternoon when, right before the power, and

 internet, went down, I learned BofA was cutting off my ATM card due to suspicious charges and I couldn't figure out how to make a phone call to the United States to fix it. Don't worry, the power came back up a little while later and Kristi came to my rescue).  

I am staying on Gapang Beach and, although it is the main beach, it is very undeveloped.  There are only about 30 bungalows/room on the entire beach.  I don't mean establishments, I mean rooms.  

The electricity goes out for a couple hours each day and there has only been water for about 6 hours in the two days I've been here.  In the bathroom they have mandies, which are built up basins filled with water to compensate for the times without.  The water is used to flush the toilet, brush your teeth and shower.  I had my first mandi shower and let me say that pouring cold water on yourself in an attempt to cleanse is not as easy, or as fun, as it sounds.  

There are more chickens, geckos and goats than natives on the island.  And the geckos are huge.  I am trying to get past it, but they make such a loud sound, it's hard to forget they could fall from the ceiling at any moment.  In fact, there is one doing his thing right now, he can't be far.  And, since there is no air conditioning and it is rather hot, the only option I have for sleeping is to keep the windows open at night to allow the Indian Ocean breeze in.  I have heard that the large geckos take quite a while to enter a new space; I am hoping the one taunting me at this moment is not warning me he's ready to make his move.   

I have met most of the locals, since they run the dive shop, restaurant, etc, and heard their tsunami stories.  Because the beach is not very wide, the tsunami did not gain tremendous height in Pulau Weh and the devastation was not even close to what is was on Banda Aceh, located only a few kilometers away.  There were only 3 lives lost on the island.  I have talked to people who ran up the hill in order to flee, people in boats who had no knowledge of the tsunami until they came back to see the washed out shore, and people who were diving and only knew something was wrong when the fish all started acting strangely and swimming to the surface.

Pulau Weh is also devoutly Muslim.  There is only one restaurant open during the day and you have to go in the back door, speakeasy style.  Everything is closed off to give the appearance of being closed and to add and extra element of swarms of flies to your dining experience.  Surprisingly, the food is fantastic.  It doesn't hurt that it's the only option.

Diving here is phenomenal.  The underwater colors are so rich, it's like a whole new world.  The corals are by far the best part, but we also saw a honeycomb eel, which is a large eel that looks brown with yellow leopard type spots.  Very cool.

One of the best parts of the island is the hammock, where I make my home in the afternoon.

Cost of hammock: 0

Cost of room: 275 IDR

Preferred method of transportation: walking