Banda Aceh Update Week #7

This week has been comparatively calm compared to the excitement of last week :-) It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone and that I am only here in BA for another few weeks. I am also trying to get my head around all of the change that is about to happen; preparing to move from one country (UK) to another (Timor-Leste) while being based in a different one (Indonesia) is a definite challenge…

Today I was visiting some more of the BA ‘must-see’ landmarks and had a chance to take a photo of the same mosque which appears at the top of this blog site. A friend of mine from Australia took the original photo a while back and here’s what it looks like now…the dome is all done but the rest still needs some work…









My friends and I also visited a ship which landed in the middle of BA, a few miles in from the water – the immense power of the tsunami brought it inland and dropped it in the middle of a neighbourhood, on top of four houses. The ship is a tourist attraction and you can climb to the top and get a panoramic view of the city…






As we seemed to be the only foreigners visiting the ship today, we received a lot of (unwelcome) attention, but these boys did not bother us at all…









I am not sure what this baby was pointing at, but I am always mesmerized when I see families (2 parents and numerous kids) whizzing around on a motorcycle…













Some people have been asking me what those ‘mansets’ (arm coverings) that I mentioned a few weeks back look like, so here is a picture of me wearing them – they look like sleeves but are separate pieces of cloth that I pull onto my arms.











And last but not least – a few ‘firsts’ from this past week:

1.One morning I was actually woken up by my alarm clock, which is shocking since I have always been woken up by a> the call to prayer from the local mosque at 5:15 AM or b> people leaving for work on motorcycles around 6:30 AM or c> lady selling vegetables (‘sayur’) at 8:30 AM…

2.Eating Acehnese version of pizza at the local Pizza Hut – there are many ‘interesting’ flavours to choose from; by far the most interesting was one which had fish fingers baked into the crust and potato chips and mayonnaise on top…

3. The main store having everything in stock that was on my grocery list – again, that’s probably not that exciting to most people, but it’s an accomplishment here in BA – either that, or my expectations have finally been lowered…

Next weekend, I am planning to visit Medan, a city of 2 million people which is about an hour flight from Banda Aceh, so the adventure will continue from there…