Grand Nanggroe Hotel Banda Aceh

... going, I suddenly realise that we are no longer on the main roads which grace revamped Banda Aceh, but are now hurtling along an increasingly bumpy dirt track to god only knows where. This kind of thing has happened a few times since I have been away, when you feel like you have to grab hold of your handbag and be ready for anything but as yet has not proven to be dangerous. Eventually we come to a halt in the middle of a filthy puddle in the pouring rain and as ...

... which was completely unaffected by the Tsunami despite the whole area around it being demolished...the locals believe this to be an act from above.

Back to the hotel and I ring home to speak to Nig (my dad for those of you who don't already know) and what a great chat we had. It is probably down to my dad that I am here now to be honest...he gave me the travelling jeans for sure!!

By now it is afternoon and I am so hungry but as a result of ...

... and so much more. To have managed to escape the tourist trail of Thailand and co in favour of Indonesia was the best decision I could have made. Other than the fact I am lying in a bikini I am living the life of a local and think I will feel disheartened next time I see a westerner to be honest. Totally one for living in the moment I have hardly thought about the life I have left behind as I believe life is a journey that doesn't stop ...

... tourists that now make it as popular as the likes of the Costa del Sol.

We are offered a place to stay for 50,000 rupieh a night (£3 quid between us that is) and we accept. Its basically a little barn with a tin roof that has a double bed and a mosi net inside but it has character and charm and lets face it when you are in paradise it doesn't matter where you sleep. Where's the toilet though?! The toilet is in an out building a few meters away from our 'room' and ...

... of her handluggage...so much for the 100ml rule eh?! Anyway we dump our bags on the x-ray belt, walk through the metal detector and off we go!! Christ if we can blatantly ship through security breaching every single rule then who else can do the same and what might they have on them?!

We get through to the waiting area which is about 25 times the size of your school gym hall and is FULL. We find a space to sit down and then low and behold we see someone we recognise...the owner ...

... to lay your head for the night. When we checked in, we discovered that not only was the room not clean, but the sheets and pillowcases were dirty and the towels looked like they had been used in place of the toilet paper. It also appeared that the bathroom hadn't been visited by the cleaner since 1998. Luckily, we carry our own sleeping bags, pillowcases and towels for times such as these so it wasn't the end of the world. Hannah, whose room was even grimmer and grimier than ours ...

On a flight from Padang we flew up to the city of Banda Aceh and took a ferry to the island of Pulau Weh. Sitting out in the Indian Ocean the island offered up another rest stop, this time along the rocky shores of the quiet village of Iboih. We lucked into a fantastic bungalow and spent a week here. The snorkeling was ...

... and Dan walked straight into the trap when she said, "you're friends say you eat here tonight. I make you special Barbeque". Well you can't argue with that can you? Except that Clare and Kim hadn't arranged this at all , Mamma cooks some (very tasty) food, but charges twice the price of surrounding restaurants, and has a massive sulk if you dare venture out anywhere else to eat. When you can't escape her wrath its awkward as noone knows when dinner time is and you invariably ...

... the following morning. We spent the next few days diving and snorkeling. The diving was amazing but really you saw it all by snorkeling too and it was all from the beach too. During one dive we had 2 grey reef sharks circling us for a while. After a few days of this we felt brave enough to tackle the night bus back down south to medan so off we went again. Won't go into detail, but same story again pretty much. Now we were beginning to ...

... decent diving. Basically my days went something like: get up, go diving, hang out in front of the dive shop drinking tea, go eat lunch at one of the cafes and then hang around for a few hours...go swing in my hammock a bit...go for a swim...and then return to the cafe for dinner and the rest of the evening. Can't get much better than that. :) Everyone laughs at how lazy they get on Pulau Weh. "What did you do today?" "Nothing, you?" "Nothing"....lol. But that ...