Swiss Belhotel Banda Aceh

... I won't be able to visit it as I jet out of here at 7am tomorrow morning. My sadness suddenly turns to joy as I realise this is the perfect excuse to come back here to Banda Aceh...not that I need one of course as this place is truly amazing.<br><br>3pm approaches and I head off to meet Carolyn from the 4pm ferry in a becak. De ja vu suddenly hits me as we are bumping over home made speed bumps made of rope. I am no longer on a main road and I know that the way to ...

... who came and took a picture of us as a 'souvenir' the day before and proceeded to ask our names before walking off...we reckon she could be the ringleader of a kidnap gang!! Ha ha Carolyn is going to drown tomorrow whilst 18 metres under the water and I am goig to be kidnapped whe on my own in Banda Aceh...lets hope not eh?!<br><br>Another early night as I have a bus to catch at 7am to take me to the 8am ferry bound for Banda Aceh...<br>

I woke up this morning and pulled back the curtain to reveal a sleepy Banda Aceh, other than the noise from the hussle of motorbikes and the few cars that are using the perfectly laid road of this city, that is. A quick cold shower later and we are leaving this, now infamous, city for the secluded island of Pulau Weh. Fear not though as I will be back to fulfil my dream of experiencing the delights of this city whilst witnessing the devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami and ...

... feelings weren't to last long as the cutest little kid, who had clearly only just learnt to walk, tumbled over to me. Putting his hand on my knee and stroking my leg adoringly I could have been forgiven for thinking I had found the man of my dreams...shame he was barely 2!! His mother came and picked him up and we communicated through laughter at the situation which had just occurred and off she went with the little boy...only for her to put him down on seat and him to come ...

... looking forward to falling into bed and attempting to sleep off whatever it was she was coming down with. We had decided to stay on the beach at Gapang, which was 45 minutes away from the ferry terminal by mini-van. Gapang Beach can be described at best as "rustic". The sea is a beautiful shade of turquoise, but the beach itself is a little scrubby with a couple of restaurants that are pretty basic shacks with not the cleanest of kitchens. There is no music playing anywhere and the ...

... as these four days had been spent without electricity. Everyone else at Mama's had electricity apart from me and Dan, and after asking everyday, and finally renting a bike, going to town and buying a replacement fuse without any success, our patience wore out when she moved new people into an electrically charged hut that she'd promised us. So we moved to Julias, and had a gorgeous shanti with a superb view over the sea (not that you get to see this view as idiot me lost ...

... Weh e' l'isola dei sogni!<br>Spiaggie bianche, la barriera corallina a pochi metri dall'acqua, incredibili siti per immersioni, comodi bungalow quasi sull'acqua cristallina ($3-5), gente del posto molto socievole e buon cibo!<br>Credo che questa lista basti per far ingelosire chiunque e per domandarsi che cosa ci facciano ancora di fronte a un computer!!<br>Ora...guardate le foto ;)<br>

... times of me saying 'Hunt' and them repeating a word sounding nothing like that, I pulled out my bank card to let them read it. It wasn't till later in the trip we noticed they'd made the ticket out to Mr &amp; Mrs Hard which gave han unlimited giggles for the rest of the journey. The '******** tour!<br><br>The trip was supposed to be non-stop executive but in reality we stopped at anyone showing a remote interest in getting on. Also, they had ...

... all, my bus from Bukit Lawang to Medan broke down on the side of the road...no surprise when they fit about 25 people in a minivan, including about 5 or 6 on the roof of the minivan! Anyway, we sat on the side of the road until some other sort of transport picked us up...it wasn't the same sort of van and had some other destination written on it, but no one spoke english so I wasn't so sure what was going on....but in the end I made it to Medan. Eventually I ...