Not a lot

What do you do when the sun shines and your guesthouse backs onto the largest volcanic lake in the world?

Answer: Relax, swim in the lake and do nothing!

We did walk along the main road to visit the souvenir shops and book a hotel for a few days time. Oh, and we enjoyed some great food cooked by the guesthouse owner!

Evening entertainment took the form of the Dutch World Cup team beating Mexico! We watched with a room full of orange shirts, who went wild when The Netherlands scored a penalty in the closing minutes.

Lake Toba

This morning we finished off our bag of 'dragon skinned fruit' for breakfast before heading to the Saturday market. We had a good look around before we realised we had a bus to catch! We quickly grabbed lunch at our regular noodle stall and went back to pack.

It was lucky we were ready early as the 'bus' turned up half an hour early! We had booked a tourist bus direct to Lake Toba. If not, we would need to catch 3 local buses and they would have been even more packed than usual, as it was the weekend and a holiday. The bus turned out to be a car and no one else travelled with us, so we had a private car all to ourselves!

The driver took a route through many small villages and drove pretty slowly by local standards. We passed by volcanoes, a waterfall and truly beautiful scenery. We stopped for a break around halfway at a cafe with magnificent views over Lake Toba. We passed a lot of areas growing different fruit and the driver stopped where a man was picking tomatoes. We got to try them and they were great!

Next, our journey took us past a huge model of a goldfish that was made into a restaurant. Unfortunately it had long closed down due to lack of custom, which was a real shame as it was quite cute.

We arrived at the ferry port as we needed to catch a boat to Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island. We made our way to the boat but had an hours wait, so chatted to a local from the island. We also bought a bag of steamed peanuts still in their shells. As the nuts had been steamed not roasted they were white and soft but delicious.

The ferry left on time and the trip across the lake had amazing views of the lightning over the distant mountains. We were the second stop. From here we walked for a few minutes to our homestay.

After eating the famous curry and mashed potatoes, we joined the rest of the guests who were enjoying a fish BBQ in the garden. When the time came we all walked to a bar in the centre of the village. There was a live band who were great but our main purpose for the visit was to watch Brazil vs Chile in the World Cup 2nd round. Brazil finally won after penalties decided the game. And ... for us bed time was calling as now it was 2am, rather later than expected!

Berastagi

Today is market day in Berastagi and that was to be our first stop. The market was just across the street from our hotel, so we headed over.

There was everything for sale from live chickens to warm coats. Berastagi is 1300m above sea level so a little chilly at night. We continued through the alleyways of the market past food stalls and fruit sellers. The floor was a little muddy where the stall holders had 'watered' the floor to reduce the dust.

After the market we walked along the Main Street towards a building we'd spotted in the distance. Apparently it is a holiday here and the street was packed with overloaded buses and motorbikes. We passed a viewpoint on the right where you could see Mt Sibayak, a volcano, rising into the distance. There are 2 volcanoes here. The other is Mt Sinabung but it has been recently erupting!

Eventually we reached the distant building, which was a church. The outside being in a traditional style. Next to the church stood an old Sumatra style house with a thatched roof and buffalo horns. It looked a little like the ones we had seen in Sulawesi.

Next, we spent our time exploring local coffee shops before dinner, where we watched an exciting World Cup replay between Switzerland and Honduras!

ATM

We left the guesthouse and crossed the street to catch a bus to the next largish town ... Kotacane. There were some school girls on the bus with an Indonesian/English dictionary. We entertained ourselves by a dictionary assisted conversation with the girls.

In Kotacane we needed to top up on funds before continuing our journey. This proved a little more tricky than expected ...

Christine went first to try to find an ATM. She returned after walking for miles and had found 4. Would they give her any money. NO! Darryl's turn and he walked the opposite way. There was a queue for the first ATM. A good sign! He waited in line but as his turn approached the ATM went offline and was unavailable. He tried the bank across the street but the ATM spat his card straight back out saying the ATM could not service this card. Next, out came the emergency US dollars cash. Darryl tried 2 banks but neither would change foreign currency, nor did any other banks in the town. Yikes ...

Darryl went back to the first ATM which was now online again. He tried his card for different sums but to no avail. The ATM kept going offline and Darryl had to wait for 5 minutes between each try. But each time, no money was issued. Now getting a little concerned, he tried an emergency bank card. Luckily, this worked just fine!

We bought some 'peanut pancakes', caught a becak (tuk tuk) to the bus station and 5 minutes later, we were off. Our destination, Berastagi.

The driver drove very slowly and cautiously. Obviously to pick up more passengers. However, we stopped at a mechanics ...

Here they refilled the compressed air for the horn and we were off again. However this time rather faster and the horn seemed to be a missing necessity to the speed! The driver tooted his horn pretty much non stop. As we passed small stalls, he tooted and waved, proud of his new a accessory. We laughed!

At a lunch stop we saw another bus with a motorbike strapped upright on the roof but we are unsure of how it stayed there. The road was terrible! We chatted to an Indonesia primary school teacher on the bus who was about to retire after 37 years.

Day 3

This morning our German trekking companions decided to leave and head back to Ketambe. An infected bee sting and a fever led to their decision to abandon the trek.
After our early morning dip in the river and breakfast, we headed off in search of orangutans. It wasn't long before we found our first and then another, followed by another 2! We watched each for a while, especially the large male.

Lunch was served back at camp and we had our final cold water shower in the waterfall.

The porters packed up our tents, cleared the cooking area and we all headed out of the jungle. It took about an hour to reach the road and we arrived back at the guesthouse 30 minutes later. We said goodbye to our guides and porters who produced little sandalwood carvings for us as momentos ...

In the evening we chatted to the German Trekkers and a couple from Holland, who we had met earlier in Sumatra. Next, bed!

Day 2

We woke to a fresh pot of coffee before washing in the waterfall. After a leisurely breakfast of banana pancakes, we started our morning trek to the hot springs.

When we reached the springs we could see different areas where the water varied in temperature. The porters prepared lunch which included eggs boiled in the springs! We rested in a lovely warm area which was not quite as hot ... over the opposite side of the springs were the butterflies. There were blue ones, red ones, yellow ones, orange ones. So many sizes and colours. One was huge with green patterns on his wings and a bright red head.

After lunch we continued trekking. This time towards a waterfall which was higher in the hills, hence most of the climb was UP! There was a nice view over the jungle from a viewpoint amongst the trees. When we eventually reached the waterfall, it was really powerful. Great for a shower! We cooled off in the water before heading back to our camp.

The day was filled with many jungle sights. There were thomas leaf monkeys, macaques, various insects, a huge variety of trees, some with enormous leaves. There were many vines, all different sizes and twisted in elaborate patterns. Our favourite sight was a huge rhino Hornbill bird sitting in a tree with a huge yellow beak.

The evening was spent enjoying dinner by the campfire. The guides introduced us to 'jungle juice', made from palms, which tasted ok but a few sips was enough.

Day 1 in the jungle

We waited in the guesthouse reception for a German couple who would be joining us for our 3 day trek. They were sleeping as their bus arrived at 2am. Whilst we were waiting we were issued with leech socks and we also took a trip to the small local shop with our guide to buy rubber 'jungle' shoes but unfortunately they didn't have our sizes.

As soon as our fellow trekkers arrived, we were off. We walked about 10 minutes along the road, before turning off into the jungle.After another hour of trekking, we reached our jungle camp.

Our porters had set up tents and a dining area. This was to be our base for the next 2 nights. After a short coffee break, our first stop was a refreshing swim in the waterfall before trekking to search for wild orangutans.

We were lucky. Our guide spotted a small male orangutan. He had seen us too and proceed to break off branches and throw them at us! We left him alone as he didn't seem to want company. We continued our search ... and spotted another orangutan. This time a large female with a younger orangutan just above her in the tree. We spent a long time watching them demolish so much fruit. We were sat watching from a fallen tree below and were showered constantly by the fruit they discarded. As the female orangutan turned away, she revealed a tiny baby clinging to her fur. Wow... what a great surprise!

We returned to camp very happy but the hot and humid jungle was tough. We took a swim in the river to cool down before dinner was served. We spent the night by the camp fire. We put up with the heat as the smoke kept the mosquitos at bay! We slept with the sounds of the jungle for company ...

Fast and furious

We were woken during the night by a large group of Indonesian men. They arrived at the losmen quite late and all stayed up for the world cup game which is shown live in Indonesia at 2am! Unfortunately the walls in the losmen were very thin and the tv quite close to our room. Earplugs helped reduce the noise and meant we could sleep whilst they continued having fun.

Around 5am, we discovered we were very close to a mosque. The 'Call to Prayer' woke us as it was sooo loud.

After falling back asleep, at around 6am, one of the large group of men, who was a self confessed pop star, proceeded to sing a variety of songs along to his radio!

It was no good ... sleep would have to wait. We clambered out of bed and joined the party. By now the men were eating breakfast. They welcomed us to join them and offered us tasty snacks and coffee. The next hour was spent taking photos, chatting about England's World Cup performance, or lack of it and general 'chit chat'. A few of the group spoke a little English but one man none. However, that didn't stop him getting his point home with actions! He completed a wonderful mime of the England team with 'weak knees' boarding a plane home! We couldn't stop laughing as it was hilarious.

It turned out the men were a film crew from Banda Aceh. Camera men, sound and lighting engineers and their drivers. They were a wonderful crowd, they may have been a little noisey by our ill founded 'western' expectations but hey, we are in Indonesia and they were having fun. Their hospitality was incredible and who needs sleep anyway!

We ate more food across from the losmen at the busiest restaurant in Takengon. It was no surprise as the 'peanut curry on noodles' was out of this world. We grabbed 2 lunch packets to take with us on our bus.

The bus was scheduled for 10am and would take 10 hours. But, we were collected at 9.15am and driven from the agents office to the bus terminal where we waited for more passengers to fill the bus. We left at 10.40am!

The minibus was in quite good condition compared to the bigger buses at the bus station which were 'falling apart'. We drove though the most beautiful mountain scenery along mainly sealed roads with short sections of unsealed patches. Halfway through the journey we hit a problem ...

The road was closed for the next 2 hours. We were stuck, in the middle of the jungle and had to wait. As did everyone else. We chatted to a young girl who was very kind and gave us both hand embroiderd friendship bands. They were gifts and she would not take any money. Darryl offered her one of his friendship bands to say thank you which she accepted. We had our photos taken with some friendly teenage boys whilst they lit a small fire to keep warm. We must have been quite high in the mountains as it was getting cold! In the background we could hear dynamite blasting and that was why we were held up. They were working on the road ...

2 hours later our journey continued. It appeared our young driver needed to try and make up time. We have never experienced back seat rally driving but now was the time! Quite incredibly, he drove the bus at top speed through windy mountain roads, up hill, down hill, through small villages and avoided giant pot holes. The engine continued to perform at maximum revs, hour after hour! This young driver could certainly drive and seemed to know the lay of the road like the back of his hand.

We stopped for food. The local lads on the bus took care of us, as they had done all day. They had shared their sweets, they paid for our coffee and even let us use their phone to tell our guesthouse we'd be late. Again we had witnessed incredible hospitality!

We were eventually dropped at our hotel door and our 'friends' continued their journey into the darkness. We were exhausted and went straight to bed in our wooden hut in the jungle of Ketambe.

Takengon

After a fairly cold night, we woke up refreshed from our long day of travel. First stop was at the end of the street where breakfast was being served. Two local ladies served up a delicious noodle dish with a peanut sauce.

Next, we walked to a lake. It is huge, at about 18km long! Walking all around the lake would have taken too long, so we just took a short path then turned back. On the way back we passed a school and a few children asked if we would be in their photo. We obliged and said goodbye. 2 minutes later we chatted to some more children. They wanted a photo too, so we posed again. 2 minutes later, the same happened again! And again, and again, and again! It was so funny and a wonderful experience for us and we hope for all of the children too! They giggled so much it was great!

We were heading back through Takengon and stopped in a rather lovely coffee shop. The area is famous for coffee. We are told by the locals the area supplies coffee to both Starbucks and Harrods. We chatted for a long time with a local man, who explained so much about the many different coffees available. We even watched the raw beans being roasted in their special machine and tasted the freshly roasted beans.

Haircut next for Darryl. A great job done. The barbers was near to the bus station, so we booked our bus ticket for tomorrow to Ketambe too.

For dinner we visited a small Satay street stall. We sat and ate whilst receiving excellent Indonesian lessons from an eight year old. The natural teacher showed us how to count to all the way to 20.

We left the restaurant and returned to our losmen only to find we had lost our room key. We retraced our steps to the small restaurant where on the table was our key. It had been found on the floor by a friendly local! Phew ...

Travel

We started at 6am, in the rain, to walk to catch a taxi from the centre of the small Iboih village. The taxi was waiting and took us to the ferry which was scheduled to leave at 8am.

Luckily, we arrived early and were told the ferry was now leaving at 7.30. We rushed, collected our tickets and just made it just in time.

The ferry journey was very pleasant although too busy for us to find seats. We arrived in Banda Aceh, negotiated a lift to the bus station via one last tsunami monument. The monument was a huge ship washed ashore, now set in a small park with other features left by the tsunami too. Unfortunately, the gate was closed so we couldn't get in!

At the bus station we waited for the 10.30 am, L300 minibus. We set off at 10.30, just as the ticket said. However, after picking up additional passengers, stopping at the ATM, buying drinks and other items plus filling up with petrol ... we left Banda Aceh a little later!

We had seats on the minibus which was great and it wasn't jam packed. But ... we had to suffer a Gangnam Style (remix) playing on the stereo!

The journey was intetesting and mostly sealed road. We noticed a lot of motorbike seats covered with cardboard to protect them from the heat. Or, maybe they were protecting something else from being burnt. We saw many men and young boys returning from Friday prayers. The scenery was wonderful but rather blurred. We wandered why? Well, the L300 bus should be renamed ... The L300 Formula 1, Super Turbo Charged Racing Bus! And for sure, it was driven by Jensen Button's brother.

We arrived in one piece and got dropped in the centre of Takengon. The hotels seemed a little pricey (for Indonesia) and quite spread out, so we commissioned the help of a becak driver. He took us to a small Losmen (cheap room) but they were full. Next we tried another and they had a room, which we were quite glad about as it was now dark and we had been traveling all day.

We ate ... then slept!

Last day in paradise

We made the most of our snorkelling today as tomorrow it is time to leave our tropical island. We saw a banded sea snake for the first time here and many pretty nudibranchs.

In between our snorkelling sessions we stopped for refreshments at a small juice stall. The first time we enjoyed a mango juice but next time we got a little more adventurous and had chocolate and avocado, which was really nice! We also tried a bowl of mixed fruit, ice and other goodies. It was a little like the halo halos we'd enjoyed so much in the Philippines.

After snorkelling we tried to have lunch at our regular haunt. However the lady had ran out of rice! Luckily for us, as we walked away we saw a couple of locals from the dive shop. They were off to a Muslim celebration and asked if we would like to join them. We climbed on the back of their motorbikes and in no time we were there.

The celebration was at the house of the dive shop owner overlooking the bay. There was masses of delicious food and we chatted to the guests, mostly from the dive shop.

More Snorkeling after lunch before drying out for a game of scrabble. A small monkey came into the resort whilst we played, searching for an easy feed.

Our last evening was spent at the family dinner which once again was incredible!

Animal madness

This morning after drinking our daily cup of Indonesian coffee, we walked to the far side of town, followed by a cute black dog. This little fella caused us a few problems ...

As we walked past a few small houses with goats, there was one black goat who took a dislike to our little friendly dog. He decided to chase him all the way up the street and when he got the chance, try and butt him with his horns! Eventually, the goat ran off up the hill leaving us alone.

Next problem ... The current looked quite fierce from the beach so we entered the water with caution. So, did our friendly dog! He followed us out into the sea. He was a good swimmer but we were going to use the current to drift quite a long way back to the town. A bit too far for our little friend to follow. We decided to get back out and try to persuade the little black doggy to stay on the shore. The plan worked for about 2 minutes and we made it further out ... before he followed! Darryl decided he would have to do something else to stop the dog following. He walked all the way back to town, followed by the dog and chased by the goat! Darryl found a friendly looking girl from Spain. She said she liked dogs, so he 'gave' her one to look after! She paid him a little attention and the plan worked. Darryl managed to escape and make it back to Christine, 'dog free'.

Back at the beach, we drifted with the strong current along the reef. When we neared the boats in the centre we grabbed their mooring lines and pulled ourselves into shore. We had a few goes at drift snorkeling, indespersed with lunch.

In the afternoon we continued snorkeling in front of our resort looking for the elusive turtle. He managed to evade us again but we did see some squid and the resort owner's wife caught a few fish for tea!

We enjoyed the 'family meal' in the evening and walking home spotted a wild pig running away through the bushes.

A different spot

After a lazy breakfast, we decided to try snorkelling in a new spot. The main beach is where the locals park their boats but we wondered what lay beneath! Access was straight off the beach but we needed to keep a sharp lookout for boats coming and going. The coral was pretty good and we saw lots of fish. There was a small fish we'd not seen before so we remembered his distinguishing features so we could look him up. We also spotted an octopus trying to sneak off and hide in a hole. There was a gentle current which allowed us to drift along the reef and exit at the far end of the beach.

We stopped at a small street stall and enjoyed a fresh mango shake and a slice of fresh papaya. We headed to the dive shop to look in the fish book. It took us a long time to find a picture but it turns out the little fish was an oriental sweetlips. Very cute, a funny little swimmer and shy too!

We walked back to our bungalow which takes around 10 minutes from the main beach area. A short rest before we jumped into the water again! We snokeled right to the point before it turns off to isolated beaches in the west. People earlier in the day spotted a turtle. We had no such luck but saw some more unusual fish and a tiny white nudibranch with black feathers.

Tonight was spent at a family dinner or at least that is what it seems to be referred to as. It is really a shared meal where anyone can take part. So ... we did, and there was mountains of delicious food!

Beautiful site

Woken for the 2nd day running by the 'beep, beep' of the alarm clock. Same routine as yesterday but this time Christine made it for breakfast. She wasn't going to dive but wanted to eat!

It was windy and today's dive site was Canyon. Tricky to get to because it is on the west side of the island near Kilometre Zero, where Indonesia begins. The problem is the swell, which rolls in all the way from India. With wind and waves, who knows what to expect!

The equipment was loaded and we were off. Once outside the shelter of the island the wind and waves increased. As we passed the point the waves were huge but we avoided the worst by staying a little further offshore. Eventually we made it through and although rough on the west coast it was diveable.

We expected strong currents and any waves to separate us on the surface and on 1-2-3, all rolled off the boat together and headed straight down. Once beneath the surface the waves and current were no more. The dive site was wonderful with an interesting terrain of tall pinnacles and swim throughs. Fish were everywhere and beautifully coloured. There were a few big fish 30m down but no big sharks!

We all clambered back into the boat in a rather disorganised fashion due to the surface conditions. It was no place to hang around so the boat left straight away. We discussed how beautiful the dive site had been once again over tea before Christine arrived for lunch. It is strange how she seems to appear when food is mentioned!

A huge lunch was served by a small restaurant next door to the dive shop which was delicious. We walked back to our bungalow, sat for a while in the restaurant area before getting wet snorkelling.

We saw a huge flathead fish and he was not a handsome chap. He was sitting on top of a big rock looking up at us. Also, a scorpion fish and stingray. All of the above are armed with spines or spikes to defend themselves, so we didn't get too close.

Dinner was at Mama Mia's with the 'new Australians' and a lady from Finland. Chicken curry and chicken rendang. Yummy!

Currents

Woken by the alarm clock, Darryl stumbled out of bed and headed to the dive shop. Diving here has a reputation for being a little tricky so Christine gave it a miss and stayed in bed.

A small stall was serving Indonesian style breakfasts so Darryl enjoyed one whilst waiting for the other divers to turn up. The weather was looking settled so the dive would be at a small site hidden behind a rock. The boat was loaded and off we sped! The instructions given were to drop into the water at the same time and descend immediately. We had to do this as the currents were ferocious. Anytime spent on the surface and you were sure to swept away from the group!

Even underwater, the currents were strong and seemed to come from all and every direction, up, down, left and right! It sometimes felt like you were stuck inside a washing machine. We had to change our plan as the current wouldn't allow us to follow the intended route. The dive was ok but the currents made it more of a battle than one would have liked! Back on shore we chatted, drank tea and discussed tomorrow's diving.

Christine joined us for lunch and we spent the afternoon snorkelling. We saw an amazing octopus changing colour and shape to look like the surrounding coral. What an incredible animal! We also saw the second colourful mantas shrimp of the day scurrying off to his hole.

Just before dinner another storm set in. Unfortunately the seating area at our restaurant has open sides, so with a bit of maneuvering of furniture, we ate in the reception area!

We chatted with the 'new Australians' for the evening and we enjoyed great food relaxing overlooking the sea.

A little bit rough

This morning we had good intentions of walking to Gapang Beach. However, we didn't get very far from our bungalow before we ended up deep in conversation with a friendly couple that were emigrating to Australia.

Time passed ... and we thought we would ask about diving here. We received little attention from the first shop so continued to another. Here was a little different and we got chatting to a friendly couple from Holland who were completing their dive training at the dive shop.

Time passed ... and we had spent all morning chatting! We can certainly see how people end up staying longer on the island than they expected.

The afternoon was spent snorkelling off the beach. There is some good spots just in front of where we are staying and entry is easy at low tide. When high tide occurs it is a different story as waves crash into the rocks and make impossible!

We didn't walk far for dinner and ate at our resort. The restaurant overhanging the sea and has stunning views ...

Pulau Weh

We woke up just before 8am so we would be able to make the ferry to Pulau Weh at 9 o'clock. If it was running! Darryl went to the hotel reception armed with the ferry company's telephone number. He tried in his best Indonesian (fairly non existant) and with the aid of a picture or 2, explained to the nice lady that we needed to find out if there would be a ferry today. She kindly made the phone call for us and was ready to ask the big question when they answered - 'Are you sailing today?' .... but there was no answer!

To cut a Long story short. The ferry was running and we made it to the port just in time to board the boat. Christine spent her time on the ferry chatting to a very interesting lady, who had many stories to share about her work following the tsunami. She had even worked for the World Bank. Darryl seemed to spend his time being a good samaritan. First, finding a seat for an older gentleman. Next, returning a pen to a man who had dropped it from his pocket and finally ... helping a man holding a small child, pick up his money.

The ferry arrived 2 hours later, we got in a taxi and were in Iboih beach in no time at all. First stop, food. Bakso (noodle soup plus meatballs) and Roti (a bit like a pancake). Mmmm.

Christine was tasked with finding us a bungalow to stay in on the beach. It needed to be one that would not blow the budget! Task accomplished ... Well almost, the bungalow is about 20 metres from the beach and because of that she got it for an amazing price.

While Christine was bungalow hunting, Darryl chatted to 2 Polish girls we had shared a taxi with a few nights ago. When Christine returned, we all agreed to share a boat for a snorkelling trip to Rubiah Island. We negotiated a boat with a local, who agreed to pick us up from a small pier. However, we couldn't use the pier as the steps down to it were broken. He picked us up further down the coast at another pier but here it wasn't so easy. Waves and rocks made getting in the boat more than a little risky but in the end we all made it!

Rubiah Island is only about 100m away but the current running between the islands was fierce. We were dropped off and had to walk for around 5 minutes to a snorkelling spot on the other side. Snorkelling was great, we saw so many fish and a huge moray eel poking out from the coral.

The journey back was a little easier as we landed on the original pontoon. No rocks, no waves and they had repaired the steps whilst we were gone.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the spring tide bring waves pounding up the beach. The wind blew and the rain lashed the little restaurant we were huddled in! Then there was a powercut so an early night for us!

No Ferry

This morning we arranged a becak (tuk tuk) to take us to visit another tsunami monument, 'Boat in the House'.

We arrived at the house and both stood stunned, looking at a huge fishing boat embedded in the 1st floor. This boat helped save the lives of 56 people who were able to climb aboard. There was a photo gallery inside the disused house with images that could never be shown in the UK. It was upsetting to see but a harsh reminder of how fragile we as humans are.

The becak driver kindly waited whilst we quickly grabbed lunch, before whisking us off to Uleelheu Port to catch the slow ferry to Pulau Weh. On the way we passed the tsunami mass grave, now a pleasant looking garden area. The army were training on the nearby river in small inflatable boats. The air rang with the sound of gunfire from their blanks.

When we arrived at the port the ferry was cancelled due to strong winds. There were bus loads of children who seemed to be on a sports trip being turned away too. We caught a becak back to the hotel we had checked out of about an hour ago. Full! Luckily, the hotel next door had a room. It was a little more expensive but certainly a step up with a TV, wifi and hot water for drinks.

We met a German lady in the hotel reception who asked us if we could recommend a restaurant. No problem. We explained about the restaurant we had been to which served prawns on every meal we've tried. We set her the challenge of ordering a meal that definitely does not come with prawns. She accepted the challenge and ordered vegetarian noodles. We actually think that should be classed as cheating or maybe just a smart move ... but the meal came with prawns anyway. We laughed!

We chose to eat at a street stall that had just set up and had something a little different. Bebe (we think) which was a delicious curry. There is however something we are uncertain of. We thought Bebe was associated pork but in a strict Muslim city? Maybe it was beef, it certainly looked like dark chunks of meat. However, Darryl was unsure of what part of the cow contained the tiny ribcage that he found. Or was it a boiled rat! Thankfully, we have since found out it may have been goose!

We finished the last mouthful as the heavens opened and a ferocious storm ripped through the city. The cake shop offered shelter and we just had to purchased an almond muffin. We waited and waited but the rain never eased. Another cake? We resisted and made a run for it back to the hotel. National Geographic entertained us whilst the weather raged outside.

Extended

We have extended our visit to Banda Aceh by an extra day. It is very different to other Indonesian cities we have visited and we need a little more time to explore. It may have appeared huge from the plane but the actual central area we are in is not so big!

It is a very strict Muslim city with Mosques scattered throughout. Almost all of the ladies are wearing hijabs and it is quite rare to see a lady without one.

The people here are very friendly and it seems as though it is fairly unusual to see visitors from the west. Some people look and stare with interest and some of the small children are a little nervous when they spot us. What is really great is the people wherever they are, always shout 'hello' to us!

We have now lost count of how many times we have been approached by a teenager keen to practice their English. The questions are always, where are you from and what is your name? The conversation (if you can call it that) then ends with a discussion of English football teams and the World cup!

The morning was spent strolling the street markets. There is a wider range of food here and and we stopped for lunch in a small cafe. What we ate we are not sure. Maybe an unusual vegetable that we didn't recognise?! We sat for a while talking (although we had no common language!) with the 4 giggling girls that ran the restautant. We went through every item on the menu and tried to work out what each was with the girls help. It was totally hilarious watching the girls try to imitate animals in the meat dishes.

After lunch we stumbled across a large department store, 'shoe street', 'fishing street' and 'doctor street'! That wasn't the actual street names but simailar stores seemed to be grouped together.

We ate dinner at a restaurant we had tried before. However, whatever we seem to choose, we always end up with prawns. Probably the worst thing to eat for 'travelling tummies'.

Banda Aceh

We woke up refreshed from our day of flights yesterday. We are in Banda Aceh! Many people may recognise the name from the devastating tsunami back in 2004, where Banda Aceh was at the epi-centre. Total loss of life here was 167,000!!

Today's task was to explore the city. Our first stop was the beautiful Baiturrahman Mosque. It has an interesting history and the current design has 7 large black domes. We were asked to sign the visitors book and to have our photos taken with the 'curator' of the mosque. Next stop was the Tsunami museum. As we approached a lady stopped and spoke, "Thank you Mr." she said. At first we thought she just wanted to practice her English ...

The lady was part of a group. She called them all over and shouted, "Photo, photo!" No problem. We posed with the group. Next, she held our hands and we formed a circle, our hands meeting in the centre. The lady leant towards Christine as though she was offering a kiss. It was only then we understood exactly what she was doing.

The lady was thanking us, as 'westerners', for the help given after the tsunami. So we would just like to pass on the appreciation of this lady for all of the help received when the lives of the people in Banda Aceh changed forever ....

Entering the museum, we passed through a tall, dark and wet corridor, which we belive represented the 10 metre wave of the tsunami. There were very few exhibits but many photographs showing the extent of the area of destruction and the rebuilding project.

Our next stop was the Thanks to the World Memorial Park, where large stone plaques thanked individually every country who gave assistance. We searched for Great Britain's and managed to find it! After the park our next stop was a small hill. Well, it was not a hill as we would know it but a raised concrete flower?! It was built by a past sultan for his wife to climb on because she missed the hills of her Malaysian homeland... We were allowed to climb on it too!

Feeling peckish, we called in at a small fruit store to buy a mango. We tried to explain that we wanted just one. However, that proved a little too difficult and we ended up buying a kilo (4 mangos). Our attempt to break into one of the mangos provided excellent entertainment for the locals. They felt so sorry for us they went to the back of the store to collect 2 chairs for us to sit and also a huge knife to cut the mango!

After a short mango break, we continued our journey. In the middle of a residential area, 4km from the sea, we found a huge ship. It had been deposited there 10 years ago by the Tsunami! Truly unbelievable ... we made a donation to the local residents that 'look after' the ship, now a monument to the disaster.

A very informative and interesting day. We learnt a lot ...

Travel by plane

We said goodbye to our lovely little homestay and paid our last visit to the 'Breakfast Lady'. We walked about 20 minutes to the airport, which was an easy walk and had no need for a taxi. However, that doesn't stop the locals from offering transport every 10 steps!

The domestic terminal was easy to negotiate and in no time at all, we had checked in for our 2 flights - Denpasar to Jakarta in Java and then on to Banda Aceh in Sumatra. Our bags will go straight through to Banda Aceh. We hope ...

We snapped a picture of a big 'Barong' at the airport, the creature that wards off evil spirits in Bali.

The flight was on time and was fairly comfortable. When we arrived in Jakarta we were in transit. We had to change terminal and were directed to a bus. The bus took us to a nearby terminal where we were ushered through various ticket checks, airport tax and x-ray machines. Everyone seemed to know where we had to be in this huge airport and sure enough we ended up at the correct gate!

There wasn't a huge amount to do at the Jakarta Domestic Terminal. We ate in a small restaurant at 'airport prices' and there were a few gift shops to look around. We were boarded early and the flight seemed to leave 10 minutes early too.

The pilot announced over the intercom, "This flight goes to Banda Aceh via Medan." Medan?! No one mentioned Medan when we booked or boarded the plane. Are we on the correct flight flashed through our minds!

It was a long flight to Medan, but the very kind man sitting next to us explained we needed to stay on the plane in Medan. Another load of passengers joined us, before the doors were secured and we were off again. This time to Banda Aceh!

From the plane Banda Aceh looked pretty big. It was 10pm when we landed and our bags had arrived too (phew!)! We shared a taxi with 2 Polish girls and drove to the centre. We checked into a hotel which was cheap but lacking in everything including cleanliness! Eating was our next stop and we had some delicious food. Unfortunately, the food was meant for someone else but the waitress gave it to us, so we ate it!

Sad to leave

Pancakes eaten ... we caught the 8.30am boat back to Bali. We watched the locals collecting seaweed that had drifted from the farms, whilst we waited for the boat. However, the boat was broken, so we got upgraded to an air conditioned boat with surfing movies and wifi! Oh, and this boat had 2 huge outboards which powered us to Sanur in half the time!

As we had arrived so early, we had a long wait for the bus but that meant more time to relax in Sanur. The journey back to Kuta was uneventful and the traffic much lighter than on the way out. We checked into our trusty homestay and went out to fill up on lunch!

After eating we donned our surf attire and walked to the beach. The waves were small today but that didn't stop us having a great time riding them into the beach. When we had spent enough time in the water we searched for new owners for our boogie boards. Today would be our last time surfing and we wanted to give them away to someone who would enjoy them as much as we have. We found 2 little boys playing in the sea with their mum. She said her kids would love them, so we parted company feeling a little sad to say goodbye!

As we walked back to our homestay, we spotted a 'belly dancing' contest, so took a peek. We only saw one dancer before they stopped for a break, but it looked fun! After dinner we went back to see if the belly dancing was still on but they had finished. Although, we did spot some funky giraffes in the shopping centre. There was also a movie showing on the steps near the beach on a big screen but it looked a little weird, so we didn't stay long!

The Mangroves

After finishing off our pancakes in record time, we started on a 30 minute walk to the mangroves. The aim was to snorkel on the reef, way offshore. If we arrived at a good time the current would hopefully be weak.

As soon as we reached the mangroves, we waded in and straight away swam towards the breaking waves offshore. It was fairly low tide, so the water was only knee deep. However, we decided swimming was the safest bet as we didn't want to tread on any sea urchins with their massive spines.

The wind was against us and it took quite a while to swim to the coral. There were many boats moored at the best site, so we knew exactly where to head. The coral was in good condition with plenty of fish. We drifted over the reef with a very weak current before heading back to shore.

The swim back in seemed a lot quicker. We passed over several small seaweed farming areas. It appears that the seaweed is tied to ropes just below the surface, where it seems to grow well. We clambered out onto the beach, but not to the nice quiet restaurant we had left but to 40 Bali Polytechnic students on a tourism trip. They were actually having a great time together and we chatted to their teacher.

After lunch we went snorkelling again before drying off and walking home. We were just in time for sunset. And ... there were no clouds! The locals watched too or so we thought. Actually, they were watching with amazement a small radio controlled speed boat jumping the waves.

Dinner was at a really busy restaurant. In Indonesia, people seems to magically appear on a Saturday night!

Island trek

There is a bridge from Nusa Lembongan over to the next island, Ceningan. So we thought we'd take a look. Most visitors here hire motorbikes but neither of us can really ride a motorbike! So, we thought we'd walk. It can't be too far or so we thought ...

We left our homestay just after 9am and followed the main road, which was tiny as no cars are allowed on the island, towards the bridge. The scenery was pretty and the roads quiet other than the odd surfer on a motorbike carrying their board. We walked past a cemetery, each grave being shaded from the sun with an umberella! We walked, and walked and ... eventually came to the bridge. Just beneath the locals were busy collecting their seaweed from the farms, and drying it out on the roadside. Motorbikes were the main obstacle to avoid on the bridge. There was just enough room to pass if we lent over the side! Another thing to avoid was the holes where the wooden slats were missing ...

We survived the bridge and walked on, up and over a hill to the other side. There we found the surfers. We managed to get to watch them by passing through a resort, then across a beach, down some steps and up the other side into a bar. The surfers were jumping from a high platform at the bar onto the back of waves into fairly shallow water. Some of them said they even touched the rocks on the bottom!

The waves were big and fast. The surfers were paddling as quick as they could to catch them. The paddle back out past the waves looked like hard work too!

We watched for a while and took a short swim, just around the corner from the breakers. However, now it was time to head back and it was quite a way to walk ... Back to the bridge first, then we headed along the coast. Over beaches, through restaurants, along small tracks through the trees, up over hills .... We eventually arrived in Mushroom Bay. We swam amongst the many moored boats and saw lots of fish grazing on the sea grass. The beach was busy with day trippers from Bali but it was time now for them to leave.

From Mushroom beach we found our way back to our homestay along the coast, then the main road. The sun decided to hide behind a cloud once again for sunset time. Tomorrow is our last chance to see it set over Bali...

We ate a lot after a full days walking and found it quite hard to walk home from the restaurant!

Nusa Lembongan

An early start as we had to walk quite a way to our bus pick up point. It is really nice staying outside of the Kuta hustle and bustle, just a little far to walk to some things ... like the bus to Nusa Lembongan! Well actually the bus to Sanur then a transfer boat to the island, just off the coast of Bali.

The bus journey was short but the constant traffic dragged it out. We pretty much stepped off the bus straight onto the boat. We had to wade through the water before climbing on and we left straight away. The sea was quite rough and the wind was blowing the spray straight at us. Christine got soaked whilst she tried to pull the side covers down. Eventually the sea calmed down and we arrived at the island.

It was a little more developed than we had expected with small resorts scattered along the beach. We checked in to a small homestay before we started our walk to the mangroves on the other side of the island. It was a pleasant walk past many seaweed farms and lots of local people preparing fishing nets.

The mangrove area of the island was very pretty and so much quieter. In fact there really was only a couple of people lying in the beach. We went snorkling amongst the mangroves and spotted a few interesting fish and some weird caterpillar things! It was a little too far to swim to the reef and the tide was running quite fast, so we may have ended up back in Bali.

We walked back a different route and saw many chicks with their mothers. When we arrived back, we rushed to the beach to catch the sun setting over Bali. However the sun had other ideas and hid behind a huge cloud!

Dinner was at a small Indonesian restaurant ... but we were still hungry. So, tucked into delicious but totally unhealthy savoury pancake at a street stall on the way home.

Routine

It is very easy in Bali to relax and do very little! We have settled into a routine. Eat ... Surf ... Eat ...Sleep!

First thing this morning we made it out in time to visit 'The Breakfast Lady'. Our next stop was to arrange our tickets to a small island off the coast of Bali called Nusa Lembongan. It is supposed to be a nice place to stay, especially when the day trippers have gone home.

Surfing was fun today and maybe a little easier than yesterday. Some nice rides and not too many wipeouts! Whilst we sat at the beach some teenagers kept looking up at a tree. One of them started to climb but we weren't sure why?! Another climbed the next tree but this time pulled his t-shirt up, over his face?! We think they were looking for honey and were trying not to get stung by the bees!

In evening we chatted to a local girl and her family. She has been so friendly and has helped us try many different foods over the last few days. Tonight was a snack from Java that was made with potatoes, fish balls, pastry things and a delicious peanut sauce with hot chilli. We wondered why we kept bumping into her and today found out, her house is directly behind the 'breakfast lady's' stall! Today, we even tried Pocari 'Sweat', a drink that has popped up all around Asia. It tastes a lot better than it sounds and is Isotonic, so the store owner tells me. Where did he learn a word like that!?!

A late start

We didn't rush out this morning for breakfast. However by the time we did head out, the 'breakfast lady' had packed up and left! We ate just up the road and had an Indonesian breakfast, which consisted of rice, soup and pieces of chicken kidney...

The surfing spot was crowded today with many beginners and their patient instructors. The waves were great and we both enjoyed a good few rides into the beach on our boogie boards. There were a couple of local surfers who were a joy to watch. They made it look easy!

We packed up and went back to our accommodation. Once cleaned up, we ate lunch and headed to Poppies II (road name) to visit the memorial to the 2002 Bali bombing. Terrorists planted several bombs in Bali. The largest hidden in a van and containing 12 filing cabinets full of explosive. A night club was the scene of the devastation killing over 200 people of many nationalities. A very sad time for Bali and they have now laid a memorial at the tragic scene.

We continued in a circular route that took is back to the main road. The whole time we were walking past shops selling sunglasses, t-shirts, flip flops etc. There must be hundreds all selling very similar things! We managed to resist ...

Near our homestay we tucked into nasi goreng (fried rice) at a small street cafe before heading in for the night.

Surf up once more

We must have been tired from the last few days of travel as we woke up rather later than usual.

Breakfast was amazing value at a small street stall just down the road from our homestay. After filling our boots, we grabbed our boogie boards and hit the surf. The surf was great and the sand very forgiving when we wiped out! Christine did a great job of entertaining the crowds but you will have to ask her about her amazing new party trick ...

After leaving the beach, we headed home to clean up. We then took a different route to the centre of Kuta via the 'chicken Satay man' and 'donut shop'. We spent time browsing but when darkness fell, went for dinner at a central restautant, that was packed.

It is quite a walk to return to our homestay but our journey was brightened up by the sight of a Balinese procession. Barong, a half dog, half lion in Balinese dance, seemed to be hidden amongst the crowd. Maybe they had been dancing at one of the beach hotels? Unfortunately,the picture below came out a little blurry!

After fending off the notorious timeshare touts, shop owners and tour company salesmen ... we arrived back at our road which has a very authentic sounding Balinese name, Gang (road) King Kong!!

An interesting day!

The first unusual event in today's adventure was breakfast. A toasted chocolate sandwich! We left the hotel and a 5 minute walk took us to Fort Rotterdam, an old Dutch fort guarding the city. It was very busy with the young people of Makassar. However we (tourists) seemed to grab more of their attention than the fort!

We wanted to fly back to Bali today, so the easiest way was to find the airline office and book tickets. The airline doesn't accept international credit cards online and the travel agents here are often corrupt plus charge commission!

We asked several people where the Lion Air office might be and were pointed in various directions. We knew we must be near and eventually stumbled upon it. We booked our flight easily, so we thought we would book another flight for later in our trip too.

We didn't have enough cash so went to the ATM, before returning to book a 2nd flight. This time we booked it with a different person who asked us to pay at the cashier. They did this for us first time. We paid up, collected our tickets and left.

KFC called out to us as we reached the corner of the road and we just had to try one of their mushroom burgers. About an hour passed and as we looked out of the window, the lady from the ticket office walked by. She spotted us and entered the restaurant....

She told us we had not given the correct money for our tickets and we must come back to the office! Shocked and confused, we followed her to the office. We waited whilst the cashier tried to count the money in his till but he insisted he was 500,000 short (25 pounds). We were a little amazed that after 3 people (him and us) had counted the money and he had issued the receipt and even stamped it paid, they were accusing us of not giving the correct money! We stayed to calmly discuss the matter but there was no way of us checking .... Did we pay too little, even though 3 of us checked? Did the cashier make a mistake counting and only now realised? Were they scamming us? To make a mistake, we would all have had to miscount 5x100,000 notes or 10x50,000 notes. Possible but unlikely!

We eventually decided to leave without handing over any more money. There was no way of telling what we had originally paid...but we have a ticket and now we hope it stays valid!

We collected our bags and walked to Makassar Mall to catch a bemo to the airport. We asked a lot of drivers but they did not understand. We tried many mimes of aircraft taking off (with sound affects) and a number of different names for the airport. It appeared the airport possibly had 4 names or was there 4 airports!? We checked our guide book and some other information on the town. Now, totally confused too, we showed our tickets with the airport name but still no one knew where we wanted to go! We gave up and got a taxi at 10x the price but we did get the driver to understand.... eventually!

We arrived at the correct airport. We think there is only one but it has 4 different names. We had to wait a while to check in. The boards above the check in desks never displayed our flight to Denpasar, just an old flight to Jakarta. Would we ever see our bags again?

Our flight was delayed by about two hours and the airline served us a meal whilst we waited. Very unusual that they did that but great and totally unexpected!

We boarded the flight and landed in Bali, 1.5 hours later. We found our bags, walked out of the airport and caught a taxi to our quaint little homestay.

Bus back to Makassar

We caught a Bemo from Batutumonga straight after breakfast, which today was 4 banana pancakes! The Bemo ride was comfortable, even though the road was terrible. We did however use our amazingly versatile boogie boards supported by our bags to make Darryl a backrest, as his was missing. Our cheap boogie boards have really been a valuable addition to our trip. Maybe every one should travel with them!

Arriving in Rantepao, we went straight to the bus office to check the times. There was one leaving in 10 mins! We quickly said goodbye to our English travel buddies and boarded the bus.

The journey was long! 10 hours but along reasonable roads. There was plenty of comfort stops and food stops, maybe a few too many! We stopped at some places with beautiful views of the countryside. The bus was air conditioned but we had the backseats over the engine. The heat rose from the engine and blasted us like a furnace. It was hot!

We arrived frazzled and it took so long that it was dark. A taxi was the easiest way to reach the city so we grabbed one. A friendly taxi driver with pumping music sparked us up a little. He dropped us at a hotel after enduring horrendous traffic but no one was home.....

There were no lights on but the front door was open. We went inside. It was pitch black so we used a torch to see if we could find anyone upstairs. Nope, there was obviously a power cut in the building and maybe they had gone to repair it. We waited a while but no one came, so we checked-in the hotel opposite.

We were now really hungry and we found a small stall selling a delicious beef soup. Still not full up, we entered a very strange restaurant, or so we thought. In fact it turned out to be a rather dark and dingy bar, though the owner told us he did have food (but we could see no kitchen!) He said that we could either have fried rice or fried noodles and that was all the food served ...

By now we were becoming a little suspicious. The owner had already given us a plate of peanuts and some local spicy vegetables - 'on the house'. He even used this phrase in his Indonesian accent!

To our astonishment a huge plate of noodles arrived at our table with seafood, meat, the works! It tasted amazing and was one of the best dishes we've tried in Indonesia.