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 ...
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 ...
