---

Finally here

Hi. It has taken a bit longer to find time to post than I had thought. The life of a student diver is actually quite busy. A couple of dives a day and then study, study, study the rest of the time. But I'm not complaining as you will see.

Getting here

The trip down here was uneventful apart from massive delays on the flights. In Amsterdam they found a problem in one of the engines and we sat in the plane and waited for more than four hours. All in all I sat in that bloody seat for more than almost 18 hours. New record.

I had a full day in Kuala Lumpur and tried to get a visa, but Indonesian bureaucracy is annoyingly inconsistent and everything I had read beforehand proved not to be true (on that day at least). KL is by Asian standards a very neat and orderly city.

I went for a couple of walks in the scorching heat. Along the way an Indian-Malaysian guy started a conversation while we waited for a green light. We actually chatted for about an hour while we strolled through the city and he suggested that I should join a pyramid-scheme like thing he was in selling soap and detergents. Well I guess I am open for business oppertunities :)

Entering paradise

The flight from KL to Banda Aceh was a short but beautiful one cruising down between the vulcanos in Aceh. Even before we boarded a young Acehnese girl began arranging transportation from the airport to the port for me. Santi was returning from a vacation in India with her German husband Martin. He went to Pulau Weh to dive 7 years ago and met this lovely local girl who worked in a restaurant on one of the beaches to improve her english. Well, after they have lived in Berlin for five years they have now settled down on Pulau Weh and make a living from a couple of bungalows like the one I am living in. They gave me tons of tips and tricks on the ferry going over here and of course Santi made sure that I transportation to Gapang Beach was arranged for me at the best possible price. She has a definite talent for those kinds of things.

The drive up Pulau Weh from the port was amazing. Pulau Weh is a small vulcanic island (all extint a long time ago) and the contrast between the rainforest on the hills and the green and blue water in the small coves made it immediately obvious that I have come to the right place.

When diving just dive

I more or less started on my Open Water diving course right away. There goes as mentioned quite a bit of studying into that and it has felt a bit weird to be back in "school". But diving into that otherworldly paradise underneath is sooo worth it. The combination of the exhilaration over doing something new, the truly incredible creatures that often defies immagination and just being suspended in such beauty has just made all concerns and uncertainty vanish.

On the way home from one of the dives we were hit by some pretty nasty weather. As the raindrops pounded my eyelids so much that they hurt one of my favorite "Lamb" songs "Bonfire" went through my head again and again. A part of it goes like this:

The time is long overdue for
a house cleaning of the soul
We all get so complicated in our lives
When walking just walk, when sitting just sit when being just be
Above all don't stray from your chosen path

Burn like a good bonfire
In whatever you do
Burn like a good bonfire
And I know you'll come through

Burn like a good bonfire
In whatever you do
Burn like a good bonfire
And may peace come to you

Tasting Indonesia

A dive shop is a little world on its own populated by divecrazy people from all over the world so you can imagine how the variety in conversation is a bit limited. "Where have you been? How long have you been travelling? How was your last dive? Did you see that school of barracudas?". So the day after I finished my Open Water I rented a scooter and went sightseeing on the Island. Wonderful day. My favorite spot was the south coast with views of Sumatra where I am heading next. But just rolling down some of the less travelled roads and being greeted by great smiles and an overwhelming urge to put even the most limited school english into use made for a perfect way to waste a day.

While I was window shopping on the main road in Sabang, the only real town on the island, all of a sudden somebody called out my name! It was Santi also doing some shopping. Sabang holds a bit more than 20.000 souls, so I could't help laughing when she said that she hated being around so many people. She has lived in Berlin for five years:) Anyway, I had already planned to visit her and Martin later that day in Iboeh where they live, so we made arrangements and she hurried along to get her shopping done before everything closes at 12 o'clock.

Later that afternoon I went to Iboeh and tracked down the cafe that Santi's sister owns. Santi, a couple of her sisters and a cousin (very beautiful girl: "You are very handsome. Do you have a girlfriend?") sat out front and I was introduced to the entire family. Santi and then starting chatting and after a while she told me that she had lost a brother on August 17th last year. I told her about how such anniversaries gradually become easier to cope with over time and we shared a few tears.

Santi (and women here in general) have quickly destroyed my pre-conceptions about how women are in Aceh. Sharia law was introduced about a year ago, but that doesn't really show on Pulau Weh. It may be a little different in Sumatran Aceh, but Martin told me that it was mostly a way of demonstrating Acehnese independence from the rest of Indonesia. The girls and women certainly doesn't seem suppressed in any way here.

Well, I have another dive in a little while.

All the best, Jens

P.S. Comments are moderated on this blog, so I have approve them individually which is bloody annoying with flimsy internet connections and the moderation tool is very confusing (not all the approved comments seem to show up). Anyway, I do read them all and thanks for them.

---