http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Indonesia , Sumatra , Pulau Weh en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:35:00 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:35:00 +0000 At the moment of writing I have been back in my homebase in Belgium for over 6 months and have just come back from another short trip so what Irsquom going put down here is nowhere near as extensive as what I have experienced in Pulau Weh. Not knowing what to write due to lack of variety in doings I did nothing but diving resulted in constant procrastination supposedly awaiting inspiration. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-402235.html Well i love Sumatra. I arrived in Medan the gateway to sumatra about 2 weeks ago and quite liked it form the off. There were not loads of scam artists and rip off merchants i think as tourism has dwindled here so have the numbers of mosquito men that follow them around. Any scamming attempts were pretty lame and offered some free amusement. I was there for a minute outside the terminal before on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-394652.html We were dropped in Banda Aceh at a really dingy hotel. And for people who are used to paying 510 a night for a room we don't have high expectations. We decided to rather look around for something else but after 2 hours of walking we were stuck with the one miserable option. It turns out that since Banda Aceh was one of the city most devastated by the Tsunami you can see a passenger ship lyin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-352891.html Rubiah Tirta DiversRTD Rubiah DiversIboih beach Weh IslandPulau WehP.O.Box 42 Weh IslandPulau WehNanggroe Aceh DarussalamSumatra IndonesiaPhonefax 626523324555Mobile 6281534020050 628128436308Email inforubiahdivers.comwebsite www.rubiahdivers.comURL httpwww.rubiahdivers.com http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-347067.html Hi allA bit behind with the travel blogs as you can see from the date that this was published we are doing a bunch all in Singaopore. But from Indonesia here we go..........................Indonesia was brilliant The journey was eventful to say the least ferry crossing from Melaka in Malaysia was fine until we got off........where Meme got her bag searched for smuggling tampons They didn't ca http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-268842.html With the male crew agents gone I finally had Mrs. Gonzales to myself. We high tailed it North through Sumatran jungle counties in search of Banda Ache. We didnrsquot fall in love but strong friendships were made. The bus was typical Indonesian fare bald tyres cramped seats three hours late shocks that had been replaced by a Panzers Muslim karaoke blasting till 3AM and of course the spas http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-200751.html Aceh Aceh Aceh...so here is the storyWe went to Pulau Weh and felt very LoveHate about it.YES..its a beautiful tropical island with palm trees everywhere and soft powdery white sand beaches with the most clear blue water you could imagine.But its always relevant to where you've been and where you are going I believe.and I have to admit that we have been quite blessed with delicious deser http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-200695.html After jumping city to city my body was starting to crave some place that moved at a slower pace. That is when I found Pulau Weh. It is off the northern tip of Sumatra. The small town I stayed in was Iboih. It was a great surprise for me. I was only planning on staying for one week to do some diving but ended up staying two. The town itself is just a small walking path with several very rustic b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-150161.html Slung into Singapore our now worldly and bearded boys are on the return journey the Odyssey has commenced and with it a new chapter of tribulations considerations and felicitations unfolds. Our stay with the Lion People can only be described as fabulous. This was thanks to our Singapore connection Sarah. Having been whisked off from the airport we soon found ourselves on the 17th floor of Re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-142317.html On the weekend of New Years Jo Me Nerys Remko and Erica went back to Sabang for some chill out time.I stayed in a slightly better Bungalow than my last visit Although Jo was adamant that it was merely a hut ldquoBungalows donrsquot go on stiltsrdquo. It got me thinking about how much else has changed since last time I was here only 2 months ago. When I came here last time I had no tie http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-34911.html Well herersquos where things kinda just happened. I returned from my tropical island and the next day Nick brought me into the office of the NGO he worked for. Hersquod already talked to the head office in New York and they were pretty keen to take me on. In fact they said that if Nick didnrsquot want me in Aceh they had work for me in Africa It was just a case of them checking out my r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-27499.html So what does an Australian guy who works in Indonesia with only 2 days holiday do when there's no ferry He charters a boat and drags me along for the ride and to share the cost.Sure it totally blew the days budget but hey it'd be an adventure. As it turned out abit too much of an adventure. A 6m boat which the driver pretty much surfed down the ocean swells a diesel engine right next to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Pulau-Weh/blog-26401.html