Safe in Banda Aceh..
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I’m here in Banda Aceh! I had a really good trip, slept quite well, watched a couple of movies etc etc.
I am staying in a really nice guesthouse with the people I will be working with. Much better than I expected, although the bathroom doesn’t really match the rest of the place. It’s a squat toilet and a trough of dirty water which you pour into the squat toilet to flush it. I’ve also just been told that to shower, I must pour water from the dirty trough over myself. I am assured that it’s quite clean, but I haven’t been able to steel myself to take the plunge yet. Therefore I am actually quite dirty… but have gotten used to that after being a scummy backpacker for the last four weeks. May have to give it a go this evening before bed… fingers crossed all goes well.
I did my first ‘Tsunami Tour’ last night. I had a very good tour guide, and was given a lot of very interesting information. I am quite shocked at the lack of progress that has been made over the last 20 months. The water came in about 5km from the shoreline, and although most of the debris has now been cleared, the water has not properly receded. The ground has sunk several metres and the shoreline is now around a km further inland. In addition, the water is still sitting in stagnant pools in at least another couple of kilometres.
I’ll write a bit more about this later, but I thought I’d let you know that I’m here, and that all is well…
Oh, one other thing. I am staying in a building with a satellite comms tower in the front yard. We have mega broadband, so I’m available on email, msn and skype, but not mobile phone. I’m going to go and get an Indonesia SIM in a bit, so hopefully will be contactable then.
Bless…
