Chronicles of Aceh - Part Deux

Righty-o. A week later and continuing where i left off. It may take me a while to complete these chronicles of Aceh.
This is the view from inside the car on top of a raft crossing the river. Those planks on the riverbank then get attached to the raft for the car to drive onto land. It costs about 20,000 Rupiah to cross (USD 2) and whole economies of the raft sort have popped up since the tsunami washed out bridges (and they either haven't been rebuilt or makeshift bridges get washed away with the next big flood). Anyway, raft ferries - definitely an experience!

The headless survivors of the tsunami. You can see the waves went way over the treetops. And that stretch of water between the rocks and the trees? That used to be beach. But the water never quite subsided so a lot of the coastline has been lost to the waves.

Parts of a bridge that was destroyed in the tsunami. 4 years on and left to rust. (That wouldn't happen in Malaysia - they'd have taken the metal for scrap! But this is about 3 hours drive from the city...)

Just one of the temporary houses that were given in the immediate post-tsunami. Apparently they pack neatly into a box - sorta like an Ikea house. Some people are STILL living in these houses. Others have sold them to be used as shops while some have just connected them to their new permanent houses for an extra wing in the house!

This is what remains of a restaurant and lodge situated on a cliff. It got hit pretty hard as this was the furthermost point of the coast so it took a pretty bad beating. The cliff isn't too short, either.

View from the cliff. Even now the waters look scary. This is meant to be the calm period in between monsoons!

Fish cages that we helped to fund. Each little hut connects to cages that can house about 1,000 fish! See the planks? We were told upon arrival to walk along the sides as the middle bits were old and crumbly. Now imagine bow-legged walking in fear of dropping down. Quite funny.

This is an improvised fish hatchery. One of the fish cage culture people decided he didn't have to wait for fish hatchlings from outside and took it upon himself to breed his own little fish hatchlings. I wish i was full of the same initiative.

Just so you know i'm not talking about empty pools of water. See? Fish hatchlings!

Pak Abu - he of the indomitable spirit. He is such a champion. One of the driving forces of the fish culture project, he was there when the tsunami hit. He lost all 8 of his family members and was only saved because he had been up in the forest collecting wood. Of the 8, he only found the body of his younger brother. But now he's married, has kids and has learned to move on.

The mandatory sunset shot.

The more unusual cows on the beach at sunset shot.

Shoo shoo! Home with you cows. But apparently they sleep by the beach. What a life!

Some of the kids in the tiny village. How sinful did I feel when even the little children said 'I have to go home now. It's time for Solat!' Not being Muslim in Aceh is a little discriminatory. I felt like a harlot for not covering my head and saying my prayers. (i was told off - but more on that in the next set of photos)

And this i was very amused by. Aren't these the most gorgeous dried sotong you've ever seen? Hahaha.. a row of them could work as beaded curtains almost!

Here are some of the crabs from our project. Very much alive in the morning.

But not so much later on that night. Now this is kampung cooking at its best. Kuali over a wood fire outside the house.

Largest crab i had ever eaten. I could only manage 1 half (the one with the giant claw, of course!) hahaha. The masak lemak sauce was TOOO tasty! If we were at a restaurant, i'd definitely tapau.

And that's the end of day 2. No nightlife in the kampung so nothing to it but to retire to my pretty pink mosquito-netted mattress. Fit for a kampung princess! I am definitely not suited to the life. No a/c is alright, but no fan either! Just the noises of the cicadas, people chatting outside and goats. Yeah. Goats.