Our friends, Patt and Craig let us know where they are staying on Sumatra. They are staying near a small village on the northern end of the island--Lampuuk--out at Dian Rama Bungalows. These are surfers digs as there is surfing waves fairly close when you walk down the beach. The beach is long with white sand. They have spent some time here on another trip.
When we pulled out some money from the banking machine, we were surprised to find that we had become instant muti-millionaires. No! we did not win the 6/49. Our chump change had turned into millions. $200.00 Cdn becomes Rp 1,800,0000. IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) 1,000 equals 10 cents Cdn. David had trouble getting his head around the values. IDR 10,000 equals $1.00.
We spent most of our days resting during the heat of the day, going swimming on a private beach in the morning, and walking the beach later in the day to get fresh coconut drinks from the beachside canteens, and to watch the beautiful sunsets.
This area is Muslim, and so if you are a woman and wish to swim on the main beach, you wear
T-shirts and longer pants into the water. The locals spend time just watching foreigners, so it becomes uncomfortable if you are dressed too scantily. In the afternoons, you would see lots of students--boys and girls--walking along the beach, swimming, or building sandcastles.
A short walk over a headland, and you come to a more private beach. We Canadians can wear our swimsuits. The water is a bit cool to get into, but soon you're used to it, and it feels so great. This beach has a leftover Japanese bunker. Apparently, there are quite a few along the beaches. We spent our time looking for shells on this beach--some to be made into bracelets, some into rings
During our stay at the beach, we got a full moon. The four of us decided to go for a moonlight swim. There were no other people. Getting to the other side of the breaking waves was a bit tricky. I got knocked over on my rear it was so strong. Once you got past the breaking waves, it was a very refreshing swim.
We made a trip into Banda Aceh to go shopping.
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