So this was meant to be my Super-Sumatra end of contract
tour, but being such a surprisingly big island, I only managed to cover one
province, Aceh in the North. And because I’m feeling lazy I’ve just taken
pictures of my notes I made and you can read from there if you’re interested.
You’re welcome.
I think I forgot to write about Takengon though. While I was
there I couchsurfed with I think the nicest and most generous person I have
ever met. Maulida sent me an offer to be a host after she saw my request for a
host in Banda Aceh. She said she was unfortunately not in Banda Aceh at that
time but if I wanted to I could stay with her in Takengon. I did some quick
research and thought why not go there.
Takengon is a 10 hour journey south away from Banda Aceh.
The roads were very bad and windy but there was some beautiful scenery along
the way. I arrived at about six in the evening and went for a quick tour around
the hospital where Maulida works. We dropped my stuff off at her house then
went out for some Gayo coffee, deliciooooous. We chatted about many things and
realised we have almost the same birthday and the same camera. Ooooooooh.
The next day we went on a little tour around with the
motorbike (keliling-keliling): to the big Hollywood style “Gayo Highlan” sign
(the D had somehow gone missing, despite the letters being about 6metres high).
We then went down the winding road to the lake, Danau Lut Tawar and travelled
along the road that encircles it. We found ourselves at a beautiful waterfall
tucked away in the hills. Apparently the waterfall was only discovered six
years ago. Before that no one knew it was there. Crazy. After that we went to
some caves, known in English as the Cow Caves. Also nice.
The next day Maulida had work and I just chilled out
watching her whole collection of the British TV series “Sherlock” which I’ve
never got into before, but now I think I love it. In the afternoon we went out
for some more delicious coffee and just had a nice day of doing not very much.
The next day I would embark on the crazy journey to Ketambe.
