Active Weekend

The weekend was very enjoyable and busy. On Friday night we went to the weekly meal prepared by a 5 staf chef who is here because his wife is working for one of the aid organizations. To keep himself busy he prepares friday dinner every week. It was very high quality food and delightful. I acquired a bottle of plonk by going to the chinese man who has it secreted away in his house! At the meal we sat with people from Rachel's work and also from my work. Rachel's work friend is also called Rachel and is also from America. My work friends are Ramadan from Palestine and Sally from the UK. I also sat beside a man who has been working with the fishermen in Aceh trying to help them create a sustainable fishery - something I thought Jon and Talia in MA would be interested in. We really loved the meal and the company.

Saturday morning I was up early and down to meet a crew of people who go bike riding every saturday here. There were about 8 people on the ride. We initially wound our way through the back roads to a town called Indrapuri about 25km from Banda Aceh. It was a very nice ride through the rice fields. We sat down and had some sweet bread in Indrapuri and then headed back along the irrigation ditches that irrigate the land around Banda Aceh. There were puddles, cows and buffalo along the way and it was great mountainbiking along the single track that farmers use their motorbikes on. Very enjoyable. I met some new people who are interested in the outdoors and keen for adventure.

In the afternoon the heavens opened and the rain came down. It was very very wet and actuall all of last week has been pretty much like that. I had been thinking of going back to look at the river I found the weekend before but I didn't need to see it in flood again. Instead I tried to find another one closer to town. Rachel and I cruised around about 20km from Banda Aceh in the van trying to find a way up to the river. We found a promising looking dirt road that headed up into the hills and decided to return on Sunday for a bit of a hike.

Saturday night there hadn't been any cooking at teh house so Rachel and I made seaseme tofu with watercress, which we substituted for the spinach we normally use. Watercress is a very popular vegetable here.

We watched the movie, The Visitor, which is about an illegal immigrant being deported from the USA. It was a good movie.

Sunday morning, after a sleep-in and some breakfast we went back to the road, drove along it as far as the 2WD van would go and then started hiking. We walked for about 2 hours and crested a ridge to look down into the valley over. It was a wonderful hike and we were very happy to be in the hills in Aceh. Making the most of peace here!

Rachel went home to rest and then out for a birthday party for a 2 year old cousin of the kids at the house. I biked 10km out to the place where I play rugby on Sunday nights. It was fun to run around and then to have a nice pizza at a restaurant by the sea. With all the foreigners who have been here over the past 4 years one can lead a very western life here if one wants. Me I think I reached saturation with foreigners in Aceh for the weekend and I am thinking of trying to avoid western things during the week a little to keep contact with the Acehenese. Actually two westerners were telling me on Sunday night that even though they've been here several years and are outgoing they don't really feel that they've made any contacts with the local people. Interesting.