Indonesia: Pulau Weh [Sumatra] - March 2010
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text:
Français The place is called "Kilometer Nol". Kilometer Zero. This is where Indonesia begins. It is the most western and northern geographic point of the archipelago, just north of Pulau Weh. The island is itself a confetti off the northern tip of Sumatra.
Kilometer Nol, Pulau Weh, Sumatra, Indonesia
There is a cliff beaten by the wind and the waves, where the Indian Ocean on the west and the Andaman Sea on the east meet. An ugly official monument in tiled concrete marks the place.
Around: commemorative plaques and graffiti, parking and refreshment bar. Some monkeys are rummaging through the garbage and lots of people are taking pictures of each other...
Like a Gapang BeachIt is impossible to escape the ritual of souvenir photos...
Again, I posed willingly and photographed, at their request, strangers, too happy to admire themselves afterwards on the digital screen.
Walk through Pulau Weh
The place is particularly popular in the evening, at sunset. It is a nice walk to get there.
New tar, in excellent condition for driving, very little traffic. The road runs along the north-east coast among the hills, between mangroves, strikes a bit desolate at low tide and bits of bushy jungle.
You just have to watch out for the cows, on the way back, when approaching the villages. They like to stay in the middle of the road and not move when a motorcycle or a car comes...
Renting a motorbike-scooter costs about 70-80,000 Rp per day, or 40-50,000 Rp per half-day. And I who like so much to ride with my nose in the wind, I regret a little bit not to have found the time to go around the island more.
With all the dives I did day after day, I only managed to free up half a day for this land trip to Kilometer 0... Very busy, the vacations!
😎
In fact, where Indonesia really begins is at Pulau Rondo. Another island, smaller, a bit further north. You can also dive there, but you have to make arrangements with one of the diving centers to rent a boat.
Celebrate the reconstruction of Banda Aceh
While researching this famous Kilometer Zero on the internet, I discovered that a big festive and commemorative evening (and broadcasted on TV) is to be organized there on December 31, 2011, to celebrate, seven years after the tsunami, the rebirth of the Banda Aceh region and to thank the international NGOs for their support to the reconstruction effort.
If you read English, the explanations are here : Twilight @ KM0. A strong symbol, obviously, this Zero Kilometer ...
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