The boat on top of houses at Lampulo

On to the 2nd day of the 23-30 March visit to Aceh...

Monday 24th March 2014. After a good night sleep at a mid-town hotel in Banda Aceh we started the day with a visit to a place called Lampulo.

The place is famous for a fishing boat stranded on top of houses, washed away by the Tsunami of 26th December 2004 which killed more than 200,000 Aceh people.

Me, wife and our then 3 plus month-old son Rasyid first visited this place early 2010. Since then new structures have been built around it as the boat has become a well-known tourist attraction.

There. My parents on top the highest platform watching.

The boat was actually on repair at a dock a distance from here but got washed by the huge waves of Tsunami. That's when some 50 plus survivors managed to get on board and stayed on until the water subsided.

Kudos to the authorities and locals for making this a good place to reflect on the Tsunami.

Views from Kuta Leubok

Continued from Walking down to Kuta Leubok.

So there are remains of an old fort at Kuta Leubok which should be more than 500 years old. But I won't elaborate on it. You could see more of the fort in the article Benteng (Fort of) Kuta Leubok made in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART).

Here I'd rather enjoy the views. The hill seen in the background reminds me of the white cliffs of Dover in England.

There is also a nice beach besides Kuta Leubok.

For the record this is the 1,221th article in this blogspot.

Walking down to Kuta Leubok

Peace be upon you and a happy Friday. On 23-30 March me and family made our latest trip to Aceh and visited some new places apart from those we've been to before. A series on it has been started in my main blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU. As usual this blogspot would host some supporting articles...

Sunday 23rd March 2014. Not long after landing at the airport in Banda Aceh we visited a number of tombs. Then we went to a seaside area near a gulf called Teluk Lamreh. There is a historical place called Kuta Leubok which I have wanted to visit for some time. From the nearest road side we have to walk.

The roadside itself is situated on top of a hill area while Kuta Leubok is situated besides the body of water that is the Straits of Melaka. So to reach it we must walk some distance...

Oh. I came with my wife and kids. That's my boy Rasyid walking with the driver, our friend Agam.

Along with us is my 72-year-old mum and dad. They are not shown in these pictures as they were walking behind me while I snapped pictures in front.

Soon we were down the hill.

There, the water front in view.

See the ruins at the centre? That is what is left of the fort of Kuta Leubok. To be continued...

Hol at the 'Steel Mosque'

Continued from Rasyid's climb up Batu Caves.

This is from 10 days ago.

Me and family went to the Sultan Mizan Mosque fondly known as the 'steel mosque' due to its structure...

There was a hol, a celebration in remembrance of the 11th century Muslim saint, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani along with the Maulidur Rasul, birthday of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Dinner outside at the compound.

Then back in with the kids...

Rasyid's climb up Batu Caves

Continued from Forest fire at Sungai Buaya.

This is also from 2 weeks ago. I was with my four and a-half year old kid Rasyid passing by Batu Caves when he said he wanted to climb the hill that is Batu Caves.

It has been a year or so since I made a climb. So why not?

This is Rasyid's first time here.

Having followed me climb a few hills before he had no problem pressing on...

Forest fire at Sungai Buaya

Just updating from my March file pictures...

Over 2 weeks ago I saw fire and smoke rising from the forest near by new home at Sungai Buaya, Rawang.

It was quite a sight...

There was a fire engine close by. It seems the firemen were monitoring the spread. As long as it does not reach the wires then it is considered under control.

Nine days later I saw a much bigger and heavier smoke rising up from a further part of the forest.

As I approached for a closer look I noticed some of the forest along the way had already been burned.

This time I could see no fire engine.

Forest fire was quite alien to Malaysia until an unusual dry season hit us over the last two months. Since then it has been such a normal occurence that I think firemen have trouble keeping up.

Luckily the fire tend to die out after some distance. While whole forest has been cleared up here and there so far there has been no report of human casualty or significant destruction of property.