Ahh so the adventure begins. I have been waiting for this for such a
long time! And what an adventure it turned out to be. So let’s start at
the very beginning, a very good place to start…
Pulau Simeulue
Ange
Pange arrived at the brand spanking new Lasikin Airport in Simeulue on
Thursday 5 August to a massive hug from me. I gave Ange a bit of a tour
of Sinabang and my favourite waterside coffee establishment, and we
awaited the arrival of the boys on Friday, anticipating that, based on
recent experience, Dan probably wouldn’t make it. Hehe! However there
was a spanner in the works. Dan rocked up as planned on Friday, but the
Scotts didn’t…. so much for that theory.
Early Friday
morning I received an sms saying that they wouldn’t be making it on the
Friday Susi flight. Their flight from Singapore to Medan was cancelled
and email notification sent to Searle, but he didn’t realise it was a
cancellation and it only happened a day before they were due to leave,
so it would have been very difficult to organise a flight to Medan in
time. So in a nutshell, numerous sms later, at all times of the morning,
a number of Susi flight reschedules and additional cost, meant that
they didn’t arrive until Sunday afternoon… and we were due to fly out of
Simeulue on Monday morning. So the boys spent their weekend trudging
around Medan, managing to fit the both of them and their luggage on
death-cabs (becaks), avoiding offers of women at their hotel and kisses
from crusty old men. Ha ha! (I said, Ha Ha!)
In the
meantime, the adventures continued in Simeulue. Friday afternoon, Dan,
Ange and I strolled down to the tennis court for the usual afternoon
game with my local tennis buddies. I was surprised to see they’d
specially set up the court with food and there were a lot of people
milling about. Apparently this was the registration for the annual
Simeulue tennis tournament. They wanted me to play, as a Sinabang tennis
club member… and had even typed out an official invitation for me. To
their disappointment it was bad timing, as I of course had other plans
with Dan and Ange. But that was ok – I could still participate – and
play my first round – now! If my doubles partner and I won, it would be
problem for the next round – but I could always be replaced! If we lost,
no problem. Hehe… I love it. So we strapped on the tennis shoes and got
out on the court; our opponents were the two youngest and best players
in the club. So it wasn’t looking good from the start. In the end we
were gallantly defeated 6-2, but it was fun anyway and there were lots
of laughs. There were even more laughs when Dan got on the court and
proceeded to try and belt every single ball he received, and Ange played
in her usual vocal style…
The next day we took the
boat out to Pulau Siumat for a day’s spearfishing and snorkelling, along
with some beach lounging. Our trusty captain Chigusa spear-headed the
mission, and first-mates Sendhi and Shir Shar came along for the ride.
It was an awesome day, apart from the ripper sunburn we all managed to
get (Ange’s boardies left a permanent tan line and Dan’s legs are still
peeling!). My siblings managed to spear a couple of fish, to the dismay
of Chigusa who had been trying for ages but had been a little
unsuccessful to date. Beginner’s luck, we said.
Sunday
I took Ange and Dan on the road to Salang – with all the f*$#ing around
with tickets, I didn’t have time to show them my project, but we went
part of the way and stopped at Putra Jaya, where there’s an amazing
waterfall. It has seven levels and you can climb all the way to the top.
It’s beautiful there. Sweet!
We made it back in time
to pick up the Scotts from the airport and do a whole bunch of catching
up. Bradey was still suffering from the shock of flying in such a small
plane (we intentionally didn’t tell him so that he’d actually come here)
and everyone wanted a pet buffalo after the initial drive to my house,
which was soon dubbed ‘the mansion’. We then went to Willie’s – the surf
resort – and enjoyed one of Ibu’s legendary dinners and a few beers.
So, the Scotts’ “tour” of Simeulue was over in less than 24 hours. Short
but sweet?
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