RashihahNordin Inc.

Despite the name, we had this breakkie in downtown Banda Aceh, and not Jakarta ha ha .. I imagine this must be a popular dish in the latter that it has made its way wayyy to the west of Sumatera. Before heading to the airport on our last day here, we walked out into the street in front of our hotel  practically just one minute walk across the road to find a friendly street breakfast place. It was barely 7am but we were lucky that one stall has already opened; they sell Bubur Ayam Jakarta. It's basically rice porridge served with shreds of chicken meat, roasted peanut, fried shallots, some deep-fried crackers with chicken broth and a special green chili sauce. The chicken broth and chili sauce were kept in containers, you can pour or drizzle them to your taste Truth to be told, I'm not a fan of rice porridge but surprisingly I enjoyed this one very much.  Check out the humble setup of this street joint; We sat next to a friendly Acehnese couple, pea...

I picked this hotel because it is very close to the city's main mosque, Masjid Raya Baiturrahman and Aceh market; practically 5 minutes on foot.  It's also just next to a bank and has a fair share of tsunami stories to tell; we heard some from the owner himself. We came here after visiting the PLTD Apung Tsunami Site about 10 minutes away; it's also near other attractions in the city. I didn't take photos of our stay though because I wasn't a blogger 7 months ago he he, but if you only need a basic room that's in the city center, neat and pretty spacious to spend a night or two, this place would suffice. The only things bothering us were the mosquitoes =D .  Just be sure to bring along your mosquito repellant or request for a mosquito spray from the front desk and spray your room before you go out for the evening. That should take care of it. They also have other types of higher-rate rooms but we only checked into a standard one fit f...

We headed directly to Kapal (PLTD) Apung Tsunami Site from Ulee Lheue ferry port after spending 2 nights in Weh island. There were many taxi drivers who offered their service at the jetty, but I was determined to call a guy that was recommended by my brother's friend in Banda Aceh.  This place is one of the most famous tsunami sites in Banda Aceh because of this ... a 2600 ton generator ship stranded in between houses after tearing down every single building that stood in its way when the fierce waves pushed it  about 5km towards the city. Allahuakbar . The site was only about 10 minutes away from the jetty as I remember, and when we entered the gate we were greeted by a tour guide who then took us around the area; he is a survivor . The first thing that caught our eyes was this monument near the entrance; Our tour guide (left), a tsunami survivor Notice that tall bronze wall actually symbolizes not only the size of the fierce tsuna...

Open-air food court by the beach Sabang is the town part of Weh island located on a seaside in the north. There are a few beaches around the town but I forgot the names =D  It was around 5pm and we were pretty tired from all the snorkeling and swimming at Iboih so we just did our sightseeing in the taxi and briefly stopped occasionally to take some photos. This beach has a Japanese fortress built in 1942; cool huh.. The main mosque of Sabang Now, this is cute.. the town library also provided a truck-load of books parked near the beach which attracted young readers.  At the corner of a beach (I'm sorry I don't know the name), we spotted a seaside cafe that looked really relaxing. I just love the atmosphere on the compound; colorful low chairs and tables arranged in between palm trees on the grassy ground, the sea breeze softly blowing in your face and la di da di da.. Of course we had to pick the best seats available - right nex...