Daybreak in Meulaboh
Above is a picture of the girls waiting for sunrise in Meulaboh. It was the last day of our trip and we've not seen the town yet! So we woke up at 5am in the morning and walked all the way to the beach about 1.5-2km away. Actually we are not sure if its a beach, but after the tsunami, everything near the sea looks like a beach.
When there isn't light on the streets, everything looks eerie. Try as I might, my mind refused not to superimpose the deserted streets with the images of death and disaster we watched only a couple of days ago. Apart from the large debris that have been removed, you can still see debris, sand, pebbles from the sea that have remained til this day. In the quietness of the night, it is not difficult to sense the horror the people of this town faced the day the tide came in.
Along the way we saw an IDP camp and this mosque, which was one of the structures left miraculously standing after the waves swept through. The beach was a total washout. I had been unable to imagine the scale of destruction until I saw the aerial photo of it before the tsunami. Buried under the sand that we were standing on were once structures supporting the bustling jetty and port area.
The concrete embankment now prevents the sea from eroding away the beach.
Above is a picture of the girls waiting for sunrise in Meulaboh. It was the last day of our trip and we've not seen the town yet! So we woke up at 5am in the morning and walked all the way to the beach about 1.5-2km away. Actually we are not sure if its a beach, but after the tsunami, everything near the sea looks like a beach.
When there isn't light on the streets, everything looks eerie. Try as I might, my mind refused not to superimpose the deserted streets with the images of death and disaster we watched only a couple of days ago. Apart from the large debris that have been removed, you can still see debris, sand, pebbles from the sea that have remained til this day. In the quietness of the night, it is not difficult to sense the horror the people of this town faced the day the tide came in.
Along the way we saw an IDP camp and this mosque, which was one of the structures left miraculously standing after the waves swept through. The beach was a total washout. I had been unable to imagine the scale of destruction until I saw the aerial photo of it before the tsunami. Buried under the sand that we were standing on were once structures supporting the bustling jetty and port area.
The concrete embankment now prevents the sea from eroding away the beach.6.30am: How come so long huh? So early come and feed mosquitoes. 7.00am: Still haven't come out leh.... 7.30am: Eh can see light oredi... means come out liao. Too bad lah... must be blocked by clouds.
Well, ultimately, we didn't catch the sunrise....At least we took many photos and mosquito bites. It didn't occur to us until much later in the day- that you cannot catch the sunrise when you stare out in the west!
Arggghhhhh!!
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