So Aceh?
Aceh is a province located at the northern end of Sumatra Island. Its capital city is Banda Aceh. The reason why people claim that it is unsafe is because it has the highest population of Muslim in Indonesia. The city itself follows the Muslims customs and laws. That said, there is a very strong support for Muslim across the province. People are required to wear pants that are at least knee length & non-sleeveless shirts; Muslim women are to cover their hair (wear a jilbab).
The whole province neither have a movie theater nor karaoke (probably only one or two). So the only entertainment there is is hanging out at coffee shops. Aceh is known for having many coffee shops with good quality coffee beans.
The western province of Aceh was badly hit by Tsunami in 2004. Out of the 230,000 people that died or went missing worldwide, more than half came from Aceh itself. 90% of Banda Aceh city had to be rebuilt.
I was curious about Aceh and since Dad wanted to go, my sister and I decided to tag along. We spent 2 nights in Banda Aceh and 1 night in Weh Island (a small island 45 min from Aceh). Having able to see the city for myself, I was pleasantly surprised - people are friendly, food taste good, city is safe and clean.
Day 1: Jakarta - Aceh
Woke up at 5 AM because flight was at 8.45am. We took Lion AIr because that was the only direct flight - 3 hours -. And as usual, the flight delayed for 30 minutes.
But anyways we literally ate 5 times the moment we landed in Aceh. *FAT ALERT*
Traditional Aceh Food. It is somewhat similar to Padang style food, where they give you a variety of food in small portions. A few of Aceh's signature dish is "Ayam Tangkep (Caught Chicken)" - chicken cut into small pieces fried with pandan leaves & "Hot & Sour Fish Soup". I managed to try the Coffee Luwak (Civet Coffee), well expresso, for only 15,000 IDR (USD$1.50)!!! Coffee lovers would know how expensive this small cup can get. Why is it soooo cheap? That's because the owner has his own coffee plantation. The next food that we tried is "Mie Aceh" (Aceh Noodle). It tasted more like Hokkien Mie (Singapore style). However, we ordered the Aceh noodle crab.. so they literally put one whole crab with the noodle! And it costs only 35,000 IDR (USD$3.50)!!! After which we continued our culinary trip to eating Chicken Satay! It tasted okayyy.. but the sauce is really good, you can taste the peanut and spiciness. And as for dinner, we had another traditional Aceh Food that is similar to lunch, but I prefer lunch to dinner. We did not stop there. Our last meal for the day would be eating Roti Canai & drinking Teh Tarik. This is not Aceh food, but they tasted good! They even had Roti Canai with Durian, like REAL durian in it. Unfortunately I did not try it because my sister could not stand the smell of it. So that was the end of our first day - full of eating.
While we were experiencing Aceh food, I noticed that people did not have judgmental look towards us being Chinese Indonesia. They are all in fact really nice and friendly and made sure that we got our orders right. None of the people that we met or passed by intimidate us. We were just enjoying our food and them doing their own business.
Here are some of the places we visited on our first day!
SITUS CAGAR BUDAYA - This monument was built for the girl that Sultan fell in love with. *I think*
A Bell from China back in those days when they were traveling to Aceh.
A showcase of how a traditional Aceh House looks like.
Day 2: Aceh - Weh Island
We took a ferry for 45min to Pulau Weh (Weh Island) and its city is called Sabang. The island is known for its diversified ecosystem; coral reefs around the island are known for attracting many different types of fish.
Here are some of the breathtaking views of the beautiful island... you can't get enough of it! And again, the people here are really friendly and they made sure that we enjoyed our stay in the island!
Having coconut & rujak while overseeing such breathaking view! for just 20,000IDR (USD$2)!
we did snorkeling too! There's ALOT of sea urchins!
We also visited the most western part of Indonesia!
This is one of the more interesting food we tried. It is Sate Gurita (Satay Octopus) for 15,000IDR (USD$1.50). It tasted more like chicken than Octopus.. the sauce is sooo yummmeeeeeh that we ordered 1 more plate! In fact, I think this is the best sate I've tasted! (since I am not a big fan of sate)
Day 3 is back at Banda Aceh and it was the day that we looked into how Aceh was affected by Tsunami. In 2004, there was an earthquake in the Indian Ocean with an epicenter in the West Coast of Sumatra Island. Having to be the closest to the epicenter, the western part of Aceh was badly hit. First, there was an earthquake with a magniture of 8.6. After 15 minutes, Tsunami hit the island and resulted in over 130,000 either missing or died in Aceh alone. No one knew this was coming. The people thought that the world was gonna end because they had no idea was Tsunami was. Ocean water was gushing into the island at the speed of 300-400 km/hr with the height of about 20-25 meters. So you could imagine how horrified the people felt.
So anyways, we visited the Tsunami Museum, the boat that was stuck on top of a house and saved 59 lives, and a bigger boat weighing 69 tonnes that was swept by the Tsunami from the port to 5km inland... Imagine that! We managed to hear stories from survivors themselves. Our tour guide even mentioned that their highschool classes were reduced from 7 classes to just 4! Sad to hear these stories. :( :( :(
Tsunami Museum
the 69 tonnes boat that was swept by the Tsunami 4-5km inland!
With such catastrophe that happened almost 10 yrs ago (26th Dec 2004), Aceh was able to rebuild itself and is a better city now. The disaster also helped to create the peace agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
This is another interesting food that we had. Soup Sum Sum (Bone Marrow Soup) for 40,000IDR (USD$4.00)! And contrary to the common myths, bone marrow is not high is cholesterol, but high is collagen and fats! YUMM! We had to share this because it was HUGE! We had to drink the bone marrow through the straw!
Day 4: Aceh - Jakarta
Before we left for the airport, we made one last trip to visit the monumental Mosque - Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman. This is the mosque that saved many lives during the Tsunami. People were climbing up the Mosque to avoid the gushing water. The surroundings were hit by the treacherous water except the Mosque.
Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman
Overall, I am very satisfied with Aceh & Pulau Weh. We felt very safe and people are very friendly. One of our guests left her phone in one of the places we visited. She called her phone and someone picked up and mentioned that her phone is safe with her. True enough, we managed to get back her phone without the holder asking for any compensation! That DOESN'T happen in Jakarta...! We ate & drink coffee non stop (like 5/6 times a day for food) and the weather was nice because it wasn't scorching hot. In fact, it rained everyday except the last day. But it wasnt that bad. So come visit Aceh if you have the time to! :)
I can't wait for the next domestic trip! Hopefully it will be in November or December. Indonesia HAS a lot to offer. We just gotta embrace the natural beauty it offers. #iloveindonesia
Also, I will be making a trip to Singapore (againn ) & Israel in the near future.
Stay tune for those~~
With lots of love,
Claraaaa <3
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