The Beauty Aceh and Sabang, Sumatera Indonesia.

The Beauty Aceh and Sabang travel journey
Photo and Text by: Barry Kusuma

The people are very faithful to their religion. The location is near the shore. The views are exotic and have a long history intached. This has made Aceh as a special region with its own unique and characteristics.

The characters of Acehneese people are tend to be brave and stubborn, just like all people living at shores. That is the first impression I got when I stepped my foot on Aceh. Nevertheless that impression faded after I picked up my bag in the waiting room when they offered me some help sincerely and friendly. The journey from Jakarta to Aceh was quite tiring, although we travel using an aeroplane. There weren’t much flight directly to Aceh. We usually have to transit at Medan before continuing our trip to Aceh. That makes it 4-5 hours journey from Jakarta.

As we know, Islam entered Indonesia for the first time from the coasts of Aceh. Traders travel across Arab and Persia to Malaka Straits in the eastern islands. Aceh act as a repairshop for trader’s boats and ships. Sometimes they also do transactions with local people. But not until the end of the second century, Islam’s teaching spread unconsealed by Ulama—a person with vast knowledge on Islam—which most of them came from Persia and India. And so in the 225 AC, the Islamic Kingdom of Perlak was proclaimed. It was the first and biggest Islamic Kingdom in South East Asia. Its first King was the Great Sultan of Alaidin Saiyid Maulana Abdul Aziz Syah. Aceh was then known as trading harbour city.

Actually, I have a lot of tourism and historical sites in mind to visit, but I can’t asked much for I arrived at 4 PM. Along the way, I can still saw so many pieces which the recent Tsunami hit Aceh left, leaving the ground messed up and kill many lives.

Generally, the people of Aceh are farmers and fishermen. There are a lot of houses built near the shore and now they are nearly leveled with the ground. As for accommodation and hotel’s, Aceh has many Melati grade motels. The fee are various from 100,000 to 200,000 rupiahs. But after the Tsunami, there weren’t much left and wasn’t properly taken care of. Most of tourist planned on staying more than a day, rented local people’s houses. The fee was even cheaper, only 35,000 to 50,000 rupiahs.

The most cherished architecture in Aceh was the Great Masjid Baiturrahman. It’s located in the center of Banda Aceh right next to Aceh Market, the capital city of Aceh. The masjid was still standing tall and well maintained despite the Tsunami which had the building drowned in a 3 meters of water. It has became an icon for the people for it has saved so many lives in the natural disaster. This Great Masjid has a long historical journey. In 1873, the masjid had been buned by the Holland during the invasion. But the rage of Aceh people has made the Holland rebuilt it in 1875. The Masjid has 5 domes. The main dome is the tallest of them all. Inside of the masjid, you can see unique and interesting carvings. The beauty of its architecture as well as its toughness was worth the people’s proudness. In front of it, is a small pond covered with lotus, just 20 meters to the main gate. Eventhough the weather wasn’t perfect for taking photos I did it anyway and planned to come back when the time’s right to “capture” this beautiful masjid.

Banda Aceh also have a museum known as Musium Negeri which was located not far from the Great Masjid, only 3 Km and you can reach it in a matter of minutes. Inside the museum, there were parchments about culture, traditional dances, craftsmanship, carving, and local customs. There was one building that stood out among others in these block. You can see it even from across the street. It’s Rumoh Aceh, a traditional shelter house shaped like a stage with a very narrow door. It has a very beautiful and unique wood carving of Acehneese motif.

The traditional house looked very well maintained and the museum was also well taken care of. There are many ancient collections displayed in this museum. One of them was the bell of Cakra Donya, this bell was a gift from Admiral Ceng Ho in the year of 1414. This was a prove of Aceh as a harbour city for a very long time and as a very crowded harbour city visited from people around the globe.

Suddenly my mind remembered the name Naggroe Aceh Darrusalam. In native Acehneese language, it means “a peace and flourished Aceh”. Aceh’s flooded with their natural resources. This has made Holland interested to do business with Aceh. As time passes, Holland became more and more strengthening their grasp over Aceh. They monopolize and acquaire all of Aceh’s natural resources. It was said that Aceh is one of most difficult area ever to be occupied by the Holland among other area in Indonesia.

After I satisfied myself looking around Aceh’s culture and history, I went to other historical site. The only place in Aceh where it didn’t get wiped by the Tsunami was Gunongan. This place located in the middle of a city on a higher ground. Gunongan was a historical site from 1600. This building left by Sultan Iskandar Muda. In the past, the Kingdom of Aceh and the Kingdom of Malaya—as we know now as Malaysia—were very well acquainted. Gunongan was surrounded with a beautiful park. The structure has a hill and strong fort shape. At the first, I didn’t realize what does this building meant for due to the strange form it has. It’s unlike any other buildings. Right next to it, there was a museum containing the structure’s history.

In the year of 1608, Sultan Iskandar Muda had a wife whom he very much loved. His princess named Princess Phang misses her hometown where she can see hills in the surroundings. While in th palace, there weren’t much hills around. And so the Sultan built a fake mountain to match the princess’ hometown so that the princess would be happy again and forgets her hometown. The princess did forget her sadness and spent most of her time on the fake Gunongan hill during the whole afternoon.

It was noon already, how time flies… After exploring the city, we were very tired and hungry. We were craving for traditional Acehneese cooking. When we were in Jakarta, we’ve had tasted Aceh noodle. Now it’s time to taste the real thing! In addition, we will eat a crab. Hmmmh… just the image of the food has made us very hungry. The center for Acehneese food and beverages located in uptown area. During the day, this place was a crowded trading center. After night fall, it became a food court. One of Acehneese cooking’s characteristic was its spices with a hot taste on your tongue.

We’ve tried Aceh Noodle, Martabak (egg-based food mixed with meat and vegetables), Goat Kare and Pliu Soup. All of them were Acehneese specialty food. We ordered it all so that we can have a taste of them one by one. Aceh Noodle taste not so different than the one we’ve had in Jakarta. What tasted different was martabak. Here, Martabak has the form of mixed eggs with an addition of flour. The goat kare tasted great! The aroma of spices, the spicy kare and the strong taste of goat felt so delicious. For goat lovers, make sure not to miss them. The last food we tasted was Pliu Soup. This soup has a very intense coconut milk with one of a kind taste of Acehneese spices and spicy liquor. It made us more eager to eat more, accompanied by other food. It’s not just the place, but also the food that we were after. We would like to try the whole package everytime we visit a place, even if we missed only one specialty, our journey would feel incomplete.

The beach where visited that day was the Lhok Ngaa beach. It ‘s located in west side of Aceh. It took 40 minutes using a vehicle and the distance was 17 kilometers from the city. This beach was well known as a favourite place for Acehneese people to go. Unfortunately there were many buildings destroyed by the Tsunami. But it didn’t lessen my passion to admire the beauty of this beach. It’s so natural, untouched and smoth. The sandy beach and the thick trees as the background, covered by high hills.

In the beach, we can do a lot of activities such as fishing, sailing, diving, or even sunbathing. Not far from there, lies a cement factory, Andalas. By the time I was there, the factory was no longer in operation and currently being rebuilt. It was badly damaged due to the Tsunami. Lhook Ngaa beach was a gulf with small lake on the sides. Local villagers took advantage of them as their source of living. Those lakes completed the beauty of the beach. It was truly a whole package of beauty. The beach also had an international driving range, the Seulawah Internasional. It’s a shame that the driving range were an abandoned place. Possibly due to the conflict between the government and GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) has made this place a dangerous place. The surrounding area was also damaged by the Tsunami. Many hotels, restaurants, and houses were leveled to the ground.

In the area, I noticed several unusual event happened. Many houses was broke in to pieces, but many masjid and other religious places stand sturdy like nothing ever happened. At the Lampuuk beach I saw a masjid stood while other buildings beside it were torn apart. I thought that this must be the sign of God’s grace.

Now, many houses and buildings were reestablished. Many NGO’s (Non Governmental Organization) offered help for public facilities reestablishment. After we finished our touring, we planned to go to Weh Island. But before that, we must take a brake. We were headed for the house we rented and prepared ourself for the next day’s long journey.

It was still 07.00 AM and we were ready to go for Ulee Lhue dock. A boat was needed to reach the island. To beable to get to the island, we can do it from two docks. If we want to use a car, we should go from Malahayati dock, where there will be a ferry boat. The fee was 300.000 rupiahs and it took more than 4 hours of trip.On the other hand, at Ulee Lhuee, we could use a speed boat, the Pulo Rondo. But it was meant for passengers only. The ticket costed 50.000 rupiahs each and it took no more than an hour to reach Weh Island. And so we decided to take the Pulo Rondo because they were scheduled to leave at 09.00 AM. We’ve booked a car at Weh Island for 400.000 rupiahs a day.

Along side to the Ulee Lhuee dock, we also saw the remains of Tsunami. This territory was one of the most badly damaged area among other places closest to uptown. There were quite a lot of buildings which were rebuilt by foreign NGO’s, but there weren’t many people yet in the area. They were still felt certain trauma caused by the Tsunami attack. After we reached Ulee Lhuee dock, we paid the tickets for four people. As they were scheduled to leave in half an hour, we decided to look around a little bit. When the water becomes droughted, you can see bedrocks in several places of the dock. Beautiful scenery of greenish hills can be seen from a far along with a lighthouse leaving only it’s main construction soaring to the sky reaching 100 meters in height. There was also a mesjid stood out undamaged, unlike other buildings surrounding it which was shattered to pieces. The views never stop to astound me.

Soon, we were told to enter the boat because we were finally leaving the dock. I was chatting with the boat keeper, Mr. Dato. He told me that one of his neighbours who was lucky enough to survived the Tsunami attack told him about when it happened. During the Tsunami, there was a tidal wave with twice the height of the light house which I saw previously. The wave literally smashed the land and wiped it out clean. My spine trembles when I try to imagined how was it to be in that kind of situation.

The weather that day was clear, unlike the day before. It’s time for us to step our foot in Weh Island, one place which was the zero point kilometer of Indonesia. A monument was established as a mark for measuring Indonesia from Sabang to Merauke in Irian, by the government. We were eager to place our feet at the zero point kilometer and so we rushed there first. It took us one and a half hour to reach it. The road was a bit steep and wide, so the trip was convenient enough for us. During the trip, we can enjoy a beautiful panorama of hills and blue sea as well as groups of islands. We finally reached the monument which they were a guarding post next to it.
There were only one way up, and it’s only adequate for one car. It’s a different road to come back down. We paid 2000 rupiahs per person for the ticket and continue to the top. The road was very narrow with bushes on the sides. The car couldn’t go any faster. It was lucky for us there were no fallen trees blocking the way. Suddenly we were “hijacked” by a group of monkeys. Apparantely they were used to humans. They were asking for food, fortunately we didn’t have anything.

At the peak where the mark stood out, I can see the Sabang Island along with the blueish sea. We took some pictures before leaving for the most beautiful beach in all Sabang, the Iboih and Gapang beach. When we got there, we were blinded by the beauty of the white sandy beach. These sands were so smooth, the water were filled with beautiful and colorful searocks. There were also pretty fishes swimming around. A lot of foreign tourists come to visit this place particularly to dive and surf. I felt like touring around the island. There were boats for rent. We can even enjoy underwater view! We rented a boat with a clear glass at the center so we can see to through the water. We were charged 80.000 rupiahs per hour. Along the way, we watched so many fishes and searocks. The colorful searocks covered almost all of seabed accompanied by other sea creatures. The water were very clear. You can sea the greenery of seaweeds under the shallow water. Sabang Island was the main destination for many foreign tourists. They came just to enjoy the natural scenery and underwater view. It was said to be one of the most beautiful underwater view out of all Indonesia. Unfortunately, many tourists no longer interested to come due to military emergency status.

The facility offered in Iboih beach was very comprehensive. You can find expensive Hotels as well as economical ones, clean and hygene restaurants, praying facilities, and many more. This has made tourism potential of the beach grew. We rested and ate for a while before continuing our trip. We don’t have much time on this island because we didn’t plan to spend the night.

The Pulo Rondo would returned to Banda Aceh by 05.00 PM. It was already 02.00 PM and the trip back at the dock would take an hour. Next, we went to Sabang City. We saw many luxurious cars on our way to used cars trading place. Luxurious cars were sold at cheap price due to the fact that this area was free of tax. Cars like BMW, Mercedes Benz, and other European cars were sold at half price compared to Jakarta. But, don’t even think about leaving the island using this car, because you would be charged 100% out of the car’s price as tax.

Eventhough Sabang Island didn’t get to escaped the Tsunami, this is the only place with less damage. It was caused by two steep ocean floors near Weh Island which hold most of the Tsunami’s pressure. Only 11 lives were swiped and some buildings were leveled.

We finally back at Balohan harbour. We wished we could stay here longer to enjoy the view. Someday we’ll definitely come back to this beautiful and exotic place. We hoped peace and secure would cover Aceh soon so that we could enjoyed the beauty of this island together.

Photo & Text by Barry Kusuma

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