Banda Aceh, Meulaboh & Its Surrounding

After leaving my place of birth, Banda Aceh, for ages, I finally had the opportunity to visit it for a week, yay... I was so excited, one of my wishlist came true. Thank God.

It took almost 3 hours in the plane from Jakarta to Banda Aceh, thank God, my 2 girls stayed calm and enjoyed their time very much. We landed in Banda Aceh, the capital city of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam at 11.25 am and my relatives were already ready to pick us up and continue our trip to my hometown, West Aceh, Meulaboh. Never thought that the journey was so hard, due to tsunami back in 2004, the overland road from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh was partly broke down. Still, we enjoyed the trip since we dropped by several time for having lunch, dinner, and caught beautiful panorama along the road. No wonder we finally arrived in Meulaboh at 11 pm and surprisingly, there were a lot of relatives there who still waited patiently just to welcome us, I was deeply touched and felt like a celeb for a moment..:)

There's always a blessing in disguise for everything, even the most traumatic and frightening disaster like tsunami could have positive side. Aceh now is full of make over, new houses, mosques, school, hospitals and roads are being built. Since Aceh received a lot of fund from NGO all over the world, therefore I notice that the buildings are designed beautifully and inspired by many different culture.

If on the way to Meulaboh, we passed the road along the beach, while on our way back to Banda Aceh, we chosed other route, we passed Seulawah mountain, Pidie, Sigli and all the conflict areas once controlled by GAM, fortunately, now it's a safe area, even if we passed it during midnight.

It's really a very great holidays. Can't wait to go back there. I love the beach, the mountain, the famous Aceh food, the 'Ulee Kareng coffee, the people with their hospitality, and all...I am gonna miss you a lot, my dear gampong...