I come back again to write about um my holiday. Unlike my usual holiday, I didn’t prepare much since I was somebody’s guest. So, yeah…everything was full of surprise! This was my first time coming to Banda Aceh—oh yeah, also first time landing on Sumatera—which from I heard was pretty much different than Jakarta, um Java, especially. I spent my time there around 11 days so I felt and knew the difference. First thing I felt about Aceh? Um, it’s far. Like very far. It was my furthest destination I’ve ever visited. That was also my first time going by an airplane for 3 hours by myself. I had done anything to kill my boredom; eating, reading, and sleeping but I was still bored and exhausted. I didn’t know why I was tired; I even didn’t do any move-like activities HAHA. So, here are my other thoughts about Banda Aceh.
I gotta say that Banda Aceh’s food is very spicy. And that’s not enjoyable for my kind of tongue. The basic taste of every meal is spicy. I’ve tried—my friend tried—to describe everything completely from A to Z which all of that was only about “Jangan pakai cabe apa pun”, some of them worked but some of them didn’t. Agak susah memang untuk lidah yang terbiasa dengan makanan gurih-asin-tidak pedas ketika harus mencoba makanan Aceh. I believe that the food is delicious for those who love spicy-tasty kind of thing. Tapi sejujurnya, selama beberapa hari gue di sana, makanan lah yang menjadi masalah terberat. And I ended up eating like Javanese food, and that was the best food—for someone who suffered enough for some days due to the spicy food. To be honest, Aceh’s food looks very appealing, so it is only my loss for not eating it. Bagi penikmat kuliner, go get your ass to Aceh! The second thing I would like to comment is about the price. Gue orangnya perhitungan tapi nggak hitung-hitungan *apa seh*. Menurut gue sih harga makanan di sana cukup mahal. Di area kampus sekali pun masih tergolong mahal, buat gue. Tapi ini bukan hanya gue yang menilai seperti itu, teman-teman gue pun demikian. Contohnya nih ya, untuk makan nasi + ayam goreng + es teh manis (orang Aceh menyebutnya teh dingin), gue harus mengeluarkan Rp 20.000, dan itu di area kampus. Selama gue di sana, gue lebih banyak makan mie kali ya, untuk menghindari rasa pedas dan harga mahal. Kalau dipikir-pikir, mungkin biaya makan di sana mahal karena Aceh berada di paling barat Indonesia, yang tentunya akomodasi untuk angkutan barang tentu lebih mahal. Oh iya ada lagi, makanan khas Aceh yang akhirnya bisa dicerna oleh perut gue; ayam tangkap. Ayam tangkap itu ayam kampung yang dipotong kecil-kecil gitu dan digoreng (mungkin) bersamaan dengan daun jeruk dan satu sayuran lainnya yang nggak tahu apa itu namanya. Rasanya asin-gurih gitu pokoknya parah enaknya. Kurangnya ayam tangkap apa ya? Porsinya terlalu sedikit haha. Untuk satu piring ayam tangkap bisa seharga Rp 50.000,- tapi kayaknya kurang untuk berempat. So, just order more. Okay, that’s about the meal. The third one is about the snacks. And when I talk about snacks, it means the traditional ones. And the traditional ones are related to the traditional drink; coffee. Yeah, I tried Aceh’s coffee shop. It’s a must place to visit. The snacks are really good. I’ve been in love for the first time with Timpan. Timpan tuh kayak apa yaaa um…sejenis papais (kalau dari Kuningan) tapi ada isinya yaitu kelapa, tapi kelapanya enak banget. Ditambah lagi, timpan dibungkus oleh daun pisang muda yang membuat rasa timpan bercampur dengan rasa pisang. That’s all about the food. I will continue about the coffee shop later.
Just focus to the coffee, please :)
Banda Aceh terkenal dengan kota warung kopi terbanyak se-Asia Tenggara, kalau nggak salah (references are needed). Jadi, belum sah rasanya kalau datang ke Aceh tapi nggak ikut “nongkrong” di warung kopinya. Agak kaget juga, awalnya, waktu tahu jam buka warkop di Banda Aceh. Beberapa buka dari jam 6 pagi, yang berarti setelah shalat subuh! Kebiasaan nongkrong di warung kopi ini juga bukan hanya terlihat pada kalangan tertentu saja, misal anak kuliah, tetapi juga pegawai kantoran. Budaya nongkrong di warkop Aceh ini sebenarnya menarik banget buat dikaji. Nanti ya kapan-kapan kalau otak ini udah rada beres lagi. I was into coffee, once, when I was surrounded by many assignments. That’s when I was on 3th to 8th semester. But I cannot call myself a coffee addict, because my body only works with those cheap and instant coffees, like the ones which you can easily find in small store. Pernah sih beberapa kali nongkrong di coffee shop dan pesan kopi yang benar-benar kopi, tapi setelah itu ya ada aja kejadian nggak enaknya, yang selalu banget itu satu; tremor (kampung, ya?) That’s not become my reason for not hanging out in Aceh’s coffee shop. Oh iya, kesan pertama gue tentang warkop di Aceh apa? Semua modelnya S-A-M-A. Ukuran bangunannya nggak terlalu besar, yang penting cukup, warna interiornya yang natural-natural gitu, dan kursi warkopnya itu macam kursi teras yang ada di rumah-rumah. You will find that in almost coffee shops. What I really like most about those coffee shops is the variation of the menu. It’s not about coffee, but also friend of the coffee; gorengan. Bukan hanya gorengan sih yang jadi highlightnya, tapi jajanan-jajanan tradisionalnya yang bikin ketagihan. And…about the coffee, like I told you before that I’m not an addict, so I just tried few of them. I only tried sanger, chocolate coffee, and….and that’s it (oh my god that’s only two). I am kind of person who believe in love for the first taste. When I first tried chocolate coffee in Kubra, I really liked it. So, I guess that’s about coffee and its shop. Sorry for not writing much because I’ve only been to four shops (3in1, Bidjeh, Kubra, and Long Time).
Banda Aceh itu kan ibu kota provinsi Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, yang tentunya jauh lebih maju dari daerah-daerah Aceh lainnya. Namun, semaju-majunya Banda Aceh tidak seperti beberapa ibu kota provinsi lainnya, seperti di pulau Jawa, misalnya. I didn’t mean to compare Aceh with any regions in Java, but, since that was my first time going to Sumatera, I will compare to my hometown. And by comparing doesn’t mean one is better than another; it just simply means they are different. So, please keep your mind open fellas. Anyway, kota Banda Aceh menurut gue tidak terlalu besar dan juga padat. Itu yang membuat gue suka sama Banda Aceh. Karena tidak terlalu besar dan padat itu lah, di Banda Aceh kalian akan dekat untuk pergi ke mana pun. Meskipun kota besar, Banda Aceh tidak macet. Hal itu disebabkan oleh minimnya kendaraan umum. Pertama kali gue ke sana, gue hampir nggak tahu mana yang kendaraan umum, karena jarang sekali ditemukan, kecuali transkoetaradja, sejenis damri. Kalau di Depok banyak sekali Angkutan Umum, di sana ada tapi jarang sekali lewat, namanya labi-labi. Alternatif lain kendaraan umum di sana adalah becak motor. Sayangnya gue belum pernah naik itu jadi belum bisa cerita berapa harganya dan gimana rasanya. Hal kedua yang bikin gue suka sama Banda Aceh adalah jalanannya yang bagus. Meskipun ke gang (orang Aceh menyebutnya lorong) kecil tapi jalanannya bagus. Bicara soal jalan, hal unik di Banda Aceh adalah polisi tidur. Pemerintah di sana sepertinya sangat kaya atau entah apa latar belakangnya, mereka membangun polisi tidur dengan menggunakan karet (atau sejenisnya). Semua polisi tidur di Aceh ya kaya gitu. Bahkan di Sabang pun demikian. Kalau di Depok kan itu semacam kebijakan sendiri sama RT setempat untuk membuat polisi tidur, tapi kalau di Aceh kayaknya itu diatur sama pemerintah. And I think that’s a good thing. Jadi tidak ada orang yang bisa membangun polisi tidur sembarangan. Gue suka sama polisi tidur di Aceh, karena empuk yang terbuat dari sejenis karet gitu dan juga indah, karena kayaknya diatur sama pemerintah. The next thing about the city is about the public places. There are many of free public places in Aceh just to sit and enjoy the view. Those public places are related to the tsunami, which more likely museums or places to remember about that great disaster. I will continue talk about the tourism later. And another public place I love the most is the mosque. It will be not hard to find great and beautiful mosques in the city. In fact, you will get many options because there are like plenty of them. I even decided to have mosque tour, so I really liked to hop in to one beautiful mosque to another.
The People and Style; Their Performance
I’ve just known that ACEH was short for Arab-Cina-Eropa-Hindi. That’s why Aceh’s women are beautiful because they get sharp nose, thick eyebrow, and big eyes. When I first came to Banda Aceh and looked at the people, I felt like looking to Korean in such Korean movie, because I thought they were all the same. I hardly remembered friends of my friend’s name because they really looked the same one to another. But it might be my fault because I was lack at remembering faces and directions. Another impression to Aceh’s beautiful woman when I first came to Aceh was they were so thin and I was like the biggest one near them. From elementary school to college’s life, I was in the thin-to-not-so-fat category, or the medium one. However, from the moment I came to Banda Aceh, I was hardly on the medium category; I was the big one. Oh my God, are they all on diet or what?! Physically, Aceh’s women are perfect. My second day’s visit to Banda Aceh was to be in my boyfriend graduation—well, that’s actually my primary reason flying 2.000 km. For the one who has just graduated few days before, I still felt the graduation’s atmosphere. So I really looked forward to be in my boyfriend’s graduation. Besides, it was Aceh, I really wanted to know how the graduation was going in another island. As a woman, what I observed much was the dress; the graduate’s dress. From what I saw, Aceh’s culture was to show the glamour. Setelah dilihat-lihat, budaya Aceh itu terkesan dan atau memang mewah. Hal itu bisa dibuktikan dari kebaya yang dikenakan para wisudawan. Those blink parts were everywhere from head to toe. Selain bagian yang kelap-kelip itu, warna yang mereka gunakan cenderung warna cerah yang menunjukkan keberanian untuk membuktikan ke orang siapa diri mereka. Gue tidak mengerti fashion, tapi menurut gue ada makna-makna tertentu yang ditunjukkan dari warna dan kelap-kelip yang menempel di baju-baju mereka yang menjadi budaya khas Aceh. Seneng sih ngeliatnya, yak arena kulit mereka putih-putih terus hidungnya mancung jadi cocok aja pake kelap-kelip dan warna-warna berani gitu. Besides the traditional dress they wore, I also observed their daily outfit—by them I mean women. I kind of agreed to what my friend said about them; they have common style. They were very feminine, since most of them wore skirt and beautiful kind of hijab. As I observed more, the kind of outfit they wore were alike. The skirt they wore had the same pattern. The shirt or t-shirt they wore was the same type. And it’s not a negative thing. For me, it means solidarity. Gimana gue makin nggak ketuker antara satu dan yang lain, udah pakaiannya mirip-mirip, mukanya mirip-mirip juga lagi kan, cantik-cantik keturunan Arab gitu.
Segitu aja deh cerita tentang Banda Aceh. Di postingan selanjutnya gue akan menjabarkan itinerary selama di Banda Aceh. Thanks for reading this long essay!
