Just like my another answer about Papua.
Wirawan Winarto's answer to What is it like to live in West Papua?
I want to share some stories about my experience living in Aceh for about two months and clear up some wrong perceptions.
Being regarded as the "most Islamic" province in Indonesia, there is bold stereotype across archipelago that Aceh people is currently living under a Taliban-like government.
Well, comparing Aceh to Taliban is a massive overshoot. Some people even imagining Aceh is like this one.
It is NOT.
Banda Aceh
The capital of Aceh province is small and surprisingly clean. The city grows nicely around Baiturrahman Mosque and one Dutch Catholic cemetery famously known to locals as "kherkoff".
There is also a nice complex of remains from the past Islamic kingdom and four-century old weird building called Gunongan. It was built by Iskandar Muda for his princess. Most of time you cannot enter Gunongan, but you can always 'bribe' the security guard to open the gate for you.
Unlike other provincial capitals in Indonesia, Banda Aceh lacks malls. This city only has Hermes Palace and Suzuya Mall which are considerably small for a provincial capital. Then what the youths do? They hang out in coffee shops. Coffee shops in Banda Aceh are numerous, they are scattered along Krueng Raya river and always crowded. There is "budaya ngopi" (coffee culture) deeply rooted in their daily life.
Banda Aceh is well-linked with Jakarta, Medan, and Kuala Lumpur. It has direct flights to those cities and sees many tourists, especially during a long weekend. It seems like another third-tier city in Indonesia, but one subtle differences is that you might see more Arabic words everywhere.
Even though compared to other Sumatra provincial capitals, Banda Aceh (together with Bengkulu) is the most under-developed, I must give credits for their success in rebuilding the city back after Boxing Day's tsunami.
Sabang
Sabang is the Westernmost point of Indonesia as well as the number one 'tourist trap' of Aceh. This city is very famous for local tourists because it possess the "Monument Nol Kilometer" (Kilometer Zero Monument) which makes a cool photo object. After you visit this monument, you'll be given a certificate of recognition. I mean seriously.
The city of Sabang is inhabited by only about twenty-thousands residents, amazingly little number for a city. And it has large Chinese communities who inhabited the city center. Most of them runs business like hotels and small shops around Jalan Perdagangan.
What about Shari'a Law? As far as I know, Sabang is a bit loose on the implementations. Around the beach of Iboih, for example, foreigners drink beers and wandering around ass-naked without any issue.
Bireuen
This city is interesting. It was known as the epicentre of TNI-GAM conflicts during the early 2000's. I met a lot of people in this city and asked for their first-hand experiences during the era of conflict. It was terrifying. They told me that shootings happened almost everyday in the city.
Bireuen is a small city, located on the east coast of Aceh. It was one of four cities who used to be Indonesia's capital (the others were Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Bukittinggi). Bireuen was declared as a temporary capital for one week in 1948. Unfortunately, not many people know this.
My experience in this city is a bit crazy.
My friends spent any afternoon smoking weed (marijuana). It is quite common for youths here to smoke "ganja" instead of tobacco. Usually they hide the cannabis leaves under the bed. "Just make sure to clean everything up when my mom comes," he said.
But for me, the best thing comes out of Bireuen is gulai itik. This is simply the most delicious food I tasted during my Aceh visit. Try it.
Jantho
Jantho is the capital of Aceh Besar regency. I cannot say much about the regency, but it has some interesting historical spots, like Iskandar Muda fortress, an old Hindu citadel, and the Malahayati cemetery. Malahayati is famously known as a widow who lead Inong Balee (the women troops) and managed to assassinate Cornelis de Houtman.
Unfortunately, most of these remains are not well-preserved.
Takengon
Located deep in Gayo highlands, this is my favourite town in Aceh. The town lies next to magnificent Lake Lut Tawar ('lut' means ocean) and it has pleasant climate all year-long.
Takengon is inhabited by Gayo ethnic, who consider themselves different than Aceh ethnic. Gayo people speaks different languages and has some different customs. One incident is when Aceh people are trying to legalize the flag of GAM (Aceh Independence Movement), Gayo people are trying very hard to oppose them. This fact is unknown to most people.
Gayo are popular for their coffee. Most of Gayonese are working as coffee plantation workers. Don't be surprised if there are hundreds of coffeeshop scattered around this small town. More than Banda Aceh, Takengon also possesses strong coffee culture rooted in their daily life.
Oh, and Takengon has annual horse-racing event. There is even gambling endemic during the horse-racing season, although it is now prohibited.
Do Aceh women have to cover their whole body?
Do Aceh people have to maintain distant proximity with opposite gender?
Do Aceh people live their daily life under very strict religious rules?
Theoretically, yes. But in reality, not so much.
For example, I snapped this photo in Aceh Besar. Where a group of men and women having fun afternoon playing tug of war. Just like a normal Indonesian, some of the women are not covering their heads and nobody seems to bother about the close proximity between sexes.