Hello Hivers!
Goodness, I need 10 days to find all the pictures and recall my memory about my journey in January 2022. I left my hometown, Lhokseumawe and went to the city where I have spent half of my life also a city where I held my wedding party 6 years ago. We didn't stay at my sister's because we have so many agendas and her place is in the neighbor district, Aceh Besar. She lends her scooter to us, so we can seek for a hotel for a night or two. We won't be staying at Banda Aceh for long. Our main destination was the beach.
Besides, I have a meeting with Katahati Institute next day. Since the event was held at a cafe in Seutui, so we decided to stay at Rasamala Hotel which can be reached by 10 minutes walking from the cafe. Before that, we need to do our "A must have first lunch at Hasan 3". My Brother-in-law took us there by his office car.
Hasan 3 is not the only restaurants which serves Aceh's specific foods. After several food hunting adventure before, we satisfied with the taste of their foods. Have Had our lunch, we walked along the street just like walking in our memory lane after we had our honeymoon back in 2016. Enjoying the long and shady road to find an ATM. I run out of cash. There's no way you can wandering around without money there.
We went back to my sister's house at the evening by motorcycle rickshaw. I learnt that so many things have changed. Banda Aceh was not that familiar to me anymore. After my brother-in-law came back from his office with the car, he took us to the hotel. I told my sister that we'll meet again after a week. The Next morning, after breakfast we walked to the cafe ( I forgot the name of that cozy place, my bad).
We had a very productive day organizing the new strategic planning for the organization for the next 5 years. We had lunch and continued our discussion till afternoon. Now I remember that Fadly, the man with spectacles in the picture was taking us back to the hotel that day. It's our last meeting. He had passed away last year. A good man, a beloved father of 2 daughters, one of the kindhearted people I know. He dedicated his years for the civil society movement in Aceh. May he rest in peace forever.
Back to the hotel to freshen up, my presence in Banda Aceh has been known by the other group of people who has been not meeting me since I moved out to Pamulang, Banten in 2017. So, they arranged a sudden met up at a coffee shop in Pango. They have a regular agenda known as "A donor day" and they wanted me to join in. Unfortunately, I must go back to Pamulang by that time. As a comfort, I donated some money for the operational cost. Another group of friends also wanted to meet up, but I said we would have our honeymoon first. Another meeting will be arranged after a week.
I have been in contact with a very nice and smart woman, Rubama Nusa. She was my wedding organizer in 2016. She had to go to the other part of Aceh for work and she helped me with a pre-reservation at a homestay. The homestay belongs to a junior of student environment lover club in Syiah Kuala University known as Mapala Leuser, which I was a member too. Aidil is a very friendly man, we have never met before but felt like we're brothers. He supposed to rent me the room with open see view, but a guest from Netherland came before us and rent it for a month. So, he let us stay in the room next to he and his family lives. He runs his business from Saho Coffee and room.
I'll share more information about the place later. We just put our bag in the room after we got the key, Aidil himself was welcoming us warmly. He told me that He knew about my wedding party at the beach nearby back then. Because the leader of the party was also a leader of youth group in the village, was his relative. He is an author, an NGO's manager also a lawyer, Yulfan. We didn't meet him during the journey.
I told my hubby that I need to see the beach, and he needs to have lunch too. So we left the room and walk straightforward to the beach (it's only 50 steps away from the gate of Saho)
First thing first, find the place where we held the wedding. I couldn't recognize the place at all. Many things have changed. But we know that Aidil's coffee shop is nearby. We came to his coffee shop after I completed my tasks to get a certificate from zen desk team while enjoying the beach view on Sunday afternoon.
That's all for now, I'll be back with the late post of my half-honeymoon journey in Banda Aceh-Aceh Besar. Thank you for stopping by. Below is the picture which related to the next post.
