A beach coastal area in Pulau Weh, Indonesia

Summer 2018 Language Fellow: Aceh’s Natural Beauty [Part 2]

There is little doubt about the resplendent natural beauty Aceh has to offer. For one, its beaches are absolutely serene:

A beach coastal area in Pulau Weh, Indonesia
Paradise at Pulau Weh

 

Turquoise body of water in Indonesia
How can water look so turquoise?

 

Breakfast area under a shade near a body of water
Breakfast
person sitting on a hammock at a beach
Post-swim

 

 

 

 

 

 

These beaches are on an island off of Banda Aceh called Sabang or Pulau Weh. I didn’t have an water-proof camera to show pictures of the incredible colours of marine life one could witness underwater.

It was also fun that we got around on “mario carts:”

cars on a road in the countryside of Indonesia

 

a cart on a dirt road in Indonesia

 

person posing on a cart near a beach in indonesia

From the beaches down below, Aceh has magnificent mountains above as well. Another popular location is the coffee growing region of Takengon:

river, mountains, and nature in indonesia
Mosque under the Mountains

 

open rice paddies with mountains in the background
Open padi/rice fields, in the mountains

 

backyard rice field with open space and mountains in the background
Backyard Padi

 

fish farm at a lake with mountains in the background
Fish Farm in the mountains, Lake Laut Tawar

 

lake with boats and fishing gear

 

Gayonese coffee is internationally renown, and grown right here:

shelf with lots of plants and a sign in indonesian
“Seladang: Have your Coffee in the Coffee Garden”

 

coffee beans that are ripe and unripe
Ripe and not yet ripe coffee
coffee beans in a person's palms surrounded by leaves
Where coffee comes from: the seed of the coffee fruit

 

Moving south, here’s a shot of a beach in Meulaboh:

sunset near the ocean over a cave
Sunset over the Bat Cave

Even Banda Aceh, the capital, has terrific sights:

fisherman pulling on a net at beach in the sunset
Fisherman at Lho Nga

 

a crowd assembling for the sunset and fishermen returning from the sea
A crowd assembles for the sunset and returning fishermen

 

a road between the ocean and an aquapond
The road between ocean and aquapond

 

colorful boats at a pier in indonesian countryside
Coloured Boats

As a claustrophobic city kid who grew up in Singapore, even the sight of expansive open green space (with a volcano in the backdrop) absolutely takes my breath away.

person sitting in a yard overlooking a farm and natural scenery

In my most recent trip, I heard that Singapore was often used by separatists’ propaganda as a posterboy of what Aceh could look like if only it got independence. While Singapore can often be attractive as a model of catch-up development in Asia, I wonder what gets lost in the pursuit of “development” – nature, but also heritage and spirit – themes that Singaporeans are all too familiar with.

people in grassy area searching for gravestones of different eras
Searching for heritage: each grave stone comes from a different era

Ironically, even as Acehnese are looking to Singapore for a model of development, Singaporeans are looking to retrieve something that which has been lost through their experience of development, that which has been endearingly called “the kampung spirit,” or the spirit of community (associated with the village).

a local outdoor coffee shop with many customers
The hometown coffee shop of a friend. The architecture encourages maximum ventilation for the tropical weather.

For many Acehnese, the site of the community is in the WarKop (Warung Kopi, or Coffee Shop). I will take up this theme in my next blog post.

Amoz Hor near a beach looking out at the ocean Amoz JY Hor is PhD student in Political Science at the George Washington University. His research explores how emotions affect the way the subaltern is understood in practices of humanitarianism.

 

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