On the verge or 2017, last Sunday, I attended a monthly meeting of Polyglot Indonesia Chapter Aceh. We discussed the topic of what we should prioritise: marriage or career. When the discussion finished I was still there, in Keude Kupi Aceh coffee shop sitting around a table with my buds. One of them suggested that the following day we should have a holiday (normally we name as 'Rihlah'). I agreed with the suggestion and so did some others. We specified invitation of going holiday to the friends of Saturday Speaking Club but didn’t limit only to them. At the night of the very day, I invited other friends via our WA group, there were only a few who responded to answer the invitation. It’s no problem since we were committed to doing holidaying despite a small number of those wanting to participate. The night before last night, precisely the 11.59 p.m. of December I passed in Paris coffee shop grabbing some coffee with two friends. We planned to have got prepared before 9.30 a.m. in the morning and have arrived at Cut Nun coffee shop Kuta Alam at 10.a.m.
Having assembled in Cut Nun coffee shop, two friends and I waited for the other four friends. After having complete members, we embarked at 11. a.m. We dropped by some shops to buy meals i.e. watermelon, rambutan, mineral water, some biscuits, and some fries. The trip from the heart of Banda Aceh to the Lampuuk beach would have taken approximately 30 minutes if we hadn’t dropped by some places to buy the things. Some of us also had to refill the fuel of our motorcycles in a gas station in Lhok Nga where the queue line was quite long, this lengthened the time wasted in the trip. I was on a motorcycle with a friend. We both had arrived at the gate of the beach before the others did so. We had to wait for them, therefore. As all of us had gathered by the gate, we entered to the premises of the beach after passing a guard post where some villagers charged the visitors some fee. Instead of making for the mainstream spot of the beach where it is madly crowded with a lot of people, we turned down the road to Babah Dua, a slightly calm spot with few visitors. After parking our motorcycles under the shade of pine trees, we reached to the group of gazebos established on the shore.
The gazebo we chose was located in the front row of other ones where we could clearly face the open Indian ocean with low tides coming in and out. The sun was shining so brightly when sat there putting all of the stuff we brought. Two of us soon ate their meals (wrapped rice) as their breakfast and lunch at the same time. After a little while, Zhuhr time came and we waited to firstly perform the prayer prior to doing other activities. We took some wefies and shared on our WA group in order to make other friends who didn’t join envy us and regret. Short time after, the clerk of the diner came and asked what we would order for the drink. I order coconut water and so did two others. The of us chose not to drink that soon, they would rather go swimming first or chill out for some while.
One of us, at 2.p.m. lamentably had to return earlier since he must work in a hospital. Indeed, it was a day off, yet the job he was tied to is ununderstandably different. Waiting for the sun to soften its brightness, the only one female friend of us suggested us to converse in English since we are technically SSC members. Positively responding her, we did a light conversation talking anything possible in English. Unexpectedly, it turned into a holidaying combined with an act of honing English command. It was nearly 3.30 p.m when two friends of us were changing their suits to go swimming. They kept forcing the rest of us to join swimming, but we didn’t want to. I didn’t want to because I didn’t bring another cloth to change once the one I used gets wet with salty water. Indeed, they said to me not to worry that I could just let the cloth to dry itself on the way back home. I insisted on refusing.
Instead of swimming, I with a friend walked along the beach to take pictures of us and of the natural view in around. The beach ended at the bottom of a rocky cliff people call Tebing. In this spot, one friend of mine stood in by the rock in shallow sea water while I was requested to snap some photographs of her. To reach fairness, I requested her the same soon after.
The longer we were there the cloudier that day became. One friend suggested not to return back straight to Banda Aceh very soon but to go the diner of Aceh noodle first, called Mie Aceh Leupung since situated in Leupung, Great Aceh. He attempted to convince us that the menu of Aceh noodle cooked with crab has a tantalising taste. We agreed and left for the diner when the rain fell so heavily. Leupung is situated in the west direction leading us to Geurutee mount. The further we made for the west the heavier the rain poured down with fog covering the green hills standing on the left side of the road. Finally, we reach the diner on the right shoulder of the road crowded with people. We initially found no vacant seat and table so we had to wait for other customers to leave. Fortunately, after a little while a group of a family who sat around a table left and we instantly took the place worrying if other people did sooner. Regrettably, the noodle with crab ran out so we had to think about another menu available. In one agreement, we order Aceh noodle with shrimp and hot tea.
Regarding the taste, it sort of fell short of our expectation. We even requested some additional salt from the clerk to add into the gravy of the noodle. Even so, I had no idea why this diner is always filled with visitors almost every day. Without realising, it was above 6.p.m when we had finished eating. In other words, we could not reach Banda Aceh before nightfall, not to mention the heavy rain which might shorten our sight. The rain was still heavily showering when stopped by a mosque to perform Maghrib prayer. After praying, we continued riding until we reached Baiturrahman mosque then simply took the ways to our own dwellings.
Briefly, yesterday heralded the beginning of our new plan designing. Our rihlah marked rejoicing we chose to start the day of the new year. I expect the next SSC may sometimes take place in an open natural space like the beach we visited.
Jeulingke, 3 January 2017
